A few days ago, I was asked to provide some biography information for an undisclosed (for now anyway) project. This caused me to reflect inward a bit – talking about myself in a serious way doesn’t come easy to me. As a starting point, I pulled up my ‘About’ page here and reviewed the information I included there. One of the things I quickly realized is that I hadn’t updated the page in a very, very long time (like, I was still shooting my Canon EOS 60D). As a result, I have now updated my ‘About’ page and think I have a nice biography to share when I need it.

In my new biography, I talk about how I learned photography. I am mostly self-taught, meaning that I read a lot of books on photography. I also have a network of wonderful mentors who aren’t shy about critiquing my work and helping me to improve my photography skills. Back to the books! When selecting a book to read, I’m sometimes interested in something new (HDR, Macro, Night Photography, etc.) but sometimes I buy a general photography book because it looks interesting. My latest book is called Photo Basics The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Great Photography by Joel Sartore, published by National Geographic. Like so many books on photography, there is excellent discussion about cameras, lenses and gear, composition, exposure light, etc. Even though the information is pretty consistent with other books, I enjoy the repetition as a learning/reinforcing tool.

In this book, Chapter 6 is titled ‘Thinking Like A Photographer.’ (Stay tuned, as I’ll be referring to this chapter in future blogs!) The author’s introduction to the chapter is titled ‘Get Into The Mind-Set.’

“…Making good photographs means more than knowing how to work the controls on your camera. Thinking like a photographer means having a good eye for moments that could yield iconic images, but also developing patience and persistence, doing your research, and always showing up prepared…”

I often talk about developing my photographer’s eye, or seeing a photo in a given scene. This adds a new dimension to my approach to photography, even though I seriously doubt that I make images that could be considered iconic. Most important there is patience (I have little) and research (I don’t do enough). Maybe I’ll change.

The focus (pun intended) for today’s blog required little patience or research! While in Wyoming last December, we took a couple drives up the road paralleling the North Fork of the Shoshone River. This is the road between Cody WY and Yellowstone’s East Entrance. Many animals exit Yellowstone to winter in this area. The Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep are plentiful, often they are on the road itself to lick the salt off the road! No patience was needed as there were plenty of animals to shoot (pictures, always pictures) and they are where they want to be at any given moment, just knowing they are in the area is all the research one needs to do. And so, enjoy the Big Horns!

I have many more images from this magical time. I hope you enjoyed these few. Enjoy – PHOTOROGR