Sometimes wildlife photography happens in seconds. Sometimes, if you're very lucky, nature gives you time.
During one of my photography workshops on Saint Paul Island, Alaska, we had nearly an hour with this remarkable Crested Auklet—and the luxury of turning an extraordinary encounter into an exercise in making a better bird portrait.
An hour with a Crested Auklet!
I'd previously written about photographing Crested Auklets in flight on Saint Paul Island, when the challenge was completely different: acquiring these small, fast seabirds and keeping them in the frame as they flew past the cliffs.
This time, we could slow down.
When Wildlife Gives You Time
Having an hour with a cooperative subject doesn't mean spending an hour making the same photograph over and over again.
It means having time to look, to see and to learn from your subject.
At low tide, the Crested Auklet was surrounded by dark rocks. Each wave would wash bright white sea foam across them, completely changing the background.
We worked an angle with the bird and background in the shade and waited for the sea foam from each wave to wash out and disappear, exposing the dark wet rocks again.
That gave us the clean, dark background I wanted.
Now we could concentrate on the bird—and particularly that wonderful, ever-changing crest.
Working the Ever-Changing Crest
A Crested Auklet's crest is anything but static.
Every slight turn of the head changed it. Sometimes it stood beautifully separated, sometimes individual feathers crossed or disappeared into one another, and a little breeze could change everything again.
With so much time, there was no reason to rush.
We could watch the bird, learn how its appearance changed with every subtle movement, and wait for the head angle, pale eye, extraordinary orange bill and crest to come together.
Wait for the foam to disappear. Watch the crest. Make the photograph.
The bird gave us an hour. The challenge wasn't making more photographs.
It was using that hour to make better ones.
The Photograph Is About Everything in the Frame
A spectacular subject is only the beginning.
Once I had a few good frames, there was no reason to keep making the same photograph. Instead, I could refine it.
Could I improve my angle? Was the eye perfectly visible? Was the bill cleanly separated? What was the crest doing? Was there distracting sea foam behind the bird?
These are the little things that become important once the excitement of simply having a Crested Auklet in front of you wears off.
It's something I emphasize during my wildlife photography workshops: once you have the obvious photograph, don't stop looking.
The first few frames confirm that you've got the bird.
Now make the photograph better.
In this case, the combination of low tide, shade, wet dark rocks and patience gave us a beautifully simple setting for one of the most distinctive seabirds in Alaska.
Crested Auklet Photography on Saint Paul Island
Saint Paul Island, in Alaska's remote Pribilof Islands, is an extraordinary destination for bird photography.
Crested Auklets are just one part of it. The island is also home to Tufted Puffins, Horned Puffins, Least Auklets, Parakeet Auklets, murres, kittiwakes, Northern Fulmars, Red-faced Cormorants and many other birds of the Bering Sea.
Of course, wildlife never works to our schedule, and no particular encounter can ever be guaranteed.
That's also what makes an experience like this so memorable.
It wasn't simply that we saw a Crested Auklet.
We had nearly an hour to photograph one.
That's a very different thing.
Sometimes Saint Paul gives you a Crested Auklet rocketing past the cliffs and you have a fraction of a second to acquire it, track it and make the photograph.
Sometimes it gives you an hour with one bird and the opportunity to slow down, see, learn and keep refining your images.
I'll happily take both.
“As an experienced wildlife & landscape photographer I would highly recommend you attend one of Chris Dodds' workshops - I have attended a number of Chris' workshops and each of them reflect Chris' caring.
I just attended the St. Paul, Alaska workshop - typical of Chris' professionalism, and expertise. He only takes you to those unique shooting opportunities when he is convinced that the shoot will provide you the experience you are seeking. In the Saint Paul Island workshop's case he has visited this unique special remote island for over 25 years.
The local small population obviously respects Chris and they do all they can to assist the experience. You shoot from a variety of locations, with many types of birds, complimented by wild fox, sea lions etc. Chris has the talent to assist both experienced and novice photographers - he makes sure you get the opportunities you want, and if you need extra help he enjoys jumping in and helping you.
If you had to summarize Chris' workshops in a few words - Great well researched locations, tremendous local knowledge, dedicate to your photographic results being all you could possibly want.” — Wynne Powell | British Columbia | Canada
Photograph Saint Paul Island With Me
Want to experience and photograph the extraordinary birds of Alaska's Pribilof Islands?
Join me for my Saint Paul Island Photography Workshop, with seven full days devoted to photographing the remarkable birdlife of this remote Bering Sea island.