In October 2022, I was certified with Community Active Wildlife Stewards (CAWS) – a recognition program for businesses and others demonstrating wildlife stewardship, and designed to encourage responsible wildlife viewing guidelines.

Read more here about the CAWS program which includes a list of Sea Otter Savvy certified photographers and businesses.

• 2024: Volunteer – Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary/NOAA – Public education on MBNMS and Monterey Bay/Pacific coast wildlife

• 2022 to present: Certified Active Community Wildlife Steward for Sea Otter Savvy (see above)

• 2016 to 2020:  Ethics Committee for the North American Nature Photography Association – promoting standards of ethical practice in the field of wildlife photography.

• 2014: Co-founder Wildlife Conservation Pass Project— a grassroots project to implement a new revenue pass for our National Wildlife Refuge system.

• 2005 to 2010: Lindsay Wildlife Hospital volunteer

• 2009: 24-hour Hazwoper certification for oil spill response

• 2009: Wildlife rescue field response training (Wildlife Emergency Services)

• 2004: Volunteer for Emergency Animal Rescue disaster response

• Other volunteer work: Palomacy Pigeon and Dove rescue, SF SPCA 

• I regularly donate my time and work to benefit conservation and animal advocacy organizations

In addition to my photography, I’m a freelance writer and an independent book researcher (15 years). My work is credited in more than 25 James Patterson/Maxine Paetro books, including Women’s Murder Club, Private, and Confessions series.

In the years prior, I wrote and edited the San Francisco travel website for About.com, worked as a freelance writer, and wrote a regular column for a national health magazine. My previous background was in administration, working in various fields including entertainment.

My work appears in publications, exhibits, and installations, and includes cover photos for:

• Science
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Magazine
• Colorado Review
• Functional Ecology Magazine
• Penguin Publishing’s Morning Glory Novel
• Puget Sound Partnership’s State of the Sound

Organizational + Publications including:

• Puget Sound Partnership
• Coastal California: The Wildlife (w/Jeff Corwin)
• Defenders of Wildlife
• SF Baykeeper
• Migratory Shorebird Project
• Bay Nature
• USFWS
• Puget Sound Partnership
• California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators
• State of the Birds SF Bay

[A more complete list of credits is here: Published Images]

I love showcasing the unique magic that is each animal, always hoping to generate compassion and understanding for the species with whom we share this planet. I feel an imperative to amplify the message of urgency — the importance of acting quickly and emphatically to protect and preserve the nature we stand to lose.

With nature at risk in so many niches — and largely for our own folly — I believe we have an obligation to care for our fellow earthlings, and to think way beyond our own selves when we make choices, when we vote, and when we act.

My environmental science classes at UC Berkeley, and my time as a wildlife hospital volunteer were foundational in my later wildlife pursuits. As passionate as I am about the arts, my wildlife photography has always been driven by a sense of advocacy and conservation.

My background is a cultural mix. I was born to Latvian parents, learning Latvian words before any English skills. My heritage is deeply connected to the the sea, the animals, and the biodiversity of the Baltics. I grew up with that ingrained, nature-oriented ethos.

I spent formative years in Europe as an expat kid, attending International Schools in Geneva and Amsterdam before repatriating to the States with my family. Two of my cherished childhood gifts — an Instamatic camera and a children’s typewriter — led to a lifelong love for both forms of expression.

I like to paint in pixels and words how it feels when I’m in the field … the heart-stopping moments when:

:::  ten thousand Snow Geese take flight over Fir Island

:::  an old bull elk bugles under Colorado’s first snow drops

:::  a family of coyotes yips in the California dawn

:::  a pod of orcas glides past the boat on the Salish Sea, sharing the song of the ocean

My guiding principle is putting the animal’s welfare above the photo, an ethical foundation strengthened through my mentorship at a Bay Area wildlife hospital.

Ingrid Valda Taylar

Ingrid Zommers

You can read more about the inspiration behind my camera in these Q&As with International Bird Rescue and Empirical Magazine.

Enjoy your browsings and thanks for stopping by. For all uses or permissions of images posted here, please feel free to contact me for the specs.

Photos, writings, and graphics © Ingrid Valda Taylar