"Nature's
Best Photography "
|
This year, I have the great honor of being selected as a category winner in the annual "Nature's Best Photography" Windland Smith Rice International Awards competition. This is a nature photography competition open to all photographers worldwide. This year's competition saw over 24,000 images from over 1200 photographers representing 50 countries. It is truly a great honor to be selected as a category winner (Small World Category) with the hummingbird image seen below. This image and the story behind it appear in the Fall/Winter issue of Nature's Best Photography magazine. This image will also hang in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D. C. through Spring 2015, along with the other category winners. |
Below is the text from the magazine page layout above. | |
Booted Racket-tail Hummingbirds THE STORY: “While attempting tophotograph hummingbirds for the first time, I quickly realized that if I saw the picture in the viewfinder before tripping the shutter, I was too late. Capturing their interactions meant learning their behaviors first and then anticipating what would happen next. The bird on the right was particularly intolerant of any other racket-tails in his territory. I noticed the ‘troublemaker’ perched in a nearby tree. When a second male came to feed, the troublemaker immediately flew from his branch to chase him. He had done this many times before and I always missed the shot. This time I decided to shoot well before he reached his intended target. As he flew into view from the right, still a good four feet from his rival, I decided to trip the shutter. By the time the camera shutter actually tripped, the two birds had come together…exactly where I was focused on the red banana flower. No more than a second had passed from the time I first decided to shoot until the two birds were out of sight.” CAMERA: Canon EOS 7D; 100mm-400mm IS lens at180mm; 1/200 sec at ƒ/18; ISO 125; electronic cable release; Vivitar 285HV strobes (5) at 1/16th power; flash triggered by CowboyStudio radio transmitter in hot shoe; Bogen 3035 tripod; pan/tilt head; |
“If an image I have taken helps to awaken an appreciation of nature in someone else, then I have been given the ultimate compliment.”
|
Nature has been my passion as far back as I can remember. As a child growing up in South Florida, I spent a great deal of time outdoors exploring the Everglades or SCUBA diving in the Florida Keys. I started photography as a way to follow my passion for observing wildlife. My formal education is as a pharmacist. I traded my white coat for camouflage in 1992 and have been pursuing my passion ever since. I am a self-taught photographer, and I enjoy underwater photography as well as terrestrial. My travels have now taken me to every continent.
|
© Copyright 2010 Mark J. Thomas. All Rights Reserved. No image use of any kind without written permission from Mark J. Thomas. |
www.blueiceberg.com Site built and maintained by Mark J. Thomas |