Friday, October 6, 2023

The Sharp Shinned Hawk & The Story Behind A Local Photographer

By Andrew Zuliani, Aurora ONMy name is Andrew and I am photographer based in Aurora, Ontario. A few days ago, I was frustrated, I could not take any good looking photos or videos. I’ve been spending a lot of time on Instagram and Facebook looking at pictures of famous photographers who have a fan-base filled with millions of people. They have beautiful portfolios filled with endless amounts of content and are always traveling to exotic places. I on the other hand, am just a student who does not have the best gear or the best locations to work with.

“I’m not a quitter and it’s my passion to take pictures which will hopefully inspire others!”

How can I start taking better pictures? I have a boring life, I live in a boring house and there’s nothing interesting to point my camera at, or so I thought… I watch a lot of video tutorials and I’ve even attended a handful of courses which taught me the fundamentals of this craft, but I was not taking the best photos. I thought why don’t I just give up and find a new hobby, something I’m good at, but that mindset was soon to change.

I’m not a quitter and it’s my passion to take pictures which will hopefully inspire others! I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my camera, and went outside to take some pics. I’ve been shooting at this exact location earlier in the day, but had no luck. As I walked outside, a sharp shinned hawk flew by and landed on a tree branch right in front of my camera. I switched my Nikon D7200 DSLR to burst mode and snapped a few pics because this was an exciting moment. Looking down at my camera, I smiled because I knew that I had taken the money shot!

After the sharp shinned hawk took off, I ran back inside, started up my computer and unloaded the images into Adobe Lightroom. I adjusted them until perfection, carefully making sure I was not ruining them. I had to find a way to share my story with the creatives of Aurora and so I’ve written this post. Photographers, if you’re feeling uninspired with your work, then I ask you to go outside and start taking photos. You might end up with your best one yet!

Andrew Zuliani
Aurora, Ontario

Copyright 2018 Andrew Zuliani

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