Rob is a naturalist who has been involved with animals since he was very young. He has always had a passion for birds of prey, and has pursued that passion throughout his adult life. In college, he spent numerous hours studying the nesting territories of prairie falcons in Northeastern Colorado, and additional time researching screech owls nesting along the Boulder Creek trail in the center of Boulder, Colorado.

Rob taught life science and biology for seven years in the late eighties and early nineties. Since that time, he has spent most of his free time studying raptors and refining his photography techniques.

 Photography has also always been a part of Rob’s life. He began taking pictures with a Polaroid black and white camera when he was twelve, then quickly moved on to a 35 mm SLR. His first SLR was a Kowa. In high school he became the school’s photographer and was able to use the school’s Pentax cameras. The basics in photography have stuck with him.  Rob shoots all Canon Digital with lenses up to 500 mm.

Rob has many awards and publications to his credit including featured covers of Birders World, Living Bird, American Falconry, National Wildlife Magazine. He has published 2 books and is the principle photographer for three others. A highlight of 2008 was winning Image of the Year from the Photographic Society or America.

We had a last minute cancellation for our original April 12 presenter, but there is very good news!  Glenn Randall has stepped in with a wonderful program for us. The details follow:

On April 12, 2012, Glenn Randall will present “Sunrise from 14,000 Feet.”  Here’s how he describes the origin of his project:

“Summits are magical places.  Reaching the summit of a high peak gives me the exhilarating, humbling and awe-inspiring experience of being a tiny speck on top of the world.  To me, mountaineering is almost a metaphor for the human condition.  It embodies in concrete form the way we reach for the sky, yet can only climb so high.  In the spring of 2006, I began working on a series of images I hoped would capture these powerful emotions.

“Most summit photographs I’d seen were rather boring.  How could that be, I thought, when the experience of reaching the summit is so enthralling?  Then I thought about when those photos were taken: at noon, in midsummer, when the sun is as high in the sky as it will be the entire year.  Most summit photos taken at that time of day show distant, hazy peaks almost lost in the white glare of the midday sun.  In an attempt to give my images an impact that matched my experience, I decided to try shooting sunrise from the summits of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks.”

So far Glenn has done 42 shoots on 29 peaks.  Come see the images from this unique project, hear the stories behind the most exciting shots, and learn more about the art of landscape photography.

Glenn Randall has been a full-time photographer and writer specializing in the outdoors for 33 years.  He has had over 1,000 photographs published, including 67 covers, and sold over 10,000 prints of his landscape images.  He’s also authored nine books and 200 magazine articles.  Farcountry Press published two books of his landscape photographs, Colorado Wild & Beautiful and Rocky Mountain National Park Impressions.  Glenn is a regular contributor to Outdoor Photographer and is also a sought-after workshop instructor.  You can sign up for his monthly newsletter, read his blog and see more of his work at www.GlennRandall.com.