Hector D. Astorga is a full-time wildlife photographer based in South Texas. His love of nature and the outdoors began as a child in his native country, Honduras. He is the ranch manager at the Santa Clara Ranch, a photography ranch that hosts wildlife photographers from all over the globe. He also leads and conducts photography tours & workshops at multiple locations in North, Central, and South America, Scandinavia, and Africa.
This presentation is for individuals that want to take their wildlife photography to the next level. Hector will share the techniques that he uses while in the field photographing wildlife. Perspective, camera settings, reaction time, and composing in the camera are some of the topics he will discuss with us. He will share how he photographs and how he plans ahead of a photo outing. This process has made him very successful in creating his wildlife images. He will share the images he creates at home in Texas and many of the wonderful places he visits like Africa, Scandinavia and Latin America.
In 2019 Hector’s image of a Three-toed Sloth w/ baby won the prestigious Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Awards Wildlife Category. With over 25,000 entries from photographers in 63 different countries the Nature’s Best competition is one of the premier nature photography competitions in the world. He is also a six-time Grand Prize winner of the Wildlife in Focus and Valley Land Fund Photography competitions. From 2008 thru 2017 he won 1st Grand Prize four times, 2nd Grand Prize once and also has a 3rd Grand Prize finish. He won top honors in the 2009 National Wildlife Federation Photography Contest and in the 2012 Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers Photography competition. In 2016, one of his images was selected as a “Best of Show” by the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) in their Annual Showcase competition. His images have been in the Top NANPA Showcase awards for the last eight years in a row.
His work is featured in Nature’s Best Magazine, Audubon Magazine, National Wildlife Federation Magazine, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, National Geographic Guide Books, Ranger Rick Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Quail Unlimited, and other national and regional publications.
In 2020 Hector was named one of the “We Will Not Be Tamed” Ambassadors for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The Ambassadors are a group of remarkable Texan outdoorsmen and women who stand together and tell their stories about Texas, the place that has given them so much. He uses his photography for many conservation projects around the state.
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