Gratitude
I am deeply honored my photograph has been selected by the judges of this year’s Audubon Photography Awards as one of the Top 100 images.
To have my work recognized alongside so many extraordinary bird photographs is both humbling and profoundly meaningful.
I’m truly grateful to be included in the company of such gifted and passionate photographers.
Having "The Talk"
Behind the Shot
Location: Longfellow Gardens, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Every September for the past five years, I have photographed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds as they feast on flowers in Longfellow Gardens. For two weeks, I start and end each day by capturing them feeding, flying, perching, and preening on their layover as they migrate southward. The beautiful blooms provide an ever-changing kaleidoscope of backdrops, and like mixing pigments on a palette, I use my camera and lens to blend the colors of the foliage on my canvases. To capture this image, I moved to frame the portrait as the hummingbird swiveled its head from side to side, watching a honeybee buzz around. As the bee landed and faced the hummingbird, I fired off just one shot. An instant later, the bee was gone. I love how at this angle the tiny hummingbird towers over the even tinier honeybee.
Camera & Settings: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with an Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F/2.8 PRO lens and an Olympus Zuiko PRF-ZD72 72mm protection filter; shot at 1/1250 second at f/2.8; ISO 200
