A trip to Rwanda in late 2024 made me fall in love with wildlife photography. And, living in Rochester, the birthplace of democratized photography (Kodak) is the perfect place to learn the craft. I’ve since gone camping in Alaska’s Katmai National Park to photograph grizzly bears and I just returned from a trip to India to photography tigers. I have been posting my photos on my Instagram page, and writing about my trips on my Substack, Elegant Creatures.
Returning to my very busy job as an appellate public defender has made it difficult to work on my novels. After spending all day in front of a computer at work, it’s hard to come home and spend more time in front of another computer, even if the writing is different. Far easier to get out in the field with my camera. So, getting this animal-driven paranormal mystery series off the ground has taken more time than I planned. Interestingly, the more I photograph animals and write about the photos , the more I am realizing my novel series and the photography are interrelated. The series is expanding to include more animals, more mysticism, more magic. And I am planning to include some of my photos in the books.
Above is one of my favorites. This is of a female juvenile tiger, a sub-adult, who seems lost in thought. It was taken in the Panna Tiger Reserve in central India, which I found to be a really magical, other-worldly place with all of its black rocks and tree trunks with contrasting white and eggshell-colored leaves and grass. It reminded me of how I felt when driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas one time and I drove through Joshua Tree Forest. It’s like all of a sudden you’re in another universe.
I’ve been traveling with Women in Wildlife Photography and am going with them to Arizona later this year to photograph hummingbirds, the mystical creatures who are believed to represent spirits of animals who’ve passed away, which is the basis of the mystery series!