A talented and accomplished conservation photographer based in Birmingham, Beth Maynor Young began Cahaba River Publishing (cahabariverpublishing.com) in 1990, and since then has forged a career doing what many people only dream about: documenting the beauty of natural places around the South. Her landscape photography is a moving record of the great diversity and threatened environmental treasures that so many Alabamians take for granted. Her new book, Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama’s Rivers, continues on this theme and will be published in April by the University of Alabama Press. Thicket took a moment to talk to Young about what she is reading.

Thicket: What books inspire you before you head out to shoot?

Beth Maynor Young: Reading a whole series of biologist E.O. Wilson’s books actually inspired the Headwaters project. I don’t look to photography but to natural history books to learn what’s going on with a natural system and to get ideas. After you wade through all his words, it’s one thing to look at all the places here and think “Isn’t that pretty?” But when you start to think about the ecosystem that these rivers are flowing through, that’s inspirational.

Thicket: Which of Wilson’s books stand out for you?

BMY: The Diversity of Life is a biggie. Wilson takes a lot of chapters to travel a long, long way, and you wonder if you’re ever going to make it, and then in the final chapters the importance of diversity it comes though. Wilson begins to apply this to the places we have remaining, and you see how important they are. And The Future of Life, and his autobiography, Naturalist. It’s fascinating watching his life evolve. With Wilson, you are able to understand new concepts in science and how long it takes for these new ideas to gain acceptance.

Thicket: Lessons learned from Wilson?

BMY: He wasn’t the first to say it, but when you get to know a place and understand it you begin to love it, and that’s when you start working to protect these wild places in Alabama. You don’t get to know a river until you’re flowing along with the speed of the current.