Fred Kobrick refers to himself as “a highly experienced amateur hobbyist” who loves the challenges that taking pictures provides. “Here is a recent photo of me,” he says, “out in Wyoming, one of my two favorite places in nature to photograph, the other being Africa.”

 

Fred describes his passion for nature photography in this way:  I love being close to nature. Attempting to get superior results pulls me into the scenes, takes my mind to wonderful, calming places, and even takes over my mind at times. I love the open-ended challenges and creative endeavors. Sitting and flying birds, for example, are geometrically more difficult than fast-action sports shots, and I love improving at that.

He talks, too, about some of his most memorable moments “in the wild.”

The moment on the Snake River, after endless practice and attempts, when I got the perfect “fish catch” photo of an osprey taking a big fish from the river–capturing both eyes of the bird and the eye of the fish…

Two lion cubs playing over their dinner remains, after eating their fill…

A perfect sunset in the Okavango Delta taken from  the Fish Eagle, the world’s best outdoor bar…

Walking the streets of Hanoi and seeing a young boy’s changing facial expressions as he read a Vietnamese Conan Comic Book, photographing it as he turned the pages…

 

Another Snake River moment–this time, getting the almost impossible picture of a red winged blackbird with his wings fully stretched out, including his full and perfect reflection in the water…

 And the perfect candid of a mother and baby moose looking at each other in the water, as I hid, unseen, in the bushes.

Among other favorite shots are…

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, at the urging of his kids, Fred entered several of his nature photos in Smithsonian Magazine’s annual nature photography contest.  As a result, he now has a Smithsonian  gallery online. To see this stunning work, go to:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/user/fred-kobrick/?no-ist

Fred says that he came to BOLLI after he heard great things about the program from friends several years ago.

I tried a short one-week program, loved it, took a course or two, and was told by some people that they thought I would enjoy teaching BOLLI students and do that well (I had been a popular teacher in two graduate programs at Boston University). I’m looking forward to more interesting and new subjects to explore as both a student and a teacher and am thinking about possibly creating a sequel to my China course, which many students have requested.  My friends were right. I’ve loved BOLLI.

It’s clearly mutual, Fred.

FRED KOBRICK PHOTOGRAPHY:  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.