1. How did your early background contribute to your career?

I may have learned to use a camera, but the real gift God gave me was a passion for the outdoors. I grew up hunting, fishing, and camping – any opportunity or excuse to be out in nature.  I was raised in Alaska for the first few years of my life. At six months old, I was camping with my father in the Alaskan wilderness. When I was almost five, we moved to south Louisiana. I went hunting for the first time at age seven, had a snake farm at 12, and became a duck-hunting guide at 14. I owned every pet imaginable including a nutria, which I delivered by Caesarian section from its dying mother in the swamp. Everything I loved revolved around the outdoors.

2. What influenced you to become a photographer?

In 1981, my father gave me my first camera and I started taking it with me when I went hunting or fishing.  Eventually, I put down my gun and my fishing pole and took only the camera. When I had enough photos, I held a small exhibition in a local gallery.  Looking back now, the photos were terrible, certainly overpriced, but the business – and hopefully, my skill level – has grown from there.

From a creative standpoint, I’m influenced by other forms of art. One of my strongest influences is the Hudson River School of painting. I find it interesting that those artists were trying to paint like photographs, while I try to photograph like paintings.

3. What are the most difficult challenges you face?

Wildlife photography carries a lot of physical challenges. I want to be totally immersed in whatever I’m shooting. That can mean wading neck-deep through swamps full of alligators, snakes, and leeches, chasing dall sheep up a mountain with 40 pounds of photo gear on my back, or working to keep track of the sharks, the camera, and the air pressure gauge while scuba diving. Then again, my “office” is by turns a marsh, a mountaintop, or a coral reef, so I really don’t expect a lot of sympathy.

From an economic standpoint, cameras, gear, and travel are expensive, and this isn’t a business where you’re going to make a lot of money, even if you’re very good at it. Building enough stock just to get started takes about seven years. I talk to high school and college-aged kids a lot, and the first question they always ask is, “How much money do you make?” My response to them is, “You are not a candidate for this profession.”  Bottom line – this is a business you get into because you love it, not because you hope it will make you rich.

4. What’s your favorite photograph?

 Choosing my favorite photograph is like choosing my favorite child – impossible. There are some shots that have made money, some that are popular with people, some that were harder to capture.

I always say it takes a brain to operate a camera but takes a heart full of passion to capture a photograph. The images I’m most proud of capture more than beautiful scenery or animals in action.  There’s a feeling in them, an intangible quality that seems to reflect my passion for what I do.  Those are my favorite images, and they tend to be the images that touch other people, too.

5. What has been your most rewarding experience in the outdoors to date?

My favorite memories aren’t so much single events as lasting impressions. Film “remembers” the split-second events – the snake striking the camera lens, the grizzly bear catching the salmon, the sea turtle swimming past – just fine.  What I remember is the oxygen-rich air in the Amazon, the warmth of the sun on my face in Alaska, the refreshment of the water in Hawaii. The feeling of my senses brought to life.

6. What do you think about when you put together a book?

I look at a book as I would a record album. Whether a book is stylized, themed, or a collection, I “feel” my way through its structure. When putting together a book, I look at all the photos and consider the colors, design elements, and visual message that I ultimately want the book to reflect.

7. What part does equipment play in your photography?

I am not an equipment junkie. I started with very little because I was broke, and I’ve always utilized what little I did have to its fullest capacity. Even after achieving some level of success, I prefer to work with everything I’ll need on my back. I hate to hear people say, “My equipment isn’t good enough.” Give Tiger Woods only a seven iron to play with and he would still amaze the golf world.

8. What’s your thought on film vs. digital?

My first thought is one is “earthy” and one is “techy.” Digital photography is great for photojournalists and others who need to see, send, or publish a photograph instantly. In my business, no one is really in that much of a hurry to see a ‘possum. The bottom line, however, is that the single goal of photography is to capture that perfect moment. At that point, film versus digital is irrelevant.

9. What is the difference between your generation and the newer generation of photographers?

I think it goes back to that “earthy” vs. “techy” thing. Most of the older wildlife photographers are nature-oriented, while the newer generation is more technology-oriented. We are pre-photo thinkers and the newer generations are post-photo thinkers. We are programmed to “prepare and set up” and the newer generation is more geared toward “grab it now and fix it later.” PhotoShop has its uses, but it shouldn’t be a crutch. I personally do not alter my photographs on the computer, preferring to make my photographs in the field instead of in the office.

10. What is your advice on sending images to editors?

It’s hard to do, but you must be brutally honest about each shot. Photographers, including me, tend to fall in love with shots that are special to us because we remember the moment they were taken or how difficult they were to capture. You must make a distinction between the pure visual quality of a shot and your emotional attachment to it. Photographers “remember” shots, but editors don’t see anything except what’s in front of them.

11. Are there “secrets” to capturing award-winning photographs?

The biggest secret is there is no secret. Light, anticipation, and being in the right place at the right time have a lot to do with it. Most people think we go out and take award-winning photographs at will. The truth is that if you manage to capture 10-15 truly “great” photos in a lifetime, you’ve beaten all odds.

12. What makes one image a winner and another not?

It’s very subjective, but in general, a winning shot is engaging. It has an energy that’s new and a quality that’s hard to put into words. A winning photograph is built on a unique combination of light, composition, action, and color.

13. What is the simplest advice you can give someone starting out?

Everything you need to get started as a wildlife photographer is waiting in your own backyard.  Almost everyone has insects, plants, birds, and variations of light.  Too many people think, “If I can just go to Africa, I can capture a great photograph.” What they would actually be capturing is an ordinary photograph of an extraordinary subject.  The better idea is to start in your backyard, taking extraordinary photographs of ordinary subjects. If you can capture a great image there, you can capture one anywhere in the world.

14. What is the hardest thing to teach a new photographer?

How to see.

15. What is the future of nature photography?

I’m not sure. Great shots will be less and less appreciated because so many are “manufactured.“ With the technology as it is, for me, I hope nature photography won’t lose its emotional bond. A photograph has a soul, and I sometimes feel technology takes that away. I know I’m a purist, but for me, my love is Creation, not cameras. Ultimately, if I am not loving what I’m doing, that will show through in my work. At that point I don’t want to be out there anymore.

16. Have you ever visualized a shot?

Yes, and that experience is amazing. It isn’t that I go into some kind of trance and “cause” something to happen. It’s more like a strange, strong desire to see something in a certain way and sometime later – maybe years later – it happens. I wish it happened all the time. I have some great shots in my head.

17. Are there any “ones that got away?”

Absolutely. They come in two versions. First, the shots I simply missed due to human error, which happens a lot. Second, the moments that had all the makings of a great shot but never materialized.

The ultimate photograph, one that captures on film everything I feel in my heart or see in my mind’s eye, has eluded me. But that’s all right. The real adventure isn’t found in the image, but in its pursuit.  The photograph of a lifetime takes a lifetime of photographs.

18. After 25 years in this profession is there still a sense of excitement when you work?

Absolutely. I hope to capture something other people will only see through my eyes, and to present nature in a pure and moving way that glorifies the Creator.

When that special moment comes along, it’s just as exciting as it was the first time.

19. If you weren’t a photographer what would you be?

Deceased. The way I am put together led to only one path. And I’d starve if I had to take anybody’s orders.

20. What is your goal for your future photographic work?

To be actively shooting until I take my last breath. For now, I have a few great shots in my head and I hope to find them.