About Me

I’ve been a photographer and a birder since the early 1970’s. Naturally, most of my photography now centers on birds, but I do shoot other subjects. I now shoot only digital, having made the switch from film in November 2004 and wishing I’d done it sooner.

I’ve used Nikon cameras and lenses since I started in photography: my current gear is a D200 body (and a D70 that is now a backup and used in point-and-shoot mode with the kit lens). For birds I use a Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 lens mounted on a Nikon TC20E 2x converter; for general purpose shooting I use the 18-70 AF-S kit lens a lot, or an older 105/28 AF macro, or ancient 200/4 manual focus Nikkor macro lens. For really wide views I use my only non-Nikon lens: a 12-24 f/4 Tokina.

In addition to birds I’m interested in the full range of nature subjects and shoot dragonflies, lizards and snakes whenever possible. Although I like a good scenic as much as anyone I don’t shoot many of them; probably because I’m too busy chasing birds when the light is good for landscapes. I have an interest in “entropy” subjects: things showing “gradual decline into disorder” like weathered wood, flaking paint, abandoned buildings, etc. I did a lot more of this when I was shooting black-and-white in the 1970’s.

This blog is intended to cover a variety of topics about my photography and won’t be limited to birds, although it will start out that way. I’ll talk about selected images in more detail than I do on my primary web site richditch.com. I will also post topics that need some fine tuning or that I’d like to get feedback from visitors.

Please have patience as I experiment with the templates that control the appearance of this blog and learn the features: it may look a lot different on future visits as I look for the best format for my needs.