After 16 years of running a busy dairy farm along the banks of the Connecticut River in Maidstone, Vt., Roger Irwin decided to close up the barns 4 years ago and focus instead on a hobby he has had a passion for since he was in high school--Nature photography. Irwin, 56, who grew up on his parents' Maidstone farm, had started capturing his world with an eight-millimeter movie camera when he was a boy. When he went off to Vermont Technical College, he switched to using a 35-millimeter print camera and honed his skills by taking photos for the school's yearbook. After a stint as an Army medic in 1970-1972, he enrolled at Lyndon State College on the GI Bill to study natural history. Wildlife photography soon became his obsession.

Over the past five or six years, Roger has trained his Nikon F-100 print camera on the woods and fields near his farm and within a radius of about 20 miles. There he has managed to make some absolutely stunning nature photographs of moose, bear, deer, bobcat, birds, plant life, and all the rest.

He has sold his photography to publications of the National Rifle Association, the N.H. Fish and Game Department, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, Ducks Unlimited, National Moose Foundation, Saab car company, and National Geographic.

Nature Photography takes patience, said Roger. "You spend a lot of time waiting and watching to get just a few photographs. During the moose rutting season I'm out three or four days a week searching for just the right shot. You use a lot of film and a lot of time to get just a few good photos. It's very challenging and I love it."

(Written by Gene Elhert)

Gallery    Home