This year is going to be an exciting year. My wife and I are due to have our first child in April and found out last month that it is going to be a little boy. This means I am going to have a little partner joining me on photography trips in the future which is very exciting news. For the moments when I am not changing baby nappies or catching up on sleep, I have a few ideas for this year and I am hoping to spend some time photographing the local Orca pods. Come on... who hasn't wanted to do this ever since they watched BBC's Frozen Planet???? I am just amazed with myself that I haven't seen one in the wild yet. Come to think about it, I haven't seen one full stop in the flesh and pods are often sighted just off our local beaches. I think it is safe to say that Orca's are high on the agenda for this year along with my continued efforts to get to photograph the local bear community and to one day see the local Cougar that pops up now and again. I am looking to buy a trail cam soon so I can set one up on local well worn critter trails in a bid to hopefully catch sight of it and photograph it.
However, before we plunge into 2012 I want to share my last published image from 2011. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my bear beside the caution sign image featured for the 2nd time this year on the front page of the local Tri City region newspaper. The image took centre place for the review of events in 2011.
I am very proud that my images can be used to promote bear awareness in the local communities. This image was used to draw people's attention to the sad fact that a number of bears were shot this year due to too many human and bear encounters. If we are going to continue destroying their habitat with the urban sprawl of housing developments and strip malls then we must learn to co exist with these amazing creatures and take some very simple straight forward measures such as containing your garbage and only putting it out the morning of pick up. Such simple and very small steps would have an almost instant positive impact on bears.
For more information on Black Bears and steps you can take to improve the relationship between bear and humans please visit http://www.bearaware.bc.ca/
My buddy Peter Sulzle contributes a number of images to the website. To see more of Peter's images please visit his website: http://petersulzle.zenfolio.com/. Peter is a very talented photographer from the Okanagan Valley region of Brtish Columbia.
Remember you can view my work on my current portfolio which is being used until I get around to updating my website.: http://jamiedouglas.500px.com/#/0
People often ask what are my New Years Resolutions. I usually reply by saying that I always just hope to achieve more than I did the year before and that people in my life stay healthy and safe.
Thank you again everyone for all your visits and comments in 2011. This year is going to be an intersting year. I also have a few product reviews lined up so stay tuned.
Before I go...
Do you often have to work at high ISO settings and have trouble dealing with the noise when you are working in Photoshop? If so, please check out Professional photographers' guide to noise reduction for EOS Cameras by Arash Hazeghi: http://www.arihazeghiphotography.com/AH_NR_guide/
Best wishes for 2012.
Congratulations on the publish.. :)
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Angad Achappa
Indian Wildlife Photography