ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Red-crowned cranes are among the most beautiful and elegant birds. Their behavior, especially their family communication, play, and dances, often resembles human interaction. They call to each other with their heads raised, as if singing. I love capturing cranes in heavy snowfall, so I secured a spot with a dark background to make their white bodies stand out. After waiting patiently, the cranes moved to the higher stage I had hoped for and began singing together. It was the perfect moment I had been waiting for—a truly elegant and beautiful scene. Despite the freezing cold and snowfall affecting my camera’s autofocus, I used manual focusing to capture this special moment.

AUTHOR
I am a nature and wildlife photographer based in Seattle. My goal in photography is to create images that resemble paintings. While creating an excellent painting can take hours or even years, a photograph can be captured with just one click of the shutter. This is what fascinates and motivates me, and I have been photographing for over 20 years. Recently, I was invited to delve into wildlife photography, which has become even more captivating and inspiring, as it reveals a world where the cycle of life and death unfolds every moment. During this new journey, I discovered that 3S (Slow Shutter Speed) shooting is an incredibly effective tool for making my photos look like paintings—not only because of its painterly appearance but also because each image tells its own story. I believe this effect occurs because The camera's image sensor accumulates photons for 100 to 300 times longer compared to typical high-shutter-speed shooting.

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