A little about me

A newspaper photojournalist by trade, I began photographing wildflowers in 2003 in the Mojave Desert of Southern California after a fellow photographer talked me into going on a wildflower hunt. Finding and photographing wildflowers quickly grew into an obsession and is what I almost exclusively shoot today.

There is a tiny, unseen world beneath our feet and macro photography is one way to see it up close.

I currently use a Canon 80D with a 100mm Canon macro lens. I use a Mighty Low-Boy tripod with ball head that allows me to lay right on the ground at flower level. I also carry a variety of light diffusers and sometime use a macro flash. 

Some have mistaken some my images for a painting, but they are real wildflowers shot in the wild. Sometimes I’ll place a black backdrop behind a flower, which gives it a clean background and a more “artsy” look.

I'm a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon and current vice president of the High Desert Chapter as well as an "at large" director on the NPSO state board. Contact me if you'd like some information about membership. Our High Desert Chapter hosts wildflower and plant-finding hikes around Central Oregon throughout the summer months.
Picture
Yep, that's me... smooching a bear. His name is Henry and he was living in a large enclosure at the gas station in Mitchell, OR. I was actually giving him a slice of apple I was holding between my teeth! I heard that Henry passed away several years ago. Sad.
I live in Deschutes River Recreation Homesites just outside Sunriver with my husband Torry.

Aside from hunting wildflowers, we enjoy travel, camping, exploring Oregon, fishing and riding our Harley Davidson.
After graduating Gilchrist High School in 1983, I left Oregon and got my first job working at a one-hour photo processing lab in Southern California. 


In 1987, I began working at the Daily Press newspaper in Victorville, Calif. For the next 17 years I was a news photographer, writer and eventually became the entertainment editor.


I returned to Central Oregon in 2005. I am the Communications Director for the Sunriver Owners Association and editor of the Sunriver Scene newspaper.    
Photographic highlights:
• Exhibited in juried photography show at the Los Angeles County Fair.
• Exhibited in Coachella juried photography show.
• Won best of show twice for flower photographs in the San Bernardino County Fair's photo competition as well as winning numerous other ribbons. 
• Had  an image of a butterfly on the 2006 cover of the Midstate Electric calendar.
• Flower featured on the 2010 Native Plant Society poster.
• Exhibited twice at the Sunriver Nature Center.
• Exhibited at the 2012 Sunriver Art Party.
• Exhibited at the Sunriver LIbrary.
• Wildflower image published in a deck of playing cards.
• Designed the annual posters for the Native Plant Society of Oregon annual Native Plant Appreciation Week festivities since 2012.
• Exhibited July 2013 at the Crossroads Carnegie Art Center in Baker City as part of the Native Plant Society of Oregon annual meeting festivities
• September 2013. Exhibited at the Mountain Jug in Sunriver.
• June 2014: Exhibited at the Central Oregon Wildflower Show.
• July 2014: Hosted a wildflower photography lecture at the Sunriver Nature Center.
• 2015: Photo featured in Midstate calendar.
• July 2015: Led a wildflower photography field trip to Todd Lake.
• 2016: Wildflower photography featured in new guidebook The Nature of Bend.
2017: Several wildflower images used on USFS interpretive signs at the ranger station in Crescent.
​2017-?: Working on a new brochure for Big Summit Prairie and a CO wildflower field guide.