Gary Luhm and Jim Avery are the Latest Eastside Audubon Photographers of the Month
Gary Luhm and Jim Avery are the latest members of the Eastside Audubon Photography Group to be honored for their work.
Pied-billed Grebe by Gary Luhm
Gary Luhm, a long-time member of the group, was named Photographer of the Month in September for a series of Pied-billed Grebe photos shot from his kayak.
Luhm, an expert kayaker, has birded while paddling in environments as varied as Alaska and Baja, Mexico. The grebe images were shot on Union Bay in Seattle.
“All summer I'd been observing this Pied-billed Grebe family near Foster Island in Seattle, both by kayak and from shore,” he says. “This was the parents’ second successful brood, which at the time had three one-month-old chicks. I was parked close by in a kayak when I was alerted by the sound of begging chicks and then saw a parent approach with a catfish. A youngster grabbed it, had difficulty swallowing it, and several times the adult snatched the fish back, crushed the skull, and eventually broke its neck. All the while I stayed low by resting the camera lens on the kayak deck and shot short bursts of the action.”
Pied-billed Grebe by Gary Luhm
Gary’s love of bird photography started in the 1990s at about the same time he took up kayaking. “It started with trips to locations like Tongue Point, where the Harlequin Duck became my spark bird. I took up sea kayaking in 1992. In 2001, I started shooting with a 500 mm f/4 lens from a kayak. Together, the kayak and big lens confer a wonderful low-angle bokeh.”
To see more of Gary's work, including dozens of photos and kayak tips, go to his website at www.garyluhm.net
Photo details
All photos were shot on a Sony A7 IV camera with the following settings:
Lens 100-400 mm | 1/400 of a second at f/5.6 | ISO 1600
Pied-billed Grebe by Gary Luhm
Jim Avery, a new member of the Eastside Audubon Photography Group, was named Photographer of the Month for a series of photos of a Golden Crown Kinglet.
The shot was taken at Juanita Bay near the bottom of the hill sloping down from the parking lot at 98th and Forbes Creek.
Photo details
Shot on a Sony Alpha 1 camera with the following settings:
Lens 600 mm | 1/2000 of a second at f/8 | ISO 125
About the Eastside Audubon Photograph of the Month Award
The Photo of the Month award was instituted to recognize the work of the Photo Group Members. The group members meet monthly to show their latest photos and videos as well as share their knowledge of photography and wildlife. To attend the meetings, please join the group’s announcement list.