I began photographing nature in 2014 when I was living in Boston, where I was intensely studying music in pursuit of a career in a symphony orchestra. Whenever I had free time to wander off campus, my favorite sanctum was the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. A hidden gem just outside Harvard, Mt. Auburn is incredibly scenic and well-forested park, very popular birdwatchers. After a few visits, I purchased a cheap camera to fulfill a budding interest in fine art and landscape photography. One day I noticed that the cemetery’s visitor kiosk contained a “recent bird sighting” chalkboard where observant visitors would scribble down daily reports of resident owls, colorful warblers, orioles, and more. Despite visiting these gardens a couple days a week, I almost never saw any of these creatures. Intrigued and determined, my visits to the cemetery intensified. Soon thereafter, I got a little more skilled in finding and identifying wildlife, and my new interest in photography began to focus towards capturing the cemetery’s wildlife.

After my music studies in Boston ended, I returned to my hometown of San Francisco and began to reconnect to the wildlife and ecology of the Bay Area. The sights and sounds of wildlife I grew up around, once far away in the background of my cognizance, soon became an obsession.

Wildlife is abundant and pervasive, even in urban environments. Although a majority of wildlife is hard to find, many of them are right under our noses. We often mentally tune out their evident and peculiar noises and we often walk right past them when we’re lost in thought. Not too long ago, our species was once fluent in the language of nature. Interpreting the sights and sounds of the wild was integral for us to be in harmony with the rhythm of life.

People seem to have visceral reactions to extraordinary nature moments. No one is indifferent to wildlife and nature because our relationship with it is rooted at level of our DNA. The degree of passion we all inherently have for nature varies from person to person. I happen to be on the pathological end of the spectrum. With modern technology, our nearly dormant and complicated relationship with nature can be invigorated through art and media. Like never before, nature can be enjoyed and shared from the confines of our armchairs in the click of a button. Although I’m far from being an activist, I believe that capturing the beauty of nature with a camera, in the tiniest way, makes the world more conscious. Please enjoy my photos.