This week we are featuring a British photographer, Stephen Burch. Here’s an excerpt from his home page:

Much of my birding (and bird photography) is done in my home county of Oxfordshire. After birding in this county for many years, I first acquired a digital camera in 2003 for digiscoping. In 2006, in search of higher quality results, I upgraded to a DSLR & 400mm lens, with some further upgrades more recently.

Farmoor Reservoir is probably the best place locally for birds and bird photography, where waders and other species can often be quite confiding, especially on the causeway. Visits to Port Meadow, if it has any water, can also been quite productive, with the added benefit of more natural surroundings – no concrete! Various other sites in the county including Otmoor can be reasonable at times, but getting close enough for good pics is a continuing issue (especially with the DSLR).

I also venture further afield from time to time, including both elsewhere in the UK and overseas. Holidays can provide good opportunities, and I often try to make the most of various business trips if at all promising in terms of locality and time of year.

Not only does he have some amazing bird images, he also has some general photography tips.  As always, to protect his copyright, I will only provide the link to his gallery.  Enjoy!

Graeme Chapman was recently awarded the 2004 John Hobbs Medal for services to amateur ornithology, having been involved with amateur bird groups (mainly Birds Australia, formerly the RAOU) since he first joined in 1956.  His pictures and articles have been published widely, particularly in Wingspan, the Birds Australia magazine and in the Readers Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds plus a myriad of other books and publications both in Australia and overseas. His continuing passion will be the birds of Australia and their behaviour, especially those that are peculiar to this great continent, the real Australian birds.

As usual with this feature, I will simply link to Graeme’s Gallery on his website to protect his copyright.

This week’s featured photographer hails from India, C R Jayaprakash who has over 100 lovely bird shots in his gallery.  I’m going to start with the Malabar Parakeet which is in the middle of the gallery since that will be the featured bird this week but take some time to enjoy all the bird photos.  To protect his copyright I will simply provide the link to his gallery.

This is my new weekly series in which I will introduce a professional photographer who specializes in bird/wildlife photography.  I hope that you will be inspired by their work!

Michael Snedic has been an enthusiastic naturalist and lover of wildlife since he was very young. It wasn’t until his early thirties, however, that he decided to take up photography. By using a camera, he was able to “freeze” specific moments in nature forever and share these moments with others, through photos.

Michael is one of Australia’s most accomplished and published nature photographers. He is a feature writer on nature photography and wildlife for various magazines. These include regular features on nature photography for Australian Photography and Wildlife Australia , as well as articles in Australian Geographic and the world-famous BBC Wildlife Magazine, the world’s largest selling wildlife magazine.

I was lucky enough to take a workshop with him sponsored by the Parrot Society of Australia last year and Michael is one of those rare individuals who not only has great skill but knows how to teach it.  I took the photo of him below at the October 2012 workshop.

MIchael Snedic teaching photography workshop

As always, with this feature I will link to his gallery to protect his copyright.

Gallery of Australian birds.