The mechanical precision of cameras has fascinated me since my stint at Ft. Benning, Georgia in 1965. My wife-to-be shamed me for the money I spent, and could ill afford, so back it went; my first aborted attempt at photography. In time I trickled through Minolta and Olympus until I bought my first Nikon F3 in the late seventies, the camera I had always coveted. Over the next several years I added two other Nikon models, FE2 and FM2, and a used Hasselblad. Eventually I sold all but one and two lenses when it finally dawned on me that cameras are not possessions to be admired on a shelf, but tools for story-telling and preserving special scenes and moments.

A broken ankle I sustained while training for the1979 Peachtree Road Race started me on the road to birding. The gloom of a sedentary summer spent staring at the trees behind my home in Marietta, Georgia was relieved by the colorful activity of neighborhood birds. A new passion had begun, but marrying that new interest to the hobby of photography required more passage.

In 2001, after thirty years living with the pressures of the institutional securities business, and the birth of our first grandchild in Savannah, I finally threw the yoke of a stressful life; I bequeathed my parking place on the I-285 perimeter highway, and packed it in for Skidaway Island. Among the more than 240 species of birds which transit, winter or breed here, it didn’t take long for me to pick up the camera once again.

I still use Nikon; I see no reason to change, and brand really is so unimportant. As expected my equipment list has inevitably grown substantially over the past 10 years. As I write I have a D700, a D800e, and a recent FE2 film camera from the 1980s. My longest lens is a prime f/4 300, and I most often use the f/2.8 70-200 with teleconverters. I use tripods whenever possible and I have an elaborate car window mount with heavy ball head and offset flash bracket. The vehicle is the best mobile photo blind ever invented. Sometimes I bring birds in too close to photograph. At my feeders and bird bath I employ up to 10 wireless Nikon SB600/SB800 flash units on light stands, a background, and remote control of two tripod mounted cameras. This setup yields hours of pleasure and occasionally satisfying images.

More recently I have begun to move away from birds for birds sake and try to incorporate them in the wider context of their environment. And a return to black and white has obviously taken hold, as has developing my own film since no one here commercially can do even a respectable job.

Finally, let me acknowledge those of you who have elected to follow me. I am flattered that you care enough to see images as I produce them. I do not as a rule return the favor, much as I should, since the work of many of you is so deserving. In fact I follow few; those who work is teaching me a better way to see our world.