August 2008: Milo Burcham
I have been fascinated with wildlife for as far back as I can remember. My interests while growing up included collecting butterflies and other insects, lizards, snakes and other herps, and of course, studying large mammals which led me down my current career path. Wildlife photography has become a natural extension of that fascination, and has grown into a lifelong passion. Capturing the natural beauty of wildlife, spending time in wild landscapes, witnessing natural behavior and encountering new species have all added to the allure of wildlife photography.
About Milo
Milo Burcham is a wildlife biologist working for the U.S. Forest Service in Cordova, Alaska. He has lived on beautiful Prince William Sound for over 7 years and in western Montana for the 20 years previous to that. Although most of his research has been with ungulates, especially moose and elk, he has worked with a wide variety of species, including bristle-thighed curlews on a remote Pacific Island, owls in the mountains of Montana, and grizzly and black bears in both Montana and British Columbia. These experiences have helped Milo to develop an interest in all wildlife and allowed him to spend a lot of time outdoors. They have also alerted him to many conservation issues and the importance of how humans interact with wildlife.
He has photographed wildlife for over 20 years and has published images in National Geographic, Audubon Magazine, Ranger Rick, TIME Magazine, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, Alaska Airlines and many other local, national, and international publications. Milo was invited to photograph wildlife on China’s remote Tibetan Plateau in 2002 and returned with BBC in 2005, with a crew working on the television series Planet Earth. He has also spent time in the Rocky Mountains, desert southwest, Florida’s wetlands, and rainforests of Costa Rica.
Milo tries to photograph just about everything that lets him, but has a particular interest in illustrating the wide variety of animal life near where he lives, documenting lesser photographed species, and those with conservation concerns. His photographs feature almost exclusively wild subjects. The only exceptions are mice, voles, and shrews which are live trapped and then released. Some reptiles and amphibians have also been handled as well. He uses digital editing to improve exposure, saturation, and contrast to get the greatest visual impact from a photograph, but does not alter any subject matter.
