As the name of my site suggests, my names is Jake Scott, and as the other portion of my site suggests, I embark into nature and photograph it.  

I've had a strong interest in the natural world since as long as I can remember.  My parents and grandparents were a huge influence on me. My grandparents were rangers in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Northern Maine. I would spend weeks in the woods with them exploring and maintaining rural campsites.  Though there were very few reptiles and amphibians in this part of the state, I found a deep passion for them in Central Maine, where I was born and lived for the first decade of my life. My father was, and still is, a nature lover as well and I would give him credit for my eternal infatuation with herpetofauna. My actual first vivid memory was of him and I in a canoe in the cranberry bog near his house and him reaching over the side and scooped up a baby Eastern Painted Turtle that was basking on a waterlily leaf. He then handed me the turtle and he continued fishing. The fishing part is all speculation because I remember nothing else but the turtle, but he is a avid fisherman to this day, so it is a good bet that is what he was doing. As a matter of fact, as I grew older, my father would entice me to go fishing with him if he promised to devote at least a portion of the day to catching turtles. I always obliged.

My mother and father separated when I was around 2 years old and she had custody of me and my siblings. She moved us away from the State of Maine to the State of Maryland when I was 10. I recall looking forward to finding all the species this new state had to offer.  I quickly started catching Black Rat Snakes, Box Turtles and various species of salamanders that didn't exist in Maine.  Box Turtles being my number one target. I even went as far as to knock on all my neighbor’s front door to ask if they’d seen them. Most had and would notify me when they saw one in their yard.

At the time I didn't know the term "herp" or "herping" (which is the colloquial term for finding reptiles and amphibians) and I didn't know that anyone else was as weird as me - they still might not be.  I had to convince my friends that it was fun to go wade waste-deep into a swamp in search of the pariahs of the animal world. A few of my friends actually took on the interest as well, but it wasn't until years later that I found out about other herpers.

When I immigrated to Florida near the turn of this century, I was opened-up to a whole new world of herp diversity.  I explored endlessly on my own and found numerous species, but it wasn't until I met up with Dick Bartlett that my world truly became broad.  We have gone on innumerous road trips together throughout the United States and gone abroad to the Caribbean, Bahamas and South America. Thanks to him and our travels, I've managed to see, and learn about, species that I only dreamt about as a kid.  I owe a considerable amount of gratitude to him and his mentorship. I'd also like to acknowledge Daniel Dye who took me under his wing as a 4th son for many years and he helped me a great deal with his knowledge of North Florida.

Even though I truly cherish the relationships I've made through herping and the camaraderie that comes along with like-minded people gathering together to do something that roughly 98% of the world thinks is nuts, I still sometimes miss those times in my youth when it was all so simple.