Artist, writer, and award-winning photographer Gail Diane Yovanovich has traveled seven continents studying birds and the natural world. She is passionate about nature and wildlife and takes great joy in sharing nature's splendor and the beauty of the Southwest through her images.

Her interest in art began as a child when she studied watercolor and oil from the age of nine, majored in fine arts in college, and later concentrated on figure drawing at Rice University. She worked variously as an illustrator, museum curator, writer and photojournalist before taking up her camera as a fine art medium.

Gail's photography is characterized by dramatic use of light and shadow, delicate tonal variations and exceptional in-camera composition skills. With techniques true to her darkroom background and a classic fine art style, she often selects simple, ordinary subjects and presents them as both beautiful and thought-provoking.

Her fine art images are included in numerous private collections worldwide, as well as the headquarters of Keep New Mexico Beautiful in Albuquerque and the Eye Institute of New Mexico.

Gail received two awards in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Naturescapes Photo Salon, Migratory Journeys: New Mexico's Wildlife on the Move. She received both the Special Recognition for Best Black-and-white Photography for her image Rufous Hummingbird and Best in Show First Runner-up for her image Tandem at this exhibit.

Additional awards and accolades include First Place in the Portrait Division for her image Morning Dove at the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in 2009, First Place for Contrast in the 2009 New Mexico Magazine Photo Contest, and the February 2009 New Mexico Magazine cover photo.

She won National Wildlife Refuge Association Photography Contest Awards in both 2009 and 2008 for her images Tandem and Sandhill Cranes in Flame Sunset, respectively. Her image Bosque at Dusk won both Best in Show and First Place Black-and-White in the 2008 Festival of the Cranes Photo Contest. And in 2002 she received an Excellence in Photography First Place Award from the Texas Press Association for her work as photographer at the Alpine Avalanche and in 2014 received an Excellence in Photography Second Place award from the South Texas Press Association for her work at the Boerne Star.

Gail also judges photo competitions and juried exhibits, including the 2011 Festival of the Cranes photo contest in San Antonio, New Mexico, and the 2010 Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in Albuquerque.

Her photographs and illustrations have appeared in many books and national publications, including The Birds of Texas (Tveden), For the Birds (Schmauss, Schmauss and Krolick), New Mexico Magazine, New Mexico Vacation Guide, The 2012 New Mexico Blue Book, A Year in the Life of New Mexico, Birding, Winging It, American Birds, and several American Birding Association bird finding guides. Her image Rainbow Sunset was selected as the cover photo for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2012 publication Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges and the Next Generation.

In addition, Gail illustrated Birds of the Trans-Pecos (Peterson and Zimmer) and Birder's Guide to Alabama and Mississippi (Gulf Coast Press), and wrote regular birding columns for the Alpine Avalanche and Penfeathers.

Gail has designed patches and t-shirts for the Houston Audubon Society and the Texas Ornithological Society. She also designed and illustrated educational materials for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Houston Audubon Society.

A 25-year member of the Texas Ornithological Society, Gail served for three years on the Texas Bird Records Committee and was East Texas Regional editor for American Birds magazine, a National Audubon Society publication. She has also organized and conducted bird surveys for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.