Nature Photography Day

Go on a photo scavenger hunt

(Disponible en español)

We’re challenging you to a photo scavenger hunt! You’ll also learn the names of these natural items in both Spanish and English while you explore. Click here to download our list as a pdf and see how many of these natural items you can capture on film. Be sure to share your snapshots with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and let us know how many you were able to find!

Guiding Question: Which items do you think will be the easiest to find and take a picture of? Which items will be hardest? Why? How can we work to find these items?

Showcasing our photos

“This is my butterfly photo that I’m happiest with. It’s a two-barred flasher (Astraptes fulgerator). The photo was taken in the cloud forest at Mindo, Ecuador in late 2016. The thing that I find most important for getting good butterfly shots is stalking technique—ways of getting close to the butterfly without scaring it off. The leaf that this one was sitting on was at about forehead level, so I had to hold the camera over my head and hope that I was getting the butterfly in frame.”
– Chief curator Doug Taron

From the archives

Although he was a lawyer by training and practice, Tappan Gregory was also a nature photographer. He served as our honorary curator of mammals from 1930 to 1944 and we have many of his negatives in our collection. He was a pioneer of wildlife “self-portrait” photography. Each animal would trigger a tripwire connected to the camera after being lured by a tasty treat. This approach was incredibly ahead of its time. This photo of a skunk dates from 1928!

Guiding Question: What do you notice about this photo? What clues does it give us about skunks? (What do they eat? When are they active?) Why do you think photos like this are important?

Photography accounts to follow

Although you can’t explore our art and photography exhibits right now, you can still add some more beautiful nature photography to your online experience. Check out some of these photographers and photography accounts:

• Dudley Edmondson is a nature advocate and has been a nature photographer for 30 years. You can check out his Instagram account here.
• If you loved Thomas D. Mangelsen – A Life in the Wild, you can connect with photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen by checking out his Instagram account.
• BBC Earth’s Instagram account features incredible nature photography from around the world, highlighting both amateurs and professionals. Click here to check it out.

Explore nature with photos

Discovering the plants and animals around you is as easy as snapping a picture with your phone. Using an app like Seek lets you use image recognition technology to identify the nature around you, and you can earn achievements and take part in monthly challenges.

Behind the Scenes

All summer, our education team will be offering virtual professional development opportunities for teachers in grade K-8. Want to be sure you hear about them when they’re announced? Sign up for our educator newsletter here.