Tin Man's Blog
In a world that is buckling under the weight of profit-making, that is overrun by the destructive sirens of techno-science and the power-hunger of globalization - that new brand of slavery - beyond all that, friendship exists, love exists. - Henri Cartier Bresson
Ten Best in 2014
It was still dark. 6am. Listening to the audio book “Ender's Game”, sipping a bottle of red bull, I was already driving on I-5, for yet another quest for the elusive bobcat. The quest was a complete failure the week before. There were more cars on the road that I thought, especially trucks. Everyone were on…
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How To Find The Fastest Bird In The World
How fast is 242 mph? Imagine driving at the 75 mph speed limit on a US freeway. Now think about driving 3 times faster. 242 mph is faster than the top speed of a Lamborghini Aventador. We all heard of the F-16 fighter jet. Wonder what the “F” stands for? F stands for Falcon. And the…
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The Number Two Secret To Wildlife Photography
#1. “Hey bear, good bear.” Our group kept calling while we were trekking in the tall grass, in pitch dark, at 5am. Well, summer in Alaska never got completely dark, but it's still so dark that I could barely make my way. Being clumsy I was always the one being left far behind the group. We…
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Birders are from Mars, Bird Photographers are from Venus
It was a disaster. Lance, the slender-built gentleman from our birding group, was sinking into the wet mud so quickly that when I realized what's happening, the lower half of his body was below the mud. It was like quick sand. Lance looked helpless as he used both hands to hold his Nikon 200-400mm lens and camera…
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How to develop your style in wildlife photography
In this post I will point out two photography “styles” that I don't like. Maybe I just don't understand it. Anyways, different strokes for different folks. It's just my observation. Style is such a sexy term. If your art has its own style, people could immediately tell it from afar. Oh, that's a Van Gogh. Wow, that's a…
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Special Bond between mama bear and cub
You all know I am a super fans of Michio Hoshino. Last year before my Arctic trip, I stopped by the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska, where I saw his writing on a wall: Tramping through the mountains of Alaska, I frequently encountered grizzlies. One spring day I spotted a grizzly sow and cub…
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My Quest for Barn Owl: 7 Unforgettable Experience
“Haunting, beautiful, startling, innocent, ghostly, adorable” — all these words came to mind as I was clicking the shutter nonstop like a machine gun, before the loud voice in my brain said “DODGE!!!” … Barn owls are nocturnal. Photographing them flying with natural light is not supposed to be possible. If you have seen pictures of…
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How wildlife photography taught me about life
What's it like then, the road of life? Just like geese taking off from the muddy snow. (excerpt from a poem by Su Dongpo) Who would have thought I had the opportunity to experience what the grandmaster Su Dongpo wrote 900 years ago, here in one of the biggest snow geese takeoffs in the world. It was…
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Surprising power of Less in Wildlife Photography
Ever watched a movie when in the first few minutes you had no idea what was going on? It felt like the movie started from the middle of nowhere. Then as the story unfolded, as the protagonist overcame one danger after another, you gathered more and more information. In the last 20 minutes of the movie,…
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