Wildlife and Nature photography has been a lifelong avocation of mine. I was trained as a US Army Still Photographic Specialist, Worked as a News photographer for the Gloucester County Times and as a sideline photographer for the Phila Eagles Football club, from 1990-93. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and see my latest uploaded images.

Bald Eagles

I’ve always admired raptors and the Bald Eagle sits there at the top. Benjamin Franklin would have chosen the Wild Turkey as a more honorable national symbol, but I’m glad our forefathers passed on that suggestion. After battling the thin shell effects caused by DDT for many years, the population of the Bald Eagles nationwide has rebounded enough to where it has been removed from the endangered list. Here in New Jersey, as of 2023, there were 286 territorial Bald Eagle pairs with 255 active nests. They are found in all 21 counties, with the highest concentration along the Delaware Bay in Salem and Cumberland Counties. Please visit my Bald Eagle photograph display at the Cumberland County Winter Eaglefest, held on first Saturday of February. I’ve participated as a vendor there for the last 15 years and you won’t be disappointed. Almost all of my Bald Eagle photo’s have been taken in and around Homer Alaska. Look up Jean Keene “The Eagle Lady” who spent 32 years feeding hundreds of these majestic birds from late December through mid April. While Jean passed in January 2009, there are generations of Bald Eagles, in the Homer Spit area, who are accustomed to look for a helping handout of fish during winter months. Feeding Eagles on land in Homer has been deemed illegal, but from a boat or anywhere else in Alaska it is not illegal to feed them. I made my first three trips to Homer while Jean was still feeding them, the first was in 2006, then 2007 and finally 2008. From these three trips, I’ve been marketing my photographs of Jean Keene’s Bald Eagles quite successfully. All of these images were shot with the Canon 1D Mark II, at 8MP each image. In mid February of 2025, I returned to photograph the Bald Eagles of Homer and Kachemak Bay on a photo tour organized by Arthur Morris. I was equipped with state of the art Canon mirrorless bodies, the R5 and R5 mark II. At each press of the shutter button, the camera captures 30 frames per second-each at 45 MP . Add the incredible eye focus tracking of the mirrorless bodies and the results are stunning. I can’s wait for my next show to offer these latest images. I’ve already made several sales to impressed acquaintances. Come out to the next craft fair or Eaglefest, you’ll enjoy the photos, and might even take something home with you.

Thanks again for taking the time to view my work, produced with expensive time, travel, equipment and the experience to make it all come together in the images before you!!!

Whitetail Deer

The White tail deer have always been my favorite to photograph. I spent my younger days chasing after deer in North Jersey at the Delaware Water Gap, camping in and around Worthington State Forest Campground, Millbrook Village and the Old Mine Road. My photographic capabilities were greatly enhanced upon reading “How I Photograph Wildlife and Nature” written by Leonard Lee Rue III. I also attend several presentations by LL Rue and his son, Len Rue Jr. at PEEC environmental center where they very extolled their methods and experiences photographing wildlife. The deer photography i was attempting to do in the Del. Water Gap area was not very productive, since these deer were being hunted. I learned from the Rue’s to seek out places where the deer were not hunted, private properties, parks and especially National Parks. One of the recommendations was Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee side. My first camping trip there was in 1995, I was shooting Nikon film cameras and manual focus lenses. All I needed was my supply of film and batteries while camping, life was so much simpler back then compared to today’s power hungry digital cameras and laptop computers. Getting older kind of endears you to a comfortable bed and hot showers. I’ve been making the 10 hour drive to the Smoky’s almost every year to photograph the deer. I retired in 2020 from being a USPS Mailhandler for 35 years. My preference would be to visit the Smoky’s into December, where there is a better chance of snow. Being that the USPS delivers Christmas mail, I was prevented from visiting then. Now that I’m retired, I am free to indulge myself into the month of December, without 35 years of USPS Christmas vacation constraints.

Sun and Moon (2024 April 8 eclipse images coming)

Our constant companions, the Sun and Moon make their presence known every day of our lives. I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing two total Solar Eclipses. The first was August 21, 2017. in order to place myself within the 70 mile totality shadow, I ended up at Burgess Falls State Park, near Baxter Tennessee. The normal 11 hour return drive from Middle Tenn. to my home in New Jersey, turned into an 18 hour odyssey with America all hitting the roads at once, heading home after seeing the Total Eclipse. The “Great American Eclipse” spanned the US from Oregon to South Carolina. Total show time lasted about 4 hours to cross the 14 states. Maximum time of the Totality shadow was 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

My second Total Solar Eclipse experience occurred on April 8, 2024. I ended up in Plattsburg New York, overnighting at a Walmart parking lot to be onsite for the big show starting at 2:14pm until 4:37pm. The maximum totality occured at 3:27pm, with the duration lasting 3 minutes and 33 seconds. What a show. Knowing the 400 mile, 6 hour return trip would be extremely congested and much longer. I decided to take a 6 hour nap in my van before starting my trip back to New Jersey. I wasnt going to repeat my 2017 difficult drive home from Tennessee. My wait proved very fortuitous, being well rested and a much easier drive.

Camera and lens combinations were

Canon R5 mirrorless body with EF 600mm F4 L IS lens

Canon 1D mark IV body with EF 200-400 F4 L IS 1.4x lens

Canon 5DSR body with EF 400mm F5.6L lens

Every press of shutter button initiated a 7 shot bracket, capturing wide range of exposures, one stop apart. Final print will contain up to 20 images stacked, to bring out the vast differences, of the exposures captured. Cameras cannot record the vast differences in one shot, hence a broad range of exposures are needed.

Filtration, before and after totality, all lenses were fitted with a proper Solar filter material, made by Thousand Oaks Optical. Their Silver-Black Polymer will show sun as a natural orange color. I made my own filter holders for each lens diameter. Ensure proper fitment, you do not want a high power lens focusing sunlight onto your eyes or camera sensor. Immediate and irreversible damage will occur.