I have had an interest in the natural world since my childhood and I loved spending time at the Fox River with my friends. After high school, I trained to be an automotive mechanic because I enjoyed working with my hands and was good at repairing things. The more time I spent outdoors as an adult I realized how much in need of repair our natural world was.
My passion for nature eventually drove me to change careers. Throughout my volunteer endeavors and professional career as a naturalist and ecologist, I first learned to identify plants through photography. As I gained more experience, my plant identification skills grew as well as my catalog of native wildflower photographs. I have photographed over 400 wildflower species that are native to the “Chicago Wilderness” region. A great part of that time photographing wildflowers, I encountered various unique insects and have now started cataloging those as well!
