A Guide To Responsible Wildlife Photography (From Some of My Favorite Long Island Photographers)

There are pros and cons to the surge in interest around wildlife photography that has been sweeping Instagram over the past few years. On one hand, that need to get as close to the subject as possible “for the gram” can cause serious stress to the subject - affecting every aspect of their life from hunting to raising their young. On the other side of the trend is the amazing platform it creates for raising awareness around important issues like local conservation and species awareness. Those who take it up as a hobby can find grounding in being outdoors in close proximity to the wide array of species that we share Long Island with. This becomes particularly important in a day-and-age where we are constantly overstimulated by too much screen time and often miss out on the beauty in these intimate moments.

It’s important that we as a community try to steer people towards the latter and do our best to welcome and educate photographers interested in wildlife as their subject. For that reason, I wanted to talk to some of my favorite Long Island-based wildlife photographers about what makes it such a special hobby (or profession) and how we can all be responsible in our approach.

Long Island’s Winter Visitors: Some motivation to brave the cold and get outside!

Each winter, Long Island plays hosts to a spectacular array of visitors from the north. The chance to encounter one of these seasonal species is enough to get wildlife lovers and photographers to brave the icy island winds and return to the beaches and state parks they frequent in warmer months. In this article, we’re taking a look at a few of these cold weather Long Islanders through the photography of the super talented Shane Etter (@BigOleMrKanish). I’ve had the pleasure to work with Shane on three other blogs - Raptors of Long Island, Owls of Long Island, and the Oral Account of Striper vs Bluefishing - and it’s always an honor to get to feature Shane’s work. Make sure to follow him on Instagram if you don’t already!

We’ve highlighted a handful of species below, but there are plenty of additional winter pilgrims that we get on Long Island when the weather dips and I encourage you to do some more research!