Weekly Photo Challenge : What I Treasure

As a photographer, the thing I treasure the most is nature. It did not start out that way. (please see more photos and text below)

I shot these photos during Winter Storm Pax which  hit the Mid Atlantic Area (which of course includes suburban Virginia) this week.

Cardinals are great to photograph in the snow especially on a cloudy day. They instantly brighten up a scene.

Please check the following  post if you would like some simple tips for back yard bird photography.

After shooting the top photo, I began to notice the snow the bird was standing on was starting to crumble. So I recorded this quick series of three photos. In the end the cardinal seemed a little surprised the ground below him was crumbling and was looking to see where it went.

I started taking pictures when I was about 7 years old. I loved photographing buildings, animals and of course people. Once I caught the news photography bug which launched a career in journalism I started to stray away from nature and wildlife scenes.

Years later during a nine year stint as a photo editor for the Associated Press a couple of things started to happen. First, my job involved looking at hundreds if not thousands of photos a week, a good deal of those where animal and nature scenes, so I was exposed to the idea of nature a lot more.

I also had time on my own to take any type of photos that I wanted. One day while bored, I started shooting close ups of flowers. One thing led to the other and I discovered there was this entire new world of places and things to photograph.

After photographing or editing stories about natural disasters, school shootings and other human loss, I found nature photography to be somewhat of an escape.

The more I photograph birds or any other wildlife or nature scenes, the more I appreciate and treasure things I might once have taken for granted.

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy Valentines Day!

 

To purchase photos by pro photographer Rob Paine taken at beautiful Deep Creek Lake, please visit DeepCreekImages.com