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“There’s never been a better time to be a nature photographer and the animals really need us to tell their stories,” says Carla Rhodes. Carla, who was a professional comedic ventriloquist, is largely self-taught and didn’t pick up her first digital camera until 2015. Her journey toward becoming a wildlife conservation photographer and storyteller began with videos of her puppets, and moved on to snapshots of wildlife around her home in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The direction of her career took a dramatic turn during a trip to India, when she saw a large and unusual bird by the side of the road. That led to her first conservation photography project, which culminated in an article in the New York Times. These days, “the only time I’m 100% in the moment is when I’m out in nature,” she says. Find out why and learn about her current fascination with camera traps in this episode with NANPA’s Dawn Wilson and Wild and Exposed’s Ron Hayes and Jason Loftus.