I am a Birder. I have been birdwatching ever since I was a kid. But the corona virus lockdown took my birdwatching and bird photographing to a whole other level. Going out in nature was almost the only thing you could do, for a whole year. I got myself a bigger objective and began my journey as a photographer. Photographing has made me think a lot about fantasyart. The things that makes a good photo is more or less the same things that makes a good fantasy creature portrait. The clear reading, the blurry background, the focus on the figure and the action.

Its funny how similar the thing I look for is, both in photos and in painting. But with bird photographing the right pictures comes from shooting 1000 of pictures not to be used.

I was photographing a great little falcon last week, called Red-Footed falcon. I got more than 1000 photos of it, but when I came home and looked them all through, there was one in particular that stood out. It was one where it had caught a Dragonfly and was bending the head done to eat the head of the fly, while hoovering over the reeds. That specific photo stood out to me because it had a “Moment” and an action and it showed this specific kind of falcon doing its very specific falcon thing, namely catching fireflies. So out of a 1000 this became the One. In fantasy painting I got to make every painting the One. I have to choose that moment and scene and portray it so the creature looks just a believable and true to its environment as if it was a wildlife photo.

Here is a huge gallery of my best bird photos over the last year.

I use Sony camera and lens and a camouflage suit or blanket.

If you want to follow my birdphotos its @ejsingbirds in Insta