Introduction: In the Spring of 2010, I created a short photo book on the animals found in Lone Elk Park located in Southwest St. Louis County. During the following summer, I continued to photograph there while also developing an affinity for the birds of the heron family and making images of them in locations ranging from the local rivers to the lake network in Forest Park in the city of St. Louis. With repetition, my standards for each shoot were raised slightly. Eventually I added off camera flash in an effort to control (or at least affect) the lighting of my wild subjects. I have, I believe, created some substantial images in the last few months, but rather than becoming sated with wildlife photography and ready to move on to other subjects, I am more enthused and inspired than ever.


Objective: Over the next several months, or more specifically for my purposes, over the next three seasons of fall, winter and spring, I intend to step up my wildlife photography to a more sophisticated level and create images more engaging for the viewer. I plan to capture not only the natural behavior of animals in their habitats, but also their individual personalities, allowing them to clearly engage with the viewer; quite literally portraits of animals.


Process: Henry David Thoreau's advice, "you only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns," will be my starting point. Without the luxury of his quantity of time to myself, I will increase my odds by researching the behaviors and favored environments of the animals I will photograph. Because these are wild animals, many of whom are not habituated to the presence of humans, I will go out of my way to maximize my safety and minimize the stress I cause them (with larger animals, this amounts to the same thing). Also, for animals in the deer family, early winter is the time for rutting - and while jousts between stags seeking dominance are high on my shot list, prudence will take precedence to passion. I will expand my use of off camera speedlights and increase my sophistication with them; the viewer should never be able to tell that artificial light was used. As for the display of the finished images, I am interested in working with larger prints than I have made thus far.


Outcome: I intend for this series to be indistinguishable from the current standard of quality for professional nature photography, and yet bear a clear stamp of my personality and vision. I do not want to be lost in the anonymity of trends or tradition.