Artist Statement
I, Bruce Finocchio, am a wildlife, nature, and scenic photographer. I live in Millbrae, California above the San Francisco Airport, in the Bay Area. I also work full-time for Applied Biosystems, now Life Technologies as a business analysis, when I am not taking nature photographs. My Dad was a Deer Hunter and bought some property in Monterey County, so he could have a place of his own to go deer hunting. We have own this property since 1946. I grew up spending my summers down there, following in my father's footsteps, hunting quail, dove, and black tailed deer--using a b-b gun, graduating up to a powerful hunting rifle. When I was eighteen I had to kill a black tailed buck up close shooting him in the neck, since my first shot from a far had only wounded him. I saw death up close and personal, decided that from that moment on that I didn't not want to be part of death, but cherish life instead. My philosophy is: "I love the earth! No moment is the same. Each moment is uniquely different. The natural world captures my spirit and my love. My goal is to show the inherent beauty within all life and make that beauty "sing" out in each image I make." My friends and I do a lot of bird photograph at my ranch in rural Monterey County, using photo blinds extensively; and recently we have built a few permanent ponds to attract wildlife. During the dry season from May to November, birds and wildlife are drawn to these ponds as the only source of water in the area, giving us wonderful photographic opportunities. We also spend the spring time looking for nesting birds, and scouting out old trees nest cavities in search young birds. I was a Minolta user, but switch to Canon in 2001. I used to shoot extensively with slide film; now I strictly use digital camera bodies, the Canon 40D and D1 Mark II and as backup the Canon 20D. I primary use RAW capture, and process the images in Photoshop. I recently upgraded to CS3, and also have many external hard drives to store my raw files. My primary bird lens is a 600 mm IS lens, I also have a 100 -- 400 mm IS for mammals, and a 100 mm macro lens for wildflowers and insects. I use a 16 - 28 mm wide angle zoom lens for scenic images. I have been a member of the Peninsula Camera Club in San Mateo, CA since 1992. I competed in Pictorial and Nature Divisions. I have been published in California Wild Magazine wining the best wildlife image photo contest in 2003. One of my coyote image was published in a coyote book by Rio Nuevo Publishers in Tucson, AZ. Published the last three years in the Expression Publication for the Northern American Nature Photographer Association. I have done nature program for the Northern Council of Camera club's Photo Clave event as well as other Camera Clubs around the bay area. Where, I also judge occasionally nature and pictorial competitions.