Roger Clark
11-01-2009, 05:24 PM
I don't think this question has been asked here, so I thought it might be fun to see how people respond.
Why bird photography?
I'll start. First, I started out as a landscape photographer and while always interested in wildlife, a 4x5 sheet film camera was not a great way to do wildlife (but when it worked, the images were great). In the 1990s I started getting better lenses for my 35 mm system and did more wildlife. I then bought a 500 mm f/4 L IS telephoto for the primary purpose of astrophotography. Once I got it, I realized this is a great wildlife lens too. One trip to Bosque had me hooked. I was always in awe on a beautiful bird, but seeing them in the numbers at Bosque where you could see their interactions were amazing. I still do landscapes (now with digital mosaics to reach and surpass 4x5 quality), astrophotography, general wildlife (e.g. Alaska to Africa) and birds. Over the last decade some personal events made bird photography more special for me (including stress at work and some health issues). The contrast of 4x5 photography where I would spend 45 minutes setting up and focusing, to bird-in-flight photography where tracking, focusing, and composition had to be a fraction of a second was examples of extremes. The thrill of capturing images where one has to make such rapid decision was (and is) quite a thrill. Plus bird photography drew me to new locations and seeing more of the world and conditions where animals live and the impact of humans is an amazing eye opener. So bird photography provides many outlets for me. It gets me out into nature under varied conditions, action provides challenges up to and beyond my abilities and equipment, and there are so many different species, I'll never exhaust seeing new ones. I could go on, but let's hear from others.
(The attached egret image was printed full page in the fall 2004 Natures Best magazine, page 21 in case you have a copy. It was taken in 2003 with a Canon D60 camera, 500 mm f/4 IS lens at f/4, 1/1500 sec at ISO 200, -0.5 stop. The image is a vertical crop from a horizontal image. I gotta go back with my more modern equipment, :) Actually, I have several times, but never got an image I liked more than this one.)
Roger
Why bird photography?
I'll start. First, I started out as a landscape photographer and while always interested in wildlife, a 4x5 sheet film camera was not a great way to do wildlife (but when it worked, the images were great). In the 1990s I started getting better lenses for my 35 mm system and did more wildlife. I then bought a 500 mm f/4 L IS telephoto for the primary purpose of astrophotography. Once I got it, I realized this is a great wildlife lens too. One trip to Bosque had me hooked. I was always in awe on a beautiful bird, but seeing them in the numbers at Bosque where you could see their interactions were amazing. I still do landscapes (now with digital mosaics to reach and surpass 4x5 quality), astrophotography, general wildlife (e.g. Alaska to Africa) and birds. Over the last decade some personal events made bird photography more special for me (including stress at work and some health issues). The contrast of 4x5 photography where I would spend 45 minutes setting up and focusing, to bird-in-flight photography where tracking, focusing, and composition had to be a fraction of a second was examples of extremes. The thrill of capturing images where one has to make such rapid decision was (and is) quite a thrill. Plus bird photography drew me to new locations and seeing more of the world and conditions where animals live and the impact of humans is an amazing eye opener. So bird photography provides many outlets for me. It gets me out into nature under varied conditions, action provides challenges up to and beyond my abilities and equipment, and there are so many different species, I'll never exhaust seeing new ones. I could go on, but let's hear from others.
(The attached egret image was printed full page in the fall 2004 Natures Best magazine, page 21 in case you have a copy. It was taken in 2003 with a Canon D60 camera, 500 mm f/4 IS lens at f/4, 1/1500 sec at ISO 200, -0.5 stop. The image is a vertical crop from a horizontal image. I gotta go back with my more modern equipment, :) Actually, I have several times, but never got an image I liked more than this one.)
Roger