Maria was born in Hawaii and grew up in Northern California. She has lived in the Puget Sound region of Washington for 28 years. Her home in Gig Harbor is sheltered in a few wooded acres, and she enjoys life with her husband and their menagerie of cats, dogs, goats, a turtle, and many unnamed fish.

Maria has degrees in Psychology and Zoology, with a focus on animal behavior. Her abiding love of animals and the environment has led her to work as a wildlife rescue-and-rehabilitator, veterinary assistant, geologic surveyor, wetland steward, and photographer.

She wishes for a world that lives in peace, where people have enough to eat and homes to shelter them, where differences are viewed as a good thing, and where wild animals, forests, and wilderness lovers can thrive in their natural habitats.

Maria strives to share her passion for our beautiful planet through her photographs.