Ten years ago, when I made the switch to digital photography, I did so because it seemed the only way to photograph my hummingbirds.  Conventional film had so many drawbacks, the chemicals are disgusting, and that kid behind the counter was useless.  Digital photography opened up new avenues of creativity that I couldn't have imagined.  The picture was important as always, but you needed to be even better with a computer; right up my alley.  And one of the Rufous Hummingbird Portrait - Wind River CanyonPortrait of a Rufous Hummingbird male in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. very first summer's ideas was to put a lifetime of art training to good use; shoot portraits of hummingbirds!  Now that was a crazy idea.

     Loving a challenge as much as I do, I still find Hummingbird Portraiture to be one of the most difficult and ultimately rewarding photographic works I have ever done.  You need the patience of a rock, and your muscles are going to ache from the hours spent ready and waiting for a hummingbird to trust you, and then the click of the shutter scares your hummingbird away, and you start the ache all over again.  But when you get a digital file that screams at you from that display, and you see into that tiny wondrous eye of that amazing flying jewel, you begin to realize the magic of nature.  It's a rapture that John Muir would have understood quite well.

     I will not blow wind up your something, this is hot sticky work.  Standing for hours with a camera on a monopod, even in the shade, is not fun, period.  Unless you're one of those lucky dudes at the ballpark with the outrageously expensive white lens.  I do this with a camera purchased as a refurbished unit, with assorted lenses that are a fraction of the cost of what I wish I had.  The real secret is to have patience, and more patience, and yes, even more than that.  The hummingbirds will eventually trust you, because you are no threat to them; the shutter-click will be tolerated by your new friends.  The rest is your creativity at work, and some good luck is always a nice touch, too.

     Spending many, many hours during our hot summers in the Wind River Canyon shooting hummingbird portraits, action shots and just observing, is intellectually rewarding.  The above portrait is an adult male Rufous Hummingbird photographed a week and a half ago.  Him and other breeding males are already headed south, as we had a cold spell that dropped the nighttime temps below sixty, which is not that unusual in the canyon.  The Rufous and Calliope Hummingbird males were here for five or six weeks, the Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbird males arrive in early June, and the Black-chinned are still here, now.  You cannot count the number of baby hummingbirds we have here this summer; this may have been the best year ever! Rufous Hummingbird Baby Portrait 2015 - Wind River CanyonPortrait of a young male Rufous Hummingbird in the Wind River Canyon

     This next photo is a young, baby Rufous Hummingbird, born in this Wind River Canyon, as many of our hummers have been.  They return year after year and they live for more then a decade; I know these hummingbirds quite well, and they know me. This young, little male is a real powerhouse, and quite dominant and aggressive; all Rufous are, even the females! Female Black-chinned Hummingbird Portrait - Wind River CanyonPortrait of a Black-chinned Hummingbird photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.

     This last new Hummingbird Portrait is of a beautiful, female Black-chinned in all her magnificence. She shines like an expensive emerald in the Wyoming Sun, green and so beautiful.  Yet, I still haven't shagged her mate, as he teased me during their stay here in the Wind River Canyon. I'll just have to wait until next June....rats!

     In conclusion, you don't need nutty, expensive equipment to photograph wildlife, or hummingbirds either, as my artwork attests.  You need determination and patience.  The understanding of Mother Nature's beauty will change a person, and you will come to love our wonderful planet, and the wilderness, for the miracle that it is.  Just maybe, we should save some of the Wild Places, so these places can change future generations.

Thank you for reading about one of my favorite things on this Blue Marble.

Writing, website, photography and Hummingbird Nut---- 

Michael John Balog - Wind River Canyon - Wyoming

Hogbats Photography  - HogbatsPhotography.com