Wahooo!

A couple weeks ago I was shooting at the Bolsa Chica Nature Preserve in Huntington Beach California when my wife called. Let me setup the situation a bit here. I never carry a cell phone out in the field. While some may say I'm a slave to technology in everything I do, there are some places and times I still consider aren't ready for technology cell phones. Being out in the field shooting to your heart's content, enjoying the beauty of nature, being reminded of why you decided to invest so much into this vocation only to be interrupted by the crescendo of a ringing cell phone just doesn't sound appealing to me. In fact, if I was standing next to someone getting a phone call out in the field, I'd find it down right rude. On the scale of the guy setting next to you in a fine restaurant that can't seem to set his cell phone down. Cell phones just kill the whole ambiance out in the field. I have no idea why this particular day was different than the thousands of other days I left my cell phone back in the truck but this day I had it attached to my Kinesis Gear photo belt harness. For some reason I brought it out into the field.

Somewhere around mid-morning nothing was going on. Honestly, the whole morning was a bit of a bust. The subjects weren't that many. I was hoping to shoot Brown Pelicans but they were absent--had been I understand the whole year. Add to that the light wasn't all that great and getting worse as the sun rose into the cloudless sky. So, I stood there waiting for something to fly-by and capture my attention.

During one of these lulls the phone rings, Ring, Ring, Ring... Fortunately, no one was around me to give me the evil eye. I answer it. "Hello", I answer. Robin is on the line, "hey you got a call from someone that said something about you winning an annual award for one of my pictures. She said they've been trying to contact you for a week and needed to talk by the end of the day or else they'd pick some one else". Wow! I had no idea which image she was talking about or even what contest I had won. I called the number Robin gave me right away, there on the Bolsa Chica bridge. Heather Forcier was on the other end of the line. "You're a hard person to get a hold of. We want to publish the winners of this years Images of the Year for Naturescapes.net tomorrow. We selected your Snow Monkey image. Is that okay?" Is it okay I thought. Sure it is. Heather went on to tell me I'd won a $300 dollar buying spree at the Naturescapes.net store--they've got a great collection of stuff o' by the way. And, they'd give me a lifetime membership on Naturescapes.net. All together, a great morning especially considering it almost didn't happen.

As for the image? It was taken during last years trip to Japan. I convinced my sister to go with my to see these little guys during a day trip. Here's a full length trip report. We encountered this couple just before entering the park. As is normal when working with any animal especially a during a "first encounter", you work from a distance and cautiously approach when they let you. We saw a small troop near a couple of buildings mingling among themselves. I stopped in my tracks and got the camera out. My sister on the other hand nonchalantly approached them without a care to which I had her stop and follow my lead. With only my D1h and 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR, I approached ever so slowly. Still, about a hundred feet away a couple in the troop started to argue among themselves and promptly ran right by us, one chasing the other. In fact, they ran right between us as if we weren't there. So much for needing to get them used to our presence. Anyway, there were two remaining Macaques grooming each other that I approached and was able to shoot about a dozen images before they departed as well. Overall, a very satisfying experience and it was only the beginning of a wonderful shoot.

This image hangs in our little gallery at home. It get lots of comments from folks that usually center around how human these two appear. I've had one or two mention it's difficult to look at this image because it makes them appear so human. I feel it really shows off my usual photo style when working with mammals--if your think you're close enough you can still get closer. I try to make images that give viewers a glimpse of what it's like to be one of my subjects. I think the best way to do that is to get as close as possible as you can see here. I'm very honored to be recognized like this. Luck is as much to do with getting an award like this as anything else. But, if you don't get out there and shoot, there's no way you'll ever win something.

Cheers

Tom Hill