Sparrow Creek Nature Photography
About the Photographer
Roy Cline MD FRCS[c]
Retired Clinical Professor UBC Department of Ophthalmology
I am a retired Paediatric Ophthalmologist. I have had a life long passion for observing nature and habitats and later photographing those experiences. Growing up on a Saskatchewan farm, I remember snowy owls silently flying by, meadowlarks at their nests in the spring, or badgers emerging from their dens.
My initial photography experience began on the coast and in the mountains of British Columbia - at first with a point-and-shoot camera, then with an SLR with increasingly long lenses. Ophthalmology, and particularly optics, were a fascination for me. Understanding optics fit perfectly with understanding photography and camera mechanics. I am fully self-taught and a lifelong student of this art form.
My primary area of interest is nature photography and I have been fortunate to encounter some incredible wildlife in the beautiful Canadian wilderness. Whether it's observing polar bears and wolves on the Kaska Coast of Hudson Bay, or trekking into the wilderness to watch grizzly bears hunt for salmon in Knight Inlet, or patiently waiting for a humpback whale to breach the surface off the coast of Vancouver Island, nature always offers something awe-inspiring that I hope to capture.
My favourite subjects to photograph are closer to home, on our own Sparrow Creek Farm, which I can observe every day. My family are proud stewards of this seven acres of environmentally sensitive land, located on the slopes of the flood plains the Fraser River. It includes a pond with wetland, a coniferous forest, and wild pasture land - a perfect home for everything from coyotes to tree frogs. Daily observations of the changing ecosystem have been the inspiration for many of my favourite photos of the plants, animals, and where they live.
Hope you enjoy!