Welcome back, friends.
The end of February and beginning of March are often the most difficult times to live in Yellowknife. This is generally when we experience the coldest temperatures of the year. The days begin to get longer but when it’s beautifully sunny out it usually means that your face will freeze and fall off in under 5 minutes if it’s not covered. Wildlife seems to vanish and it is still months before the birds return – definitely a challenging time to be a wildlife photographer!!
Down time isn’t all bad though. The colder temperatures and lack of subjects means opportunity to go back and look through old images, process a few unpolished gems, and reflect on how much I’ve improved over the past year. This time also allows me think about what sorts of photo techniques I might want to try in the upcoming year.
The past few weeks I’ve been working at cleaning out my photo catalogues. With over 5000 shots of just foxes let me tell you, it’s gonna take some time! It’s been wonderful to see how much my shooting style has changed and to notice the types of images I tend to shoot. It’s good to see improvement in my work because it means I’m learning and growing.
My biggest challenge when I started shooting wildlife was mastering focus. If my subject was (mostly) in focus, I considered it successful. I have hundreds of blurry images (hence the cleanup) because I hadn’t quite figured out the minimum shutter speed to freeze a fox. Now after five plus years of practice, my shots are in focus way more consistently.
So this week enjoy a few of my successes from 2012. Until next week, stay warm and think 1/focal length!