I’m TR, a freelance nature photographer based in the Pacific Northwest and 2024 finalist for Bird Photographer of the Year.

For many years, I lived in major cities and was immersed in a fast-moving culture, even as I began to long for a simpler, more purposeful life. Eventually, I found my way back to what had always grounded me: the outdoors. The wild spaces and untamed lands of the Pacific Northwest became both a refuge and a guide.

As I reconnected with the natural world, I found myself undergoing a kind of spiritual rewilding - a slow, inner shift toward presence and a deeper way of being. That rewilding now shapes how I move through the world as a photographer. I am more attuned, more open, and more willing to follow whatever arises.

I work mostly handheld, using natural light, and rarely head out with a fixed plan. I capture what I discover in real time—eagles circling above coastal bluffs, mushrooms emerging overnight on the forest floor, fog moving through old-growth coastal trees. In this way, my process is intuitive and responsive, shaped more by instinct than intention, leading to compositions that aren’t just images; they’re traces of where I’ve been, what I’ve seen, and what has taken root in me through years of attentive observation and awakened wonder.

And, the more I slow down with focused attention, the more I feel the truth of something profound: I am not separate from the natural world. None of us are.

We are nature, too.

TR