Michelle Soper
Wasatch County, Utah
Last Christmas, my husband gave me the best present ever, my first SLR digital camera – a Nikon D50 and two Nikkor zoom lenses. I felt like a ten-year old girl – my age when Santa brought my very first camera – a little Kodak 110.
I’ve always been fascinated with birds – the freedom of their flight, the diversity of their species, their habitats, and the complexity of their lives. The more I’ve learned – the more I’ve wanted to learn.
My first serious observations began in the early 1990’s when we put a simple bird feeder in my yard in Ogden. In December 2003, I began photographing humming birds with my first digital camera – many times taking more than a thousand images a day. At night, I’d review, crop, and touch-up photos I’d shot earlier that day.
Photographing birds has allowed me to identify and learn more about an individual species (often with Milt’s assistance) and to capture some beautiful moments in nature – most shorter than the time it takes to say “click!”
More recently, I’ve built a backyard bird habitat in the mountains (6,000’ elevation). While the shorter days of winter, my full-time job as an office manager in Park City, and filling a dozen bird feeders doesn’t leave much daylight; I make the most of it and shoot more on weekend mornings.
Equipment: Nikon D50 and two Nikkor zoom lenses
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