Successful Art Festivals
I have completed exhibiting my photos in the three outdoor art festivals this summer I attended. They were the Golden fine Arts Festival, Evergreen Fine Arts Festival and the Greenwood Village Art of the Green festival. All of those festivals were successful for me and so much fun to meet new people that appreciate birds and my photography. Admittedly, I did NOT enjoy the hail and torrential rains in Evergreen but that’s Colorado weather!
New Blog Post - It Only Took Me 91 Years to Get This Shot!
This month blog article is about the extremely rare appearance of a Wood Stork in Colorado. Read more here.
Two images accepted to Hit Me With Your Best Shot Exhibit in Louisiana
I’m very honored that two of my photographs, Catch of the Day and Up Close and Personal with a Night Heron, have been selected into the the juried Hit Me with Your Best Shot bird photography exhibit at the Gallery by the Lake in Lake Charles Louisiana. The exhibit will run September through November. Last year my image Last Flight Out took Best in Show.
Right (Above on mobile device) - Catch of the Day. This Cormorant caught a nice-sized Brown Trout in the South Platte River. They toss it in the air very quickly and get it head first for ease of swallowing it whole
Right (Above on mobile device) - Up close and Personal with a Night Heron. This juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron posed very close to me allowing me to focus (pun intended) on its colorful eye and brown feathers that are common to juveniles of this species.
Best in Show Award!
My image Last Flight Out of a male Wood Duck flying over the water of the lake in Sterne Park in Littleton with vivid Fall foliage reflections, has been awarded Best in Show of the Hit Me With Your Best Shot Photography Exhibit at the Gallery by the Lake in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This annual competition is a bird photography-only exhibit with incredible quality entries. If you’d like to see the exhibit online, the link is below. I am very honored and humbled to receive this award! https://gallerybythelake.org/2024-gallery
NANPA Top 250 Showcase Winners!
My images of Last Flight Out (see above) and It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (see below) have just been named to the North American Nature Photographers
Association (NANPA) Top 250 Showcase for 2025. NANPA is recognized for its membership of excellent nature photographers across North America. Every year they select the top 250 nature photographs in various categories. My two images were selected out of 3,200 entries (only 250 are selected) and I am incredibly honored to once again be in the Top 250 for the second year in a row with two photographs. To view all Top 250, click on the link here.
New Images
I continually update this website with new images of birds. This is where I will “introduce” them so that you can have just one place to look until I assign them to one of the galleries. So even if you’ve viewed my entire website many times, you will only need to come back to this page to see what’s new. As always, click any image to enlarge.
Right (Above on mobile device) - A somewhat rare White-Faced Ibis glides by at Chatfield State Park
Right (Above on mobile device) - This is an uncommon Great Egret flying over the water at Chatfield State Park. The vast majority of the egrets we see here are the smaller Snowy Egret
Right (Above on mobile device) - I saw this Great Blue Heron in soft late afternoon light by itself and had to get a photo. This was at South Platte Park
Right (Above on mobile device) - Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron takes off, possibly for the winter on a recent afternoon at South Platte Park
Right (Above on mobile device) - The same two herons above eye each other to see who will play chicken
Right (Above on mobile device) - Those same herons then crossed paths with each other on a disputed piece of real estate
Right (Above on mobile device) - This Osprey pair continues to build a late nest, likely for next year as they will be gone soon
Right (Above on mobile device) - I think this is supposed to be a show of affection but not sure I’d want those talons on my back either
Right (Above on mobile device) - A Wilson’s Phalarope showed up at Chatfield State Park recently while migrating to South America
Right (Above on mobile device) - The same Wilson’s Phalarope swims in shallow water
Right (Above on mobile device) - Belted Kingfishers are always a treat to get in flight which is no easy task!
Right (Above on mobile device) - This Cooper’s Hawk was carrying something in its talons as a meal
Right (Above on mobile device) - The resident pair of Bald eagles at Chatfield State Park take a rest before likely going fishing one last time of the day
Right (Above on mobile device) - Silhouette of a Great Blue Heron at Chatfield State park at the end of the day
What is Bird Street Photography?
I have been fascinated – okay, obsessed – with photographing birds for a few years now. They are magnificent creatures who are largely unpredictable and a challenge to photograph. As opposed to static landscape and architectural photography (both of which I love to do), bird photography more closely resembles the genre of “street photography” but with trees, bushes, water, and the sky as their very busy streets. Like traditional “street photography”, you may be familiar with the location you go to, but you can never predict what scenes will unfold.
I am based in Littleton, Colorado and almost all of the images on this website are of “locals”, meaning not only did I photograph most of the birds here in Colorado, but the vast majority were photographed in the Littleton area. Some are year-round residents; others are migrants “fleeing” through the state.
Although I photograph a variety of species, I care much less about that than I do about catching a variety of avian activities such as fishing, eating, flying, courting, etc. All photos are completely natural, meaning I do not “stage” any setups by using “baiting” techniques, sound calls or perches. And although I edit my images in post-processing, I do not use Photoshop compositing such as changing out a sky or background unless I specifically indicate so.
Many of my images display a sense of whimsy or awe or anthropomorphic bird behavior that we recognize in our own behavior. I strive to move the viewer to feel an emotion, whether that be a smile or an “aww” or whatever pops into your heart.
This website is laid out in about a dozen galleries. Rather than have each gallery represent a bird species I have organized them by activities that birds typically do such as eating, fishing, flying, fighting, etc. To me this is a much more interesting way to present these images although I do try to identify species whenever known. I also try to use “Alt Text” on images to assist any visually impaired viewers of the site.
My photographs across the genres and subjects have been selected in over 80 juried competition art shows from San Francisco to New York, Chicago to Houston, Oregon to the Carolinas and, of course, my home state of Colorado. If you are looking for my other website that features other subjects such as Americana, architecture, and landscapes, please go to www.paulmalinowskiphotography.com.
I truly hope you enjoy my website. Please visit frequently as I will be continually updating the galleries with new photos of random “street photography” of birds.
Paul Malinowski
Colorado
Galleries
My Presentation of Wildlife Storytelling Through the Lens of a Bird Photographer now on YouTube
My free presentation of Wildlife Storytelling Through the Lens of a Bird Photographer that I presented to the Lone Tree Photo Club was recorded at can now be found on YouTube. The link is https://youtu.be/cQsVSf3hz0E My part starts at about the 12:20 mark and ends at about he 1:330:00 mark. It was really well-received and I think you’ll enjoy it.