These five did it for me

Canon EOS Rebel XS, 75-300mm telephoto lens, ISO 320, 300mm, f/7.1 at 1/400 sec

This was my favorite bird shot.  It was partially luck, I'll admit, but I love where I froze the pelican's wings here.  A couple making the best of a rained-on date.  What could be better?

Canon EOS Rebel XS, 75-300mm telephoto lens, ISO 200, 75mm, f/5.6 at 1/200 sec

The spartan beauty of Belle View, VA as the year ends.  This is what it's like to be there.  As photography is the "honest" medium, that's what I hope to accomplish.  I simply love my hometown, any time of year, and want to share that with others.

Canon EOS Rebel XS, 18-55mm lens, ISO 400, 48mm, f/5.6 at 1/60 sec

I've been taken in with depth of field stuff.  I love the close ups with the blurred out background.  Photography class has definitely given me some new shooting ideas, and it's opened up a whole world of possibilities that I never really gave much consideration.

Canon EOS Rebel XS, 18-55mm lens, ISO 200, 55mm, f/8 at 1/200 sec

THIS is the bay on a gray, rainy day.  The oyster basket was genuinely just sitting there, as so often you'll find.  The very tip of St. Mary's Co., MD is where you'll find the natural, wild Middle Bay finally reaching civilization.  Again, I hope it's not only me, but I was hoping that others could see just how fine the sands of the bay are, running through your hands as soon as you touch them, the unique color of the water, how violent the tranquil little tides of the bay can be, and the gloomy but strangely optimistic grayness that hung overhead.

Canon EOS Rebel XS, 18-55mm lens, ISO 200, 55mm, f/8 at 1/120 sec

No comment.  This is the view from my home, Belle View.  I live right by the water, and this image shaped me as a person, growing up, learning how to laugh, love, create, and dream.  It still makes me a bit teary eyed.  I hope others were able to enjoy 1/100000 the satisfaction I do from this truly remarkable place.

Natalie Brown

Natalie Brown is a Maui-based photographer who specializes mostly in humpback whales.  She also does weddings, fashion shoots, and other local commercial ventures to make some money, but it's clear that her passion is nature's underwater beast.  Her work was quite stunning, and as I've found my favorite wildlife medium in birds, I was trying to see what I could learn from her experiences following moving subject matter.

Examples of her work

What I learned most of all is that even novice photographers do better when they are in an environment that is familiar to them.  Knowing the rhythm of the local tides, winds, and movement of the quadruped and winged local inhabitants seems to make picture taking that much more intuitive.  Natalie is a local--Maui is her stomping grounds, and I'd be willing to bet she can give even the most seasoned professionals a run for their money.

I've also thought about the end of my Nature Photography class.  I can't believe how far I've come in terms of equipment owned and how my own appreciation for photography has grown.  I still have miles to go in terms of my own picture quality, but I am hoping that will come with time.  I plan to continue to sample professionals' work frequently and see if I can keep learning as I now go forth to shoot with no master except myself.

Senior Art Show

I was able to go to the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery only briefly to see the work submitted by Krista Hoyes, Monica Geary, and Cassie Scheidecker.  As I always find art to be interesting and expressive (regardless of the subject matter), I was not disappointed. 

Hoyes uses very vibrant colors, and a good medium with what I believe was satin.  Her work focuses pretty much exclusively on Latin dancing.  Not my cup of tea, but a major function of art is to expose people to ways in which they don't ordinarily think.  Her use of color and motion through her work was stunning.

Geary seemed to be a lot more interested in fashion than traditional art, and seemed to be heavily influenced by the fashion of decades prior.  I found the vintage feel to be well-utilized and not trite.

Scheidecker's art provided plenty for contemplation.  She was apparently diagnosed with arthritis some time ago, and her paintings are an almost surreal visual manifestation of the pain she feels going through her daily life. 

All in all, a pretty good display of art and definitely worth a trip.

There once was a photographer from Nantucket...

For my final project, I'll be doing some of my shooting Wednesday-Saturday in Nantucket.  It's a nature photographer's dream, teeming with seabirds, natural, unspoiled habitats, the peaceful sound of silence during the Thanksgiving season, and beautiful sunsets.

I checked out Nantucket Red in preparation for my trip.  Bill Hoenk, a professional photographer who is based in Nantucket during summers and Pittsburgh during the off-season, does some nifty things with infrared photography on the island.  He started off as a waiter at the Chanticleer (a fine-dining establishment that brings in quite the clientele) one summer, and like so many others, fell in love with the place.  He received his photography training at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where he was introduced to the technology of infrared photography.

His stuff is pretty good.  It feels almost as if it has a gothic touch to it, which decidedly isn't my thing, but nonetheless gets me thinking about ideas I can shoot on the island.  The windmill is a famous marker on Nantucket and oft-photographed, but I've rarely seen it look like this.

Brant Point Light is also a familiar marker for those who have spent time on the island.  The delineations between sea and sky show up very well in this infrared shot, but in some ways, the lack of blue makes an island purist like myself cringe a little.

As  I mentioned in a previous blog, I'll also have the privilege of getting to shoot some aerial stuff (as long as the weather holds, knock on wood).  Let's just hope that it all works out and I can have some different material on presentation day in photography class than the rest of my classmates.

Wish I had that Rebel

It wasn't as fun taking these without them.  I still can't complain, having Riverside Park within a short driving distance.


First, we can see the color red:

Nature provides a better mirror than man, no doubt:

 The Rule of Thirds:

A detailed close-up:

 Panning captured these ridiculously quick little guy:

Tried to blur it a little more but hey, it takes some practice, I guess:

 Just for fun:

Hyperfocal setting in the waning daylight near the Billings LDS Temple:

It is one of the more impressive buildings in Billings:

Oh yeah.  This was one of the best weekday afternoons I've had in a while, and I love taking pictures, even if I'm not that good.

Aerial Angles and Wild Flora

Reading in National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography, I was instantly drawn to the section on aerial angles.  For me, everything looks better when viewed from above.  Probably a natural disposition I have as a pilot.  According to Fitzharris, all the "arresting studies in line, form, and pattern that are the hallmarks of Cessna-snapping" can be created simply from a well-positioned tripod and a zoom lens with macro capabilities.

From directly above the subject (where this would have to take place), finite limits to the composition (such as top and bottom) simply don't exist.  Any angle can be achieved after the proper zoom magnification is correctly identified.

The photo on page 186 of the orange sneezeweeds is a good example of something I'd like to achieve.  I'm hoping I can incorporate some of these tips when I plan to shoot a week from this Sunday in a Chesapeake Bay marsh not far from my home.

The how-to of my favorite brand of photography

Aerial photography primer

Downtown Chicago from the air.  A tragedy that Meigs Field was destroyed, as images such as these could be seen on approach once upon a time.

-----------------------------------

Oh, how I love aerial photography.  It is my full intention to get a few shots from a Cessna 172 this Thanksgiving break in preparation for my final project.  With a family full of pilots and Thanksgiving spent on Nantucket, I fully intend to capture as much of the island's stunning natural beauty from above as my limited skills will allow.  This article gave me some tips as I prepare to shoot from above.

The author suggested the best platform for aerial photography is a helicopter, and that's plain to see.  With the ability to get down to lower altitudes, fly without a door, hover, and go slower without stalling make it simply the best aerial platform that exists.  However, they can be more difficult to obtain, and often times more expensive.  As far as fixed wing aircraft go, the Cessna 177RG Cardinal (RG designating that it is the retractable gear model) is recommended because of its lack of a wing strut and the fact that the landing gear won't be in the way of shots.

All the typical rules apply, perhaps some even more so.  Because of where the sun sits at midday, the terrain looks horribly flat when pictures are taken from the air at this time.  The magic hour produces the shadows necessary to truly appreciate the shape of the hills and rolling terrain of the island.

Vibration is the major obstacle to overcome when shooting from the air.  Perhaps if there is some way I can rent a gyro mount, which is the only way to properly capture video from above, I will try--but it seems like something that one would have a hard time getting their hands on unless they buy.  I have also been thinking about keeping my D40 that I recently purchased in the box (as my parents have said I could upgrade to a Canon Rebel as a possible birthday present if I needed something a little slicker) and getting a Rebel, which has better image stabilization qualities.

Advanced Photoshop

Well, reading about Photoshop and other ideas for turning photographs into impressions had me thinking--and that got me looking.  This weekend, when I was at home, I discovered Advanced Photoshop magazine.  Most of the images in the magazine, while truly spectacular, had little to do with nature photography.  Nonetheless, the potential is limitless on what could actually be created with the software.  Photoshop is a much more powerful tool than the novice photographer probably realizes, and I picked up a copy of the magazine to better acquaint myself with the kinds of things I can do.

From the Advanced Photoshop online galleries, above.


Photoshop gives more control to the photographer, and creates more opportunities.  Since I saw this picture, I found some inspiration for a project I would like to do.  I would like to capture the stillness of the marshes of the Chesapeake by my home, possibly with some birds flying low over the grasses, and blend it in to the cityscape of George Washington's Alexandria, just down the river from me.  I think the marshes are at their finest during autumn, and I'd like to capture some pictures when I go back home in a month for Thanksgiving and start giving it a whirl.

I'm not sure if this project will feature any practical application for the class, but that's the funny thing with art and me.  I see it and my desire to emulate is particularly strong.

Thanks to tools like Photoshop, photography as a medium is rapidly changing.  Perhaps it could be said that the whole field is going through its Renaissance since entering the digital age?

Finally, before signing off, I could help but give a shout out to West Potomac High School, who won their homecoming game over Lee High, 14-7.  My beloved Wolverines came from behind, scoring two touchdowns and a safety with four minutes to play in the fourth quarter.  It was a freezing monsoon on Friday, but as always, the whole community came out to support the team and suffered through some of the worst weather I've ever seen in October in Bay Country Virginia.

The conditions were horrible, but 7,500 Wolverine fans--including certain ex-players--showed up at Dietze Stadium for this one.  The conditions were horrendous, but we love our Wolverines through any weather!

Things looked bleak for most of the game.  When I played at WPHS, we were (and had been for years) a force in the Virginia high school football scene.  Two-time state champs and with a list of alumni that included many famous NFL and college players.  This year?  We were 1-5 and losing for most of the game to lowly Lee High School, an impoverished school with virtually zero support from their own community.  We hadn't lost to them in fifteen years and it was a shocker to everyone when they took a 7-0 lead and held it for most of the game.

As you can see, even the parents of Lee's players didn't show up to the game.  They had maybe fifty fans.  Even despite conditions that canceled games throughout the region, this is pretty embarrassing in Virginia to have a visiting crowd this small.

The Wolverines driving late in the 4th.  The wide receiver split out to the left, #5, is the little brother of one of my close friends and ex-teammates.

The whole place went nuts when they pulled it out!  Players went diving head first into the quagmire that was the field after the final whistle sounded.  It may have been years since I got to do this, but a little nostalgia was certainly felt by the photographer.  Perhaps Photoshop can serve a useful function in editing some of these shots--the weather was so horrid and the images match.  Nonetheless, the pizza at Primo's was still five dollars (all you can eat!) after the game to celebrate the win, and it made for an exciting evening of shooting.  I just wish I had been able to get a shot of me on the field at halftime in that vintage WP letter jacket!

Photographs as Impressions

Reading my Nature Photography textbook, I've come across the Photographs as Impressions section.  This is where things get good and where I could use some more help.  There are lots of useful suggestions for things to do with the camera, but what fascinates me most is what can be done with Photoshop.  As the text says, most of the effects that can be achieved with clever shooting can be done--with even more control--via Photoshop.  This is something I'd like to play around with a little during the rest of the semester.

I'm very much into photography being the exact art of capturing the world as it actually appears, but I have recently been introduced to the world of Photoshop effects, and I have to admit, some stunning images can be created.

Perhaps with a little more practice, I'll be able to find myself doing more and more with the software and creating some more "artistic" images.  As I said, it wasn't something that previously interested me, but seeing good art has a way of inspiring you...

Faroe Islands, here we come!

www.faroephoto.com

Ok, perhaps not literally, but our intense planning in Digital Nature Photography has led us to crave this trip like nothing else.  In preparation for our "shoot," I found Faroese professional photographer Olavur Fredriksen's wonderful website, where he shares some of his better natural and aerial shots of this mythical land of seabirds, soaring cliffs, sublime national culture, and stunning turf-roofed houses.

And yes, by turf-roofed, I mean turf-roofed.  When I was privileged enough to visit this fairy tale group of 17 islands back in 2005, I literally saw people mowing their roofs.  An interesting local method of cheap and effective winter insulation.  Makes for an interesting combination of natural and architectural photography.

With more puffins in a small area than any place on earth, you better believe we'll be photographing plenty of these guys on Mykines Island.  It doesn't matter how many photographers race to see the puffins--they're so endearing to the armchair nature enthusiasts of the western world that there will always be a market for good Atlantic Puffin shots.

The islands are well-known to the world because of their rich bird life and also because as a nation--and despite having under 50,000 people--they are eligible to participate in international sporting events.  This includes sending out a national football team to compete against the likes of France, England, Germany, etc.  How's this for a shocker?  Sometimes they WIN!  For World Cup 2010 qualification, they have already tied Austria and beaten a strong Lithuania team.  Some of these countries have stadiums that hold more people than the islands' entire population.  Also an interesting chance to shoot some unique photos that would appeal to a large audience in the world, perhaps?

And finally, as the islands prepare for their full independence from Denmark, there is a huge coming market for images related to the Faroe Islands' unique national culture and traditions.  While we will miss the Olavsokan national celebration on our trip, there are numerous opportunities to capture these modern-day Viking descendants as they keep their traditions alive.

Any good nature photographer should have heard of the Faroe Islands, but as a one-time visitor, I maintain that there's no place like this on earth.  The "Land of Maybe" isn't just a bird-lover's paradise.  It's a soul-changing transformation chamber that will leave you longing for your return.

Ice Photography

Ice Photography Tips

Well, it's official.  Along with two members of my photography class, I'll be off to Europe's northern latitudes to shoot some stunning panorama and wildlife shots!

Well, maybe not quite.  Nonetheless, preparation for our faux trip is essential at the moment, and that means we should probably know a little something about how to deal with ice and photography.

Apart from the usual considerations of battery temperature (they will drain quicker and seem to be out of power once they get particularly cold), we're going to have to start becoming adept with a polarizing filter.  The dramatic look of the ice that so many good nature photographers are able to achieve can only be done this way.  This is the only way to achieve the colors that we want to bring out and to avoid the pictures being nothing but a massive glare of sunlight. 

More than likely, we're going to have to do a fair amount of image adjustment with photo editing software.  Brightness and contrast settings are of particular concern, as well as saturation.  Perhaps we should start slow and get some pictures in a place like Glacier National Park to experiment with these settings.  Once we hit the Arctic Circle, the time for play is over and we're on the clock.

Playing With Shots

Billings Airport, a regular stop for me, was the destination for two of these pictures.  (Top) Great Lakes Airline Beechcraft 1900D N192GL poses for me on the ramp with the wide stretches of country north of Billings in the distance beyond.  (Bottom) Northwest Airlines Airbus A320-211 approaches at 168kts and is frozen in a short exposure.  (Middle)  While Rimview Hall is often times a place of consternation and disorder, quietness is found in the subtle colors of the courtyard.  Narrow depth of field is illustrated here.

Unfortunately, my long exposures are lacking and need some refining.  Hopefully this is something I can continue to work on and have ready by the end of the week.

Patrick J. Henderson's High Camera

Link to High Camera

I confess, as an aviation student, aerial photography sends chills up and down my spine.  To see nature, landscapes, and the world as I see it and so few others do speaks to me on my level.  As a native Virginian, there's only one name I tend to think of when it comes to aerial photography, and that's Patrick J. Henderson.  A native of Chincoteague (those who don't hail from the Mid-Atlantic will know that name from the book "Misty of Chincoteague"), Henderson loves shooting aerial landscapes of Eastern Shore towns and examples of his work can often be found for sale throughout that region to tourists, offering stunning images for buyers to take home in hotels, gift shops, and antique stores throughout this ecologically-unique part of the East Coast.

Henderson captures the legendary Chincoteague Pony Penning from a vantage point that its most likely never had throughout its illustrious history.  The Pony Penning is an annual event on the Eastern Shore, marked with a carnival throughout the tourist town where it takes place, and is attended by horse enthusiasts from all over the world.  Local lore has it that the feral ponies that reside just over a small channel from Chincoteague (on Assateague Island, which is a national park) were shipwrecked from a Spanish galleon sometime in the 1500s.  The fact that this still can't be disproved merely adds to the romance of the event and drives the prices for the pony auction into the somewhat absurd.  The "Saltwater Cowboys" round up a set number of young ponies every July, herd them over the channel to Chincoteague, round them up, and sell them at auction.  Regular destinations from there include Japan, Germany, Canada, and all over the United States.

Henderson's shots of this event need to be seen to be believed.  His camera work is solid--his exposure time captures the waves rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean perfectly (as a good Virginian, he shows them as they actually are, not as inland tourists would like to imagine them, a trick that probably could have been possible through some creative exposure timing), and his depth of field allows for a beautiful horizon line beyond Assateague Island.  The romance of the event is increased thanks to these pictures, and this event--where nature and the wild truly interacts with humanity--does need to be seen.

Four potential shots

This weekend, I anticipate shooting four different pictures with short and long exposure time, one with narrow depth of field, and one with wide depth of field.

I am hoping to get a picture of the valley where Billings sits as a wide depth of field shot, primarily because I want a good picture of where I'm now living for loved ones and friends back in Virginia.  A good place to set up for this shot is the Couch up on the rims, not far from the airport.

While I'm up there, I also hope to shoot a short-timed exposure of a Great Lakes Aviation Beechcraft 1900D taking off from the airport.  While I'm trying to shoot more nature than man-made objects, I think capturing the rotation of a beautiful turboprop aircraft moving at quite a swift speed (as the B1900 does at takeoff) will be good practice for hopefully catching birds later on in the semester.  My obsession with aircraft doesn't hurt my desire to photograph them, either.

For a long exposure, I'm planning on capturing a segment of the Yellowstone River down by Laurel on Friday where the water is a little swifter and leaves, sticks, and other assorted pieces move through very rapidly.  After seeing examples of running water and long exposures, I want to try my hand in this.  I also like the thought of shooting the moving of stars, but I'll start with the water.

My narrow depth of field idea is perhaps a little bit trickier than these other ones.  There is a (relatively) tame black rabbit that lives on the side of 24th St. W near the Rimrock Auto Sales dealership that rarely (if ever) moves much.  I think having a narrow depth of field with the traffic and suburban landscape behind blurred may create an interesting effect as I focus on the rabbit in the grass.

RAW files

Luminous Landscape article

There are many different choices to consider when deciding which file format to shoot on the DSLR.  As I previously had no idea what the pros and cons were of each, this article provided some valuable information on which direction to go.

While JPEG files are smaller and more of them can fit on a memory card, it is clear that their format is not as high quality as shooting in raw format.  The final pre-edited format is a 12-bit image, as opposed to an 8-bit JPEG image.  It is far superior in quality and contains thousands of brightness levels (sometimes even thousands per every couple of f-stop levels) more than the 8-big JPEG image.

I don't mind investing in an additional memory card or two.  It is the higher quality photo that I am in search of, and it is clear that shooting in JPEG form will not provide that.  Every camera shoots in raw mode anyways; it is, in essence, a gimmick to convert the file into JPEG format directly on the camera and not after the raw image is edited.  It would serve me little purpose, although as a natural space-saver, it is a trap I could have easily fallen into.

Super-telephoto Lenses

Photography is certainly not an art form to be done on the cheap, and the super-telephoto lens is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment the wildlife photographer will own.

While they have many features that make them ideally suited for the wildlife and outdoor photography trade, perhaps one of the best is the concept of Image Stabilization Sharpness.  Both Canon and Nikon make lenses with this feature, designed to restrict vibration and keep the lens in place while shooting.  The result is that shutter speed is increased a full two to four stops with this technology.

When is having Image Stabilization important?  The optimal times for shooting wildlife are at the beginning and the end of the day (dawn and dusk), and having the ability to shoot at these slower speeds means the amount of time a photographer can spend shooting is increased.  While the cost of these lenses may at times border on the obscene for the amateur photographer, the old phrase "you can't buy time" has perhaps found an exception.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Nature Photography

Yes, I confess, I started off reasonably clueless as to how a professional photographer goes about their business.  Armed with only desire and something resembling an eye for the aesthetically pleasing, I have set off on my quest to learn how this all actually happens.

Tim Fitzharris' National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography is certainly worth its sticker price for aspiring amateur photographers in part because of the author's detailed checklist on supplies necessary for working in the field.  My previous experiences in the field consisted of taking a can of bug spray, my Kodak point and shoot camera, and possibly five dollars for state park entrance fees.  While I probably will not be shooting for the same duration of time as Fitzharris and can thus ignore some of his equipment recommendations (i.e. walkie-talkie), taking his advice and buying a vest seems like a wise investment.

His tips on Winter Photography were also important for someone who comes from a climate such as Virginia, where extreme winter temperatures are quite uncommon.  As I will be conducting a fair amount of shooting during the changing seasons in Montana, I will have to follow tips such as choosing zippered and well-vented jackets instead of layering up, as the equipment will be heavy enough as it is.  Fitzharris' tip on keeping the small hand-warming chemically-based packets in gloves is a great idea, as well.  I have not given much thought to them since my high school football career finished years ago, but perhaps it is time to reacquaint myself with their inexpensive heating while out in the field for hours at a time.

Finally, I was thrilled to see that Yellowstone National Park is best for shooting in September, which means there are still a few weeks left to get out and see its sublime natural color and the changing of the season in relative peace (as tourists have mostly left for the year).  Reading this section inspired me to plan a weekend trip towards the end of the month and try to catch a colorful morning meadow as the author described.

Reading this book has not only informed me as to what I need to know to further pursue the field of nature photography, but also inspires with its images and gently prods me into action with the promise of becoming better at this craft.  I'm thrilled that it's getting to be about that time where I go out and shoot for myself.

Night Landscapes

Link to Luminous Landscape article on night landscape shooting


In my opinion, no natural setting on earth is ever quite as romantic without the stars, moon, and other celestial bodies dancing overhead.  Unfortunately, capturing our favorite night scenes properly can be a real problem, as proper light is to photography as water is to fish.  This article talks about how digital photography has changed that; now, we can see the instant results of our shooting and tinker accordingly.  For someone who would love to get some night shots over the coming months, my eyes perked open with great interest.

Of particular note was the "Rule of 600" that the author discussed.  When one needs to determine the longest possible exposure for any set focal length lens, the quickest method of doing so is to set the focal length as a denominator beneath 600.  The resulting figure will give you a rough estimate as to what your longest exposure should be (i.e. the author was using the Canon D60 with a focal length of 22mm; thus 600/22 = 27.27 repeating, or just under 30 seconds).

In the end, the author concluded that the Canon D60, with its 30-second exposure (the longest possible before the stars begin to streak) can take passable (if not wonderful) night landscapes, and provided an example of Ontario's Lake Muskoka beneath the Big Dipper.  The image was parallel with the type of night landscapes I hope to shoot, and thus I was willing to look closer at Canon's D60 despite its somewhat restrictive price range.

Art Wolfe: Ocular Nirvana

Outdoor Photographer Magazine article on Art Wolfe


Besides the spellbinding shoreline of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay that I am fortunate enough to call home, I cannot instinctively imagine nature photography without pronounced mountain peaks, the surrounding influences of a thousand-year-old culture, and a primordial wildness that nothing in the Western Hemisphere can fully offer.

Perhaps this is why the nasence of Art Wolfe's professional photography career on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest in 1984 is so fitting.  Despite having an impressive resume up to that point, scaling and discovering the rich habitats of the North Cascades, Wolfe describes his experience on the northern side of the great Sagarmatha as "life changing."  Having only seen the peak itself from the window of a Buddha Air Beechcraft 1900D on a sightseeing flight some years ago, I can only imagine the spiritual transformation Art Wolfe undertook when he discovered the mountain face-to-face.  Having had similar experiences with the wildlife and cultures of the Himalayas, however, I know the immediate proceeding longing Mr. Wolfe felt to see the planet's truly outstanding wild places all too well.

A great many things struck me as I discovered one of the world's amazing nature photographers, who has seen warfare in Ethiopia, the untapped wild of Patagonia, the elusive South Georgia Island (said to be the most isolated place on Planet Earth), and so many other places.  However, what resonated even more than his awe-inspiring images were his words: "The universe rewards our attention and our faith with magic moments..."

I can only hope to focus my attention and hone my faith enough to capture the natural world one iota as well as Mr. Wolfe, but his attitude is surely one that all nature photographers would do well to emulate.