With their most tender touches, snowflakes
Have painted the whole night white
Including the darkest corner in sight
     Even within a forgotten dream

Except the plum tree, standing alone there
    Under the eastern sky, whose
Flowers are blooming boldly against
The entire season, more vibrant than blood

Bruce Leventhal’s photography practice is strongly influenced by his relationship with the biological sciences. This relationship began in 1984 when he came to the University California at Irvine to study Biology. From 1986-1989, he worked as a field/marine ecologist on Alaska’s Pribilof Islands, conducting field research concerning rare species of pelagic birds found only in the subarctic and arctic. After earning his bachelor’s Degree in Biology-Ecology-Evolution and Behavior in 1989, he was hired on with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to serve as a short-term ship’s ornithologist during a multi-week oceanographic study.

In 1990, he moved to Minnesota to complete a degree program in Science Education at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities campus. In 1992 he was hired to be a full time biology teacher at Forest Lake Senior High School. While research has formed the core of his biology experiences, he continues to love his work as a teacher every day. He has since earned a Masters Degree in Biology, also at the University of Minnesota. His passion for “all things biology” feeds directly into his nature photography. About this, he says: “My goal is to inspire you to think about the the amazing characteristics inherent in all living organisms.” Leventhal has previously published his work in the spring and fall 2018 and the spring 2019 issues of Rootstalk.