The American South has always been a region of contrasts: lush cypress swamps and dry pine barrens, white sandy beaches and rushing mountain streams, the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers and the common white-tailed deer. Few photographers have captured this mosaic of life with the intimacy, patience, and quiet reverence of Fontaine Radcliff Howard.

For more than four decades, Fontaine has photographed in some of the wildest most remote locations in the world. Fontaine does more than record animals, she reveals relationships. In these pages, you will see a screech owl peering from a shadowed oak at dawn; a fox kit hesitating at the edge of a sandy dune and the delicate flight of the monarch butterfly. Each image is both portrait and story, hinting at the complex ecosystems and fragile beauty that define the South.

Fontaine’s photographs are built on long hours of observation, research, and respect for her subjects. She moves quietly through the habitats she documents, often blending into the landscape so completely that wildlife resumes its daily rhythm in her presence. This dedication yields images that are intimate without intrusion - moments that feel honest and unscripted.

These photographs are more than aesthetic achievements; they are also invitations. They invite us to look closer at a region we may think we already know. They invite us to appreciate the delicate balance that sustains the creatures and habitats pictured in
A Wild Life.

It is my hope that as you turn the pages, you will feel the same sense of wonder and responsibility that Fontaine carries with her into the field. In celebrating her work, we also celebrate the wild at heart!