Have you ever seen a praying mantis right after it’s born? Or multicolored water flow in Yellowstone National Park? Mrs. Wiltrout, a biology teacher of nine year at Linganore has, and she’s photographed all of these experiences and many more.  

Students in Mrs. Wiltrout’s AP Biology class enjoy when she shares her photos with them. Many of them are unique, and involve science themselves, which she explains very well. For example, the other day she showed her classes a photo that had colorful “bubbles.” These bubbles were actually oil droplets in a glass of water. Mrs. Wiltrout had put a colorful sheet behind the glass to create a nice backdrop. In the photo, the oil droplets look red. 

“I have a Canon 7D and use a 100mm macro lens for my close up pictures.  Many times I have to have the camera on a tripod because I am shooting with a long shutter exposure to obtain the desired effects I want to achieve,” said Mrs. Wiltrout. 

This summer, Mrs. Wiltrout plans to take her photography to the next level. She will be traveling to Alaska for two weeks to photograph grizzly bears in their natural habitat.

 

“I will be taking pictures of the coastal grizzly bears, puffins, eagles, wolves, fox, and any other animals that may be around the areas I will be staying.  As for the most exciting part of my trip, just going to Alaska would rank number one.  I have never been there and my husband has been going there for the last several years, so I am really excited to see the state,” said Mrs. Wiltrout. 

Mrs. Wiltrout has always loved nature. At just the age of five she could name every tree in her backyard. 

“My mother was the driving force in my love of nature.  She was a stay-at-home mom and oftentimes took my sister and myself on nature walks through the woods surrounding my childhood home.  She also loved to take pictures, so that’s probably where I first began to have an interest in photography.  Nature photography was just a way I could blend my love of the outdoors with my interest in photography,” said Mrs. Wiltrout. 

Mrs. Wiltrout’s enthusiasm is often an inspiration to all of her students, co-workers, and friends.

 

“Mrs. Wiltrout is an inspiration to me in so many ways I think I will have trouble enumerating them.  Her photography is beyond amazing.  She is a nature lover, so most of her photographs are nature oriented and being a nature lover myself, I enjoy the nature in her photos.  She seeks out and captures so many amazing things that are barely visible to the naked eye,” said Mrs. Beth Ericsson, a biology teacher and friend of Wiltrout’s.

“She waited for, and then photographed, praying mantises just after birth - so cool.  She took pictures of two aphids dueling with each other.  She took over a hundred pictures of them. You can't even see that happening just looking at it with your eyes alone,” said Ericsson. 

Surprisingly, Wiltrout does not enter her photographs into contests, nor does she submit her photographs to magazines like National Geographic. 

“It is a personal achievement for me to continue to improve upon my work; although I have thought about submitting my work to local art contests, and may decide to enter three pieces in an upcoming show at the Delaplaine,” she said.