MR. RIPPLES

It’s hard to take a picture of a duckling that doesn’t have some degree of cuteness. Every spring we’ve been fortunate to have a family of mallards on our backyard pond. And every year I spend as much time as possible during their first couple weeks photographing them. That’s when the ducklings are at their absolute cutest. They can be a little challenging to shoot because mom is hyper-protective at this stage: it’s easy to spook her right off the pond for several hours – simply by walking in the yard. So I try to get out early and into the hunting blind before they arrive, wear camo on any exposed flesh, and always move in slow motion. So, 5 years x 2 weeks x 3 hours per day x 500 pics per day = an embarrassing amount of duck photos. Only a handful however, approaches the cute-factor-level of Mr. Ripples.