Big Bend Photo Tour ~ Trip Report

This year’s Big Bend Photo Tour took place over the second weekend in April 2015. I have never seen the park so green nor have I ever witnessed the profusion of wildflowers that we had. We couldn’t have timed the tour better!…
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Why I Love the Desert

Recently, I meandered my way to and from the NANPA Summit, which was held in San Diego in February. My route took me through the backcountry of San Diego, the deserts of southern-California, and much of the Southwest. The journey, combined with my growing excitement about next month’s Big Bend Photo Tour, highlighted how my favorite places -— tropical rainforests and deserts —- are pretty much opposites.…
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Best Nature Destinations near El Paso

I’ve been working steady getting images ready for the book that Mary and I are doing for Texas A&M University Press. It’s tentatively titled “Explore Texas — A Nature Travel Guide” and will be out in spring 2016. I thought I’d share some of the best nature destinations near El Paso that we’ve featured in the book.…
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Used Camera Gear Offers Affordable Options

There’s no way around it; bird photography gear is EXPENSIVE! While you can get okay results of perched birds with digiscoping, if you want flight shots, or high enough quality images for large prints, sooner or later you will need to invest in some gear.…
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The Whooping Cranes Return!

The “Whoopers” have returned to the Texas coast and will be with us until early-spring, prompting me to write a little about these big birds that I love so much. Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) once bred over much of the United States, but, by the early 20th century, none could be found breeding here.…
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Go Native! ~ Texas Native Plant Week

October 19-25 is Texas Native Plant week 2014. This got me thinking about Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) in particular. Why those two species? Just last week I returned from leading a photo tour in the Brazilian Pantanal–—a wonderful wildlife experience that I will write about some more another time—–and both species were plentiful there.…
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Photographing Fall Landscapes

Now that the weather is cooling down are you about ready to start photographing fall landscapes? I am! In fact, I’m heading to Vermejo Park Ranch next week for my Elk & Aspen Photo Tour and, in addition to photographing bugling elk, we’ll be focusing on the golden Aspen leaves.…
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Photographing Snakes in the Wild

Now that the weather is warming up, as a wildlife photographer you’ll possibly encounter snakes. So why not enjoy photographing snakes in the wild? Odds are high that most snakes you encounter are not venomous. In fact, the vast majority of snakes in the world are NOT.…
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Fun with Macro Photography

Macro photography opens up a whole new world of subjects. A participant in one of my workshops last year compared it to Alice in Wonderland, which is a pretty good analogy. A lot goes on in the world of tiny that we mostly don’t notice, and that makes it easy to have fun with macro photography.…
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Wildflower Photography Tips

It was 26 degrees here at Red Belly this morning. Cold for us, but for many of you I suspect that would be considered warm! After months of really nippy temps here, I see signs of spring “springing” and the beginning of great wildflower photography opportunities.…
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Whooping Crane Photo Tour ~ Trip Report 2014

We were blessed with good weather for the 2014 Whooping Crane tour. With an ice storm Friday morning and another the next Tuesday we really lucked out even if it was a bit chilly on Saturday morning. This year’s group was interesting in that 3 of the 5 participants were retired Air Force pilots.…
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Air Travel with Photography Equipment ~ Tips

In the past few weeks I have had several people ask about air travel with photography equipment. I don’t know what has prompted the sudden interest, maybe folks are making plans for summer trips, but traveling with photo gear has been a hot topic.…
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ETTR: Expose to the Right and the Benevolence of RAW

So you’ve probably heard the term “expose to the right” (ETTR) in regards to digital photography. The image above is an extreme example of this. This shot was accidentally exposed WAY to the right as I was shooting in manual mode and forgot to adjust my shutter speed after shooting in the shade.…
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Raptor Photography Tips

Now that winter has arrived, I figured this would be a good time to post these Raptor Photography Tips so that those of you who don’t subscribe to my newsletter can take advantage of them, too. The word “raptor” comes from the Latin “rapere,” which means “to snatch, take, or carry off.”…
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Vermejo Park Ranch Elk & Aspen ~ 2013 Trip Report

Eight photographers joined me for the sold-out 2013 Vermejo Park Ranch Elk & Aspen Photo Tour, the first-ever event of its kind at this historic New-Mexican ranch. Participants enjoyed many opportunities to create incredible wildlife shots and images of the sublime beauty of the Vermejo Park Ranch landscape.…
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Which Camera Should I Buy?

Are you asking yourself, “Which camera should I buy?” With all the choices out there today, it can be an overwhelming decision. I’ve been noticing lately that more and more of my particpants have Olympus cameras. So it seems the “Nikon or Canon” conversation may be growing a little outdated.…
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Hummingbird Photo Workshop ~ 2013 Report

The 2013 Hummingbird Photography Workshop is a wrap and a great one at that! We had a good number of hummingbirds and a great group of enthusiastic participants. Two stations set-up for multiple flash allowed participants a chance to create some great “freeze all the motion” hummingbird photographs.…
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Costa Rica ~ Photographing the Frogs

I’ve been busily going through the images created on our recently-completed Costa Rica Photo Tour. One of the surprises of the tour was just how much fun I had photographing Costa Rican frogs! It seems everything is more exuberant and colorful in the tropics, especially them.…
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Painted Buntings

We are blessed to have Painted Buntings in abundance each summer here at Red Belly Ranch. But, for such a brightly colored bird, they can be frustratingly hard to spot! Often I can hear them singing their little hearts out but cannot seem to find them when in the more forested areas.…
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The Wonder of Nature Photography

June 15th is Nature Photography Day. It’s a day to reflect on nature photography, what it means to you, and—most importantly—get out there and take a picture! Why do I care about nature photography? I have a lifelong obsession with the natural world.…
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