naturegirl99's photostream  

I’m a self-taught amateur wildlife and nature photographer based in Toronto, Canada. My love of exploration and new experience has taken me sloshing through the Florida Everglades, climbing the Mayan temples of Belize and Guatemala, horse-trekking through the Canadian Rockies, meandering along the one-lane country roads of England, and going for game drives on a photographic safari through Kenya. Before going digital, I used macro to telephoto lenses on good ol’ manual Nikon FE and FA camera bodies. My first foray into the digital world was with a Nikon Coolpix 3100; I then upgraded to the DSLR Nikon D40x with AF-S 18-135 lens, the AF-S VR 70-300 telephoto and the AF-S VR 105 Micro-Nikkor. I also carry a Nikon Coolpix P5000 for those quick candid shots. I now work with (and love) the Nikon D90 and have added an 18-200 mm VR lens to the “stable”.

A favourite technique is reducing the varied forms found in nature down to shape, texture, and colour until they suggest but don’t telegraph their true identity. An affinity for the wonders of the natural world, along with a healthy respect for our environment, has stayed with me since I was young, and I’ve endeavoured to express that passion through my work.

“Passion
is in all great searches and is necessary
to all creative endeavors.”
—W. Eugene Smith