ABOUT ME

Nature has always been a part of my life. Since early childhood I have had an insatiable passion for wildlife. Growing up in Monterey County, California, I found animals all around me. I would stay out from sun up to sundown, wandering the oak tree covered hills searching them out. Red-legged Frogs, Barn Owls, Raccoons, Hawks, King Snakes, Horney Toads, Pelicans and Possums. You name it and I probably caught it, brought it home and proudly showed it off to my parents. I just loved watching how animals behaved and interacted. How they looked and moved. The colors and patterns on their fur, skin and feathers. How they sounded….like a beautiful sensory symphony.

Sometimes life has a way of derailing childhood dreams. Instead of becoming a Zoologist…I went to school for a time, tried my hand at acting and theater and eventually became a successful business owner, proud husband and father to two fabulous children. However the love of wildlife never left me. That love was there on long business trips when I would drive past a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk on perched on a fence post. When I would stop my car to help a Box Turtle slowly cross a busy road. Or the time I saved a Hummingbird that was caught out in a sudden hailstorm. I spent years observing my beloved nature from a distance with the occasional random interaction, all the while longing to be traipsing around the wilderness immersed in it.

Then it happened. COVID -19. My business came to a standstill. Life for everyone was turned upside-down. As tragic as the pandemic was and is…for me it came with a silver lining. It gave me a chance to recconect with nature. I bought a camera and started exploring my local rivers, ponds and lakes. The images at first were average at best but as I became more comfortable with my camera, I realized that I had something of an eye for photography. Understanding lighting and composition came quite naturally and with an understanding of species and habitat that I had gleaned from childhood, my photography was at a respectable level in a short amount of time. Fast forward to the present. I have rediscovered my love of nature and I am thrilled to share that love with all of you through the images on these pages. My hope is that they bring you closer to the animals that we share our world with and in doing so we can protect and help save the remaining environments that are essential to their survival.

CONTACT ME:

1(916) 801-4566

ADCOOK102@GMAIL.COM