IN THE LOUPE: Artie Morris

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13 June 2011 Written by  P.J. Heller
Artie Morris out in the field Artie Morris out in the field
© Linda Robbins / The Hummingbird Queen

Office/Home/Gallery: Indian Lake Estates, Fla.; main website: BirdsAsArt.com.

Staff: Daughter Jennifer Morris is his executive director; Jim Litzenberg is his manager.

Family Life: Two daughters (from a first marriage) and four great-grandchildren. "I lost my best friend, beloved second wife Elaine Belsky-Morris, to breast cancer in 1994," he says.

Favorite Equipment: Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens; 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens; 1.4X III and 2X III teleconverters; and two EOS-1D Mark IV bodies. Gitzo 3530 LS carbon-fiber tripod with a Mongoose M-3.6 tripod head.

Favorite Assignment/Project: Teaching and sharing through his blog at BirdsAsArt-Blog.com.

Inspirations: John Shaw, Tim Fitzharris, Rod Planck. "Currently, the great images being produced by my students and by hobbyists on birdphotographers.net."

Awards: Grand Prize in Wildlife in the inaugural Nature's Best photography contest, for the image "Great Blue Heron Courtship." "Fire in the Mist" featured as wrap-around cover art on "Light on the Earth," a collection of 20 years of winning images in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. First place, Art in Nature category, in the 2009 Nature's Best contest, and the Bird Behavior category in the 2009 National Wildlife Federation contest.

Recent Book Projects/Gallery Shows: "A Guide to Pleasing Blurs," with co-author Denise Ippolito. "On a Wing and a Prayer," an exhibit of 60-plus framed prints, continues at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Advice for Aspiring Nature Photographers: "Photograph what you love. Know your subjects. Look at as many great images as possible. Work long and hard, and don't let the nay-sayers pull you down. You can and will succeed."

P.J. Heller
Story Author: P.J. Heller

P.J. Heller is a freelance writer and photographer based in Southern California.

Website: www.photoreporters.net E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it