Rich
Rich had a shop a few doors down from us on South Village Ave in Rockville Centre. With his baseball cap and his signature Oakleys, we used to call him our Hulk Hogan: "Take yer pictures, brother." He'd come into the store and hang out for hours. His book sat in our seating area, because we were fans before we were ever business partners.
Rich believed birds were the most challenging animal to photograph. During the Designer Limo fleet shoot, we tried to tease him by photographing a seagull ourselves. We had professional gear and couldn't get one decent shot. This was a man who photographed peregrine falcons in 200 mph dives. I still struggle to understand how.
He was up before the sun almost every day, shooting, or sometimes just watching the wildlife around Long Island and Jones Beach. It wasn't a hobby, and it wasn't only talent. Nature photography was what he was meant to do. I'm no expert, but he is by far the best I have ever seen.
The Work: Building the Platform Behind the Photographer
Rich's photographs spoke for themselves. Our job was to make sure the right people found them.
- A Site Built Around the Work: A gallery-driven website organized by how birders think - birds in flight, aquatic birds, land birds, portraits and sequenced action series.
- A Content Library, Not Just Galleries: An A–Z bird identification guide and a series of flight-photography tips and techniques, built on Rich's expertise to draw birding and birdwatching searches to his work.
- Media & Image Prep: Positioning Rich as the authority on action-flight bird photography, and preparing his media and public image for the press that followed.
- Direct Book Sales: A signed, limited-edition sales channel for his book, sold direct from the site with a personalized message from Rich.
His Accomplishments
Rich's six-year project photographing birds in flight became a book, a museum exhibit, and a steady stream of national press.
- The Book: On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight, published by Harry N. Abrams. Rich selected the work of seven photographers, his own included, and wrote its essay on the mechanics and evolution of bird flight.
- The Museum: His birds-in-flight series was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Originally scheduled to close in May 2009, the exhibit was extended many times due to its popularity, and was still on display in 2012.
- The Press: A cover of New York State's Conservationist, his own feature in Popular Photography, Nature's Best Honors, and Birder's World, where his barn swallow was voted one of the best shots in the magazine's 20-year history.
"With consummate skill he achieves pin-sharp images of bodies hurtling through the air at 30, sometimes 70 mph! Richard has a unique talent and I adore watching him in action."
Nigel Marven, wildlife host & filmmaker
Birds, Buses and Exotics
When Designer Limo needed photography for its entire fleet, there was only one call to make. Over a three-day shoot across two lots, Rich photographed the buses like animals in motion and the exotics in meticulous detail - original photography that set the brand apart. See how Designer Limo turned renters into promoters.
In Memory
Rich later retired to Pennsylvania, and passed away in 2023. He was a business owner, a New Yorker at heart, and a friend. His photographs remain some of the finest images of birds in flight we have ever seen.