Canon Shooter Kevin Hice is One Smart, Tough, Hardworking, Determined Guy and One Fine Photographer

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What’s Up?

It is 6:30pm on Friday 19 April 2024 as I type. It is cold and very windy. We are headed out to position the blinds as that would be impossible to do in the dark tomorrow morning. The wind is supposed to finally abate tonight (good) but it is supposed to be 24° F in the morning (bad). We got all three blinds in place and were headed back to Kevin’s place exactly at 9:00pm as Kevin had planned. We said blessings over the blinds hoping that they would not blow away before morning ,,,

Before that, again thanks to the high winds, Friday was another day of Photoshop, of rest, and of too much eating.

Today is Saturday 20 April 2014. We’ll be leaving for two of Kevin’s local sharp-tailed leks at 5:30am. I gotta get to bed soon. Whatever you are doing today, I hope that you too opt to have fun.

This image was created on 8 May 2020 in North Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 1600: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #1: White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Kevin Hice

Kevin Hice

Kevin was born in Cincinnati, OH in 1954. He spent most of his time in the woods and by the creeks near his home, searching for box turtles and salamanders. He thought about photographing nature in his late thirties but with not wanting to have to deal with film and having kids to take care of, his interest was postponed. When I did a seminar for the Photographic Society of Chattanooga, Kevin attended and was smitten. He bought a Canon 300mm f/2.8 and a 5D Mark II and was off to the races. He had signed up for a SW Florida IPT soon afterwards, but a huge ice storm in Atlanta put the kibosh on those plans. He says, ” I would have gotten a lot better a lot faster if I had made that one. He attended a Homer IPT in 2022 — created more than 25,000 images during a single morning session. He often recommends that his Canon friends purchase my EOS R5/R6 Camera Users Guide but they always respond, “What do I need that for?” He credits me with finally learning to expose far to the right and thus greatly reducing noise. Kevin has been a member of Bird Photographer’s.Net since 2013. To this day, he posts often in BPN’s Avian Forum. At first he was intimidated, but persevered and received tons of advice, especially with Photoshop. He singles out Andreas Liedmann of Dortmund, Germany as having been exceedingly helpful. Kevin says, ‘Had I not joined BPN, it would have taken me many more years more to get to where I am today.”

Kevin has lived in Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and California. He has enjoyed two distinctly different careers: he was a welder (in a nuclear power plant!) for a decade and followed that up with 30 years as a nurserymen. Now retired, Kevin is a world class falconer who hunts his two gyr/Peregrine hybrids with his sleek and beautiful English Pointer Sage. You have never seen a dog run as fast or as far as Sage. He is now living with His significant other, Colleen, Parrill in Washburn, ND. They will be moving to a beautiful new home on a spacious natural lot outside of Indianapolis Indiana.

All are invited to leave a comment on the quality of Kevin’s images. Please let him know which of his images you like best and why you like them.

Nothing for Me …

I am especially envious of Image #1 because I have nothing at all on breeding plumage Glossy Ibis, the eastern conspecific species of white-faced.

This image was created on 12 November 2020 in Badlands National Park, South Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 6400: 1/640 sec. at f/7.1. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #2: Bighorn Sheep ram (flehmen response) Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Kevin Hice

Flehmen Response

Flehmen Response: (from German flehmen, to bare the upper teeth, and Upper Saxon German flemmen, to look spiteful), also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehmen grimace, flehming, or flehmening, is a behavior in which an animal curls back its upper lip exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils usually closed, and then often holds this position for several seconds. The primary function of the flehmen response is intra-species communication. By transferring air containing pheromones and other scents to the vomeronasal organ (VNO), an olfactory-chemosensory organ located between the roof of the mouth and the palate, animals can gather chemical “messages”.

What’s Not to Like?

I love the ram’s attitude and the lovely clean background. If I remember, Kevin got lost of help in BPN’s Wildlife Forum when optimizing this one. It turned out great.

This image was created on 9 April 2012 in the Nebraska Sandhills by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 1600: 1/3200 sec. at f/7.1. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #3: Greater Prairie Chickens fighting on lek Image courtesy of and copyright 2021: Kevin Hice

Addicted

Kevin has long been addicted to game birds, the prairie chickens and the Sharp-tailed Grouse. He lusts for a decent Sage Grouse lek. He routinely arises way too early even for me in order to get in a blind to photograph his favorite subjects at least 45 minutes before sunrise. He is good at what he does and I will be forever thankful for his invite as the Greater Prairie Chickens were a first for me and tomorrow should be my first time with the sharp-taileds (if our blinds do not blow away overnight …)

Thanks, Kevin. And we still have almost a week to go!

This image was created on 28 July 2022 in Haines, AK by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 3200: 1//2500 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #4: Trumpeter Swan pair Image courtesy of and copyright 2022: Kevin Hice

Sicker than Sick

Kevin had COVID when he created this image. He had pulled a trailer all the way to AK in hopes of photographing Brown Bears (grizzles). As he and Colleen drove into Haines, Kevin spotted a pair of Trumpeter Swans in a small pond. He grabbed his gear, lay face down on a rocky slope, and photographed the pair for an hour. He finished the session squatting in three feet of cold water in order to get low. The good news is that he did not die.

This image was created on 4 December 2022 in Yellowstone National Park, Montana by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the handheld Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 3200: 1//4000 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #5: Coyote in snow Image courtesy of and copyright 2022: Kevin Hice

Smart Always Works

Kevin was driving his truck around Yellowstone in search of subjects when he spotted this coyote walking along a small river right towards him. He grabbed his gear, and using his truck as a blind, hid behind it. The beautiful animals in a pristine setting walked by him. With a combination of good spotting and excellent photographic and field skills, Kevin was justifiably rewarded.

This image was created on 22 March 2024 in North Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2000: 1//3200 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version. Image #6: Sharp-tailed Grouse fighting Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Kevin Hice

Just Enough Snow

Kevin is smart, strong, and tough, seemingly impervious to fatigue or cold. He is mechanically gifted. He can figure stuff out and fix pretty much anything. He can hike for miles in the dark carrying heavy loads of gear. He has gotten lost in white-outs and fog, but always finds his blind. He is persistently addicted to grouse and prairie chickens. He has hiked in blizzards through drifts 3, 4, and 5 feet deep. He has hiked through mud a foot or two deep. Recently, he rescued a blind from a very cold farm pond. He simply will not be deterred.

Less than a month before my visit, he headed out to a local sharp-tailed lek and with just enough now on the ground, created this lovely image of two male Sharp-tailed Grouse going at it. I love the sharpness, the soft light, and the dorsal view of the attacking bird that kindly turned its head to the right just as Kevin fired off a long series. Best of all are the dried grasses just peeling through the snow cover.

Photography Notes

Because Kevin is so strong, he uses a Wimberley head and an Induro GIT 504 XL tripod, a real brute. For several years he worked in Av mode but finally and correctly switched to Manual mode in 2022 when he realized that he was losing many images as the background tonality changed. He is the only Canon shooter I know who prefers the R5 to the R3 for its higher quality, more detailed raw files.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.