Building and maintaining a website is like babysitting a small child, if you're not paying attention he'll drown in the pool.  There are over one hundred million other websites that I somehow compete with, so I'm always looking to improve a picture, or add a new one, or maybe change something that will make HogbatsPhotography.com run more smoothly and be more informative and educational.

     So why give up a full-time job to become a conservationist, and wildlife photographer, when it's agreed there's no great financial reward?  My entire life now seems to have led me to this profession; my background and interest in art and art history, and my grandfather's cameras, for instance.  But it's deeper than that; I want to show folks these wonderful things they've never seen, and maybe try and help protect these lovely animals and mountains for future Nature explorers.  Honestly, if I can be of some small help for the preservation of this place, the Wind River Canyon ecosystem, it would all be worth the struggle.  To just give back all the magical moments that we've experienced here, and let people really see these invisible creatures and the amazing place they live, would help this Wind River Canyon survive for many generations.  

     But, what you see when you visit any website, is much like an iceberg; you only see ten percent, the other ninety percent is hidden beneath and unseen by anyone.  And this is the really difficult part of running a website, I found out, all the crap we all never see.  The geek terminology is SEO, search engine optimization.  Basically, it's me trying to make search engines find me, period.  At times it seems just as unseen and magical as the animals I photograph, and at other times it's frustrating beyond belief.  I'm in way too deep to ever give up; I owe my hummingbirds my life and my sanity. 

     The photo this week is a landscape I've been shooting for nearly twenty years!  A half dozen different cameras and who knows how many frustrating trips to the grocery store to pick up badly printed film, and now I like it enough to let the internet see it.  The spot is far above my cabin, in the far reaches of the canyon's rim, where few have ever ventured.  The fog obscures things you'll want to see in the Wind River Canyon and, now it's a magic picture that if you stare too long you may see a Hobbit.  The digital file was shot in RAW, and worked in Canon's Digital Photo Professional, a "free" software package that comes with Canon cameras; I used no expensive software on the photograph, but it's taken many hours to get it the way I saw it in my mind's eye.  The photograph was shot with my favorite camera of all time, the Canon 7D; hand held with a 300mm L-series Canon lens.  This week's photo is proof of what I've been trying to teach you; "Keep your camera ready."  

Wyoming Landscape, Wind River CanyonWyoming Landscape, Wind River Canyon