First, I've always loved and “lived for” animals—ever since I was a kid. I remember when I was 5 years old, I'd feed the stray kittens on my street. Or, when I was 13, I joined the hiking club at my school; but while everyone else was admiring the mountains and valleys, I was busy looking under the rocks for snakes and scorpions…
Even then, I knew I wanted to work with animals when I grew up. So, while working a full-time job and raising my two kids, I attended veterinary school and received my diploma in 2002. I dreamed of becoming a wildlife veterinarian, but practicing in New York City makes this a bit difficult, so I treat primarily dogs and cats.
The next ingredients any wildlife photographer needs are a deep love, respect and curiosity for nature and seeing new places. During a hiking trip to South America in 1995, I was “infected” with the “travel bug”. Since then, I've made it my mission to see and experience as many places as possible, especially those that have wildlife.
The last part of the equation is a passion for photography. I've always liked it, but never studied it in a serious way until I bought my first "zoom-y" camera before a safari trip to Kenya with my son and my best friend. That was one of the most special trips of my life. I discovered that, because I'm a veterinarian and know animals so well, I'm able to anticipate their behavior and capture some very special moments. Unfortunately, when I got home I saw that—even though I got some incredible shots—the image quality wasn't there. So I invested in a better camera, and taught myself the basics of photography. The more I learned and practiced, the more I fell in love with it, and the better I became. When one of my shots, “Near and Far”, was selected by National Geographic as their Photo of the Day, I was inspired to take things to the next level and make the transition from amateur to professional photographer.
If you combine all my passions—animals, traveling and photography—it's only natural that I became a wildlife photographer. I see this as another way of helping animals—the ones I can't treat medically.

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