On a recent bird-watching trip to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, I came across a photographic opportunity that as a nature photographer I just couldn’t pass up.
I was driving down Forest Street to take a drive around the refuge auto loop when I came across a simple winter scene on the nearby Bear River that immediately caught my eye, causing the photography alarm inside of me to start ringing.
And anybody that knows me understands when the alarm goes off in my head, there is something nearby to photograph.
It doesn’t mean I can capture it well or even capture it at all for that matter.
It just means there is an interesting scene in front of me giving me a photographic opportunity and I should see what I can do with it.
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As a nature photographer, I always feel the need to take advantage of these random situations when they present themselves because they are always too few and far between.
On this particular spot on Forest Street, the Bear River itself comes right up against the county road and is lined with large boulders to help with erosion.
Well, to make a long story shorter, I had to somehow climb down those snow-covered boulders to get right to the water’s edge for the angle I wanted, hopefully capturing the reflection of both the clouds and the snow-covered bush that caught my eye just moments before.
Slowly, with my camera in one hand and the other trying to support myself on the large boulders, I cautiously worked my way down the embankment to the river’s edge.
Now I don’t have to tell you by this time I was a bit nervous about slipping and falling into the icy river but the image I saw as I drove upon the scene was now firmly stuck in my head and, quite frankly, it wouldn’t leave me alone.
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It kept pushing me further down the bank right to the very edge of the water until I was literally standing on the last snow-encrusted boulder.
I did my best to capture what images I could get from this angle then promptly but cautiously I climbed back up the bank and to my awaiting vehicle.
This isn’t the first time, however, I have taken risks to try and photograph the “perfect image” but hopefully, it will be my last.
It’s not something I would ever suggest to anyone if truth be told and the older I get the less I like being in these dangerous situations.
Taking such risks while photographing nature just isn’t worth the reward and I wish I would remember that fact during these adrenalin-driven moments when common sense is pushed out the window by the desire I have to get the best photograph I can.
Trust me on this, trying to take the perfect photo is an obsession all photographers face, at least to some degree that is, and it can be dangerous, very dangerous in fact.
I have seen other photographers get chased by ornery bison on Antelope Island because they too had to try and capture what they also thought was the perfect image, a photo that at the time was felt to be worth the risk but in all actuality it never is.
One time I was chased by an ornery bull moose when my flash went off, causing me to high-tail it back to my truck.
The truth of the matter is no photograph is worth these kinds of risks, they just aren’t.
And the reason I am bringing this up is to hopefully share what advice I can, all gathered from personal experience on the matter, and keep someone from taking similar risks in their photography endeavors.
If I had fallen into the icy river, I probably wouldn’t be around to tell you about it as I was alone in a fairly remote area on a road with little traffic this time of year.
So please take my advice, always access the situation when out in nature, and never, ever put yourself in harm’s way over a photograph, it just isn’t worth it.
After this particular situation and how much I was shaking afterward, I am not going to be putting myself in these types of situations ever again.
I’m only sharing this hoping it will stop someone else from taking such risks while out photographing in nature where it’s risky enough in its own right, we don’t need to add to it by doing something stupid like I did the other day.
Lastly, if you are a novice photographer looking to learn a bit more, three free outdoor photography classes are coming up soon this January, February, and March on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
And if you are interested in learning more about the famed Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge through our lens, I offer you to visit our subscribe page and sign up for email notifications for future blog posts.
We also started and manage a small but growing YouTube channel where we post video updates about current conditions on the Bear River Migratory Bird refuge auto loop as well as a few short nature clips when we can capture them with our camera.
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