Drew films shorebirds on Hawkesbury Island in the Torres Strait, Australia. Photograph by Tim Laman
I’m a photographer with a passion for exploring the natural world. As an avid birder and lifelong naturalist, I bring that knowledge and experience to my photography and filmmaking. My goal is to go beyond simple aesthetics, crafting every image to be both visually stunning and an engaging story about the subject. I am thrilled when the image also speaks volumes about the landscape and the diversity of the environment.
Born and raised in Florida, I learned to love nature and appreciate the beauty of my home state. Following my adventurous spirit, I wanted something completely different for college and enrolled at Bowdoin College in Maine. When most of my friends went abroad for a semester in their junior year, I bought a trailer and moved to the Everglades where I lived from January to June, photographing the infinite details of that vast landscape. These photographs and experiences resulted in my honors thesis—a book of photographs and essays about the Florida Everglades.
Upon graduating from Bowdoin, I was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for a year of extensive travel throughout Australia searching for and photographing Australia’s numerous endemic birds. During my journey, I photographed more than half of Australia’s over 300 endemic species and saw nearly 600 species of birds while driving about 40,000 miles all over the country.
My next adventure was funded by a National Geographic Young Explorer grant for an educational, multimedia project based in the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Partnering with a biologist and cinematographer, we created an interactive multimedia website to bring the cloud forest into classrooms and living rooms around the world. This project introduced me to the elevated world of technical tree climbing which has since taken me high into the Redwoods and Sequoias of California and the incredible tropical forests of Borneo. I also taught tree climbing at Cornell University and enjoyed introducing new climbers to the canopies of the surrounding deciduous forests.
I am a self-proclaimed geek of sorts and love to find new ways to tell stories by using cutting-edge technology and repurposing older concepts and techniques. My desire to combine technology with storytelling and education led me to return to school and get a Masters in Education, Media Design, and Technology from Full Sail University.
Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to work around the world in some fascinating and diverse locations. I’ve created interactive panoramas of a 2,000 year old shipwreck 150 feet underwater off the coast of Turkey as well as of the excavation of the ship found at Ground Zero in New York City. I’ve climbed trees and photographed birds in the remote forests of Papua New Guinea and Malaysian Borneo. And for the last 18 months I have been returning to Australia to assist National Geographic photographer Tim Laman on an article for National Geographic Magazine that will be out in 2014. Now, I am excited to turn my focus to my home state and the landscape and environment where I first fell in love with the outdoors and photography. Whether you are a lifelong resident, occasional visitor, or have never been to the Sunshine State, join me as I explore Florida through filmmaking and photography.
