Featured Image – “Blue Heron in Flight”

I learned photography with film. My first serious work was with a 4 x 5 view camera, sheet film, and Ansel Adams’ zone system. The view camera is slow and deliberate to work with but the exquisite detail is alluring so the landscape is a natural subject and one to which I have always been drawn. But I have been interested in wildlife too, and, lately, I have been intrigued by the challenge of capturing birds in flight.

The Great Blue Heron is a beautiful bird. Although I have photographed many of them, they are hard to resist. Getting them in flight, except from the rear as they flee, is difficult. For a large bird they are quite easily frightened. And they are very observant so it’s hard to get close. This image was made in late afternoon light as the bird flew over Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City.