As summer came near I knew what was needed for my Hummingbird Season was what a famous dinosaur movie jokingly calls a "high hide."  I needed to get even closer to our little buzzers; I needed a blind.  You've seen them on the Discovery Channel or maybe National Geographic, now I needed a "high hide."  Drawing out plans and making a list of supplies from the lumberyard went smoothly enough, then it dawned on me early one morning; we live in our blind, take advantage of your situation.  No one likes being cramped in a hot, nasty place for hours on end in the scalding sunshine, my "high hide" is air conditioned!

     The exact place of my "high hide" was a logical one; I'll swing open the north window of my bedroom, and plant my heavy camera on my tripod and wait.  My ice tea could sit right there next to my lawn chair, now in my bedroom.  But, there was a timing problem to be sure, as the sunshine needed to shoot at the high shutter speeds only occurs at that spot for three hours during mid-summer; the rim of the Wind River Canyon does have it's disadvantages, so I made my plans to photograph hummingbirds from my special "high hide."  

    I found out soon enough that this was going to be a nerve wracking series of shoots; this particular hummingbird feeder is in a very popular protected spot, and they come and go so quickly here.  If I sat down, a Rufous Hummingbird would show up, and by the time I stood up and got my finger on the Canon 7D, bang he was gone.  But wildlife photographers must have patience, as I've written before here in my blog.  There was lots of nothing going on, then frantic bursts of camera frames.  As the hummingbirds got used to my "high hide" an adult male Rufous Hummingbird was wonderful about "posing" for me.  One afternoon the photograph I had seen in my head years earlier was right there, I'd finally gotten it right.  Working it in Canon's RAW software and Elements 8, I then printed it myself thirteen inches square.

     Some advice on framing your special photograph, go to AmericanFrame.com, their ordering software is fantastic, and after years of perfect orders and shipping, I have no complaints at all, and that is saying something.  The framing was very special; cherry wood frame and triple matted just for the Cody Country Art League 48th annual Art Show.  I won first place in the Professional division this summer with the Rufous Hummingbird photograph I had nervously fought for so hard for, and to top it all off I won a second place award for the Swallowtail Butterfly that is seen on my home page gallery at HogbatsPhotography.com.  Last year I had won second place in the Pro-division and was determined to win a first place award, and this all only took six years and over ten thousand pictures of hummingbirds: Never give up your vision, you never know were it will take you.  Rufous Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon,Wyoming - 1st Place - 48th Cody Art Show