Asked how she became a nurse, photographer Jackie Robidoux says, "It's that old story-my mom was a nurse. My dad died when I was little, and our mom took care of all of us on a nurse's salary. I looked up to her. By 10th grade I knew I wanted to take care of people, too. I was always the one taking care of the neighborhood kid who'd fallen off a bicycle."

A self-taught photographer, Robidoux specializes in nature photography. "I'm passionate about wildlife and conservation," she says, "and photography lets you capture a moment or a place forever and share it with others." Although she currently uses a digital single-lens reflex camera, she doesn't manipulate images after taking them. "I love raw beauty," she explains. She's also an amateur tracker, having learned to read animal signs-including those of moose, coyote, and deer-by reading the books of renowned trackers Paul Rezendes and Tom Brown, Jr.

Asked how she captured the two does shown on this month,s cover, Robidoux says, "It's patience. I'd been there a few days earlier on snowshoes and found a ton of deer runs [paths] in that area. So I came back and found a spot on the hill, and I sat up there for two-and-a-half hours in 10[degrees] weather, until the deer came by. When you're out there a long time like that, you start to see in a different way. You start to see everything around you." That quality of alert calm has also served her as a nurse, helping her to stay focused and present with her patients.

For more of Robidoux's work, see this month's Art of Nursing and visit http://www.jackierobidoux.com.

Sylvia Foley

senior editor