As a photographer, Becky Field is always searching for the story.

Her camera gravitates toward contrast. For the last 12 years, it has led her to the often-sidelined immigrants, refugees and New Americans who, one way or another, found themselves building a new life in New Hampshire.

“You can’t say, ‘I don’t see color or difference,’” she said. “That’s stupid. Of course, you do. But that’s good – it’s interesting.”

In 2012, the longtime Concord resident pivoted from her career as a wildlife ecologist to a life behind the camera. She has centered her photography entirely around the immigrant community, publishing two books – “Different Roots, Common Dreams” and “Finding Home” – each putting a spotlight on what it means to start from scratch in New Hampshire. She’s taken over 500,000 photos for these projects.

The leap from ecology to photography wasn’t as drastic as one might think.

As an ecologist, she worked in the field in northeastern Alaska for five years, living in tents and trailers with other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers. She studied the impact of biological diversity on the strength and resilience of ecosystems. What she found: it’s crucial.

“You have a cornfield of all the same kind of corn,” she said, “and some little blight or infestation gets into that cornfield. All this beautiful corn I had, it’s ravaged.”

“Because it’s a mono-crop, it’s much more likely to be devastated by any kind of change.”

For Field, this applies to humans, too.

“If we have a lot of different ideas and perspectives on issues, we’re more likely to be able to handle change,” she said. “Whether it’s a cornfield, an individual, or an ethnic group, we need more than just one.”

The idea to document the immigrant experience, in her words, “hit her over the head.” She was walking in downtown Concord when the idea struck her. She almost ran home on the spot.

“I was like, ‘I’ve just got to get started,’” she said.

Over a decade later, she still feels that way. “I mean, look at the people I work with,” she said. “How could I have burnout?”

The people in her photographs vary widely in nationality, but share an adamant fondness for Field. There’s Jozimar Matimano, a Congolese painter who she has a shared exhibit with, Harimaya Adikari, a Nepali farmer, and all of the people who stop her in the street for a hug or a chat. The immigrant-advocate community may not be large, but Field has certainly earned celebrity status.

And, importantly, her work doesn’t stand alone. “I can’t assume that they’re suffering, and I’m some sort of savior on a white horse,” she said. “That isn’t the case. It’s a two-way street. I’m just bringing my piece to the puzzle, and they bring theirs.’”

Field met Matimano in 2017 when she approached him after spotting him sketching on a napkin from afar. She started helping him with his paintings. He’d set up a scene in his living room, she’d shoot it, and he would paint off the photo. Now they’ve collaborated on two exhibits, the current one pairing his paintings with her photos, at the Seacoast African American Cultural Center in Portsmouth.

“At the beginning, he was riding on my coattails, for sure,” she said. “Now I’m riding on his. He’s surpassed me.”

Adikari, who originally moved to Boston from Nepal, swore she came to Concord because of Field’s work. “I never saw those kinds of people in Boston,” she said, referring to Field’s focus on giving a platform to those without one. “We are family.”

And family isn’t an exaggeration. When an Afghan woman needed a place for her two college-aged brothers and 16-year-old sister to stay, Field took them in. For the first year, they hardly spoke English, so she helped them with their homework after dinner. They didn’t have a car, so she drove them 30 minutes to school and back every day. “It was like adding three members to my family,” she said.

For Field, who never had kids, it was a welcome addition.

Two years later, when they left in April to move in with their sister in Virginia, she missed them. But she knows she’ll see them again.

“It’s just like having kids,” she said. “Their stuff is in the attic, their bikes are in the garage. They’ll be back.”

In the meantime, Field has no shortage of projects keeping her busy. The Concord Public Library just bought 12 of her photographs for an upcoming permanent exhibit. She’s dreaming up her next book concept. And she never stops taking photos.

“My friends laugh at me and say, ‘Becky, when are you going to slow down?’” she said. But at 78, speeding around in her blue-green Prius with her camera strapped around her neck, she has no plans to hit the brakes.

Sofie Buckminster can be reached at sbuckminster@ cmoni tor.com.