About Me
My name is Stan Cunningham, and professionally, I've "worn several hats" but always centered on animals. As a boy in rural Alabama and later Wyoming, I was always outside and if I wasn't catching fish I was trapping some other animal, from turtles to raccoons. When I first heard about Wildlife Biology I knew that was what I wanted to do and never wavered. I obtained my BS in Biology from the University of Wyoming in 1978 and started my career studying desert bighorn sheep on the California Mexico border. I obtained my Masters from ASU in 1982, and then studied the ecology of mourning and white winged doves for the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD). I finished the study, but not my PhD degree, as I liked working more than school. After the dove study I began a 28 year career at AZGFD, initially teaching teachers about wildlife and later back to my first love, field research. Over the next 20 years I studied desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions, meso carnivores (coyotes, gray fox, bobcats), black bears, mule deer, javelina, elk, pronghorn, lizard communities, and small mammals. I left AZGFD to start a new challenge as a Wildlife Biology Professor at ASU. By that time I had published on all of the above species in peer reviewed journals, government reports, popular magazine articles, and even chapters in books. My time with the AZGFD were some of the best of my life. I worked for and with some wonderful people and it was like one large family, I miss them. As a Wildlife Biology professor at ASU I have taught 12 different courses including Introduction to Wildlife Biology, Wildlife Management Techniques, Wildlife Ecology, Big Game Biology, Animal Physiology, General Biology (I and II), General Genetics, Vertebrate Zoology, Mammalogy, International Wildlife Conservation, and Small Wildlife Habitat Management. I believe all of the above make me a much more well rounded naturalist and better tour leader.
When I began writing magazine articles on the species I studied for the public I needed pictures to go along with the subjects. So along with writing came a new passion. As my "hobby" (a.k.a. obsession) grew, so did the cost of my equipment and the number of workshops I attended to improve my skills. I'm still learning, and I have some worthy mentors. One of the advantages I have are the field skills I've acquired over 28 years of intense field work. The knowledge of where to go, how to find the animals I want, and then knowing how to get close to them has proven invaluable. On the trips I lead, I'm very comfortable helping beginners to intermediate with their photography, but some of the you will know about some aspects more than I and I'm a willing learner as well.
As far as my ability to get good images, I will let the images in my many galleries speak for me.
When I began writing magazine articles on the species I studied for the public I needed pictures to go along with the subjects. So along with writing came a new passion. As my "hobby" (a.k.a. obsession) grew, so did the cost of my equipment and the number of workshops I attended to improve my skills. I'm still learning, and I have some worthy mentors. One of the advantages I have are the field skills I've acquired over 28 years of intense field work. The knowledge of where to go, how to find the animals I want, and then knowing how to get close to them has proven invaluable. On the trips I lead, I'm very comfortable helping beginners to intermediate with their photography, but some of the you will know about some aspects more than I and I'm a willing learner as well.
As far as my ability to get good images, I will let the images in my many galleries speak for me.
