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Denison resident Mike Chiles has been named Photographer of the Month for May, 2010, by the Friends of Hagerman NWR. A virtual album of twelve of Chiles’ photos, including the Red-tailed Hawk shown here, can be viewed on the Friends website, www.friendsofhagerman.com.
Chiles says he started photography during his school days, especially during high school, shooting 35 millimeter film. Just recently he got into digital photography, and generally uses a Nikon D90 with a 300 mm lens. He has always had a love for birds and animals; in fact he even raised quite a few parrots at one time when he owned a pet store.
Chiles says he is most interested in raptors, but will photograph anything in nature. As a realtor, he does a lot of driving around the county and nearly always has his camera handy in case he spots a potential subject. He especially loves to photograph birds in flight, and says “I guess that my fascination with flight comes from the fact that while we imitate many things that occur in nature, without mechanical help, I don’t believe we will fly like a bird anytime soon!”
Chiles was a winner in the recent Refuge Photo Contest and group leader for the Spring Photo Safari. He is a member of the FOH Nature Photo Club which meets bimonthly at Hagerman. For more information about photo activities at the Refuge, send a request to fohphotoclub@gmail.com.
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