Maine nature writer and photographer Sandra Mitchell has always enjoyed animals, nature, and wildlife, taking every opportunity she could to spend time outdoors. This passion began with birds and the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, then expanded over the years to include just about everything to be found outside whether it has feathers, swims, crawls, hops, slithers, flies, or grows out of the earth or even grows on the things that grows out of the earth.

On her journey toward nature and writing, Sandra completed an AB from Cornell University in Biology and German Studies, followed by a degree in Veterinary Medicine, also from Cornell. Her first career was as a veterinarian and wildlife rehabilitator spending her days indoors with the animals she loved. But the outdoors called to her, so she called on her two brothers who were professional photographers to help her make the transition to professional nature photographer. She is a Maine Master Naturalist and a registered Maine Guide.

Sandra says she usually has the attention span of a squirrel, but when she’s outside in the wild world with a camera in her hand, she can sit still in a cramped kayak for hours waiting for just the right conditions to portray the heart of her subject.

She has written for publications including Northern Woodlands, PetMD, Cats Magazine, among others, and is slowly putting together a book.

People-Nature-Art is a free monthly series that brings artists, writers, carvers, and creative types of all kinds to the Gilley to explore how nature and art interact in their work.