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Early home movies show me as a two-year-old toddling around after ducks. I am still toddling after ducks, although now I usually have a camera in my hands. I suspect an important factor in my early development was that we three kids were growing up in suburbia, but being raised parents who grew up in the rural South. Mom and Dad saw to it that we spent a lot of time in the country, whether camping with the Scouts, or spending time at a cabin adjacent to George Washington National Forest shared by my family and the Maryland branch of the Cresswells.
Recently my father ran across a form I had filled out in Sunday School in the third grade. The form asked what I would like to be when I grew up. As I read it, I couldn't believe what I had written down: "Wildlife photographer." I couldn't remember that my interest stretched back so far! Then I noticed that the form asked for my favorite book, and I had written, Wildlife Cameraman. That juvenile novel did indeed pique my interest in photographing wildlife.
I took my first nature pictures at about age twelve. I was armed with a Kodak Instamatic camera that belonged to my parents, and also an add-on telephoto lens I had purchased with my paper route money. My first two subjects were a groundhog located by our dog Buffy, and a birdfoot violet.
I took barely any nature photos between ages fourteen and twenty-eight, but sometime around 1984 I purchased a Pentax ME-Super and a dozen rolls of 1000 speed film, and began wandering through the woods photographing box turtles, salamanders, mushrooms, and wildflowers. Later I added a 100 mm macro lens and a ring flash to my arsenal.
As I learned more about photography, I realized that slide film with a low ISO number was far preferable to 1000 speed print film.
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Another lesson I learned was to use a tripod whenever possible. I traded my ring flash for a nice Olympus macro flash set-up. Close-up images continued to be my favorites, although from time to time Teresa and I would go to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge to see and photograph birds.
After about five years of intensive photography I got interested in other things for a while, and did not resume my picture taking until 2002. Dragonflies and damselflies now became favorite subjects, although I continued to be interested in other macro subjects and in birds. As the Pentax began to show its age I moved on to a Canon EOS-3 film camera, and then to a Canon 1D Mark II digital camera. My macro lens was now a 180mm, allowing me to photograph dragonflies without crowding them. I also added lenses for birds and mammals: a Canon 100-400mm L IS lens, and a Canon 600mm L IS lens.
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I value wildlife photography because it gets me away from the occasional stresses of human society. Sunshine, fresh air, and exercise make me feel great, and I believe that communing with wild creatures does too. Over the last couple of years Teresa and I have visited some really beautiful places and seen some amazing creatures. Among our favorite photo locations over the last two years have been: Everglades National Park, Virgin Islands National Park, Texas's Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi, Saguaro National Park in Arizona, and Colorado's Arapaho National Forest and Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge. And needless to say, Teresa and I have also spent a lot of time watching wildlife near our home in West Virginia.
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Photo credits: The top one is a self-portrait snapshot with the camera held at arm's length. The snapping turtle bite picture was taken by my father William E. Cresswell. Teresa took the pictures from Texas and from Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
