My love of nature goes back as far as I can remember. But I think it really started as a child during a visit to my grandparents in Missouri. My Aunt Beth was working on an insect collection for a school project. I was fascinated by all the different kinds, and the varieties and colors of the specimens. From that point on I was enthralled with collecting insects of my own. I was always carrying a collection jar and would spend hours collecting and mounting insects I would find.

After my father retired from the military we settled on a farm in Wisconsin. There I got an appreciation for natural history. My father is an avid birder and we would regularly take family drives looking for deer, raccoons, fox, eagles, anything that was out. He was also an avid hunter and fisherman and from a young age would take me with him where I quickly learned the signs and behaviors of many animals in the wild. I learned how to track the seasons by watching the natural world around me. I learned what part of spring and summer we were in based on what flowers were blooming. I discovered what insects were out during different times of the year. I was still collecting and mounting insects but my enthusiasm waned when my prize collection was destroyed by museum beetles. This was a turning point for me because at that time my parents also gave me my first real camera, a Minolta SLR. With their encouragement I started collecting nature on film. I have always been drawn to anything in print that talks about or has photos of insects. It was only after discovering John Shaw’s first book The Nature Photographer’s Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques, that I seriously began learning the proper methods of nature photography. I spent many hours reading his book over and over again. Then, after trying out what I had learned and years of trial and error, I continually perfected my techniques. After high school and college I had an on-again off-again relationship with photography but my passion for it never ceased. Then in 1994 I picked photography up again but this time I didn’t put it down. I invested in better equipment, switched to slide film, and started traveling strictly for photos. Ever since then my passion for collecting everything in nature (on film) grows by leaps and bounds. I get reinvigorated every time I go out in to the field. There is nothing that keeps me more grounded than being out in nature.

I want those who see my work to get an appreciation of the natural world around them, educate them, and hopefully get them to take better care of our world. I enjoy seeing the spark in the eyes of children who have an interest in science and nature. I also want to provide an avenue for children who may not even know they have in interest in such things. I want people who pass by without a second glance to see how the world of nature really looks, up-close, personal and intimate. Such as the intricate delicacy of the center of a flower, the human quality of a face shot of a spider, the pure beauty of the world around us.

As I look back through the photos I took as a child I realize I still take pictures of the same things, only better. I am certain in my old age I will still have the same enthusiasm I had as a child looking at my Aunt Beth’s insect collection.

E-mail Bryan Reynolds
bryan@bryanreynoldsphoto.com