Biography

Dick Vautrinot

​

Dick is an avid wildlife photographer whose focus mainly lies on capturing birds in flight. Born in a suburb of Boston, he has been outdoors since he was in his single digits fishing with a bobber on Whitman's Pond. This led to a serious addiction to fishing bass for the past 50 or so years (boy he feels old!) as well as guiding Smallmouth bass in Maine for many years. Half of his adult life has been either on a boat fishing all over the country or hiking in the woods to find a favorite fishing spot. 

 

After owning a nuisance wildlife business for a quarter of a century with expertise in bats and also providing solutions to excluding and relocating many species of wildlife (no harm is done to wildlife), wildlife photography seemed to be a natural transition after retiring in 2014. Studying many species of wildlife, their breeding and the way they gained access to homes and commercial buildings, has given him extensive expertise and knowledge of wildlife and their habits. Birds, coincidentally, were a major part of his work. 

 

While rehabbing from a back injury, Dick decided to start a hiking plan to get back in shape. His first day at Sweetwater Wetlands in Florida was on a Sunday afternoon with close to 100 people at the park. It seemed he was the only person without binoculars or a camera, so on the way home picked a Canon D70 kit and the addiction to bird photography was born. 

 

Dick is a self-taught photographer who created his own style of tracking birds, exposure and use of light. Endless hours shooting birds from his front porch along with long hikes the first year was a 7 day a week obsession.  With 2000 shots a day common, learning the value of preparation, light, focus and tracking and the importance of these factors for shooting "birds in flight" became second nature.  

 

Dick would be thrilled to share with you his experiences and what he has learned in photography. Either through small groups or private workshops, he can hopefully help to improve either something you may need while shooting wildlife in the field, techniques for shooting "birds in flight" or just bringing you to the wildlife and maybe you get the shot of a lifetime. 

 

After being a businessman for the better part of 35 plus years, making your time spent with Dick in the field a memorable one is of the utmost importance. So come along for a day...or a week and make shooting wildlife a simplified process instead of the nightmare cameras can give people while "trying to get the shot" and suddenly the shot is gone.