1. What Camera equipment other related workflow products do you use?
Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EOS 40D camera bodies.
Canon lenses: 600mm f/4L IS, 500mm f/4L IS, 400mm f/4 DO IS, 400mm f/5.6 L, 100-400 L IS, 70-200 f/2.8L IS, 70-200mm f/4L IS, 24-105mm L IS, 180 Macro, and the 15mm fisheye.
Canon 580 and Macro Twin light flashes.
Breeze browser Pro, Downloader Pro, and Photoshop CS3.
2. Which photographers have influenced your work?
John Shaw, Rod Planck, and Jim Brandenburg among others. Early on I noted the pure backgrounds featured in John's flower images and Rod's bird images and tried to emulate them while creating an even tighter, more graphic style for myself. Jim's use of light and his intentionally blurred images have inspired me as well.
2. What is the one thing about the photography business that you wish you had learned earlier in your career
That self-publishing is far more profitable than traditional publishing!
3. What advice would you give someone thinking about starting a career in photography?
Know your subjects, photograph only what you love, make images that please you, learn to create markets for your work, diversify your approach to the business, and more importantly, work hard for at least 12 hours seven days a week.
4. What is your most memorable photo or photo shoot that you have done?
Most memorable photo is Snow Gees/Fire in the Mist, an image that I created just weeks after I lost my wife Elaine to breast cancer in 1994. Most recently, the image was featured on the cover of Light on the Earth, a compilation of images from 20 years of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competitions.
My most memorable day in the field was January 16, 2007 when I visited Brown Bluff and Paulet Island, Antarctica during a raging snowstorm. My favorite new location is the gannetry at Bonaventure Island, Perce, Quebec. I made the accompanying image on my first visit there with pal Chris Dodds who leads several great trips there each spring.
6. What other piece of equipment (besides a camera or a computer) do you always have on a shoot?
A big lens, almost always a super-telephoto like the Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO or the Canon 500 or 600mm f/4L IS.
7. Please name five important accessories you always carry with you on a shoot?
Delkin 8 and 16 gb flash cards, a Gitzo 3530 LS tripod topped with either the Wimberley V2 or the Mongoose M3.5 head, the 1.4 and 2X teleconverters, three extension tubes, and a small tools kit for in-the-field repairs.
8. If you could be in any other profession than photography, what would you like to be?
Professional golfer.
