NPX: How long have you been interested in nature photography?

Myron: I guess it all started in Nov 07 when I visited Adelaide and Tasmania with my wife and son. I was fascinated by the wildlife I saw in the wilderness there, especially the male Superb Fairy Wren. It was all downhill after that…

NPX: What do you like about it in particular?

Myron: The beauty of wildlife and the fascinating lives they lead. Guess observing them kinda makes up for my boring one…kidding!

NPX: How did you learn photography techniques?

Myron: Started off with the basics in “The Better Photo Guide to Digital Photography” by Jim Miotke and beyond that under the tutorage of NPX members such as Adrian Lim, YY and Chris Lee on NPX, both on-line and on the field. Yes, it means that they are responsible for how poor my shots are.

NPX: Were there any photographer(s) that you like and influences your style?

Myron: Adrian’s natural colour, no-flash photography and YY’s sharpness are major influences. In other words, they are majorly responsible for the poor quality of my shots.

NPX: What are the stuff in your dry cabinet? What are the items in your bag during birding?

Myron: I usually leave my teleconverters (both 1.4X and 2X) in my dry cabinet as I prefer images taken without them. (Adrian did it first by leaving his 2X to rot in his dry cabinet) I usually bring my Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f4 IS lens, Canon RS-80N3 Remote Switch and Canon 580 EXII flash in my bag, although I have chosen not to use the flash recently. (Again, blame Adrian for this)

NPX: Which is your favourite bird species and why?

Myron: All the colourful, forest birds in South East Asia, particularly the birds of paradise! They are extremely beautiful and not captured often enough! (Did I mentioned that I would be visiting Irian Jaya this year?)

NPX: Which other genres of nature photography you’d like to pursue in the future? Why is it so?

Myron: Birds-in-flight would be a natural extension of what I am doing currently. It has more action than still birds (Duh!).

NPX: While pursuing your hobby, what is your most memorable moment to date?

Myron: There are so many – seeing the blue-eared kingfisher early one morning at Lower Peirce, the masked finfoot at Seletar and the Ruddy Kingfisher at the private residence. But the most memorable must be the time at Kaeng Krachan, Thailand. After an hour’s drive up the mountain each day for two days with yielded relatively poor returns, I decided to go up again on the third day without my trip partner who decided he had enough of the place and went birding near the shore (where the rare but dull birds are). I was rewarded with three wonderful lifers – a pair of long-tailed broadbills which posed for me, and sightings of the ratchet-tailed treepie and a pair of silver pheasants.

NPX: What are the challenges you’ve faced?

Myron: Getting people to understand that I am really not interested in going out-of-my-way to photograph a dull bird just because it is “extremely rare” or “rarely sighted”.

NPX: Please share with us a couple of your favorite images accumulated over the years. Please describe to us why you like these images.

Like the story on this one (see earlier response on fascinating life of birds)

Like the composition on this rare (and colourful!) bird

Like this one due to what I had to do to get it (see earlier response on most memorable moment to date)

NPX: Thanks for your time!

Myron: My pleasure. I just want to also take the opportunity to thank all the people who make NPX such a great community, characterised by their willingness to share good lobangs and techniques (less so the peer pressure to upgrade whenever a new camera or lens comes up.)