Chris Galvin: An introduction I have been interested in birds for over thirty years. As a young lad I used to accompany my dad on shooting trips to the estates of Lord Sefton & Lord Derby on the edge of Liverpool, before much of the area became a large housing estate. By the age of 10 I realised its was much more fun to just watch birds when I stalked them, rather than shoot them. It was then that I was presented with my first pair of binoculars, a pair of Prinz 7x50. Since then I have travelled extensively throughout Great Britain in search of UK birds. Birding since then has always been a key consideration when holidaying abroad. I have travelled to, and birded in Greece, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Turkey, Spain & Canary Islands, Portugal, The Gambia, Kenya, Seychelles, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Morocco, Texas, California, Ohio, Florida, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bali and India. Although always interested in photography, it is only since 1998 that I have been photographing birds seriously. My first published photograph was of a family group of Harlequin Duck taken whilst on a day trip (yes day trip) to Iceland, organised by the British birding magazine Birdwatch I adopted the new digital format ealy and was a prolific digiscoper with the Nikon Coolpix 4500 and a series of other cameras. I then gave a series of talks at Birdfair 2005 & 2006 for Swarovski. My first digital SLR was the the Canon 10D and I have stayed with Canon whilst continually upgrading lenses and cameras. I currently have a Canon 1DX and a Canon 1D MK IV which are my workhorses and coupled to a either a 500mm f4, EF70-200 f2.8 IS USM MK II or a 100mm f2.8 macro I also have an assortment of other lenses. Currently working in a birding related industry where I am a Regional Account Manager for Opticron, which is a great job for a birder.