Wildlife photography is a constant progression. If you cease to think of and try new ideas, or cease to photograph new species, you run the risk of becoming stagnant and your images may become repetitive. There are few species I’ve photographed more than Greater Sage Grouse. In fact, they’re one of the very first species I photographed when beginning my wildlife photography journey years ago. So what was I going to change this year? What was I going to do differently?

Spring had come and once again I set out into the vast Sage Steppe in search of Sage Grouse to photograph. I was brimming with excitement, for this year was going to be completely different. It was time to try new things, new methods for photographing these unique and charismatic birds that I’d photographed many times before. This was an idea I’d had for a while now, something I was finally putting to the test. 

I’d reached the lek, the location where the Grouse would display the following morning, and began to unpack my photo blind. Normally, I would set up the blind and return to it early the next morning long before the sun would rise. There are many reasons I’d always photographed the Grouse like this. But this year I had made a new blind, one that I could both sleep in and observe the Grouse from. It was a simple change, but sometimes it’s the smallest changes that make the biggest differences. And so it was with this blind.

The next morning, smiling from ear to ear, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing before me! A slight fog hung in the air and the sun had started to rise. The air all around me transformed to shades of vibrant pinks and orange. Displaying in front of my tent/blind, a male Sage Grouse asserted his dominance. Inflating the air sacs on his chest, he bounced them and released the air creating a very recognizable sound akin to that of a bouncing ball. Coughing out the remaining air, he looked like a fire-breathing dragon as his breath immediately turned to orange.

Sitting comfortably in my new blind, I relished the thought that the morning was just getting started! Constant progression, new ideas, small changes and large ones. These are some of the most important tools of any wildlife photographer.