Ring-necked Duck Drake

“Ring-billed Duck” may be a better name for this species, as its neck ring is usually only visible at close range. The white ring on the bill is a prominent field mark.

Ring-necked Duck with visible neck ring (Aythya collaris, Fuligule à collier, RNDU) from my Better than Bosque workshop. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha alpha 1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 1,600, f/8 @ 1/3,200s. Full frame image. Manual exposure.

Wood Duck

Another Wood Duck from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. It is easy to see why Wood Ducks are a favourite subject. Such handsome birds.

Wood duck in flight

One of my favourite Wood Duck images from last December’s Best of Bosque workshop. A drake (male) Wood Duck flew directly towards us with the amazing colour of the Sunset reflecting off the cottonwood trees.

Learn more about the Best of Bosque Workshop HERE.

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Learn more about the Best of Bosque Workshop HERE. 〰️

Sandhill Crane

A Sandhill Crane in flight from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. I love the fire-like background in this frame.

Thank you!

Special thanks Sony, Vistek and to all who filled the stands at my ProFusion Expo Presentations this week. It was a huge success and so great to get back out and see so many friends!

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Special thanks to Raquel Rizzuto Hitchcock from Sony of Canada for the images.

Snow Goose Landing

Want to become a master bird photographer?

There are still two spots available for my Dec. 5-9 Best of Bosque workshop. Join me at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife near Socorro, New Mexico for an awesome adventure and come home with a diversified portfolio while learning to become a master bird photographer. Learn more HERE.

Northern Pintail Landing and ProFusion Expo speaking schedule

ProFusion Expo November 9 & 10, 2022 Free Sony Presentation and meet & greet schedule

Thrilled and proud to be presenting at ProFusion Expo in Toronto today and tomorrow for Sony! Come and see a free mini-workshop/seminar/slideshow. Sony has generously sponsored an extra hour-long meet & greet, so come and say hello and bring your questions (if I can’t answer them, I am sure we will have some awesome support from my friends at Sony :)

The shows start at 12:00 (Noon) on both days. Click the picture below to learn more!

Sony presents Sony ambassador Christopher Dodds November 9 &10, 2022 at 12:00 at Canada’s largest camera expo. Learn more: https://profusionexpo.com/speaker/chris-dodds/

Come and see me at ProFusion Expo in Toronto

Come and say hello and join me for my FREE mini-workshop presentation at Canada’s largest camera show in Toronto. I will be presenting at 12:00 on both November 9th and 10th. The presentation is sponsored by Sony and I look forward to seeing you there! Learn more about ProFusion Expo HERE.

Sandhill Crane Predawn Call

Here is another Sandhill Crane from my Better than Bosque workshop last December 7. It was dark, the air was cold, but still and we listened to the chorus of Sandhill Cranes waking for a good long while before they started to fly out. The dark overcast conditions were perfect for low contrast out-of-focus backgrounds. The key when working at high ISOs like 16,000 is to expose the image perfectly and try your best to capture full-frame images that don’t require cropping (or much cropping).

Join me in New Mexico from Dec. 5-9 for my Best of Bosque Workshop Adventure.

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CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE OR SIGN-UP

Join me in New Mexico from Dec. 5-9 for my Best of Bosque Workshop Adventure. ☞ CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE OR SIGN-UP

Snow Goose Last Call

Last call for my Best of Bosque workshop from December 5-9. Join me in New Mexico for an action-packed five-day workshop/adventure. Learn more about my Best of Bosque Workshop HERE.

Snow Goose

A Snow Goose gently lands against the distant out-of-focus Cottonwood trees at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on the second day of my Best of Bosque workshop last December.

Sandhill Crane on final approach

Here is another Sandhill Crane from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. It is surprisingly difficult to to get a head-on landing image with the head and neck clear of the wings and body. As always, having five full days and an abundance of subjects and activity with an ounce of patience paid off - wink.

Wood Duck Horizontal Portrait

Here’s another Wood Duck Portrait from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. Wood Ducks are high on most bird photographers’ want lists and we usually have plenty of great opportunities to fill memory cards full of images of them during my Best of Bosque workshop. Amazingly, two spots are still left for my December 5-9 Best of Bosque workshop after a couple cancelled for medical reasons. Learn more and sign-up HERE.

Bosque Dawn Silhouette Eagle in a tree with Sandhill Cranes

Here is a dawn silhouette from my 2008 Best of Bosque workshop. As with pretty much all of my silhouettes, I took some creative liberties with the white balance to make the image pop.

Sandhill Crane Dream what makes a successful intentional blur

I am not a huge fan of most of the intentional blurs that I see. I really feel there needs to be more than trying to make something out of a “mistake”. The vast majority of these types of images lack light; yeah, photographers try it when there is not enough light, but I mean they lack the quality of light to make them shine and stand out as art. In this case, I absolutely love the dreamy, rusty, oranges and texture in the background.

Dream of Sandhill Cranes? Join me at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for my Dec. 5-9 Best of Bosque Workshop. Learn More HERE.

Snow Goose calling in flight

A Snow Goose calls as it comes into the safety of the pond for the night. I love how simple this almost monochromatic image is with the bright red bill calling out its arrival. There are still two spots open due to cancellation; Learn more about my Dec. 5-9, 2022 Best of Bosque workshop HERE.

Great Egret with dinner

It’s not too late to join me in New Mexico for my Best of Bosque workshop from December 5-9! CLICK HERE to learn more or sign-up for my five-day workshop at an incredible location, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Wood Duck Portrait

A portrait of a drake (male) Wood duck from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. When the light angle is right, all of the colourful iridescence show wonderfully!

As iridescent birds move, nanoscale structures within their feathers’ tiny branch-like filaments — known as barbules — interact with light to amplify certain wavelengths depending on the viewing angle. This iridescence is known as structural coloration, wherein crystal-like nanostructures manipulate light.

Sandhill Crane Landing

A Sandhill Crane lands directly toward us during my Best of Bosque workshop last December. The vast majority of Sandhill Cranes fly in family units with two adults and one juvenile, so isolating a single bird is always the challenge :)

I still have a couple of openings for my Dec. 5-9, 2022 Best of Bosque Workshop due to cancellations. Join me for an incredible adventure to photograph Cranes, Geese, Ducks and so much more!

Eared Grebe with reflection

Still water on a cloudy and windless day was perfect to create images with reflections. This is an Eared Grebe from my Best of Bosque workshop last December.

Among the most skillful of all diving birds, grebes not only plunge headfirst underwater; they also can sink slowly out of sight by compressing their feathers and driving out trapped air, thus making themselves less buoyant. Grebes, in fact, are so well adapted to life in the water that they seldom fly, and many birders have never seen one on the wing.

Northern Pintail banking in flight

A Northern Pintail banks in flight in preparation for landing. Photographing the ducks in flight during my Best of Bosque workshop is so much fun and very rewarding when things work out. As they land, they tend to bank and change flight path suddenly making it challenging.

Join me at Bosque del Apache from December 5-9 for an awesome photographic adventure. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE HERE

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Join me at Bosque del Apache from December 5-9 for an awesome photographic adventure. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE HERE 🦆