Eagles
I have an insane amount of eagle pictures. It comes from the blessing of living in Washington, where the eagle population is doing quite well. I remember first seeing eagles when we moved to Washington over 20 years ago. We were amazed to see over 50 eagles congregating near a roadside, feeding on fish as the outgoing tide trapped them in small pools. It was pandemonium with constant fighting and national geographic-style displays of behavior. At the time it appeared we were the only ones entranced by this magical occurrence so close to civilization - sometimes these displays happened right over our heads! You definitely didn't get that in California.
When I started photographing in 2012, eagles could been seen congregating to feed every year with minimal human interaction. I managed to get a few years of images before social media ruined the party again. People just don't seem to be able to contain themselves when it comes to locations - and again, the animals were the ones to lose here. Over 100 photographers can be seen sometimes congregating at various eagle hotspots around Puget Sound. Where we saw over 50 two decades ago, the number of eagles has progressively dropped down to around 10-15 consistently, in spite of the population increasing. Hopefully over time this situation will change back to a more ethical one as people lose interest. I try my best to attain photos where the animals are clearly comfortable and able to go about their normal life, I feel lucky to have gotten a number of these situations before things got out of control!
When I started photographing in 2012, eagles could been seen congregating to feed every year with minimal human interaction. I managed to get a few years of images before social media ruined the party again. People just don't seem to be able to contain themselves when it comes to locations - and again, the animals were the ones to lose here. Over 100 photographers can be seen sometimes congregating at various eagle hotspots around Puget Sound. Where we saw over 50 two decades ago, the number of eagles has progressively dropped down to around 10-15 consistently, in spite of the population increasing. Hopefully over time this situation will change back to a more ethical one as people lose interest. I try my best to attain photos where the animals are clearly comfortable and able to go about their normal life, I feel lucky to have gotten a number of these situations before things got out of control!
