Compositional Bird Photography

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For those of you who are regular visitors to my blog, you have certainly picked up on the fact that my bird photos are different from most of those you have seen before. Unlike many bird photographers, my shots rarely single out the bird as the main, if not only subject of the photo. Instead, my images are much more about an environment containing a bird, than just the bird itself. My goal has always been to exhibit photos that raise the question, "Is this picture about the bird, or is it about the habitat in which the bird resides?" In composing my shots, it is that question that is always at the forefront of my thinking. It's the question that I ask of myself, and that I hope the viewer is also asking of him or her self in viewing my photos. If photography is to truly be an art form, I feel that images must provoke the viewer to ask questions of the image. Where is this place? Why did the subject choose this place to perch or feed? Why does my eye follow the subject within the frame? Where is the light source coming from in this image? How did the photographer manage to capture the image? Why did the photographer choose this particular frame to print?

I think photography earns its' place in the art world, when it goes beyond simply recording a moment in time. I believe a photographer enters the world of fine art, when his images provoke discussion and create some degree of controversy. I continue to work everyday to keep my work aimed at those standards.