Why I love Birding Photography

One of the great loves that I have is to photograph wildlife, especially birds. This started back during the 80s when my "adopted aunt", Augusta Martin, sent me weekly letters containing newspaper clippings on wildlife at the zoo and monthly newsletters from the Vancouver Natural History Society which she subscribed to. Now VNHS has become Nature Vancouver. Sadly my Auntie Martin passed away in the late 90s and she can no longer see the creative seeds that she planted with regards to bird and nature photography germinate. But one of these days, I will ask my mother for the VNHS clippings that Auntie Martin gave me (they must be stored somewhere)

I remember long-time members of VNHS; such as Al and Jude Grass and Eric Greenwood who shot wonderful pictures of birds and other animals in 35mm film (I wonder if they're shooting digital now or still have their 35mm cameras that they pull out every so often). I have to thank them for part of the inspiration of shooting wildlife and nature photography because if it wasn't for them; I probably wouldn't have seen the natural beauty of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. I've often contemplated my wife and I becoming members of Nature Vancouver.

Here are some of my own photos that I shot in 2008.

This bugger decided to take off the minute my wife and I tried to take a shot of him.



These two seemed to be blissfully in their own world.

I shot a photo of this blue heron in 2007

As well this double crested cormorant



Heather and I went down to Serpentine Fen in Summer 2008 and we managed to catch a glimpse of this very accommodating white-crowned sparrow as well as another great blue heron.

I seriously wish I had been able to buy the 600mm f/4 and 400mm f/2.8. Because those lenses would have come in seriously handy for the blue-heron shot. As it was I managed to shoot the white-crowned sparrow with my 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens. Luckily the little guy was so co-operative.

These are some of the bird images that I have taken of birds in the wild. I kind of wonder what my "Auntie Martin" would have said of those images and whether or not she would have smiled and had that little twinkling in her eye at her accomplishment of turning me into a "nature-lover".

Thanks Auntie.

This post on my blog is In Loving Memory of my surrogate Auntie Augusta Martin; Thank you, Auntie Martin for instilling in me a love for nature photography and a respect for all living creatures that still extends to this very day.