From a young age, I have always loved watching Animal Planet, The Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. For me, watching animals in their natural habitat has a magical quality to it. I have also enjoyed hunting with my Grandpa and Dad since I was five. When I was young, we would go out to our cabin and watch all sorts of animals including deer, turkeys, birds, and squirrels. I always looked forward to the weekends when we would all go together, but eventually, things changed. Since starting school, it has been difficult to go hunt as frequently. However, to fill that void of missing the hunt, I began photography and videography of animals in the wild.

For this piece Weeping Mothers, I went to Costa Rica and filmed the Ridley Olive Sea Turtle partaking in one of nature's most common, yet beautiful, moments in life. The turtles swarm a small beach throughout the year to lay their eggs on this one beach. They leave the eggs and never see their children again. Looking back, I never thought I would get to be inches from such large turtles in the wild, much less see dozens on a beach at one time. Running around in the cool morning sun trying to get the best shots was definitely a test of my knowledge with my camera. I had to set up new lenses as fast as possible and adjust settings due to the rising sun changing the light faster than I could ever anticipate. I let out my inner Steve Irwin and got up close and personal with these gentle creatures in the hopes of documenting and spreading knowledge about these turtles.