A Photograph is like a Memory Captured for eternity

Richard Harlow Hattaway

Born basically or almost in the woods and even rumored to have been raised by wolves, roaming in the wilderness down the road from my home in South central florida as a way too young free to roam child from dusk to dawn I developed an understanding of the nature that surrounds, encounters with Gophers, Bobcats, alligators, coral snakes to Northern Bobwhites and Brown Thrashers were a common daily occurrence and in these very woods is where my first encounter with a Florida Panther happened, from that moment on I have had a fascination with big Cats and Larger wildlife.

After becoming a Surfer in the early 80’s I started doing photography to document my journey, beginning with my first underwater housing and then later on leading to a canon 400mm Lens in the mid 90’s and then with that purchase I was bitten with the larger glass buzz, I still have that lens today sitting on a shelf in my studio as a reminder of where I came from.

Having a Larger lens and being on the beach all the time shooting surfing led me to photograph shore birds, terns, gulls and ultimately Osprey and from that moment on I was shooting wildlife every chance I got and not surfing nearly as much or enough to keep up the Joy.

After a life long career in the floral industry and advancing my skills in Floral product and website design photography and even pre wedding and event photography, continuing to purchase advancements in gear, way too much to talk about I say with a grin.

With all this equipment at my fingertips I continued to hone my skills in new areas and genre, Landscape, deep sky Astro, Milky Way and Street photography but always focusing on wildlife as my core skill set, yet still and forever looking for new things to shoot and never becoming static with my willingness to learn and create a new trick and to advance my craft and style.

In 2014 I watched the birding movie The Big Year and that reconnected me to birds and birding in a new way, counting birds and listing birds became a passion and in 2016 I did a Florida big year and saw 334 Birds on this crazy adventure that took me from the tip of the panhandle to the Dry Tortugas in the Keys and back a few times..

After that adventure I was completely hooked on chasing things like rare birds and I began my travels across the states to all the great birding and wildlife locals, Arizona for Hummingbirds, Michigan for Snowy Owls, the boreal forest of Canada for Boreal things and the Far west for all the others not seen in Florida and the East, I traveled looking for the Darkest sky for Milky Way, Aurora and even to the Great Plains for Storm chasing, especially Lightning and absolutely always Bird Migration and with even an occasional Total eclipses of the Sun just for fun.

I’m always chasing something, probably goes back to my days as a Surfer always chasing and looking for the perfect waves and that never ending allure to find one no matter how far I had to venture.

Now I’m taking my skills to the next stage, Helping others find their Most Epic wilderness tour and journey, showing you the joys of photography and the adventures of Wildlife and Nature like I have been truly blessed to experience and now getting to share this experience is the greatest gift to spread around.

Richard@RichardHattaway.com