Hi, I’m Dereck!

I created Moose and Gracie Photography as a way to share my passion in hopes that it may inspire others to take care of our world.

Growing up my dad was often buying film for our point-and-shoot camera and I was always excited when he would bring back the photos after they were developed. Meanwhile, my mom instilled in me a profound love of nature. Little did I know that I would someday meld these into a passion for wildlife photography.

One morning while walking my dog Moose we saw a barred owl and it was gorgeous. I started bringing my camera with us each morning and we would stop to photograph the owl every time we saw it. As soon as we got back home I would upload the photos but I was often disappointed because either the photo was way too dark or the owl was blurry. The park we went to can be really dark in places so I knew I had to finally teach myself how to shoot in manual mode. With Moose by my side, I would experiment with different shutter speeds and ISOs each morning as I slowly got the hang of manual mode. Our morning walks got longer and longer as we explored new parts of the park looking for other birds to photograph. Moose was so patient with me as I took shot after shot of whatever bird I could find. He always seemed happy on our walks especially since he knew I had a pocket full of treats.

Even though I loved taking pictures, I didn’t teach myself how to fully utilize my camera. I would go to baseball games and professional track meets and just hope the pictures would turn out once the film was developed. Even when I got my first digital camera I would keep it in automatic or sometimes in sport mode. I stumbled into birding around 2018 and started taking pictures of every bird I could find. The photos helped me ID tricky birds and suddenly I was hooked. Near the end of 2019, a year before she passed, I gave my mom a book of bird photos I had taken the previous year. She told me that I should become a professional photographer. I thought it was silly but it meant a lot hearing that from her.

Our yard is a great stop for the neighborhood chickadees, bushtits, and hummingbirds. I would practice photographing these quick little birds on my porch with Gracie by my side. She would keep me company as I taught myself what shutter speeds worked best in various conditions and with various birds.

I grew so much as a photographer with them by my side that I couldn’t think of a better way to honor them than to create Moose and Gracie Photography.