“Where you get your break is shooting personal projects in your backyard, your home town, places you can go repeatedly. Find Something We haven’t done, make it your own, and beat it to death. Put your blood, sweat, and tears in there. . . take a subject that is your own and spend four or five years on it. And if your balk at doing that, well, that’s where we weed out the pretenders.” – Michael “Nick” Nichols, National Geographic staff wildlife photographer and editor at large.

 This is probably one of the best damn quotes I have ever read in regards to “breaking into the business.” Everybody wants to be a professional nature photographer, travel the world, see the sights, drink from life, and get all the girls. The reality of what it actually takes to do this job is another topic altogether of course, but what does it really take to get your foot in the door? As Nick Nichols explains, hopping on a plane for Afghanistan for three months spending your life’s savings is not how its done.

For anybody out there that is trying to make that next step in their photography, these are very wise words and rock solid business advice! Ask yourself, what is in your own backyard that you can focus on, perfect your technical skills in photography, grow your stock files exponentially, and become an expert in? Sure you can move out to Jackson Hole Wyoming and decide you are going to become the go-t0 guy / gal for grizzly bears. You will however already have some pretty heavy hitters that you will find yourself up against. Folks like Tom Mangleson already live there and have decades under their belts making a name for themselves with such animals. You could move to Florida and try to make a name for yourself with bird photography, but likewise you will have a grocery list of other top notch pros that are already there doing just that.

This is not to say that you should not move to Florida to photograph birds or Jackson Hole and take up photography bears. If that is your dream then by all means grab life by the horns and follow through with it. Instead, what I am trying to say is that you do not have to spend 9 months a year camped out in Africa, or hike across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on foot in order to get started.  There are plenty of projects for you to work on that will be exclusively yours – its just your job to find those projects. Maybe this does require you traveling to ANWR to photograph nesting shorebirds on the tundra, or to Trinidad to photograph leatherback sea turtles. At the same time though, this could be something close by, something that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on to make happen. The key is to photograph what you enjoy photographing already. Like Nick Nichols said, take this and put your blood sweat and tears into it. Go beyond what others would do. Make it distinctively yours. Do this, and you will succeed. 

For me, this something distinctly me was the wild horses along the coast of the Outer Banks. This is where I live, this is my backyard and I was able to break into the business by making these horses my personal project. For Doug Gardner it was photographing waterfowl throughout his stomping grounds that made him a name before the television show. Kevin Adams practically owns photographing waters falls in NC. Nick Nichols made a name for himself by photographing caves around his home. Art Wolfe built his reputation photographing places like Olympic National Park and Mt. Rainier in his home state of Washington. You have to start somewhere, and most do it right there where they already are.

Are you using your histograms? Do you even know what this is? The histogram is one of the greatest advancements in photography and one of your must useful tools on your camera. Despite this fact, I have found that many beginning photographers tend to shy away from their histogram like the plague! If this is you, or if you are still not incorporating the histogram into how you shoot, than you are holding yourself back. Its the 21st century and you need to photograph like it!

Basically your histogram is the modern day light meter. This little graph will tell you how many stops of light your camera is capable of capturing detail, where your exposure falls across this range, if you are over exposing, underexposing, etc. . . Your histogram will even break down your exposure into the three color channels of red, green, and blue – which is far more helpful than the single histogram that most photographers check if they even check their histogram at all. So your histogram is all about exposure and is the tool that will tell you if you nailed it or not. Getting the exposure right in the camera (not by adjusting a slider in RAW) is crucial to producing the highest quality image that you can.

When it comes to exposure, you have to understand that your camera can only record information across a limited range of light. In photography we refer to this typically as stops of light. Though your eyeball may be able to record 12 on up to potentially 20 “stops” of light (think tones of light from black to stark white) your camera can only record 5, and thus you need to keep that information within the tonal range that your camera can record! This is why what you see is never going to be what you get exactly. Your eyeball, and the brain that is full of thoughts, emotions, memories, etc. . . that interprets what you see is just a couple million years ahead in technological advancements from that of your digital camera (regardless of how much you paid for it!). Being able to keep your exposure inside of this range of light is the first step to nailing exposure.

Histograms are set up from from absolute black to absolute white (left to right). This means that if your histogram is squeezed up against the left hand side of the graph, than you have underexposed your image and there will be areas of complete black containing zero information. Likewise, if your histogram is cut off at the right side of the graph, than you overexposed and will have parts of your photograph that are blown out white.

This does not mean that you should have a bell curve in your histogram. There is no proper shape to what your histogram is supposed to look like. I repeat, there is no proper shape to a histogram!

Every scene is different. Every scene will offer a differing amount of lights and darks, shadows and highlights. So this means that your histogram will look different for every scene. You just need to remember that the left side is dark, the right side is bright. “Sayings” often help us remember stuff… so think right is bright. Or, right is white. What ever works for you here.

Now, in terms of the different histograms that your camera will display, you should have 4. The most important ones for you to consider here are the RGB histograms (red, green, blue). Why? Just because the single histogram shows that you have kept your exposure within range, this is only an average of the RGB. Looking at the individual red, green, and blue channels themselves will often reveal that you have blown out your reds for instance while the single histogram shows that everything is within acceptable range. Why does this matter? Say this image is a sunrise and the dominant colors of the sky are red. Now, instead of depth to the color of the sky, you will end up with a section that is noticeably flat and potentially blotchy.

Now if you are still with me thus far, I might be getting ready to enter into territory that may get confusing. There is a saying (I like sayings) when it comes to histograms. . . “expose to the right.” If you remember this much than you will be doing good here. Explanation however, is in order though.

You must first understand that each full change in f/stop gives up a doubling effect. What the heck does that mean? Well, it means that if I open up my f/stop from say f/11 to f/8 than I am effectively doubling the amount of light that enters in through the lens and to the camera’s sensor. That part is easy enough. But because of this doubling effect and they way that the camera’s sensor is designed to record light, the brightest 1/5 has the best ability to record the greatest amount of information.

Here is where it gets weird.

RAW files are going to capture about 4,096 distinct tonal values. Since f/stops and your camera’s sensor works on a doubling effect of light, this means that the brightest 1/5 of the histogram will contain 2048 tones, the next 5th 1024, and on down to 128 tones on the dark side of the scale. Thus, the vast majority – a full 50% – of the cameras ability to record information occurs within the brightest 1/5 of your histogram. Check out Adobe’s site for more information on this ( http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/photoshop/pdfs/linear_gamma.pdf )

Moving away from math and algorithms what this means then is that if your histogram is bunching up near the left hand side of graph, than you will be contending with more digital noise, and less to work with in the image. 

This is a rule of thumb of course. And as with all creative rules, they are most certainly meant to be broken! Its just that we have to understand why the rules are there to begin with and how that they work before we can successfully break them!

OK, so key highlights of histograms….

1. use them!

2. left is dark, right is bright

4. There is no such thing as a proper shape to your histogram

3. when the information is cut off at the edge of the graph (left or right) this means that you have lost information and will have absolute black or absolute white instead.

4. In most instances, expose to the right of the histogram without overexposing to avoid noise and record the maximum amount of tonal values.

5. Experiment! Get out and shoot. Try different exposure settings and look at how your histogram changes accordingly.

After getting my fill of landscapes the day before, it was time to go hunting for moose again! As moose tend to prefer wetlands, here in Jackson Hole the riparian habitats (river bottoms) are the key areas to search for moose. The snake river offers photographers some amazing opportunities to photograph moose. However, working this river requires some big logistics as this stretch of the valley is big, long, and difficult to access. The rewards however are scenes and backgrounds that you will not find elsewhere in the valley when it comes to moose. Unfortunately, time was not on my side for making this happen this trip (on workshops we do a float trip down the snake for this very reason).

Since the Snake was out of the question, the obvious substitute was the Gros Ventre river (pronounced grow-vant). This river is a classic braided river in which sediment loads are so large that gravel bars form across the river bottom which effectively divides the main flow into multiple channels. Along many of these old bars grow thick stands of willow which in this region stand as one of the preferred foods of moose. With a large number of bulls and cows living along the Gros Ventre, and the ease of access for photographers, this river is a hot spot for moose photography. Most photographers never venture more than 50 yards from their vehicles and therefore miss out out much of the action. If you are willing to get your feet wet and do a little hiking around, you can quickly leave the crowds behind here – much like the Snake.

In this image, I followed the bull on the right for nearly 2 miles. From his behavior it was quite obvious that he had no interest in food. With head held high and soft grunts that reminded me of the cooing that tundra swans make when they are all clustered together while pair bonding, and a steady pace above the bank of the river through the sagebrush, it was obvious that he had something else on his mind. Really the only time that he would stop was to toss his head back into the air and roll back his upper lip in what is known as the flehmen response. Ungulates, or hoofed mammals, have a vomeronasal organ (also known as the Jacobson’s organ) in the roof of their mouths which is basically a chemoreceptor that picks up pheromones in the air. In behaving this way, my bull was basically trying to taste the air for cows or potential threats from other nearby bulls.

Working with animals that are on a mission is next to impossible. Moose are big and dangerous, especially when in the rut like this. Trying to jockey in front of the bull to capture some head on images proved almost futile and therefore the best thing to do was to just keep up.

Dropping back down into the river bottom, his pace began to slow. Twenty yards from a dense stand of willow growing along the edge of the river, he stopped cold. He stood motionless for a minute and it was then that I realized he had stopped his strange grunting noise. It was obvious that he was fixated on something unseen by me. Suddenly, his ears lowered to the side and protruded horizontally from his head. With this most subtle of body language, I knew that there was another bull approaching, though still out of site to me.

I heard a rustle come from the willows and suddenly another bull, quite larger than the one I had been following, materialized from the vegetation. Both stood broadside to each other, displaying their size in hopes to intimidate the opponent. In what seemed like a perfectly choreographed action, both bulls began rolling their heads and antlers in exaggerated fashion from side to side in perfect synchronicity. This was the ritualized dance that bulls partake in with each other leading up to battle royal. To read about this is one thing. To be knelt down 30 feet away and watch this with your own eyes and something completely different. There is much poetry involved in this ritualized behavior. The dance is beautiful to watch – both bulls walking parallel to each other, antlers swaying in unison, slowly closing the gap until turning to face each other nose to nose. Such elegance, yet potentially so deadly for those who choose to partake in this dance.

It was obvious who was the dominant bull today. Nearly a foot taller at the shoulders the defending bull would hold his ground and his cows today, as the invading bull glanced away after several very suspenseful seconds  that felt like an eternity to me as an onlooker. With that avoided glance, he showed that he recognized the authority of the defending bull and his claim to the cows that stood watching down below. With the grace of the greatest of kings, the dominant bull allowed the other to walk away from the challenge without aggression. That’s how you know who was the real bad ass here!

Ok, so I know that this blog entry is skipping a day. Lets just say that while in Jackson, I stay pretty busy! As a disclaimer to this series of Wyoming posts I should note that I was working around the schedule of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival as well as other business related necessities. Snow had fallen in the valley for nearly 24 hours straight. I was told that this was an early season dusting. To me however, I was looking at between 3 and 8 inches of snow depending upon which end of the valley (north or south) that I was at. Along the coast of North Carolina, this sort of snow accumulation closes schools and businesses. They have probably considered air lifting in food for less than that on the Outer Banks!

Moving up in elevation however, the snow fall continued to pile up over the course of two days. The clouds stayed low, and completely enveloped the Grand Tetons. Photography over this course of time fluctuated back and forth between wildlife and intimate landscapes in the valley while I patiently waited for the storm to break over the mountains.

Waking up to a pre-dawn alarm I looked out the window and say one single solitary star shining in the west – the direction of the Tetons range. This was all I needed. Dashing out the door with equipment in hand I hopped into the rental and headed north to Oxbow Bend on the Snake river. In doing so, I knew very well that I would be passing up grizzly 399 and her two cubs feeding on an elk carcass behind Signal Mountain. I knew that I would passing up some incredible images of bull moose in the snow covered sage brush down along the Gross Ventre river. I also knew that this was a complete gamble. One star in the sky over the southern end of the valley does not by any means guarantee anything up north!

For me though, I knew there was a possibility to photograph the often photographed oxbow reflections with a slightly different twist than is typically seen from that location. The potential for fresh snow, aspens on fire, and a parting storm, though a complete gamble, was too much for me to pass up. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling on where to be in the morning. Like any gamble though you will find mixed results. For me though, I am a firm believer that chance favors the prepared mind!

You have to remember, the Tetons are very photogenic! This means that they receive a whole lot of attention from photographers nearly everyday of the year. Luckily though, the vast majority of these photographers shoot from the same spots and typically try to imitate what has already been done a ten million times before. With this in mind, you just need to approach locations like these with a different vision, and be willing to explore the landscape.

As forecasted, temperatures continued to fall throughout the night, and precipitation moved into the region in the form of snow. As to be expected, wildlife activity really jumped into gear with this new weather pattern.

Like a kid stuck in school, I set staring out the window all morning long as we hashed out details and logistics for this upcoming winter’s Yellowstone photography workshops by snowmobile. All day I watched as the snow continued to pile up and those romantic big fat flakes blanketed the world in white. Finally, with all the details set into stone, I was able to rush out of the cabin for a late afternoon shoot.

One of the classic images of this time of year are the golden leaves of aspens juxtoposed against snow capped mountains as fall snow storms in the higher elevations are a common occurrence. With the snow still coming down however, the mountains were socked with and sweeping landscapes were out of the question. Wildlife was abundant, and moose were out in force, but I had aspens on the brain and therefore bypassed several really great locations in order to head up into the Gross Ventre range for some intimate landscapes.

Aspens really must be one of the most beautiful trees in North America. There is just something about those stark white stems with contrasting black eyes and speckles that has always fascinated me. Couple this with the way that these trees often grow in dense groves, and you have a recipe for some really unique opportunities that allow for your creativity to run wild!

Ever wonder why in Yellowstone and Jackson Hole that the only animals you typically see during most of the day in the summer are bison and pronghorn? This is due to the these animals ability to thermoregulate. Thermoregulation is basicaly your ability to control your body temerpature. Sure, this is one of the distinct characteristics that all mammals have in contrast to, say, reptiles (except for the leatherback sea turtle). Though mammals can control their body temperatures, some are more adapted at surviving the head and direct effect of the sun than others. Much of this has to do with animals ability to cool their brains, and how long that such animals have been exposed to such environments throughout their evolutionary history.

Cervids, or the deer family, are one of those groups of animals that cannot tolerate high temperatures and are what we call crepuscular in nature. Meaning, they are active at dusk and dawn primarily for this reason. This is why in Yellowstone and Jackson hole elk, moose, dear are few and far between except for at dawn and dusk. Its the same thing with bears as well. Many animals respond to the warming temperatures by either hiding on day beds (moose) or otherwise moving up in elevation to where they can follow the Spring up above tree line (grizzly).

As I began to plan for this years trip to Jackson Hole for the fall rut, temperature was therefore heavy on my mind. An unseasonably warm spell had settled over the region and temps had climbed as high as 80 the day before I arrived in town. Speaking with other photographers that were in Yellowstone, my fears had been confirmed that wildlife was few and far between. Luckily however, my first full day in the valley was forcasted to see a major change in weather patterns as temps were to begin dropping.

When it comes to Jackson Hole and Grand Tetons National Park, the first thing I think of in terms of wildlife photography is moose. Its the name of one of the towns in the valley and even the symbol of this national park. Thus, when I come to Jackson for photography, moose are usually first on my list to search for. Unfortunately though, the Jackson Hole population has begun to crash over the last 10 years with a population size diminishing from nearly 3,000 individuals to 970.

A lot of speculation has circulated in regards to what has caused this sort of rapid and alarming decline and much of it falls on to the shoulders of a rising population of predators in the valley. Wolves and grizzly bears are a hot topic in the northern Rockies and many are looking to place blame on these animals making their living in the area. Studies done by both the state of Wyoming and Minnesota (which lost an entire population of 4,000 in the northwestern corner of the state) however are pointing towards a general trend in moose decline which has nothing to do with predation.

One of the key factors now being studied in these declines is in fact a general warming trend in temperatures throughout the moose states. Moose are a species of the north, there is no doubt about that. With the long hollow hairs and thick insulating undercoat that these animals carry around, even calves do not begin to feel the effects of cold until temps drop to negative 22 degrees. On the other hand, at 57 degrees adults begin to show signs of heat stress and at 68 degrees they have to begin panting to cool themselves down. With summer time temperatures in places like Jackson Hole now inching their way up the 90s at times during the summer months, could this be making the moose more susceptible to disease or having lower birth rates? As of right now, we do not have an answer to that question. What we do know however, is that based upon calf and cow survival rates, predation can be ruled out as a factor tipping the scales.

With the drop in temperatures down to the mid 50s as a high my first day in the park, this proved to be the spark that was needed to ignite the action all through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Moose, elk, black bears, grizzly bears, etc. . . all responded as predictably.

This bull moose came up out of the willow thickets down along the Gros Ventre river with his harem of three cows just before dawn and spent the majority of the morning feeding on rabit brush. Though I had scouted a larger bull that day, this one had the seclusion to allow me to work for hours on end without crowds. In terms of the experience, it doesn’t get better than that!

Darkness still ruled the world as I set out in my truck to drive the beach. Living in one of the most unique coastal communities in North America, driving the beach like this is a fact of life. There are no roads. There is only sand. The beach is our highway, our commute. Watching the sun rise up over the Atlantic Ocean, the dorsal fins of bottlenose dolphin crest the surface of the water, the swash of the waves roll in – these are the accompanying images of my morning routine. Sure does beat beltway traffic.

This particluar morning the tide was higher than normal. With that said though, we were right on the heals of Hurricane Irene here along the Outer Banks and so the ocean was still piled up high against our coastline. During the summer months, these abnormally high tides can often bring prehistoric visitors to our beaches in the night. Utilizing the exceptionally high tides to help propel their bodies as far up the beach as the ocean will allow, sea turtles lay their eggs all up down the beach of the Outer Banks. As luck would have it, this would happen right in front of me.

The most common of the sea turtles is the loggerhead, or Caretta carretta. Green sea turtles and leatherbacks will make their appearence along our wind swept beaches from time to time but it is the loggerhead that makes up the lions share of our turtle population here for which the Outer Banks serves as a very important part of their total nesting habitat. Even though the number of loggerhead nests that we see here pales in comparison to other places such as Bald Head Island or Jupiter Beach, the Outer Banks is the farthest north that these turtles will typically nest. This is profoundly important because sea turtles are reptiles and therefore ectothermic – meaning, they control their body temperatures by the temperature around them. Seeing how that the Outer Banks is the northern extend of their nesting grounds, this means that the temperature of the sand here on our beaches will be quite different than the sand in Florida. Thus, the Outer Banks produces an estimated 90% of the males in the entire loggerhead sea turtle population. Pretty cool huh?

Its really quite unusual to find one of these girls hauled out on the beach during daylight hours. Sea turtle eggs and hatchlings are a delicacy for scavengers and carnivores the world over. Thus it is in the turtles best interest to come ashore, lay, and then hide her nest under the cloak of darkness. Realistically, out of the hundred or so eggs that will be laid, there may be one or two of these turtles that will survive until maturity. And for a loggerhead, this take a really long time. Its ironic that the largest turtle on Earth, which is also considered to be the largest wild reptiles on Earth – the leatherback – matures and breeds at the age of 4. Loggerheads on the other hand reach maturity around 34! This is one of the reasons that these turtles are endangered now. Any species that is long lived and takes a long time to mature has a very difficult time surviving in the face of Western Civilization.

Another irony at work here is that although every sea turtle on Earth is considered to be endangered, those species that breed primarily in third world nations such as the green, kemps riddly, hawksbill, and leatherback are all beginning to make a come back. The loggerhead on the other hand nests primarily along the southeast coast of the United States and has suffered at 40% decline in its population since the 1980s. Interesting how that we demand that these other countries curtail their industries that were decimating their sea turtle populations and available nesting beaches, while here back in the States, we have yet to effectively handle our own problems.

Biologists are trained in the art of disconnection. They are taught not to humanize and never to anthropomorphize the “organisms” that they are studying. Luckily, artists are not constrained by such notions and we are free to bridge the gaps between humans and animals quite freely. Despite what we would like to believe sometimes, we ourselves are animals. We connect and relate to other living creatures and according the Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, we have an innate psychological need to connect and associate with other living things.

Recently I was asked to speak at the monthly meeting of the Outer Banks chapter of Carolina Nature Photographers Association and I chose to talk on this topic. That is, transcending the species boundary and connecting with your subject – or in other words, humanizing wildlife in your own photography.  When first approached about this, I had considered speaking on light in wildlife photography and explaining the different types and directions and how to use them creatively. The day I was supposed to speak however I ended up photographing a young foal and its mother in Carova Beach and decided to switch topics at the last minute to something a bit more abstract.

As mammals, we have an intense connection to the eyes. We communicate volumes of information with our eyes and we in turn look into the eyes of both other humans and animals alike to read their eyes and their meanings. It is for this reason that capturing the eye of your subject is so critically important for wildlife photography. You have heard many times that above all else, make sure the eye is sharp. Why? Because this is where your viewer will look first. As animals ourselves, we seek out the eye for information and then build upon that with what else is going on in the image.

The eyes speak volumes in regards to emotion, feeling, and intent, just as the angle of the camera to our subjects eyes allows us to convey this emotion and feeling in our images. It is only when we photographers realize this, that our work begins to move beyond documentation and into the realm of art.

As art, an image has the ability to evoke emotion, wonder, or awe in a viewer. This is the power of art. Art engages the mind. And from the perspective of a wildlife photographer, transcending the barrier of species to evoke a feeling in our viewers is the first step in the direction of fine art.

For the last three weeks, I have gone on full alert for fox dens. Typically we begin to see the kits lounging around on the front porches of their dens come mid to late May. This year however, it seemed like nothing was going to produce until a week ago. At last I finally began seeing the dunes around the den sites chocked full of fox tracks big and small. Every couple of days I would make my rounds to 3 dens that I had located over the winter to watch for activity. A couple of days ago I finally caught site of my first kits for the year.

The following morning I was sitting on a sand dune at sunrise with a spotting scope, binoculars, and my 200-400 vr lens (just in case). Though I had done my initial scouting months before hand to find the dunes, it was now time to spend a little quality time with this family to try and get a feel for the layout of their chosen home and to figure out exactly how I wanted to work this site. Once the temperature began to climb, the kits dove into the cool protection of their preferred den. Foxes will typically dig several den sites for protection, and to alternate between as flees build up in one. Once the kits begin to get a little bigger and start becoming more independent, the different sites will take on the function of separate apartments for the kits – each with their preferred hole that they can be seen lounging around in front at dusk and dawn.

There at two primary issues that you have to overcome when photographing fox dens like this. 1. foxes are usually very shy and will not tolerate anyone approaching their den (they run, not attack) unless they are extremely habituated – and even then, there is a limit as to how close you can get before panic mode sets in. 2. The den sites are not created for aesthetic purposes and foxes completely disregard the needs of wildlife photographers when choosing their locations. When photographing in the dunes, the sand dunes themselves can be quite cluttered with scraggly dune grasses like sea oats or American beach grass growing in haggard clumps with roots trailing down the the sides of the dune as well. This is part of the reason that I was sitting around watching the foxes from a distance for a few hours. I was trying to locate where I would get the most pleasing background and light.

The other issue, that of shyness, is overcame by the use of blinds. Thus, at noon, when the kits were curled up inside of their dens fast asleep, I moved in to put up a blind to work from. A dune field has ridges and swales. Everyone knows what a ridge is. Swales are the low lying areas between dunes that water filters through the sand to and collects. Its like a desert. Sparse vegetation all along the dunes, then a tiny oasis of life where water congregates. At this site in particular, like most swales along the Outer Banks, wax myrtle, cotton bush, and a variety of sedges were growing in a tight thicket. These swales are the perfect location for constructing blinds since they offer natural cover. Remember, blinds only conceal movement. You usually have to also conceal your blind as well if you are using a man made one. In this instance, I am using a 2 man Ameristep Chair Blind. Preferably I would have a Doghouse blind in place but mine is out of commission. The difference is that the Doghouse Blind can be set up, brushed up, has lots of room, and you enter from the rear without disturbing anything between your subjects and the blind. The Chair Blind on the other hand is designed to be folded back behind the chair in order for you to enter. This means that you have to make a whole lot of movement getting in and out of the blind, and you are very limited in what you can do to conceal the blind from the front since you will have to fold it all back.

The reason that I came in at noon should be obvious but essentially it was done to cause the least amount of disturbance to the site. After the blind was up and brush in place, I quickly vacated the vicinity. When working from a blind, the longer that the blind can be in place before you use it, the better. Changing the environment 30 feet from the entrance to the den is obviously be noticed. If you want to record natural behavior, you need to give the animals time to adjust or habituate to the change.

Before sunrise this morning, I was back at the site, nestled into the blind, and already pulling ticks off of me. I swear I must of killed at least 40 ticks in that spot. I have never seen so many in one location in my life!

As the sun came up and things settled back down around the den, the fox kits did not disappoint. This was the first morning with the blind in place and already they had come to accept it.

Here are a couple from the first morning in the blind.

Dawn was something of a total washout. We had counted on clear skies and that golden hue of early morning light to bathe swamps as we headed on the boat. Instead however, a heavy overcast set in low overhead thus making the light to low for any real action.

Not to be deterred, we set off across the water anyways to a place unlike any I have ever seen. I grew up on the water, in the swamps, on boats, plying the tannin rich black water of Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina. To a certain degree, ospreys have always played backdrop to my world. Skimming past their nests so precariously erected atop old duck hunting blinds across the Currituck Sound, as a kid I was always marveled by their adaptability and fishing prowess.

Here however, on this body of water was largest concentration of these birds that I had ever seen. There were no nesting platforms, no hunting blinds, not telephone pole, or any of the other all too common sites around the Outer Banks that ospreys are typically forced to make their home. Instead, here there were only cypress trees.

In the flooded timber that made up this stretch of the swamp, there must have been an osprey nest every 40 yards, and those trees that did not have an active nest, served as favored perches for the males where they bring in their fish to eat the heads off before handing over the rest to his lady and young.

The cypress trees were beautiful. Typically, when ospreys choose trees to build nests upon, those trees are very large dead standing cypress. Here however, these trees were still quite young for a cypress – which was evident in the conical shape of the tree. With giant balls of twigs and Spanish moss their nesting sites looked like something out of a Dr. Sues book.

By the afternoon the clouds began to break enough to allow for periods of sun and the real fun began. When it comes to photographing birds in flight, having nothing but a blue sky background does not do a thing for me. Boring is what immediately comes to mind. Thus the background becomes a crucial element in creating a since of place, depth, and telling a story. Don’t get me wrong here, a blue sky does not destroy an image of a bird in flight – its just that you need that something extra in the image to keep your viewers attention.

When you are photographing birds, like ospreys, in flight against a background, you are most often better off dialing in your exposure manually. Why? As the bird slips from bright sky to mid-toned / dark background, and you track the bird through the viewfinder, your camera’s meter will consistently be fooled by the quick transition. This typically results is ghastly overexposed images. Manually setting your exposure however will lock it in so that as you track the bird from blue sky to dark green trees for example, your exposure will be dead on every time.

In all, we spent two days out on a boat photographing these birds and had a great time in the process.