I am a conservation biologist with a passion for wildlife. As a wildlife photographer, researcher, writer, filmmaker, illustrator, and designer, I’ve had the great privilege of traveling the world in search of wild creatures and wild places. I studied studio art at the College of William & Mary and conservation biology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. For my master’s research, I studied black-footed cats in Namibia (a rare, tiny cat species that is also ridiculously cute). I live in Asheville, NC, with my wife Cristina and my cat Bobby.

I’ve moved through many mediums in my life, drawing frequently as a child, learning oil painting at age nine, graffiti and skateboard deck design in high school, and intaglio printmaking and sculpture in college, while simultaneously starting a BMX clothing brand featuring my illustrations. Throughout those stages, one theme emerged: animals. As a frequent wildlife traveler, the portability of digital art is very appealing to me, and being able to draw directly on my iPad with an Apple Pencil has been a game-changer. But lately I've been finding my way back to oil painting. Like everything I do in my life, it is inspired by a deep love for the diversity of creatures in our world. I hope you will feel that love coming through in my art, and it will bring some peace and joy to your life as well.

My wife, Cristina Garcia, and I are both wildlife artists. And though we share a passion for the same subjects, our styles and mediums are quite different. She started her artistic journey only a few years ago, but has already become a successful artist and has been a huge inspiration to me. Here's a bit about our story. Cristina is a Spaniard who was living in Ireland when she saw one of my wildlife photos in a local newspaper. She looked me up online and sent me an email. She had done jackal research in southern Africa and longed to return. A few months later, we decided to meet up, as complete strangers, in Cape Town, South Africa. We bought an old truck, volunteered as cheetah and leopard monitors at a private reserve, and traveled around southern Africa together for seven months. Along the way, we fell in love and married soon after. We moved to Asheville, bought a rundown little house, and the rest is history! (Visit Cristina's Instagram & website)

Meet Bobby. He is a feral that we met in our yard nearly 12 years ago. He was so frightened it took us five years to make contact. But we eventually became good friends and he decided to move in with us. Now he is the snuggliest little buddy we could ask for and he makes us smile every day. He is very old now but we'll never know just how old he is. If I haven't mentioned it yet, I love cats, especially this one.

• Our wildlife travel website: Travel For Wildlife.com
• My freelance design site: Naturalist Studio.com
• My wildlife photography: Hal Brindley.com
• Re-wilding our yard: Our Wild Yard.com

I also maintain the websites of several conservation organizations, including The American Chestnut Foundation in the US, the Black-footed Cat Working Group based in Germany, and Tanate in Botswana.