A New Jersey nature photographer has become well-known for his stunning photos of birds around the state.

Ray Hennessy says that a lot of planning goes into obtaining the shots. He details how he went about getting each photograph on his Instagram account.

“It's not just, ‘Hey I just walked out into the woods for five minutes and took this amazing photo.’ It was sometimes, and it's no exaggeration, years of planning and scouting and research that goes into the creation, the capture of some of these bird photos. In the water. In the sand. Getting dirty. Getting muddy. Dangerous for the cameras. That’s where I'm at. That's where I love to be,” he says.

Hennessy grew up hunting waterfowl with his father. He says getting the bird photos is all about staying low and meeting the birds eye to eye.

“There’s so much more of a connection in the final photo,” he says.

Hennessy created a “bird blind” of sorts made from a boogie board that helps him stay hidden while taking photos of the birds.