Paula McCartney grew up in Kansas where the surrounding landscape left a lasting imprint. During many years spent in New York City and San Francisco, the constructed aspects of cities entered into her work. McCartney's images and artist books combine natural and fabricated elements to create an enhanced landscape. Inspired by natural history illustrations, Victorian botany journals, and the studies of Karl Blossfeldt, she uses the scientific practice of collecting specimens as a starting point for her work.

Currently, she is making more images for her Field Guide to Snow and Ice, and preparing her first book, Bird Watching, which will be published by Princeton Architectural Press in Spring 2010.