09/25/2026
The art of the hunt begins long before the covey rises.
Last week I joined Dr. John White at sunrise at Auburn Oaks Farm to watch his two German Shorthaired Pointers work before quail season.
Dew on the grass. Dogs running wide. Whistles and commands across the field. Old stories and plenty of laughing along the way.
There’s something remarkable about watching a bird dog do what it was born to do. One moment they’re running wide open through the field, and the next they lock onto scent and become completely still — a living marble statue.
And all of it builds toward that instant when a covey finally flushes and instinct takes over. You have a split second to make the shot before your dog starts wondering whether you need more training.
That’s a large part of why I love going into the field with a camera. I don’t only want a reference photograph. I want to know the place, watch the dogs work, hear the stories and understand the rhythm of the hunt. Then I can take those moments back into the studio and turn them into paintings that preserve something of the experience.
I’m beginning to offer this more intentionally for hunters, guides, lodges and sporting properties — joining a hunt to photograph and document the day, with the opportunity to create a completely personal original painting from it afterward.
This morning ended, appropriately enough, at Waffle House.
A pretty damn good morning.
Auburn Oaks Farm — Notasulga, Alabama UplandHunting SportingArtist WildlifeArt HuntingPhotography GunDogs AlabamaQuail SouthernSportingLife AuburnAlabama
