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When I opened up my Fall 2009 issue of Nature’s Best Photography magazine featuring the Windland Smith Rice International Award winners, I was delighted to see that a few NatureScapes members and friends had been honored. I was particularly excited to see the spread on pages 94 and 95 that featured a familiar photograph of a Barred Owl ready to take flight, photographed by my friend Alex Mody. This image won him the title of Nature’s Best Youth Photographer of the Year for 2009.
I first met Alex in 2008, the year he began focusing his photography on nature subjects. We carpooled along with another photographer to Shenandoah National Park to photograph white-tailed deer at Big Meadows, but the deer didn’t show so we focused on landscapes instead, one of Alex’s favorite subjects. The afternoon ended up being much of a wash, although Alex came away with some impressive photos of a not-so-impressive sunset. Just starting his nature photography career, Alex already had the drive and ability to make a beautiful photograph in less than ideal conditions.
In the two years since Alex has only gotten better. His photographic portfolio contains images of the same caliber as professional photographers with many years of experience, some of whom began their photography careers long before Alex was even born. The beauty of Alex’s work though, may be that he doesn’t even realize how good it is.
“I consider my photography style to be fairly basic and largely developing,” he said. “I have only been shooting seriously for two years, and I have so much progress to make and so much to learn.” Alex had his first camera at age three and began to develop a more serious interest in photography between the ages of 14 and 17. “I never did anything very well, but I was always running about, taking poorly composed photographs of just about everything I saw out there,” Alex said. “I don’t really know where the line is drawn between ‘taking photographs of things’ and ‘being a photographer.'”
But a photographer, and a good one, is exactly what Alex has become. His current portfolio contains a diverse array of beautifully composed and technically suburb images of all nature subjects, although his favorite subjects are landscapes and birds. Alex focuses solely on nature photography, an interest that blossomed from family ski trips as a child and visits to Shenandoah National Park with his grandfather. “I love nature so much, and because of that, I feel little desire to shoot other subject matter,” he said. “Nothing quite matches the feeling I get from photographing nature. I’d be lying if I said I knew why. It just felt right when I began, so I’ve continued on with it.”
Alex’s passion for nature is what drives his photography. “[I want] to enjoy the short time I have on this planet, and to hopefully make a difference in the protection of it,” he told me. “When I die, I want to be able to say I enjoyed my life, and I simply love nature photography. Nothing I’ve experienced has brought me anywhere near as much joy.”
Alex also hopes his images can help protect the nature he loves so much. “I’d like to think that seeing evocative images of nature and wildlife might inspire some people to be more responsible in the way they treat the planet we live on, and that they may feel motivation from my images to take less of a hand in the destruction of Earth,” he said.
“[Photography] has taught me to love our natural world, and has given me motivation to try and treat our planet better than I previously had been,” he added.
Alex has traveled largely throughout the United States in pursuit of subjects to photograph. In 2008, he traveled across the country by car, spending three and a half months living on the road to see and photograph all parts of the country. One of his favorite areas he has visited is the Desert Southwest. “I find that desert scenes, when they’re not wide, sweeping vistas, are extremely challenging to compose, and they really force you to work hard to come away with special images,” said Alex. “The possibilities are just endless!”
Alex also enjoys shooting close to home at Great Falls National Park in Virginia. “It’s an amazing place where you can compose images with the rushing rapids of the Potomac River and dramatic light in the sky. I don’t feel like there are many places away from the ocean where you can really do this,” Alex said. “The place is pretty big, so you never have to shoot the same scene twice. The conditions can vary greatly from season to season, with trees changing, and the water level going up or down depending on rainfall, so I can shoot there year round and have a fairly diverse collection of images.” Since Alex lives just fifteen minutes from the park, he makes it a point to get out there as much as possible. “I haven’t gotten bored with it yet!” he said.
Alex spends time shooting in the field whenever he can, either alone or with other photographers, including Joseph Rossbach, Chris Kayler, Matthew Studebaker, and Greg Schneider.”I feel like a huge part of my learning has been from shooting with friends and sharing tips and ideas with them,” said Alex.
“If I had to call one person a mentor or teacher, I’d say it would be Joe Rossbach. He has really been so good to me, helping me develop my compositional skills and style, getting together to shoot [or] just hanging out and talking about photography,” said Alex. In addition, Joe has also shown Alex the business side of photography by bringing him along to camera club presentations to show him the ropes and allowing Alex to assist him on workshops. “He’s a great friend,” said Alex.
It was with Joe that Alex had his most memorable photography related experience, which in turn resulted in his personal favorite photograph “Elk on Dream Lake.”
“Joe and I set out to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park’s Dream Lake at sunrise. Just ten minutes after the sun came up, just as a thin layer of wispy clouds blew into my composition, a big, beautiful bull elk in velvet decided to walk out to the edge of the lake and pose for us,” said Alex. “Nothing else has even come close to that moment for me.”
In addition to shooting with and learning from his photographer friends, Alex is inspired by the work of many other photographers as well. “George Stocking has an eye for composition that I feel is unparallel by any other current landscape photographers,” said Alex. He also mentioned the work of Guy Tal and Marsel van Oosten, whose photographs he called “mysterious” and “breathtaking,” respectively, and his friend Matthew Studebaker, who Alex said “is as kind-hearted of a man I will ever meet, and he consistently produces amazing bird photographs.”
Alex also said that he has found paying attention to the online nature photography forums to be quite helpful. “There is a lot to be learned from these incredible, free resources,” said Alex, who is an active participant on several sites and also maintains his own website, blog, Facebook fan page, and Twitter feed.
Alex, only nineteen, hopes to one day be a full-time professional nature photographer and writer, but in the meantime just wants to continue to shoot as much as possible. This fall, he plans to move away from home for college and pursue a major in English or Writing along with a business related minor. He has not yet decided which school he will attend.
When I asked Alex if he had any advice for other young photographers, his response was enthusiastic. “Use your driver’s license when you get it. Get out and shoot as much as possible. Nothing has helped me progress more than practice,” he said.
Alex should know. He’s getting better every day.
Alex maintains his own website, blog, Facebook fan page, and Twitter feed.
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