My passion and purpose in life is nature photography.  That is to say that nature is my purpose.  Photography is also my purpose.  The two combined have captivated my mind and imagination for 25 years.   My two favorite things in life are to commit the act (blessed act) of nature photography and then share what I have discovered.   Also to teach what I might have discovered about NP via workshops and the written word.  When I am not doing either of those things I enjoy thinking about NP and looking at pictures of NP.  I still can look at images made by others as well as myself, and think about the art and technique of each image for hours.  I can also become involved with the photographic subject, be it plant, animal or location to the point of leaving the current world behind.  I am most fortunate to have been able to do what I love for a long time.

Below you will find some personal musings about a variety of subjects.

Like most wildlife photographers I enjoy making flight shots of birds.  Several years ago I made an up close flight shot of a Northern Harrier.  Sharp and beautiful but I cut off a section of one wing.  I decided to cut off part of the other wing during the editing process in order to save the image.  I liked the result so much that now when I am creating action images of wildlife if I can get close enough to my subject I try to make sure to make some of my images tight enough to visually crop the animal to its most compelling features.  I feel that it makes a more powerful image. Gulls are easy to work with so that is where I began this journey to “cut off” some of the bird.  Which do you like the most?  The full body shot or the very tightly composed image?

Falling water is a very popular subject among landscape photographers.  This very morning I was looking through a group of such images and realized just how diverse they were.  They conveyed every different sort of mood imaginable.  Depending on the shutter speed used, the lens and position the photo was made from, the resulting moods varied dramatically.  I really don’t think of all of that while I am shooting waterfalls.  I tend to react to what I am feeling at the moment I compose the image.  Below are a very wide shot of a falls deep in a rainforest.  A frame filling image and a very abstract one.  Which if any works best for you?

My favorite wildlife subjects are mammals.  I have been lucky to have photographed many of North America’s medium to large subjects such as moose, elk, Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer, Blacktail Deer, Pronghorns, Bighorn Sheep. Mt. Goats, Black Bear, Timber Wolf, Coyote, Red Fox, Beaver and so on.  Still given my choice our smaller mammals are my favorites.  Rabbits, Marmots, ground squirrels, Chipmunks, Pikas and Prairie Dogs will keep me satisfied.  I began photographing the Black-tailed Prairie Dog back in the 1970s when I lived in Colorado.  I had thousands roaming my horse pasture but found them a difficult subject.  Then I visited Custer State Park in South Dakota.  I did not even know that the west (including Colorado) also had the White-tailed Prairie Dog.  I discovered these little jewels on a trip in 2005 and now every trip to Colorado or Wyoming includes some time with these personable little critters.  Unlike the Black-tails these guys have many different color variations from white or gray to combinations of those colors and black.  Below is one of my friends.  Got this one near Walden Colorado in 2007.

Everybody who knows me well knows that I live to make pictures of sand dunes.  There is no landscape subject that is easier to make great photos of than sand dunes.  Years ago some weather issues caused me to not create images in Death Valley but two trips to Great Sand Dunes in Colorado and three to White Sands New Mexico have made me a better landscape photographer.  Shape, texture and light rule here and that is all you ever really need when photographing the land.  White Sands is my favorite “sand place” and in fact is one of my favorite landscape destinations of any kind.  I have also had success using dunes areas of Lakes Michigan and Superior.  Do you prefer the shadowy image of Great Sand Dunes or the visual purity of White Sands?

As someone who professes to have knowledge of wildlife, and who is a wildlife photographer, shorebirds can be somewhat of a mystery to me.  To me that makes them both interesting and a favorite subject.  You can spend an hour getting reasonable close to a flock of shorebirds, only to have one nervous bird take the whole flock on a spectacular flight that almost appears choreographed, only to have them return to the spot where it all began about 50 feet away.  Then inch by inch, moment by moment they edge closer until you can touch them.  I have had Ruddy Turnstones walk on my foot.  Below you will find a Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, winter Sanderling and a Wilson’s Phalarope.  All were close but with the top two I had to wait for them to move away from me as they were too close for the focusing ability of the lens I was using.

I want to thank all of you for visiting my blog.   I began this a short while ago just to fill up my life with something to do with nature photography while I waited to make my next move in life.  I only link this out in a few places and I never dreamed it would actually begin to find a following.  You are a shy group as far as commenting within the blog, but I surely appreciate the comments that have been made on Facebook and to my personal e-mail.  So for a while yet I will write and post pictures and you are always welcome to comment.  I would also be happy to post your stories and images.

Thanks again,

Wayne