Being a photographer is a great joy and privilege. I chose this profession because I want to help

Everyone has their own philosophy about the work they do. This is just my opinion. To me good nature photographers let nature speak for itself and are constantly curious about everything. They interact and commune with nature, with a sense of ease and closeness, and discover interesting, attractive, and meaningful visuals along the way.

It's like talking with a good friend, spending the day together in close company, and writing down some of the interesting and memorable things they say throughout the course of conversation.

Good photographers avoid stereotypes and cliches, and constantly seek to discover something new, to investigate variety in the environment, and to create a diversity of images - new and different subjects, framing, focal length, depth of field, and qualities and quantities of light.

Good photographers use the basic tools of focal length, framing, aperture, and shutter speed to interpret what is in front of the camera, but don't use computers to manipulate reality to fit their vision of what the world should look like. They are not obsessed with the first and last five minutes of golden light every day, and can see the value and capture the beauty of nature at any time of day and in any season. Nature does not exist to perform and produce for photographers, and it is not a TV celebrity that only looks good in heavy makeup and fancy lighting.

In my opinion good photographers have little interest in awards, shows, club memberships, or recognition. Fresh air, the morning sun, the sound of birds, the sheer joy of being out in nature, and leaving something beautiful, interesting, and helpful for the future are what matter. Above all a good photographer has an open mind and endless curiousity.

Priorities

I am grateful for all of the opportunities that I've had to work in so many special places. I am most thankful to have worked at length in the Klamath Basin, one of the most important places in the world for birds, and with the famous Cape Baboons of South Africa. I've steered away from stereotypical, overdone subjects like bears catching fish and sunsets over rocky coastlines, and instead focused on in-depth documentation of places and creatures that need attention and aren't getting it.

I'm very happy and thankful to have been a part of so many special conservation issues, and to hopefully have made important contributions. I try to create attractive images in the process.

Photo Manipulation

My photographs are natural. The only filter I ever use on the camera is a polarizer, and I very rarely use one except in tropical rain forests. I don't do any tinting, HDR, or other shenanigans on the computer. I don't cut and paste scene elements, and I crop as little as possible. I do standard adjustments to tone and color, but I am a strong opponent of the photo manipulation seen on popular websites like photo.net. It's only my opinion, but I think this obsession with Photoshop has been an absolute disaster for photography.

As you browse my site you can feel certain that you're seeing what I saw. If you see light rays in the forest, they were there. If you see a purple sky, it was purple. If the image is dark, the scene was dark. If you see the moon and a bird in the same frame, that's how it was. Photo art is fine, but be very clear about it and call it that. I do none of it. To me reality doesn't need to be improved and shouldn't be changed on a computer. It takes away the meaning of the images.