The Amiable GBH

There isn’t a wildlife photographer who doesn’t owe a debt of gratitude to the Great Blue Heron. They patiently put up with us in the beginning of our passionate pursuit of wildlife photography. This big bird makes us feel successful. Being a bigger bird, they have more confidence permitting us to get closer physically to them. At the same time, being bigger we don’t need to have as big lens or lots of skill to get a good images size in the viewfinder. We comeback with photographs that make us feel successful, so we move to other subjects that challenge our skills knowing we conjured them with the amiable GBH. But many don’t go back to the GBH, I often hear, “I’ve photographed them a lot already.” Which of course, we’ve all done but have we don’t it well? Have we made the common, uncommon?

The Great Blue Heron is the species, subject that taught me the all-important lesson of making the common, uncommon in my photograph. There is nothing more common to the wildlife photographer then the GBH. They are found in nearly every corner of North America, wild or urban. I have thousands of Great Blue Heron image, thousands and looking through them, you will see a gradual lever of improvement. I’m constantly photography them trying to improve on my last image and the story it told. I was very fortunate to add to this quest yesterday floating on Caddo Lake. I’m quite excited by the opportunities I had this week to move the ball forward with the Great Blue Heron. If I hadn’t started with them forty years ago, I wonder if I would have moved the ball forward without such a big measuring stick. I think we owe a lot, to the amiable GBH!