Artist Statement
My name is Martin Culpepper, I’m fifteen years old and an aspiring wildlife photographer. I’m in 10th grade and planning on going into Biology in college out in the Yellowstone area. I have been obsessed with learning about wildlife since my earliest memory and now it’s nice to interact with nature through my photography. I started taking pictures at the age of 12 and have progressively spent more and more time out in nature observing animal behavior and documenting them with my camera. I enjoy taking pictures of bears, owls, raptors, song birds, water birds, moose, deer, weasels, foxes (pretty much all mammals, even skunks) and marine life. I spend about 50-60 hours a month looking for wildlife to photograph, walking in the woods and on the beach. I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the country with my parents and see animals in all their different environments. My favorite place in the world is Wyoming but I recently went to Alaska this summer to photograph Coastal Brown Bears (basically Grizzly bears that live on the beach) and Alaska comes in a close second for landscape and wildlife. With my pictures and presentations I hope to inspire people to spend more time outside and encourage them to protect nature & wildlife. In my spare time I’m a Boy Scout and enjoy camping, hiking, fishing and all things nature. I also enjoy writing science fiction and have signed up for NaNoWriMo to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.
All of the photographs in this collection have been taken in the last two years. I’m obsessed with Raptors & Owls so there are many different kinds of owl pictures. I have a 500mm lens and this allows me to stay far away from the bird, respect its space and still get great pictures. All the snowy owl pictures were taken at Salisbury beach, Plum Island and Hampton Beach. I was able to document over 25 different individual snowy owls last winter. The Barred Owl was at Parker River Wildlife Refuge.I spent many many hours with this Barred over the winter last year on the Marsh Loop trail. It was in the area for over four months. The Short Eared Owl is my favorite to photograph because it’s so aerodynamic. I have photographed more Screech Owls than I can count. They’re small and adorable. I have many other photographs of other species of owls as well that are not included in this gallery.
The Juvenile Bald Eagle was taken in Salisbury, MA. All the bears, otter and moose were photographed in Alaska on my trip there in July 2018. My mom and I flew in a 6 seater plane an hour and a half down to Katmai National Park to walk with the bears. These are wild bears not captive in a zoo or reserve. This was the most exciting wildlife adventure I’ve ever had. I waited for over 8 hours several days in a row, waiting for the foxes to come out of their den to play. This family was so much fun to watch and take pictures of. The short tailed weasel won first place in the underaged mammal category from the Mass Audubon Society last year. I took this shot at the Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary in Topsfield, one of my favorite places to spend time locally. This little guy was extremely fast and it’s incredible that I was able to get this picture. I also took the picture of the hummingbird and the fawn there as well. The ducklings I photographed in Newburyport, MA.
The best place to connect with me is on instagram @ martinz.photos. You can find me at facebook at Martin Culpepper Nature Photography. My website is still being built but a lot of it is up www.martinculpepperphotos.com