Don’t Just Shoot: Learn
If you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me on an Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (SEPT 25 to NOV 24, 2025) or in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026), please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or, shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. Both offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging and ground transportation during your stay.
Your Call
Which of today’s featured extreme images do you like best? Why did you make your choice?
In the Last Blog Post
In the last blog post, Drizzly Morning Baby Cranes and a Colt at ILE here, Image 2, 3, and 4 were my favorites with 5 & 6 right behind them. Several folks really dug Image #3 for the perspective.
What’s Up?
As noted in the last post, photography at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm was challenging as expected, and, as is usual at wading bird rookeries, extremely difficult; there is no better place to make thousands of very bad images. I still have 2300 images to get through. As those include some very good ones, you will see some of the images here soon. As I was able to put together a small group at the last moment, we were able to enter at 7:00am, one hour before the masses. Thanks Pat Fishburne! One hour of soft light each morning before the blasting sun rose came over the trees was a huge blessing I made it back to ILE on the afternoon of Friday 11 April exhausted and promptly took a two hour nap.
Today is Saturday 11 12 April 2025. Despite the death forecast for morning bird photography — NW at 8mph with clear skies, I will be heading down to the lake early to check on the five Sandhill Crane families.
Maury Neipris
I first met Maury on numerous calls to the Camera Bits (Photo Mechanic) help line; he worked there for nearly three years. He was always knowledgeable and helpful and would go out of his way to help you solve problems where others might have said, “That’s a Mac problem …” or offered another lame excuse. He left Camera Bits about a year ago to continue his education and to pursue new employment. Since then, I have called him numerous times with a sticky Photo Mechanic problem. I have yet to stump him. Maury and his Dad visited ILE last May for a pool deck dinner. Aside from his birds, Maury is an excellent photographer. You can see some of his fine work here.
A e-Mail from Maury
Hi Artie,
I’ve attached my resume.
I am not sure of any specific roles or titles that match what I am looking for at this time. Most of my career has been in photography but am open to roles that may be a good fit for me. I have experience in technical support, digital asset management, content management systems, Linux operating systems, and command line.
I would like to work with people. I have worked remote since COVID lockdowns in 2020. While I prefer the “no long commute” aspect, I recognize now that I thrive with more enjoyable human interaction at work whether that’s in person, a reasonable amount of video call meetings or personable coworkers to talk to via direct messages. I value collaboration, teaching, and working with other people.
As you know, I love photography. It is a skill and a passion that allows me to create art and document moments and experiences. I love creating and sharing images of people and seeing that person enjoy the photo of themselves. I appreciate the thoughtful design, engineering, and ergonomics that goes into quality, professional equipment, created by people for people that rely on their gear day after day. I also value using digital asset management for image files. It is important to assign metadata like AP style captions and keywords to image files so that the images are searchable and usable later on.
I am also interested in information and communication technology. I passed the Cisco Certified Network Associate exam on August 13, 2024. I wanted to learn how computer networking works in more detail for many years. I am more interested in a collaboration/communication/teaching role within IT than an operations role, though I recognize having operations experience will provide credibility in the collaboration/teaching role.
Thanks again,
Maury
Maury Neipris/CV: Seeking Employment
SUMMARY
Collaborative information and communication technology professional with 3 years of technical support and 10+ years of customer service experience through photography. Avid learner and creative problem solver who enjoys teaching others.
EXPERIENCE
Freelance Photographer, Self August 2024-Present
· Portrait and athletics event photography for the University of Portland Pilots Athletics De-partment
· Tag student-athletes in images uploaded to OpenDorse, a DAM and Name, Image, Like-ness (NIL) platform
Information Technology Trainee, Self March 2024-Present
· Studied for the Cisco Certified Network Associate(CCNA) certification, completed Aug. 13:
o Topics include: TCP/IP Networking, LAN, WLAN, IPv4/IPv6 Addressing and Routing, Security and IP Services, Network Architecture, and Network Automation
· Massive Open Online Courses completed:
o RH094x: Fundamentals of Ansible
o Introduction to IT Asset Management (ITAM)
Technical Support Representative, Camera Bits May 2021 – March 2024
· Provided guidance and problem solved with customers via email tickets, phone calls, and re-mote screen-sharing with setup, activation, and troubleshooting of photo software – Photo Mechanic
· Assisted in the creation and updating of support articles for web-based knowledge base
· Developed workflows for working photographers to help speed up their culling process as well as quickly assigning metadata such as captions and keywording for digital asset manage-ment
· Served as liaison between customer and development team by attempting to replicate re-ported software bugs and submitting software bug reports
· Tested bug fixes and feature additions
· Used Figma to create mockups of potential features
Information Technology Trainee, Self September 2020 – April 2021
· Worked through The Odin Project’s Ruby Programming and Databases paths.
· Massive Open Online Courses completed:
o Linux Foundation: Introduction to Linux
o Red Hat: Fundamentals of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
o Red Hat: Fundamentals of Containers, Kubernetes, and Red Hat OpenShift
Photographer/Media Specialist II, University of Tennessee Athletics Aug 2018 – Aug 2020
· Photographed sporting events and live transmit images via FTP for use in social media and post-game stories
· Ingested image files, added metadata and keywords, edited in Adobe Creative Suite soft-ware, and uploaded to Asset Bank, the University of Tennessee’s digital asset management software
· Researched and implemented networking infrastructure needs for live transfer of photos dur-ing events
· Managed scheduling and photographer assignments using Atlassian’s Trello Kanban board
· Maintained Tennessee Orange branding by ensuring proper white balance and color editing
· Helped recruit and teach student photographers
· Collaborated with graphic design, social media, and VFL Films on creative projects
Owner, Maury Neipris Photography LLC Feb 2017 – Ju-ly 2018
· Completed freelance contracts for sports, portraits, and event photography
· Clients included: Nova Southeastern University Athletics, Florida State University Athletics, and The Seminole Tribune
Co-Owner, Whereable Prints Company Nov 2017 – Aug 2018
· Manipulated digital images of South Florida landscapes into graphic patterns in PhotoShop for use in a line of eco-friendly athletic apparel
· Leggings were made from Repreve, a yarn made from recycled plastic bottles
· Coordinated orders with a fabric supplier and a local printing-and-sewing company
· Designed and managed e-Commerce website using Shopify
· Organized and sponsored intracoastal waterway cleanups in partnership with local paddle board rental business
Photographer, Broward College Athletics Oct 2016 – Feb 2017
· Posed teams for individual and group portraits
· Photographed Seahawks athletic games
Digital Media, South Beach Photobooth Co. Dec 2015 – Feb 2016
· Created imagery of events for marketing
· Designed modern, responsive WordPress CMS site for sister company
· Developed email marketing content for sister company
SKILLS
· Photo and Design: ADOBE PHOTOSHOP, ADOBE LIGHTROOM, PHOTO MECHANIC, ADOBE XD, FIGMA
· CMS: WORDPRESS, SIDEARM SPORTS, SHAREPOINT
· Languages and Frameworks: HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, REST API, JSON, PHP, RUBY, BOOTSTRAP,
· Database: SQL, MYSQL, MONGODB
· OS: LINUX, WINDOWS, MACOS, IOS, ANDROID
· Social: FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, YOUTUBE
CERTIFICATION
Cisco Certified Network Associate 08/13/2024-08/13/2027
FAA Remote Pilot (Commercial UAS) Certificate 12/23/2024-12/23/2026
EDUCATION
Degree: B.S., Information & Communication Technology, 2015
Florida State University
Contact Maury via e-mail
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This image was created on 12 March 2025 at Lakeland, FL. Working from the front seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: ISO 1600; 1/4000 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 7:40:59am just before sunset. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #1: Boat-tailed Grackle taking flight at sunset |
Why Photograph Boat-tailed Grackle?
Boat-tailed Grackle is a dirt bird. There are hundreds of them down by the lake every day. They are abundant along all southeastern coasts and inland as well. They are often seen foraging in gas stations and 7-11 parking lots.
Why photograph them? Even better, why should you photograph any very common bird species?
Here’s why:
1- Pushing the shutter button is fun.
2- It is possible to create superb photographs of all bird species.
3- Photographing common birds gives you a chance to hone your skills in the following areas:
a- exposure
b- shutter speed choices and sharpness techniques
c- image design
d- autofocus and pre-capture choices and settings
e- camera and lens handling
f- understanding bird behavior
4- Doing so will make you a better bird photographer
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This image was created on 28 March 2025 on a Stick Marsh Extended IPT. Seated on a pillow atop a sturdy milk crate, I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 4000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/4000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect: AWB at 8:51:33am on a partly sunny morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #2: Boat-tailed Grackle male taking flight |
Sony a-1 ii Pre-Capture
Pre-capture was 100% responsible for creating both of today’s featured images. Pre-capture, however, does not do a thing for you unless you have the right settings, are actively focusing (by keeping the shutter button half-presses), and fully understand the process. In both situations, when I felt that a take-off was imminent, I took a moment to increase the Pre-Capture time from my default setting of 0.2 sec. to a full 1.0 sec. And in both cases, I was late pressing the shutter button due to my slow reflexes and reaction time, yet having mastered the skills needed to take advantage of this amazing technology, I got the shot. Heck, with the second image I created a second stellar image.
Amazingly, the a-1 ii nailed the bird’s eye in both of today’s featured images. How does the system detect the eye of a bird in silhouette or a grackle’s dark eye on a black head? Beats me. I you purchase and a-1 ii or any other new gear, please write for advice and my affiliate links. Tanks for that.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
I totally agree about photographing common (and slow moving) birds for practice, and especially when starting out as a learning exercise. Living on Cape Cod, seagulls and crows were, and occasionally still are, my practice subjects. They’re plentiful and are mostly unafraid of humans, and also great for practicing exposure…lots of darks and brights! Not many contest winners though 🙂
Art: Thanks back at you! It was great getting into the Alligator Farm an hour before the hoards of photographers at 8:00am. I will pass Maury’s resume on to Denise who, as you probably know, works at Cisco.
Typo:
I you purchase and a-1 ii or any other new gear, please write for advice and my affiliate links. Tanks for that.
I like both but prefer image 1. If I didn’t photograph common birds I would be a terrible bird photographer because I would get no opportunity to practice and learn. And many common birds are beautiful, interesting, or both. One of my friends told me that the best photograph I have ever taken is one of a raven, and ravens are dime a dozen around here. And I like all your reasons, too.
Love that pre-capture! Get a 1Tb card and go to town!
I love dirt birds. Gulls are the same, whether it’s by the lake or the wal-mart parking lot, I take some shots.
Agree. I am using a Delkin 480 in each a-1 ii body so no worries there. I am with you on the gulls, etc. I am still trying for a good frame of a boat-tailed on top of a gas pump.
with love, artie