Though many places are considered home, Ansel grew up in places from Sierra Nevada mountains of California, to western Washington, to Austin and learned to appreciate outdoor explorations in many environments. After time in Colorado, Montana, and Western Washington, Ansel settled in Fairbanks as a wildland firefighter loving the opportunities and the scale of Alaska. Ansel now bases out of southern Finland.

Ansel's main focus is on landscape impressions but he likes to dabble in other categories. Also a skier, wildland firefighter and linguist.

Tips for aspiring landscape and wildlife photographers

• Prepare for the physical conditions
  • Dress appropriately and have your camera gear well packed and prepared for the type of travel, hiking or climbing necessary for the task
• Research your subject
  • Know where the light will be and when the perfect light or phenomena will happen. For wildlife, understand and respect a comfortable working distance from the wildlife you seek to photograph
• Go for the light
  • If possible, scout the area ahead of time and know the lighting conditions: when, where and how the morning and evening light and shadows fall
• Use a tripod with ballhead camera/lens mount
  • This will help track wildlife
• Shoot eye level with your subject
  • It helps portray natural scene of the animal and environment
• Examine compositional frames and evaluate full area of your image
  • Tunnel vision is  easily acquired when shooting popular scenes and subjects, in particular subjects through long telephoto lenses
• Have accessible backups
  • Have any extra digital storage media or film readily accessible should a quick change be necessary. Keep batteries accessible and warm if in cold temperatures and equipment dry if in excessively wet conditions
• Experiment
  • Capture your subject and what makes it stand out in its environment. For wildlife, use telephoto frames but back off to capture the animal in its environment too.
• Be Patient
  • Do your best to blend enjoyment of being out in the natural world with sheer persistence and patience often necessary to capture the image
• Be Weather Wise
  • Inclement weather can provide situations for spectacular photos, be prepared for something you are not expecting!