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"PROFESSIONAL" PHOTOS |
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Looking at a person's photos, it's hard to tell if they are pursuing nature photography as an amateur or as a professional. Surprisingly, this photo, or one very similar, has been published over and over again. Just about anyone who has access to a city park can obtain a photo of a mallard drake, and I doubt if any of our viewers, professional or amateur, would have any problems taking a duck photo that is better than this one. |
| This image has also been published multiple times, and this one we're proud of. It didn't require a great amount of photographic skill, but it was made possible by our knowledge of mountain goats. Cathy not only had to position herself close to the goats without scaring them, she also had to anticipate the moment and make sure she had a clean shot of the head to head action. |  |
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| Of the tens of thousands of images gathering electronic dust in our files, these are two of my favorites, and for different reasons. The fox photo was the result of imagination and luck. Imagination is what made me go out to photograph foxes with a wide angle lens instead of a telephoto. Luck positioned the beast in the middle of a snowy bridge. The howling coyotes was a matter of luck more than anything else. I knew coyotes howled together as a pack, but in all my years of watching these animals I had never seen this behavior before. However, no matter how much I like these images, no matter how imaginative or unusual they are, the only place they have ever been published is as award winners in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. Thank God for photo contests. |
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Night photography can really let photographers express their creativity, and we love exploring the landscape under the light of a waxing moon. As much as we enjoy it though, this is the only one we've ever had published. That's what makes leading photo tours so much fun. If our participants enjoy it, we don't need to justify taking the photos with the high probability of making a sale. |
| This photo is another example of the same thing. I love photographing the sandhill cranes in flight, especially when their path takes them across a rising or setting full moon. Just because the image has never been published, nor earned an award in a major contest is no reason to discount it. I still think it's a great shot. |  |