![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/loggerhead-shrike-2002b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"loggerhead-shrike-2002b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nReaders know that there are many reasons I photograph birds and then blog about them. They include teaching folks about the wonders of bird behaviors and natural history (and learning myself during the process), supporting conservation causes and promoting ethical and responsible practices in the environment and in photography. There are others.<\/p>\n
But some may not know about all the ways those goals are met. They don’t all happen directly and almost immediately through my blog – some of them are more indirect and delayed long after I publish a post.<\/p>\n
Case in point:<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I published this image of a Loggerhead Shrike in flight back in 2014. I was pretty happy with it because the shrike is in full flight rather than having just taken off and that’s a tough shot to get. And in this flight pose many of the field marks of the species are on full display.<\/p>\n Several days ago I received a request to use this photo from the Marketing and Communications Director of The Wildlands Conservancy. They had found the image on that 2014 blog post and wanted to use it on an interpretive panel at their Wind Wolves Preserve<\/a> in California. We negotiated an agreement and I sent the high-resolution image to her yesterday. She sent me a graphic of the mockup of that panel and I’m quite impressed – it includes three shrike photos (including mine), professional-looking graphics and interesting and accurate natural history information about Loggerhead Shrike habitat and behavior. I wish I could include the graphic she sent me in this post but I didn’t think to ask for permission so I won’t.<\/p>\n Many of my images are being used in applications similar to this in dioramas, interpretive panels and actual prints by various state parks, refuges, reserves and museums across the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n And that gives me a great deal of satisfaction because most of them are being used to educate the public about the wonders of birds and the importance of habitat conservation. Even after I’m gone some of them may still be in use fulfilling their purpose and that thought gives this bird photographer with teaching instincts a serious case of the warm fuzzies.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: Not all of my motives are altruistic and not all of my images are donated so full disclosure on that topic is in order.<\/em><\/p>\n I often donate use of my images without a required licensing fee to educational and conservation organizations on a shoestring budget and living hand to mouth. But for those who have a budget for image and\/or art acquisition (and particularly for those that try to hide the fact that they have such a budget and ask for images to be donated anyway – folks can be sneaky…) I typically require a licensing fee for image use. And I always require a licensing fee for any commercial applications.<\/em><\/p>\n I see no logical reason why every professional working on a project should be paid except for the photographer!\u00a0<\/em>For me it’s a matter of principle and not diminishing the value of quality bird photography and the hard work of bird photographers. <\/em><\/p>\n