“Tack Sharp Photos of Birds-in-Flight”

I’m super honored and very excited to have been featured in the popular blog, Travel Notes & Storytelling: https://www.travelnotesandstorytelling.com/tack-sharp-photos-of-birds-in-flight/?

Marie Goff is the talent behind this informative and entertaining blog site. It was her love of adventure and learning that led Marie to join the military. After a long career with the National Guard, she continues that love of adventure and learning through her travels and her writing.

“I travel, take pictures, and write stories, to learn and inspire others. Near or far, every destination is unique, exhilarating, and fresh. I strive to capture these in every story, especially highlighting people and places, and current events that shape the experiences.”

Wanting to improve her photography techniques for photographing birds and other wildlife, Marie joined my workshop at the Center for Birds of Prey this past fall: https://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/. We all had a fantastic time learning tips and tricks to improve our capture-rate of these beautiful creatures. Marie’s blog post shares about her experience, her success, and what she learned.

I hope you’ll visit her blog and subscribe to her email list. Enjoy!

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Wildlife Workshop at Center for Birds of Prey

I had the pleasure of leading another fun workshop at The Center for Birds of Prey last weekend! 🙂 Many thanks to Mandy Feavel for all her hard work putting it together. And what a treat to work with the amazing educators, Jessie Curry and Natalie Hendrickson, again!!!

https://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/

“Join expert photographer, Chris Smith of Chris & Cami Photography, for an in-depth workshop focusing on the photographic study of birds of prey, both in motion and while perching.”

A special thank you also goes to THINK TANK PHOTO and RetouchUp for their support with some generous door prizes. And a HUGE shout out to all the attendees. You guys were AWESOME!!!

I’ve included a bunch of the behind-the-scenes shots from the day. Please feel free to share, tag yourselves, and enjoy these images of you in action!

Avian, Avian Conservation Center, Bird, Birds of Prey, Center for Birds of Prey, Charleston Center for Birds of Prey, Charleston Nature Photographer, Charleston Wildlife Photographer, Chris & Cami Photography, D5, D500, Eagle, Falcon, Feather, Flight, Hawk, Kestrel, Kite, Mt. Pleasant Nature Photographer, Mt. Pleasant Wildlife Photographer, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon Love, Nikon Pro, Nikon USA, Owl, Wing

Center for Birds of Prey

Last weekend I had the privilege of photographing a group of children involved in an immersive learning experience at the Center for Birds of Prey.

Thank you Kara for the wonderful opportunity to see the wonder and awe in these young people’s faces as they learned about these beautiful creatures!

And a special thank you to Audrey, Meghan, and Natalie for leading the wonderful program!

The Kites of Allendale

Last week I managed to find a little time to go photograph a fun personal project!

I’ve heard of the amazing Kites of Allendale for several years, but never had a chance to get up there to photograph them. So I packed up the Nikon D500 and Nikkor 200-400 f4 VR…my favorite wildlife combo…and headed out on a road trip.

Allendale county is known to have huge fields of crops where tons of dragonflies and beetles congregate during the summer months. Swallow-tailed kites don’t normally come this far over. But during this time of year, they’ve discovered this bountiful feast-for-the-taking!  Here’s some info if you’re interested in seeing this majestic scene:  http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/sites/SC/allendale.html.

It’s a little late in the season. Normally July is the best time to catch them. But I managed to find a few swooping and soaring not far outside Allendale.  At first I just watched in awe as these expert flyers effortlessly circled and swirled overhead, periodically diving to grab a tasty handful, then climbing back into the wind to chow down. Eventually I grabbed the camera and enjoyed playing “target practice” with these fast-moving subjects.

It was a great challenge! I’m happy with what I got for as few kites as there were, and as short a window of time I had to work with. But my resolve to return next year during peak season has been doubled!!! 🙂