I've been a birder and a photographer since the early 1970's, having begun both in New Jersey. Although I have a strong interest in all of nature, over the years the birding and photography have essentially merged into serious bird photography to the exclusion of almost all other subject matter.
I started with a pair of Nikkormat camera bodies (to shoot both color slide and black-and-white film at the same time) and a few lenses. I've stayed with Nikon ever since, now working with a D200 digital SLR as my primary camera and a D70 as a backup body. Current lenses range from a 12-24 wide angle zoom to a 300/2.8 AF-S prime telephoto that gets used with a matched TC20E 2x converter 99.9% of the time. My oldest lens is a manual focus 200/4 micro Nikkor purchased new in 1983 that still sees occasional duty on the D200.
I'm interested in wild birds anywhere I can find them, from my backyard to the truly wild places, and anywhere in-between these extremes. I don't take many photos of the backyard birds (it interferes with my wife's efforts to feed them every moment of the day), but I'll grab a few frames if the opportunity occurs. I don't do set-ups, preferring to encounter the birds wherever they choose to be and not where I force them to appear for my camera.
I like to show the birds in habitat whenever possible, believing that birds and habitat enjoy an evolutionary relationship that can sometimes be hinted at in the best images. I don't make a lot of intimate close-ups, but won't pass up a chance to do so on those occasions when conditions allow me to d so.
We now live in metro Phoenix, AZ, where the birds and the weather are much different than they were in the eastern U.S. Family circumstances limit the amount of time I can be away on any day, so my photography must be done close to home for the immediate future, and that's reflected somewhat in the species available for my camera and lens.
