From Michele McCormick:

Sandhill Crane

When I first uploaded this image, I thought it was a loser. His feet were cut off! But as I looked at the image more closely, I loved the feathers around his face and realized there was opportunity here with the right crop. I have quite a few nice crane-in-flight images from Bosque, but this tight crop seems to me to do the best job of capturing the Sandhill Crane spirit and character. What started as a loser turned out to be a treat.

From Gayle Dana:

"Magic happens at Bosque del Apache just after the sun drops below the horizon. Soft glowing pink light creates the backdrop for the tall, stately Sandhill Cranes making their presence known with their rattling bugle calls in the nearby ponds and flying in the distance. This photo was made with an Olympus E-M1MarkII camera, and Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm lens at f2.8 pro ISO 1600, 120mm focal length, f/4.0 at 1/400 sec.” Thanks for great workshop. I learned alot and gained inspiration! I also enjoyed Bosque, and the group.

From Debbie Teague:

I love shooting birds at Bosque del Apache. It’s such a special place. I’m always looking for something different to shoot. I was watching the cranes landing and walking through the tall grasses. This was one of my favorite images.

From Susan McClure:

"I had a wonderful time at Bosque Del Apache with Denise Ippolito and her co-leaders Donna and Dave. Everyone was super helpful with ideas on how to correctly expose for the scene and ideas for pan blurs. I found those much harder to do and I know it will take lots of practice. There were so many birds it was hard to isolate one. I photographed this one Sandhill Crane in the beautiful light of the setting sun. The sunsets at Bosque were brilliant. I would recommend this workshop to anyone with a great love of birds. I have always found Denise's creativity so inspiring and I had a goal to at least learn to advance my creativity on the tour. I was not disappointed and came home with some lovely images."

From Donna Speranzini:

At Denise’s 2019 Palouse Workshop when I was complaining about all of the houses in my Steptoe Butte photos a wise participant turned to me and said “Oh Donna, you just have to embrace the houses”. I have carried that with me ever since. When all the sandhill cranes are clustered, overlapped and too far away to isolate any one bird, you capture the amazing light and embrace the randomness and chaos. Sony A7R3 Sony 200-600 @200mm ISO2500 F8 1/650s

From Linda Caden:

Delicate Steps in Bosque

Eary morning light filters through the Phragmite reeds. It silhouettes two Sandhill Cranes, part of a slow procession that morning. How lucky it was to capture them, toes dripping with water drops, slightly separated from the rest. Inspired by Denise. Performance by the cranes.

From Clare Coco:

These majestic snow geese in flight are framed in a silhouette against the backdrop of sunrise’s golden light: a testament to nature’s beauty and a privilege to photograph.

Everyone that attended my recent Bosque workshop was a delight to work with. I look forward to seeing them all again soon. Their images capture the spirit of Bosque and are very inspiring. They make me want to jump on a plane and get back out there .
Denise