As long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in nature and photography.  When I was a child, I started with a Kodak Brownie camera.  When I was 16, my dad gave me his Nikon F SLR camera.  Wow, a real camera!  I bought every book I could find that described how to take creative photographs (there was no internet in those days).  I taught myself the technical elements of photography: aperture, shutter speed, and film ISO.  Photography was put on hold while I pursued my education and then a career as a scientist at Duke University Medical Center followed by consulting for the pharmaceutical industry. When I retired, I rekindled my interest in birding, and then started photographing the birds and other interesting aspects of nature.

I enjoyed taking technically beautiful photographs of birds, ie, correct focus, lighting, etc.  But I found that many of my photos were of birds sitting on a branch or standing on the ground.  As good as the photos were, I found these static photos sort of boring. 

So, I decided to develop my expertise to photograph birds doing interesting things.  I’ve always marveled at how birds can fly.  Sometimes, I found the scenery around the bird captivating, such as the pelicans soaring over a breaking wave.  Other times, the birds were doing something interesting, such as the gnatcatcher building her nest or a mockingbird harassing a crow.

When I go out to photograph Nature, I try to be mindful of whatever Nature reveals to me.  Sometimes it’s a colorful butterfly, some other interesting insect, or a bird exhibiting an interesting or unusual behavior.  I try to photograph these moments in time; some happen so fast, it’s difficult or impossible for us to see with our eyes.  In these photographs, I provide a peek into the Nature that surrounds us.  I hope you enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Most of the photographs were taken with a Sony A9 or Sony A1 full-frame mirrorless camera with a Sony FE 100-400mm GM OSS lens.  Some of the older photographs were taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 bridge camera with a 24-400mm equivalent zoom range.