Photo by Noppadol Paothong
Conservation photographer Noppadol Paothong began photographing prairie chickens on an assignment for a daily newspaper in 2001. As he sat in a blind in the dark that morning, he had no idea that he’d be so captivated by the prairie chickens’ mating dance that he’d devote the next ten years to creating a book to tell their story. Or that, despite his insistence that he’s “not a bird person,” he’d spend another five years studying and crafting the story of the Sage Grouse as well. Known for his unique compositions and colorful images of these endangered species, Nop shoots as close as he can with a wide angle lens and ruthlessly weeds out captures that don’t serve the story he wants to tell. Find out what he believes is most important in photography, what his daughter remembers about going into the field with him to photograph prairie chickens on her 5th birthday, and what he loves photographing most in this episode with NANPA’s Dawn Wilson and Wild and Exposed’s Ron Hayes.
Learn more about Noppadol and topics in this episode:
Noppadol’s website
Sage Grouse Icon of the West video
What it’s like to photograph grouse (video)
Missouri Department of Conservation
National Museum of Wildlife Art
International League of Conservation Photographers
Jim Brandenburg’s Wolves
My Garden of a Thousand Bees by Martin Dohrn
NANPA
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