For Christie, capturing wildlife involves expecting the unexpected.
Photo by Tim Christie
photos, especially if your subject is on the move, or in most cases, doesn’t want you nearby. “Wildlife photography is al- ways about being as prepared as possible for the unexpected,” he said. “And luck. And the more of- ten the unexpected happens, the luckier I’ve been.” Unlike some colleagues who fo- cus only on certain critters, such as bull elk or whitetail, he enjoys them all. He’s just as comfortable watching a polar bear cub playfully roll down a hillside as he is watch- ing a mother quail guard her nest. “My happy place is being in the presence of any wildlife, be it a liz- ard in the deserts of Arizona to grizzly bears in Wyoming,” he said. “If something shows up, be it sas- quatch or a chipmunk, I’m going to
photograph it.” His approach can be appreciat- ed in the pages of his recently pub- lished book, “Stories Painted with Light,” a collection of 50 favorite images as well as the stories and technical information that go along with them. The book showcases Christie’s adventures throughout North America, from Alaska to Arizona. He’s spent weeks in chilly Man- itoba, Canada, and thousands of hours in his native Montana, in- cluding Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. Some photo expedi- tions have involved temperatures dipping to 70 degrees below zero, but they all have resulted in amaz- ing images. It’s not just the temperature ex- tremes that can be challenging;
while shooting rattlesnakes in the desert, he had to lie down in piles of cacti as well as keep his distance. He’s learned to be as unthreaten- ing as possible. That doesn’t stop some animals from giving “back off” warnings if he gets too close, like a bull moose pawing the ground near him. Or a mother grizzly chasing him up a tree at Glacier. With some animals, he’s able to stay in one place and shoot for hours. Others, he may only get a second to shoot and hope for the best, like a bird in flight or a prong - horn sprinting across a field. Christie decided to shoot pro- fessionally in 1981 when he sold his first image that ended up be - ing used on the cover of American Hunter magazine. One of his earli-
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