I remember the transition to digital from film. Film was so easy to understand and use. An opportunity to travel to Ecuador and the Galapagos came up. It would be the trip of a lifetime. Nikon had a entry level digital camera that caught my interest, the D100. It seemed like a no-brainer for storing several hundred travel and wildlife pictures. It even had auto focus and another 50 features that I didn’t comprehend or think were important. Turns out they were…. I don’t remember much about the controls on the D100 other than they were really different than my “F” & “F100”. So I plunged into the “digital jungle” …with both. I looked silly with two cameras…a “failsafe” at the time. Please share your first digital wildlife….


There was a very steep learning curve and I just plowed ahead trying to transfer, if not translate my film camera knowledge to the D100. Wasn’t very successful by my digital standards today. But there were some keepers to share… First, a Galapagos Hawk… (not afraid of people then and I walked right by him!)


Next is a “Darwin Finch” (I think ?) nobody has made a positive identification for me.


I had heard of the blue-footed booby but wasn’t prepared to see one with red feet. Meet the “red-footed booby”


..and sea lions and pelicans were always posing…

2009 and 2010. I had just bought a D40 with a 18-55, then added a 55-200. Shot in JPEG in probably Sport Mode lol. My ex husband was the camera guy so I never had to take pictures until we had divorced. I learned fairly quick and thankfully I had no lack of farm animals, flowers, and some wildlife to practice on. I took pictures of everything while I was first starting into this journey lol. How I wish that many of those first images had been shot in raw. I hadn't shot much film so the learning curve wasn't steep in that regard.

LouiseDan said:

2009 and 2010. I had just bought a D40 with a 18-55, then added a 55-200. Shot in JPEG in probably Sport Mode lol. My ex husband was the camera guy so I never had to take pictures until we had divorced. I learned fairly quick and thankfully I had no lack of farm animals, flowers, and some wildlife to practice on. I took pictures of everything while I was first starting into this journey lol. How I wish that many of those first images had been shot in raw. I hadn't shot much film so the learning curve wasn't steep in that regard.

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That skunk is soaking wet!

Larry S. said:

That skunk is soaking wet!

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Yup, he sure was. He was a young one that was hanging around the yard eating fallen bird seed in the rain. By the end of that shoot we were both looking like drowned rats lol

First DSLR was a Nikon D5000 acquired in 2009 as I was moving to Saudi Arabia for work. Prior to that time, I used P&S digitals for family photos. About 4 weeks after arriving, I went on a Business trip from Jeddah up the mountains to Taif Air Base. En route we were greeted by many local Hamadryas Baboons. This young one was sitting on the barricade right next to a several hundred foor drop. Just snapped this one and several others. I got better wildlife shots over the nearly 12 years I was there, but this was the first. You can see light streaks from the closed car windows, as it was not a good idea to give them the opportunity to jump in your vehicle.

JAS said:

First DSLR was a Nikon D5000 acquired in 2009 as I was moving to Saudi Arabia for work. Prior to that time, I used P&S digitals for family photos. About 4 weeks after arriving, I went on a Business trip from Jeddah up the mountains to Taif Air Base. En route we were greeted by many local Hamadryas Baboons. This young one was sitting on the barricade right next to a several hundred foor drop. Just snapped this one and several others. I got better wildlife shots over the nearly 12 years I was there, but this was the first. You can see light streaks from the closed car windows, as it was not a good idea to give them the opportunity to jump in your vehicle.
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Joe, This is a terrific shot for the time and place! …and camera ! Thanks for sharing..