Owls
Many of my earliest memories are those of owls.
As a child, owls represented time spent with my family, bundled up on cold nights, waiting for haunting calls to emanate from our local patch of rainforest. Since those formative experiences, owls have become an increasingly important part of my life. During my work in the fields of wildlife photography and conservation biology, I’ve spent more days and weeks than I’d care to admit seeking out these enigmatic creatures. They often define my travels and occupy my dreams, both day and night. Having spent so much time steeped in their world - often alone and in remote areas - I find myself moving through natural spaces, imagining them through the eyes of an owl, in hopes of better understanding what the many features of the landscape might mean to them. With the exception of a few species, the majority of our owls here in British Columbia are either crepuscular (meaning they’re most active around dawn and dusk), or fully nocturnal. As a mostly diurnal creature with eyesight that pales in comparison, this often presents me with some obvious challenges in both finding and photographing my subjects. I rely heavily on my ears and an understanding of their repertoire of vocalizations, as well as physical clues left behind at key sites. It isn’t uncommon for many days to pass before I even think about taking out my camera, as owls have a habit of humbling you just when you think you’ve made a breakthrough. Though rather than the culminating moment of pressing the shutter, it’s undoubtedly the process of slowly uncovering clues in hopes of piecing together the puzzle that continues to hold my interest and fuel my passion.
I hope you’ll enjoy this gallery of my favourite images…
