Aaron Conti, Certified Ecologist, Professional Wetland Scientist, Tennessee-Qualified Hydrologic Professional and avid wildlife photographer

Meet Aaron Conti, a Certified Ecologist, Professional Wetland Scientist, and Tennessee-Qualified Hydrologic Professional at EnSafe. Aaron is truly passionate about the impact his career has on the environment (and the wildlife and people who live in it). Here he is, in his own words, talking about how his hobby of wildlife photography has informed his professional passions:

Since taking up wildlife photography as a hobby, I’ve grown to appreciate viewing wildlife in a way that has helped fuel and sustain my professional passion for wetland ecology. For example, it’s helped me focus on wetland birds’ behavior in a way that I hadn’t before. With a camera in hand, trying to predict the moment when they will burst into flight to the other side of the pond or a high tree branch takes on a new importance.

To position yourself for any chance of success capturing avian elegance and vitality in an image, you often have to wake up early, drive to find and explore a quiet spot, and hope to be at least as lucky as you are good that day. In my own experience, so many blurred, flying-out-of-frame, and under/overexposed photos go into getting a quality image. And usually even then some branch is getting in the way of that “perfect” photo.