In the final days of 2020 I had the good fortune to try and photograph some short-eared owls in snow flurries. The snow just adds something different to work with…and I enjoy these kind of days when they come along.
This post however isn’t really about snow, or owls, or any of my other particular interests. It’s about people. Other people…who through their unselfishness…made this image not only possible, but better…I think…then I could have done on my own.
The very fact that I could watch or photograph these owls came about because a few friends shared their knowledge on where to find them, and how to photograph them…and without that information, this image of mine just wouldn’t exist in the present day.
Secondly, after I got home and went through the usual editing processes, I liked the shot, and could see it had some merit, but I never felt all that great about the tone and some of the colors…I couldn’t figure out how to dial those in to make it look right. By that I mean more natural, realistic, and closer to what I actually saw as I just watched the owl flying around through the snow flakes.
So eventually, I ended up posting the original image on a photography Facebook group that I follow and some of the feedback was exceptionally helpful. It was respectfully given, and respectfully accepted…and I did my best to apply what was suggested as long as the advice made sense to me…and the end result was what you see above.
So this image is really an example of contributions by many people. I’m grateful to call it my own, but I wanted to document the fact that it is, in reality, not mine alone.
Photography, at times, can be a lonely pursuit, and if I’m to be honest, I sort of like it that way. But make no mistake…I do not believe that you can grow, expand, and become better over time, without the help of others. Whether it’s through inspiration, honest and helpful criticism, or sharing tips and strategies to get better results…there is more than the individual photographer behind every good photograph.