Is it possible to target a bird in order to kill it and paradoxically on other occasions to love observing it
in order to photograph it? Yes, it is. I practice hunting only with a pointing dog, hunting only woodcock
and ruffed grouse, but I also have a passion for photography. Watching my pointing dog work on game birds
and capturing these moments with a camera have allowed me to combine boths of these passions.

In my tender childhood, I must have been between 6 and 9 years old maximum, when my father, from time to time,
would take me hunting along with him and his uncles. It was also at that time that my passion for hunting dogs grew
because my father's uncles owned some. It was in the 70s, we would go hunting in the orchards and fields of Anjar,
an Armenian village in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.

In 1979, when I was 11, we had to leave Lebanon due to the war and we settled in the province of Quebec, in Canada.
I brought along with me those memories and the hunting memories with dogs. At the age of 13, I discovered an old
Larousse dictionary on hunting in my family's library. It was the first time I was reading about various game birds
and hunting dogs. The dictionary had pictures of birds, birds of prey, mammals and hunting dogs which caught my eye.

This book was a revelation as on that day I decided that I would also take pictures of hunting dogs and birds.

In the 80s and 90s, I read more and more and I do research on hunting and game birds.
The quality of the images is a determining factor in my choice of books to be purchased.
I often got on my bike, picked up my binoculaurs and went to observe birds.

1987 Acquisition of my first sports hunting permit (Québec)

1998 Purchase of my first hunting dog: Celtick, a Griffon Korthals. I also purchase my first small compact Kodak.
Celtick is my first model or almost as in the 80s and 90s, I had also taken photographs of my cat.

2001 Money made through an offspring of Celtick allowed me to purchase a new compact Pentax.
Just like the Kodak, I kept it with me everytime I took Celtick for an outing.

2003 With my new digital compact Fujifilm, I improve my photo skills by taking 1000s of pictures
of Celtick of which I have only kept a few hundreds. I truly discover that photography is my real passion.

At that time as well, I volunteer as a photographer for taking
pictures of activities organized by pointing dog clubs in Quebec.

2004 A photo taken of Celtick brings me the First Prize for the "Adult Dogs in action"
photo contest organized by the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association.
Two other of my photos come in 1st and 2nd in the "Hunting Dog with children" category.

2005 Arrival of Ranger, son of Celtick, as photogenic as his father. I've also taken thousands
of his pictures, just to keep the best ones. Again, with the same magazine, I win 3rd prize
in 2007 in the "puppies in action" category this time with a picture of Ranger.

2006 Laurence Saunois, hyperrealistic animal painter, honors me by asking me permission to use of Celtick's
photos for an oil painting. It was with great pleasure that I accepted the request of this very talentede artist.

With Celtick, I learned to take pictures, whereas with Ranger, I learned to develop further my photography skills.

2006 First photos of birds, mainly ducks. First trial of photos
of ducks and seagulls in flight with my Fujifilm compact camera.

2007 First trial of ducks in flight with my Fujifilm bridge.

2008 With my Fujifilm bridge, a picture of a snowy owl in flight finally gave me satisfaction.
During the summer, with my Nikon compacts, I fine-tune the in-flight photos of other bird species.
During the fall, with one of my Nikon compacts, I take my best pictures of ducks in flight.
One day in December, I take 164 clicks with one of my Nikon compacts of snow buntings in flight,
only to keep 7 photos. I have to admit that I caugh the in-flight photos virus.

2009 With my Fujifilm bridge, I take thousands of pictures of birds in flight, only to keep the best ones.
For bird photography, I decided to devote 90% of my time on this type of photos.

2010 When reviewing photo archives of Celtick and Ranger, I found 2 of my oldest photos of birds in flight:
a photo of a rock pigeon taken on July 24, 2003 with Celtick on my side and a photo of a red-winged blackbird
taken on April 26, 2006 with Ranger on my side.

2011 At Christmas buying my first DSLR camera:
I chose the Nikon D5100 and as a lens the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8.

2012 January-February: First pictures with my new DSLR of birds in-flight and a lot of photos
of jumps / flights of squirrels (with my 2 Nikon compatcs and Fujifilm bridge camera
in the years before I had done some pictures of jump and flight of squirrels).

2012 From February to May: I follow a 62 hours course in photography at the College Marsan which specializes
in photography and multimedia. I learn and practice photography in the studio of advertising objects,
translucent bottle liquor, food photography and portrait.The studio environment is new to me.

2012 At Christmas buying my first wheaterproofed tough camera. Since one hunting
outing in october 2003 with Celtick i was dreaming to that kind of camera.
I chose the Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS.

2013 In mid-June I did the purchase of the lens AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G,
coupled to my Nikon D5100 it become my gear that has the most fast and
acurate focus, with the photos the mot sharp and beautiful background bokeh.

2013 In mid-July came in my life Bobcat Celtick, Celtick's great-grandson,
and in our first hunting season, when he was 4 months to 6 months old I made
photos of ruffed grouses and woodcocks in-flight.localized or pointed by Bobcat Celtick.

2014 In early spring at the « Petit Gibier » day of the « Club des Bécassiers du Québec »
I give a conference with Power Point presentation on « my technics how to photography birds in-flight. »

2014 Around mid-April I realize my best photos of the American woodcock in-flight.

2014 With the years after having done photos of red squirrels and grey squirrels
in jump and alomost flying in winter a realize with lens AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G my best
photos of this kind with the grey squirrel. In spring I add to my collection a photo a bat in-flight.

2015 In winter I realize with the lens AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G even better photos of the jump of the red squirrel.

2015 Au printemps je décide de mettre en vente des impressions de mes photographies aniamilères
par le lien suivant : http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/asbed-iskedjian.html

2016 To this day, I've taken pictures of 81 bird species in flight.

Thanks to Celtick who was my first model and with whom I learned photography.

On April 13, 2009, Celtick joined the paradise of
woodcocks and ruffed grouses…of grouse dogs - chiens bécassiers.

On April 13, 2011, two years after Celtick’s flight towards the heavens like a grouse
like a woodcock, I decided to launch my website of photos of birds in flight.

Thanks also to Ranger with whom I fine-tuned my techniques.

On June 14, 2012, 3 years after Celtick, Ranger joined his father there in
the paradise of woodcocks and grouses… of grouse dogs - chiens bécassiers.

All these photos of birds in flight are dedicated in memory of Celtick & Ranger.

Have fun visiting my website dedicated to wildlife photography.

Asbed Iskedjian