Field Guide takes a light-hearted look at the challenges of being a woodland creature. In the artificial world I have created for them, a Mallard needs a little help to get in to flight and a Bohemian waxwing need to be heard. I tinkered with natures perfect by inventing some gadgets to help them out. At the same time, I wanted to remind the viewer of how mans need to screw with everything can be so ridiculous. This series was inspired by my fascination with Victorian Era Taxidermy dioramas that seems to blend some sort of natural science project and art. I wanted to keep my method true to the Victorians as well by using real taxidermied animals combined with artificial or preserved landscape elements and printed paper backgrounds. Each image is created entirely in-camera using a 4x5 view camera, film, and conventional printing methods. All the props and sets were created and shot in my studio in Southeast Portland. All the animals were purchased on Ebay.