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In 1989, I along with my folks purchased a property in Huron County Ontario. With the help of many family members and friends we built a cozy, year-round residence overlooking Lake Huron. I have been feeding the birds consistently year-round for over 30 years and all photos have been taken by me from literally the same spot on my deck. The exceptions being the snow owl and any eagles or hawks.
Over that time, we have enjoyed the annual cycle feathered life. Some of my models like chickadees, cardinals and finches are year-round residents. Many others like the indigo buntings, orioles and hummingbirds are summer residents while the juncos arrive in the fall and spend the winter with us. Some seasons we have high numbers of various species and other seasons we hardly have any at all. Some birds like the evening grosbeaks or the swallowtail butterfly are only occasional visitors. My one-time visitors include a Carolina wren who spent a winter with me and a wayward calliope hummingbird that was around for a few days before heading to Goderich and causing quite a stir there a few years back.
I have always enjoyed photography, getting my first camera for Christmas when I was around 10 or 11. It was a Toshiba Instamatic that used MagiCubes flash. My interest and knowledge grew from there, guided by my aunt and uncle (Angela, Jim) who were professional photographers. I had the opportunity to go with them several times to do weddings where they taught me about lighting and composition and darkroom developing. They were responsible for encouraging my family to buy me a real SLR camera for my confirmation at 14. It was a Minolta SRT 200 and over the next few years I took some of the photography courses offered by HiWay Market in Kitchener. Their camera department under Peter G. was second to none in town at that time. Unfortunately, that camera was stolen during a backpacking trip through Europe in 1982 so it was replaced with the Minolta X-700. My digital era began somewhat late when in 2014 I bought a Nikon D3200. Within a month I was able to get the snow owl shot outside of Auburn Ontario. Less than 2 years later I moved into my current camera, a Nikon D7200 and most of the photos are shot with my 120-400mm lens.
In my photos I try to capture and convey a personality with each one. If they give you a smile or a moment of calmness in an increasingly chaotic world, then I have succeeded.
All photos are taken by me and are initialed and dated with the year they were taken.
Huron Blue, for truly Eppich photos.
Dean W. Eppich