Learning a New Landscape

Leaving California, discovering Texas.

Kenny Hills

California is where Wild Essence was truly born.

It’s where I learned patience — standing still for hours at Sepulveda Basin waiting for an osprey to return to the same snag. It’s where I learned timing — watching peregrine falcons carve through the wind along the cliffs at Point Fermin. It’s where I learned humility — sitting quietly near burrowing owl colonies, realizing that the best wildlife moments are earned, not forced.

Monterey Bay shaped me in a different way. Photographing sea otters drifting through kelp beds reminded me that conservation stories are layered. Recovery doesn’t happen overnight. Every species carries history — some of it fragile.

California gave me rhythm.

I knew when the light would soften along the coast. I knew which trees the hawks preferred. I knew migration windows, nesting seasons, and the quiet corners where wildlife felt undisturbed.

Over time, the landscapes became familiar — almost like old friends.

And that familiarity helped me grow. It allowed me to focus not just on capturing images, but on telling stories.

On highlighting conservation efforts. On encouraging people to respect the locals — the wild ones who were there long before we were.

Leaving that behind wasn’t easy.

But growth rarely is.

Texas feels wide open. The first time I saw a Crested Caracara, I felt that spark again — the same one I felt years ago when I first started photographing raptors. It was unfamiliar. Bold. Almost defiant in the way it moved across trees.

Here, I’m meeting species that weren’t part of my California routine. The open grasslands and limestone hills that create an entirely different backdrop.

I don’t know the rhythms here yet.

And that’s exciting.

Texas represents new potential for Wild Essence — exploring raptor species unique to the region, documenting reptiles and grassland wildlife more prominently, and highlighting conservation conversations specific to Central Texas.

It’s an opportunity to build a new body of work that reflects a different ecosystem and a different pace.

California built the foundation.

Texas is expanding the horizon.

Wild Essence was never meant to be tied to one coastline or one ecosystem. It’s about the raw connection between people and wildlife — wherever that wildlife lives.

And right now, under these big Texas skies, it feels like the next evolution of the journey has just begun.