This photo is one of the first exciting wildlife photograph I ever captured.

This is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk flying with the prey it just caught.

I was just starting to get into photography. When this happened I was just walking through town with my camera. No plan. Just hoping to see something cool.

I saw something crash into a hedge along a building. Then I saw this bird emerge. I was lucky enough o get the camera up and trained on the bird reasonably well.

This is probably not a technically great image, but it is a meaningful image to me because it was in the beginning of my photography journey.

I love the feeling of movement that this image captures even with all its “flaws” but that sense of movement is the important part of the image. That is what gives it impact.

And you can capture images like this right where you live. This was right in town where I live. With my first digital SLR.

Photo details: Nikon D50. Nikon 70-300mm lens. At 300mm. ISO 800. Shutter speed 1/125 second. f/6.