What got you started in nature & wildlife photography?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Abinoone

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
I'd be interested in knowing how you got started in nature and wildlife photography. Did you come to it recently, or have you always been a student of nature?

I'll start: while I've always considered myself an amateur naturalist (lots of hiking, camping, hunting and fishing as a kid), only fairly recently (3-4 years ago) did I marry my interest in the natural world with photography. Over the past 50 years, I usually had a camera with me - first a Pentax Spotmatic, then a succession of middle of the road SLRs and point and shoot cameras, which I used for travel, and to document my field work as a professional archaeologist. Ten years ago, when I retired, I started traveling more for pleasure, mostly to national parks both domestically and abroad (at least until the pandemic!). From the images I captured on these trips I often was told that I "had a good eye". This got me thinking about how to make my images even better, so I invested in better gear and started reading a lot and taking formal photography workshops. One of these workshops in particular got me hooked on nature and wildlife photography - run by a pro in the salt marshes of coastal Virginia. I've found nature and wildlife photography to be the perfect blend for an old geezer like me, and keeps me both active and mentally challenged.
 
My first Nikon DSLR was the D70s and it was used primarily to photograph the Grandchildren and Landscapes. Residing in a area with a large Bald Eagle population and yearly trips back to Wyoming and Montana to visit family increased my attention for photographing Wildlife. Five Nikon bodies later along with a collection of Telephoto lenses has made photographing Raptors and Wildlife my primary reason for enjoying photography. Retired 6 years ago and my daily walks on a local Wildlife Refuge with a large estuary fulfills my love of Wildlife Photography.
 
I have always loved the outdoors and photography. In the early 80's I bought a Nikon FG20, well life took over and my wife left me to raise 2 girls on my own. Now they are both are grown into fine young women and I started to pursue my interests. I did some work for a guy that owns a pawn shop and traded some labor for a D5300 About 4 years ago and got hooked on the, to me, new digital world. Now to figure out editing. Hopefully you can teach an old dog new tricks.
 
Last edited:
I grew up in Kansas and the outdoors is common place to find people doing activities such as fishing, hunting, camping etc. I grew up doing it all and bought my first camera at 13. I kind of enjoyed hunting but I mostly enjoyed seeing nature and being in nature. Once I had a camera I decided I would rather shoot with a camera. Now at 46 it is still a passion.
 
I "blame" my parents. When I was in third grade my school was in an oak woodland with a colony of Acorn Woodpeckers, sparking my interest in birds. My well-meaning parents, noticing this interest, bought bird books for me. However most books at the time featured birds of eastern North America, not the western ones I was seeing. I wanted pictures of the western birds so I decided I had to make them myself. I didn't have the training or equipment for wildlife photography until high school when I bought a used Nikon F and during a field workshop led by Ernest Braun and David Cavagnaro I was loaned a 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor-P.
hbird00.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

Hummingbird, 1971

ochpri00.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

American Pika, 1971
The Pika photo from that workshop was my first national photo credit, on the inside front cover of Audubon magazine, September 1974. I was hooked.

spipsa00.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

Lesser Goldfinch, 1970

athcun00.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

Burrowing Owls, 1971

elaleu01.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

White-tailed Kite, 1971​
 
Last edited:
I had my D5500 and kit lenses for sometime but they mostly just sat on a shelf. One day my girlfriend and I were feeling a little restless and decided to head out for a hike at a lake close by that doesn't get a lot of foot traffic. On a whim I decided to bring my camera along for a few shots here and there. Little did I know I'd have one of the most joy filled days in recent years. All on this one hike I saw an Osprey hunting, Bald Eagles, Great Blue Heron, Warblers other birds I never knew that existed. I didn't come away with anything I'd call a good photograph, but what I did take away with me that day was a spark that sent me down the very deep rabbit hole of Birding and wildlife photography. Even if I never win a competition or make a single dime off of it I hope I continue to improve and find the same joy in it that I do today and throughout my life.
 
I’ve always been interested in photography, but primarily action oriented subjects such as some sports, auto racing, vintage aircraft, etc.. The only digital cameras I had in early 2017 was a Fuji point and shoot, and one of the first Nikon superzooms, the P90. I retired in April 2017, and my wife and I did a month long vacation in the Pacific Northwest, highlighted by staying with friends in Corvallis Oregon and observed the total solar eclipse from there. I managed to get some decent shots with the Nikon. That event was mind blowing and also triggered a renewed interest and appreciation for photography. Being in a beautiful part of the country I also found myself observing more what was around me.

We returned home in September and I started seeing more wildlife around me that fall, including quite a few raptors in our neighborhood. They had probably always been there, but between working from daylight to dusk, and not having a real appreciation, I never really noticed them. Recognizing if I was really going to do anything I needed an equipment upgrade, so I bought a D7500 kit at Costco. The weekend I bought it, I was rewarded with this opportunity in my neighbor’s tree.

33279216-F3E3-48E3-845E-0A21EA95CA3B.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.


Now almost 4 years later, I find myself being a lot more observant in my everyday activities. I’ve also discovered hiking both as a way to stay in shape and exercise my photography skills. Wildlife photography has definitely helped me in my transition to retirement, and I love the journey I’m on to become a better photographer…..a work in progress.
 
I first picked up a Kodak Instamatic when I was about 8 years old and an Argus C3 not long after that (still have one of those). I shot all kinds of things but got real excited when I could find some kind of wild animal or bug to put in front of my camera. My parents gave me a Pentax Spotmatic one Christmas and I shot that for many years and carried it hiking, skiing, rock climbing and was pretty happy when I could find tolerant wildlife subjects. Over the years I shot Olympus, Canon, Pentax and Nikon gear and a bit of 120mm roll film as well in a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex that I loved for portraits and some scenics.

But I didn't really consider nature and wildlife to be my prime subjects and didn't invest in long glass until the early '90s when I picked up a used Nikon 600mm f/5.6 manual focus P lens which I paired with a Nikon FE. That kit really opened up doors and since then I've really considered myself a nature, wildlife and outdoor sports photographer though when I ran a business I took whatever work I could find to pay bills which included a fair amount of event and wedding photography but my passion was to be outside and away from folks with a camera and a cooperative wildlife subject.

I upgraded film cameras over the years and still have my N90s but sold my Nikon F100 which was my most advanced film camera that I used for about two years of commercial work before switching to digital with a used Nikon D1H I bought from Moose Peterson after taking one of his workshops. Digital made things even more fun as I could take risks on low probability shots that I probably wouldn't have tried with film and as cameras advanced it got easier and easier to bring home keepers but the real fun is still being out in the field with an interesting wildlife subject or enjoying great light for a landscape setting.

Anyway, I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by wildlife and remember pouring through the images in National Geographic with awe as a kid but I didn't really consider wildlife photography as being within my reach until I scraped up enough cash for my first long lens.
 
Last edited:
In graduate school in the late 1970s I broke up with my girl friend of 5 years. After that friends were hiking, camping and one was shooting. So I joined the group a purchased a Nikon FM and 2 lens - a 43-86 zoom lens (not very sharp) and a 60 (55?) mm macro lens
 
I've always been enamored with nature, and while I've always taken photos I never really purposefully taken photographs of wildlife until after picking up a DSLR for an extended trip to CA for our anniversary. In learning how to use it I would see what I could capture in the back yard. My wife got us into bird watching right after we moved to our current home 29 years ago and it was always fun seeing who could spot a new bird. After the Cali trip we'd go on these local birding things and I saw all these photographers among the folks with binoculars, so I ordered a Sigma 150-500mm. The next winter a Snowy Owl took up residence at a local reservoir and I started going every day at lunch and inevitably I'd strike up conversations with the guys bringing in this giant glass and huge tripods while I was running around handholding. They let me check out their glass and I was convinced I'd never spend that kind of money on a photography hobby. Flash forward 9 years and not only have I spent (almost) that kind of money but I've justified switching systems because of the developmental shortcomings of the one I was on. I spend time just about every day shooting, even if it's mostly standing on my deck looking for songbirds, eagles and hawks, deer, fox, and heck, even squirrels and chipmunks. It's a carnival if you give it the time to notice. I shoot other things, but my time with nature is my time with the universe.
 
As a child I aspired to be a photojournalist. Never figured that path out, but it led to taking photography classes in my youth. After learning the freedom of a darkroom, I bought the equipment to have my own. This was fun and followed me through several moves. As a young man, I developed an addiction to climbing and was always the one to bring the SLR along. Never a long lens, I still aspired to capture the wildlife that was seen along the way. With children, I learned to slow down a bit and enjoy the journey (don't ask to see photo's of my children :) ). As they grew and became less dependent, more disposable income allowed for the purchase of the super telephoto I always wanted. Retirement now allows me the time to spend seeking whatever wildlife I want whenever I choose. A fun passion for sure.
 
Many years back I carried a camera on backpacking and rock climbing trips in the Sierra but was annoyed that the images I brought back looked like snapshots and felt nothing like what it was like to actually be there at the time. But every once in a while I'd see an image somewhere that caught a little of it, so I thought it was possible. I carried a Rollei 35, so image quality wasn't a problem, but image content sure was.

Finally, I started looking into the images I'd seen that I liked, helped a lot by hanging out in the Ansel Adams Gallery every time I was in Yosemite (frequently, in those days). William Neill, Galen Rowell, Ed Cooper, and others' work impressed me. A friend's photo of the East Face of Mt. Whitney at mid-winter sunrise convinced me that mere mortals could do it. (I was there to see it).

What separates a technically perfect image from a great one is, in my estimation, that the viewer feels something of the photographer's feeling. Personally, I'm still working at it.
 
I love nature and have always preferred nature images to people or urban images. In 2013 I took a trip to South Africa and from then on I was hooked on photographing wildlife. I like the challenge that it presents me: am I fast enough to get the shot, can I compose on the fly, can I set my camera correctly while in an excited state, can I move quickly enough, these and other questions are what keeps me interested in wildlife as well as the fact that I just like being around animals and watching them. I still do photograph other subjects but my main love is wildlife and I'm always looking for an action shot or something interesting that the animal is doing. I've photographed a multitude of wildlife in different settings, five times to Yellowstone, two times to Costa Rica, once to Africa and once to Alaska, plus some national parks. I'm hoping to take a lot more trips to photograph a lot more wildlife in the future. I'm also hoping that I never tire of the challenge.
 
I have always loved the outdoors and photography. In the early 80's I bought a Nikon FG20, well life took over and my wife left me to raise 2 girls on my own. Now they are both are grown into fine young women and I started to pursue my interests. I did some work for a guy that owns a pawn shop and traded some labor for a D5300 About 4 years ago and got hooked on the, to me, new digital world. Now to figure out editing. Hopefully you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Congrats on raising two daughters on your own (quite an accomplishment!), and enjoy your photo outings! I'm proof positive the old dogs can learn new tricks!
 
I grew up in Kansas and the outdoors is common place to find people doing activities such as fishing, hunting, camping etc. I grew up doing it all and bought my first camera at 13. I kind of enjoyed hunting but I mostly enjoyed seeing nature and being in nature. Once I had a camera I decided I would rather shoot with a camera. Now at 46 it is still a passion.
Yeah, I know how you feel about hunting. I was an avid hunter as a youngster but can't imagine shooting today with anything but a camera!
 
I "blame" my parents. When I was in third grade my school was in an oak woodland with a colony of Acorn Woodpeckers, sparking my interest in birds. My well-meaning parents, noticing this interest, bought bird books for me. However most books at the time featured birds of eastern North America, not the western ones I was seeing. I wanted pictures of the western birds so I decided I had to make them myself. I didn't have the training or equipment for wildlife photography until high school when I bought a used Nikon F and during a field workshop led by Ernest Braun and David Cavagnaro I was loaned a 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor-P.
View attachment 22150
Hummingbird, 1971

View attachment 22151
American Pika, 1971
The Pika photo from that workshop was my first national photo credit, on the inside front cover of Audubon magazine, September 1974. I was hooked.

View attachment 22147
Lesser Goldfinch, 1970

View attachment 22148
Burrowing Owls, 1971

View attachment 22149
White-tailed Kite, 1971​
Great images, and great story! So good parents do make a difference!
 
I had my D5500 and kit lenses for sometime but they mostly just sat on a shelf. One day my girlfriend and I were feeling a little restless and decided to head out for a hike at a lake close by that doesn't get a lot of foot traffic. On a whim I decided to bring my camera along for a few shots here and there. Little did I know I'd have one of the most joy filled days in recent years. All on this one hike I saw an Osprey hunting, Bald Eagles, Great Blue Heron, Warblers other birds I never knew that existed. I didn't come away with anything I'd call a good photograph, but what I did take away with me that day was a spark that sent me down the very deep rabbit hole of Birding and wildlife photography. Even if I never win a competition or make a single dime off of it I hope I continue to improve and find the same joy in it that I do today and throughout my life.
The joy of the nature experience is worth far more than a good photograph, although when you get both it's a real thrill!
 
I’ve always been interested in photography, but primarily action oriented subjects such as some sports, auto racing, vintage aircraft, etc.. The only digital cameras I had in early 2017 was a Fuji point and shoot, and one of the first Nikon superzooms, the P90. I retired in April 2017, and my wife and I did a month long vacation in the Pacific Northwest, highlighted by staying with friends in Corvallis Oregon and observed the total solar eclipse from there. I managed to get some decent shots with the Nikon. That event was mind blowing and also triggered a renewed interest and appreciation for photography. Being in a beautiful part of the country I also found myself observing more what was around me.

We returned home in September and I started seeing more wildlife around me that fall, including quite a few raptors in our neighborhood. They had probably always been there, but between working from daylight to dusk, and not having a real appreciation, I never really noticed them. Recognizing if I was really going to do anything I needed an equipment upgrade, so I bought a D7500 kit at Costco. The weekend I bought it, I was rewarded with this opportunity in my neighbor’s tree.

View attachment 22158

Now almost 4 years later, I find myself being a lot more observant in my everyday activities. I’ve also discovered hiking both as a way to stay in shape and exercise my photography skills. Wildlife photography has definitely helped me in my transition to retirement, and I love the journey I’m on to become a better photographer…..a work in progress.
Great capture, and wonderful story. Keep up the good work!
 
I first picked up a Kodak Instamatic when I was about 8 years old and an Argus C3 not long after that (still have one of those). I shot all kinds of things but got real excited when I could find some kind of wild animal or bug to put in front of my camera. My parents gave me a Pentax Spotmatic one Christmas and I shot that for many years and carried it hiking, skiing, rock climbing and was pretty happy when I could find tolerant wildlife subjects. Over the years I shot Olympus, Canon, Pentax and Nikon gear and a bit of 120mm roll film as well in a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex that I loved for portraits and some scenics.

But I didn't really consider nature and wildlife to be my prime subjects and didn't invest in long glass until the early '90s when I picked up a used Nikon 600mm f/5.6 manual focus P lens which I paired with a Nikon FE. That kit really opened up doors and since then I've really considered myself a nature, wildlife and outdoor sports photographer though when I ran a business I took whatever work I could find to pay bills which included a fair amount of event and wedding photography but my passion was to be outside and away from folks with a camera and a cooperative wildlife subject.

I upgraded film cameras over the years and still have my N90s but sold my Nikon F100 which was my most advanced film camera that I used for about two years of commercial work before switching to digital with a used Nikon D1H I bought from Moose Peterson after taking one of his workshops. Digital made things even more fun as I could take risks on low probability shots that I probably wouldn't have tried with film and as cameras advanced it got easier and easier to bring home keepers but the real fun is still being out in the field with an interesting wildlife subject or enjoying great light for a landscape setting.

Anyway, I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by wildlife and remember pouring through the images in National Geographic with awe but I didn't really consider wildlife photography as being within my reach until I scraped up enough cash for my first long lens.
Wow, you've had a long history in photography! Yeah, I remember spending a king's ransom on film and processing, then being disappointed with the results. Digital is the best thing since sliced bread.
 
A back injury at work in 2012. Blew out the L4/L5 and L5/S1 discs lifting some heavy things, and the sciatic nerve was also heavily damaged in the following 3 months before the first surgery.

After the surgeries and other treatments failed to make me an able-bodied employee again, I had to wait around for a couple of years for the legal aspect of my injury to play out. The insurance company for my employer gave me a modest sum to sustain me during this period, so I didn't have to work, and had nothing to do all day (and truthfully, I couldn't do much physically. My surgeon recommended never lifting more than 15 pounds again.) I was still in a lot of pain, and it was the kind of pain that opiates don't even touch. So I was on the Lyrica family of drugs, and also just tried to distract myself from the pain with anything I could. Movies, games, books, youtube videos, etc.

In 2014, I started going on walks in a nearby state park to stay in good health, and before long, I wanted to capture things that I encountered. Ordered a Panasonic FZ-200, and started watching a lot of Scott Kelby's show The Grid on youtube (the blind photo critiques in particular) to develop a critical eye. I gravitated to macro, wildlife, and landscape, which are still my main interests. I also do a lot of animal photography on our farm.
 
I've always been enamored with nature, and while I've always taken photos I never really purposefully taken photographs of wildlife until after picking up a DSLR for an extended trip to CA for our anniversary. In learning how to use it I would see what I could capture in the back yard. My wife got us into bird watching right after we moved to our current home 29 years ago and it was always fun seeing who could spot a new bird. After the Cali trip we'd go on these local birding things and I saw all these photographers among the folks with binoculars, so I ordered a Sigma 150-500mm. The next winter a Snowy Owl took up residence at a local reservoir and I started going every day at lunch and inevitably I'd strike up conversations with the guys bringing in this giant glass and huge tripods while I was running around handholding. They let me check out their glass and I was convinced I'd never spend that kind of money on a photography hobby. Flash forward 9 years and not only have I spent (almost) that kind of money but I've justified switching systems because of the developmental shortcomings of the one I was on. I spend time just about every day shooting, even if it's mostly standing on my deck looking for songbirds, eagles and hawks, deer, fox, and heck, even squirrels and chipmunks. It's a carnival if you give it the time to notice. I shoot other things, but my time with nature is my time with the universe.
Great story! Yeah, it's easy to spend a lot of $$$ for photo toys!
 
As a child I aspired to be a photojournalist. Never figured that path out, but it led to taking photography classes in my youth. After learning the freedom of a darkroom, I bought the equipment to have my own. This was fun and followed me through several moves. As a young man, I developed an addiction to climbing and was always the one to bring the SLR along. Never a long lens, I still aspired to capture the wildlife that was seen along the way. With children, I learned to slow down a bit and enjoy the journey (don't ask to see photo's of my children :) ). As they grew and became less dependent, more disposable income allowed for the purchase of the super telephoto I always wanted. Retirement now allows me the time to spend seeking whatever wildlife I want whenever I choose. A fun passion for sure.
Yeah, retirement is a wonderful thing - highly recommended to everyone!
 
Many years back I carried a camera on backpacking and rock climbing trips in the Sierra but was annoyed that the images I brought back looked like snapshots and felt nothing like what it was like to actually be there at the time. But every once in a while I'd see an image somewhere that caught a little of it, so I thought it was possible. I carried a Rollei 35, so image quality wasn't a problem, but image content sure was.

Finally, I started looking into the images I'd seen that I liked, helped a lot by hanging out in the Ansel Adams Gallery every time I was in Yosemite (frequently, in those days). William Neill, Galen Rowell, Ed Cooper, and others' work impressed me. A friend's photo of the East Face of Mt. Whitney at mid-winter sunrise convinced me that mere mortals could do it. (I was there to see it).

What separates a technically perfect image from a great one is, in my estimation, that the viewer feels something of the photographer's feeling. Personally, I'm still working at it.
Wow, love your story, and especially that you got to spend so much time at Yosemite! I've never been, but it's on my list.
 
I love nature and have always preferred nature images to people or urban images. In 2013 I took a trip to South Africa and from then on I was hooked on photographing wildlife. I like the challenge that it presents me: am I fast enough to get the shot, can I compose on the fly, can I set my camera correctly while in an excited state, can I move quickly enough, these and other questions are what keeps me interested in wildlife as well as the fact that I just like being around animals and watching them. I still do photograph other subjects but my main love is wildlife and I'm always looking for an action shot or something interesting that the animal is doing. I've photographed a multitude of wildlife in different settings, five times to Yellowstone, two times to Costa Rica, once to Africa and once to Alaska, plus some national parks. I'm hoping to take a lot more trips to photograph a lot more wildlife in the future. I'm also hoping that I never tire of the challenge.
Wow, you've gotten around! I'm headed to Yellowstone for the first time next month - can't wait!
 
Back
Top