I’m a 60-ish lifelong naturalist/Pennsylvania resident. When I was an impressionable teenager I was fortunate to become friends with Ned Smith, a celebrated local wildlife artist and self-taught naturalist himself. Ned was a keen observer of all things outdoors and was instrumental in kindling my own interests in the natural world. He encouraged me to take up closeup photography as a way to document my observations of nature, a craft which I enjoy to this day. I have been fortunate to have published many of my images in outlets like the Sierra Club and Audubon Society calendars through the years. Along the way I completed a Masters degree in Plant Ecology under the tutelage of Warren Abrahamson at Bucknell University, then went off to Duke Medical School to ultimately become an ophthalmologist practicing here in scenic Lancaster, PA for the last 30 years or so. Nowadays I devote my spare time photographing mushrooms and other fungi, all manner of insects, and rare wild orchids. My bucket list pursuit is to find an overlooked colony of the so-called Three Birds orchid (Triphora trianthophoros) in Pennsylvania.