Nature Photography Day

Photography
Written By Debborah Donnelly

On this World Nature Photography Day (yearly on June 15) I wanted to highlight the work of my colleague, Cameron Hunter, who is an excellent photographer and a dedicated birder. We work together at Alberta Wilderness Association.[1]

A dapper pair of Razorbills

highlighted against a background of Northern Gannets, Newfoundland (Cameron Hunter, 2024)

Cameron’s responses to my interview questions follows.

DD: What is your academic/work background? Where have you have lived?

I started out in Eco-tourism and Outdoor Leadership at Mount Royal University, but partway through my time in this program I fell into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) while pursuing a minor in geography to go along with Eco-tourism. After 3 years of Eco-tourism I moved to complete a GIS applied degree at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), where I focused on habitat suitability modeling for Mule Deer, and worked on mapping wildlife vehicle collisions within the porcupine hills along Highway 22.

During my time in Eco-tourism, I worked as a bike mechanic at Mountain Equipment Co-op, but once I finished at SAIT I found work at a local Planning and Design consultancy here in Calgary called O2 Planning and Design. Where I worked for 7 years as a GIS Analyst and IT Administrator. In 2025, I moved into the conservation world with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) as a Conservation Specialist after working with AWA as a contracted photographer and videographer for the Cypress Hills Bioblitz in the summer of 2025.

I was born in Richmond, British Columbia, and moved to Calgary when I was just 4 years old. I grew up along Fish Creek Provincial Park, and I have lived here in Calgary since, and I have lived in all areas of the city, every quadrant and downtown. I have always had an itchy foot, a desire to move to new places, though I think what has limited that was often where I wanted to move is often expensive to live.

How did you get involved in photography? Videography?

My mother worked in a photo-lab growing up, and I had family who always brought along a camera for trips and daily life. But I decided to purchase my first camera when I got my first full-time job as a server. I bought a little Nikon d5100 and 18-55mm kit lens, and started taking photos of life, nature, family, friends, pets and wildlife whenever I had a chance. (I wanted to be an underwater photographer at National Geographic for many years, and that still would be amazing, being landlocked makes that tricky at times). Years of this kind of shooting went by, and one day while walking the riverbanks of some local parks I noticed a bubbling rock my dog had pointed out to me. Well, that bubbling rock was my camera that fell out of my shoulder bag... so I had a decision to make. Do I get another camera? Do I enjoy photography enough to justify another purchase? I did, I took the dive and purchased a new mirrorless camera, a Nikon Z6 and a 50mm f1.8, and since then I have purchased another.

I began shooting more intentionally and making an effort to improve my compositional eye by shooting a lot of street photography on my commutes to and from work in the years before covid-19, and that continued for a few years through the pandemic. Sometime around 2018-2019 I started birding, and naturally I needed a longer lens to document and photograph the birds I saw. This is where my journey into wildlife began, finding new birds in new places around Alberta and exploring closer to home. During that time, I went through some low periods in my life, my passion and time for photography waned and life was persistent, my underlying depression crept in, and self-doubt ran rampant during this period. As some of those challenges settled and faded with time I began to get back into taking photos, focusing mainly on wildlife and nature, with a specific interest in birds. I continue to pursue photography; it is a passion of mine that comes and goes like the tide, and if the tide continues, so will I.

Publications/Awards received: [2]

  • Top 10 videos of Audubon 2024

  • Editor-in-chief Staff Pick Canadian Geographic

  • Macaulay Library Best Bird Photos of 2026

  • Featured Photo – Living Bird Magazine Winter 2026

  • Canadian Geographic 2026 Canadian Landscapes – December 2026

  • Best Wildlife Photography 2025 (Two images)

  • Recently added member of the Canadian Conservation Photography Collective

Do you have a particular story (photo/video/birding) you want to share?

Most recently, alongside a few friends, we went out looking for Common Cranes in Stettler Alberta (between Hanna, and Forestberg) and we were lucky enough to see 47 Snowy owls, and 16 Short-eared owls over a few days of birding. We were able to have 36 Snowy Owls on a single checklist (A checklist is a singular effort over a moderate distance, around 8-10km of driving over an evening or few hours). The most seen in Alberta at a single time to date!

Most memorable photo/shot? Why?

My most memorable photo... often feels like my last favourite image. Though one that stands out was a photo of a Red-tailed Hawk after a summer storm just down the road from where I live. I would often drive up the road home and see a hawk sitting in a tree over-looking a field filled with miscellaneous items from the neighbouring sports facility, and a small bike skills course for young aspiring mountain bikers. The hawk loved the field and would often be seen hunting and soaring overhead in the early summer. One day, returning from work I saw some rainbows in the distance from a passing storm and thought to myself, it would be neat to capture the hawk with the rainbow one day.

A few weeks went by, and I had just sat down to edit some photos when my loving partner says... “I see a rainbow forming”. She knew of my idea and patiently listened to me passion talk about getting this photo over dinner and wine together. I hummed and hawed for a moment, then I decided to hop up and grab my camera. As I stepped out, I witnessed the storm pass overhead and saw a brilliant rainbow just beginning to form I ran down the road not noticing my partners mother, our neighbour, was outside watching the storm and now me, running past, somewhat crazed, down the road to where the hawk had been seen. As I rounded the corner, I saw the hawk flying towards its favourite perch with intent, so I very quickly aimed my lens to where I could see it was going, switched some settings on my camera, and captured a burst as it landed right on a branch with a vibrant rainbow behind it. The shot was better than I had thought, I never accounted for getting the hawk flying with a rainbow behind it!

A Red-tailed Hawk flies into a Rainbow in Calgary.

(Cameron Hunter, 2025)

I wish to thank Cameron for sharing his photographic journey and some of his incredible photos with us. You can also see more of his work on his personal website - https://www.cameronghunter.ca/.

[1] Cameron Hunter, BGIS - https://www.albertawilderness.ca/about-us/staff-and-board/; many of his photos can also be found in the pages of AWA’s journal the Wild Lands Advocate.

[2] A list of Cameron’s awards with links:

Debborah Donnelly
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