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Mike McBride has a passion
for wildlife and nature photography. He loves the interaction with
nature in creating beautiful images. While he first began learning
photography in 1982, his serious pursuit of wildlife and nature
photography began in 1991. He loves to be alone in nature working
with a wild animal, a storm or magical light.
Mike grew up in the
mountains of Northern Utah where he spent time hunting, camping, hiking
and fishing. This gave him a good foundation from which to expand
his knowledge of nature and apply it to his photography. He now
lives in Star Valley, a mountain valley in Western Wyoming, which is
nestled between the Caribou, Bridger and Teton National
Forests. This area is part of the Greater Yellowstone Eco
System and provides numerous photographic opportunities. Mike's photography took
an important turn in 1993. At first, Mike tried to hunt and
photograph at the same time with some success. But, one evening as he sat on a game
trail, decked out in camouflage, he began to wonder what he would do if
a large mule deer buck came down the trail. Would he choose the
bow and arrow or the camera? Or, would he try to pull of the
miraculous and somehow do both. That evening he chose
photography. In the years since, he has been richly
rewarded as a result of that choice.
Mike's uncle used to joke
about shoot-and-release hunting, a play on the popular catch-and-release
fishing practiced by avid fly fishermen. Mike felt that curiosity
and humor would be powerful tools in directing people to his web site
and chose the name shoot-n-release.com for his web address while
maintaining the name which he has used for more than a decade as the
actual name of his business - Wild Encounters Nature Photography. One of the
benefits of this type of photographic "hunting" is more time with the
animals which usually aren't scared off as they would be with a gunshot.
Mike has learned a lot more about animal behavior and enjoys the time
spent with wild animals, especially once they become comfortable with
his presence and behave as though he was not there. Another advantage is that everything is
fair game and there are no seasons allowing a year-round pursuit of the
art of wildlife photography.
"I hope you enjoy
your visit to my web site. If you have any questions or if I can
be of any assistance, please let me know. Thanks for
visiting." - Mike
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