Share some of your early successful wildlife shots

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NorthernFocus

NorthernFocus

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Sometimes I enjoy going back and looking at work from years ago compared to recent shots. Thought maybe it would be interesting to see what others considered their first "successful" images. Feel free to post any type of critter.

Here's my first really successful bear image. Shot in 2012 with a Nikon D7000/200-400mm VRii. Still one of my better bears for obvious reasons.

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American Pika (Ochotona princeps), August 1971
Nikon F, 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor-P, E2 extension tube
Kodachrome X, 1/60 sec @ f/4.5 leaning against a rock
you'll find it on the inside front cover of Audubon, September 1974 - my first national photo credit

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Sometimes I think the event is more important than the photo. Currently 58, I had read about the plight of the California Condor my whole life. I certainly didn't think it was realistic to ever see one myself. I had some time to spare before meeting friends in SFO, so went for a day hike at Pinnacles National Park. I didn't expect to see any birds, but all the sudden there were a half dozen soaring along the ridge around me. They made several huge laps following the ridge, and then back across the valley to start over again. For some reason during one of these laps, this fella came right over to me, I guess to confirm I still had a heart beat. The sound those wings made flapping the the air was incredible and forever locked in my mind. Amazing event, and I love having this one cell phone photo to refresh the moment.

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Ductape said:
Sometimes I think the event is more important than the photo. Currently 58, I had read about the plight of the California Condor my whole life. I certainly didn't think it was realistic to ever see one myself. I had some time to spare before meeting friends in SFO, so went for a day hike at Pinnacles National Park. I didn't expect to see any birds, but all the sudden there were a half dozen soaring along the ridge around me. They made several huge laps following the ridge, and then back across the valley to start over again. For some reason during one of these laps, this fella came right over to me, I guess to confirm I still had a heart beat. The sound those wings made flapping the the air was incredible and forever locked in my mind. Amazing event, and I love having this one cell phone photo to refresh the moment.

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You came away with a nice shot too. Congrats
 
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Here's another blast from the past. In 2008 I bought my first big glass in the form of the Nikon 200-400mm VR2. Back then it was paired with a D300 and I was in my first year of BIF photography. The following image was from an early outing with that kit. I can recall pulling this one up on the computer and feeling the thrill of my first really successful BIF image. And feeling like I'd made a good choice with the lens.

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I got my first DSLR in 2020 so I haven't been at it that long but I was hooked from the start. These two images, taken a couple of months in, showed me the potential of the equipment and inspired me to keep trying to improve my technique.


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Got my first DSLR (Nikon D5000) in late November 2009 just before moving to Saudi Arabia. A few weeks after arriving, we had to visit an airbase neat Taif which involved a very sceni drive from sea level to over 7000ft above sea level (at peak). Near the top, there were many wild Hamadryas Baboons hanging out on the roadside watching us watch them. Shot this from inside the car and it the first wildlife shot from that camera. Lately reprocessed in LrC with greatly improved outcome given my increased experience and skills since processed in in Photoshop Elements. Still more improvment to be gained.

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I took what you said to mean early in my pursuit of wildlife as a photography subject. My first trip that included some wildlife was in January 2013. I went to San Diego with a couple of friends and we shot at the San Diego Zoo Safari park from a truck that took us through the park. We were allowed out in some areas. While walking around to get shots I saw a pelican on a rock in the water and the sun was behind it: I focused right on the pelican and took the shot and the shot included here is the result. On that same trip we did a bird side-trip and the pelican flying was a result of that trip, (my first attempt at flying birds) it received a Third Place Award in the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival 2013. Then, in May 2013, I took a trip with a photography group to South Africa which was my first actual wildlife trip. I knew that I was too inexperienced to get animals in action (I knew very little at that time as I look back on it...and I still know so little) so I decided ahead of time to simply take the best portrait shots that I could and the lion shot (I put a background behind it) is the result of that trip. I was hooked on wildlife photography after the Africa trip and have been at it since then, still learning and trying to get better at it.
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Here's a few scanned slides from images shot in the '90s before I made the move to digital. Most shot on Fuji Velvia or Provia. Not the best quality scans from an old Canon slide scanner I had once upon a time but some of the earliest wildlife images I have digital copies of.

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The Osprey was imaged with the first use of my 600mm F:4gVR, the bear was with an F5 and manual 600mmF:4 and the Moose was with my D1x and my Sigma 800mmF:5.6 F. These are all early in my photographic eaperience.
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