Rolling Blind
Blinds are absolutely essential tools for wildlife photographers. In many situations, they afford us the best—sometimes the only—opportunity to observe intimate moments in the lives of wild animals. They allow us a degree of proximity while lessening our disturbance, which increases the chance we’ll be able to see and photograph natural behavior. I own many varieties of blinds, from ghillie suits to pop-up hunting blinds to top-of-the-line professional photography blinds.
Some kinds are better for certain settings and species than others: A ground blind, in which one lies flat, is great for waterfowl on ponds, while a body blind or ghillie suit might be best for a woodpecker nest in thick forest. (For more on these types of blinds and their uses, read my earlier column on the subject, “Using Photo Blinds,” on the Outdoor Photographer website.)
My most useful and frequented blind, however, wasn’t originally purchased for wildlife photography. I can’t bring it on planes, but it’s extremely portable. It’s my
