This barn owl peeks from his namesake home. Unfortunately, barn owls are an endangered species in Illinois due to habitat loss. “They often use dead trees and old barns as nesting sites,” Olson explains. “As the barns disappear from our landscape, the owls do, too.”

A Photographer’s Journey: David C. Olson

David Olson
Posted by February 15, 2017

Rockford native David C. Olson has produced some of the world’s best wildlife images, at times risking his life in their pursuit. His deep knowledge of, and sensitivity to, animal behavior, wildnerness survival and photography, have earned him clients such as National Geographic and the National Wildlife Federation. Here, he shares some of his favorite images with the readers of Northwest Quarterly Magazine.

Olson photographed this humpback whale fluke with back-lighted water in the Pacific Ocean near Alaska.
“Wolves are one of my favorite animals to photograph,” says Olson. “While in northern Minnesota, I had been documenting a pack for nearly a week, for a book I was working on. I happened across this alpha female, a pitch black wolf with eyes of yellow. She laid on a rock on the edge of her territory and posed for this gorgeous image.”
“This past year I worked on a project photographing endangered reptiles and amphibians from around the world to bring awareness to the plight of these species,” says Olson. “This Veiled Chameleon is a truly prehistoric-looking reptile.”

This barn owl peeks from his namesake home. Unfortunately, barn owls are an endangered species in Illinois due to habitat loss.
“They often use dead trees and old barns as nesting sites,” Olson explains. “As the barns disappear from our landscape, the owls do, too.”
Olson, pictured above, believes his photographs play a vital role in sharing both the beauty and the plight of our wild places and wild creatures.
To see more of his images or to learn about future trips he will lead, contact him at davidolsonphoto.com or David C. Olson Photography on Facebook.

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