Wild & Precious | Featured Photographer Jesse Burke

“Diamonds in the Rough” Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
Credit: Jesse Burke

DESCRIBE YOUR CONNECTION TO NEW ENGLAND.

I am a native New Englander. I grew up in Connecticut, but in my early 20s I moved out west to the desert of Arizona to study photography. Graduate school brought me back east to Rhode Island. This body of work, Wild & Precious, has specific New England roots, with my family and me now living in Providence, Rhode Island. We started making our way out into the wider New England landscape to study nature and inspire our children to become nature enthusiasts, and we have spent countless weekends and days of the week in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and throughout southern New England, exploring and photographing. There is such a wide array of landscapes and creatures in New England.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Wow, what a hard question for me! I am inspired by so many things. Other photographers, certainly, such as Sally Mann and Emmet Gowin — the way that they view life and the landscape, and how we as humans interact with it is so magical. But I’m also inspired by the life and work of John James Audubon and by nature art in general, by Mary Oliver and Andy Goldsworthy and many of the contemporary poets and artists that one might affiliate with nature art or poetry. Also, simply being outside in nature is incredibly inspiring to me. That’s initially what drew me to make this project and instilled in me the deep desire for my children to become connected to the natural world.

DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BACKGROUND AND EQUIPMENT.

I studied photography at the University of Arizona, in the Sonoran desert of Tucson, then I went to graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Now I work as a commercial and fine-art photographer and educator. I currently teach in the photography department at RISD and in the school of art at Roger Williams University. As for equipment, I use Canon digital cameras and lenses, specifically the 5D Mark III. I use Profoto lighting equipment, and I print all my portfolios and museum exhibition prints with Epson printers. We also use Nikon binoculars and Muck Boots, and we love to camouflage all types of gear and clothing. We wouldn’t get very far without the right gear. To see more of Jesse’s work, go to jesseburke.com.

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER JESSE BURKE | WILD & PRECIOUS