In last week’s blog post, I shared my ‘early years’ as a photographer,  talked about the various genre’s that I enjoyed and finally my realization that I probably wasted 15 years as a photographer taking crappy pictures with an expensive camera and thinking I knew what I was doing.

When Covid hit in 2020, I was unable to visit most of the locale’s that I enjoyed photographing.  I realized I needed to shift gears and begun to photograph flowers in earnest.

As the world began to reopen after Covid, I spent lots of time in parks and gardens photographing flowers.  Using what I had learned in photographing other genres, my goal was to produce flower images in a way that you hadn’t seen before.  

This photo appeared on my first magazine cover

This is probably my favorite garden flower photo I've taken

So for pretty much all of 2020 and 2021, flowers were my primary subject.  I used these pictures to publish my first book, Flowers in Isolation, which was a collection of my flower photos taken during the Covid lockdown.

My first book - A collecton of photos during the Covid Pandemic

In 2021, I thought I might give a try at bird / wildlife photography.  I bought my first super telephoto lens which is key for bird photography.  I quickly found that I enjoyed the challenges that bird photography presents.

Bird photography is definitely the most challenging photography that I’ve ever done.  In the case of Bald Eagles, you’re trying to keep your camera focused onto something that is approx, 3’ tall, often over 100 yards away and you have no idea what it’s going to do or where it’s going next.

In March of 2021, I was at a park that is literally on the edge of my neighborhood and saw / photographed a bald eagle for the first time.  My first photos of them were awful but that didn’t matter, I was hooked!   I had Bald Eagles practically in my neighborhood to photograph!

Since then, I have taken thousands and thousands of photos of Bald Eagles and gotten to have many encounters with my two buddies that I call John & Sandy.  

John & Sandy relaxing on their favorite perch

I still enjoy photographing other genre’s of photography and other wildlife but for me, nothing beats being out in a mucky swamp and be surrounded by Bald Eagles!

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, you can drop me a line in the comments below and I'll get back to you straight away!