Smoky Mountains Spring Workshop, April 16-18

On April 16-18, 2010, photographer and Mountain Trail Press founder Jerry Greer and I will be conducting a hands-on photography workshop in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Spring is a fantastic time to get out and spend time in the Smokies. I hope to see you there!

See below for the official release from Jerry's Website:

Springtime in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a wondrous event! The wild mountain streams are flowing at their fullest and beautifully adorned with multitudes of native wildflowers. The diversity of plants in the Smokies is dazzling! Over 1500 species of flowering plants are found in the Park, more than in any other North American National Park. This workshop will focus on the flowers and the landscape that they thrive in. Jerry and Clay will teach professional field techniques for macro, wide angle closeup, microcosm compositions, and flowers as part of the landscape. Both Jerry and Clay work as Conservation and Environmental Photographers, they will discuss photographic opportunities in this field for todays nature photographer.

Tuition is $575. Download the Application

Damselfly and Mud Turtle

Over the weekend, I decided to shoot closer to home and woke up early to photograph dragonflies along the edge of the pond just behind our place.

Although the pond is always frequented by a number of species, I often have difficulty finding specimens to photograph in the a.m. unlike some of the other ponds that I shoot at. Saturday morning was no exception. I have a suspicion that, because the pond is surrounded by fairly thick woods, the dragonflies forgo the low-lying vegetation and rest in the trees during the night. However, as it usually goes in nature, it wasn't long before I caught a glimpse of something else moving in the stream that feeds into the pond.

As it turned out, a little 'mud turtle' –still unidentified–was making its way into the open water. This was the first chance that I've had in two years to actually put my hands on one of the aquatic turtles living here. It had a beautiful ebony carapace with a fairly small plastron. I also noticed that it was missing all of its toes and some of its right foot. It is a tough life out there in the wild.

After making a few images of the turtle, I slowly worked my way up the stream looking for anything of interest. After about thirty minutes I came to a fairly sunny spot that was attracting several, fluttering electric-blue damselflies. I've photographed this species many times before and almost dismissed the scene when I noticed that a couple were opening up their wings a bit more than usual when they landed. The light behind them was nice and soft so I added a 27.5mm extension tube to my 80-200mm zoom, opened up to around f 5.6 and worked my way into a position where I could photograph the dainty insects without obstructing vegetation. As soon as I looked through the lens, I knew that I had something. I immediately began to fire off as many exposures as I could; knowing that at any moment it would fly away. As luck would have it, just after I made the best of the series a yellow-jacket –who seem to be in plague numbers this year– swooped down and scared the damsel from its perch. I suppose it pays to be ready.

Developing a Photographic Narrative

One of the greatest challenges that most photographers face –and I am certainly no exception– is finding a way to trim down a potential image to its most basic elements while still retaining enough appealing information that it doesn't lose its intrigue. I refer to this as developing a "photographic narrative." I believe that really strong images should always tell some type of story and at least provide a jumping-off point that will spark the viewers imagination. You want to "dangle a carrot" for the viewer so that you might prompt him/her to ponder about an image time and time again. A great and famous example of this would be the Mona Lisa. Why is this painting still be adored hundreds of years after it was created? I personally don't believe it has as much to do with the quality of the painting as with the fact that folks are drawn into the narrative that Da Vinci cleverly –and surely knowingly– injected into the painting with Mona Lisa's famous smile. We all want to know what she is smiling about, right?

A couple of nights ago I went out for a walk just before sunset. A nice rain had just passed through and a low mist had begun to hang over the field. I was just about to come in for the night when I noticed something odd surrounding the post of one of the old bluebird boxes nearby. As I came closer, I immediately recognized that the odd shape was in fact a black rat snake (my third encounter this spring) that had tightly coiled its body around the post and was working its way up to the nest box (the birds had just fledged). I ran inside to grab my camera gear and came back out with a a great determination to illustate the story of the snake and the box; predator and prey. I photographed the scene with a 20mm wide-angle lens from above, below and straight on. That didn't work. The sky was too washed out and the angle too severe. Next I tried zooming in and shooting from afar but still nothing was working. Meanwhile, the sun was quickly setting and the snake was getting tired of being gawked at. How could I show this powerful predator inching its way for what it hoped might be an evening meal? Then it occurred to me that I should just focus on the form of the animal. The bluebird house was a nice addition but it only served to distract the me from the crux of the shot. By now the snake was fairly calm, and it was fairly cool outside, so I moved within a couple of feet and carefully composed the shot. I became excited as I looked through the view-finder at the snake. It was easy to imagine that it was a piece of sculpture. The field looked great, the reflected sunset on the snake's dew-covered scales appeared iridescent, while the post now became an anchor within the image. It also would provide something for viewers to question and wonder about. I was reminded of my new mantras "Cut out the clutter" and "Create a Narrative." In the end, I may not have created anything like the Mona Lisa but for me, I know that I created a better image by having the willingness to focus in on what really mattered and develop a narrative.

Clay

Photographing Carolina Bays

Last year I began making photographs in one of the most unique and biologically rich preserves in South Carolina: The Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve in Horry County, near Conway, SC. This is a very long name for a sprawling 9300 preserve that is packed with orchids, irises and a variety of other rare and extremely photogenic plant and animal species including the world famous Venus' Fly Trap. The LOBHP contains several 'Carolina Bays' which are mysterious elliptical depressions that range from three acres to over a mile in length.

Carolina Bays were really not discovered until 1933 when an aerial photographic survey was conducted over the Carolinas and Georgia. Two University of Oklahoma professors –Doctors Melton and Schriever– observed the images and were the first to really document the number of bays. Although they range from New Jersey to Florida, the bays are primarily found in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Because of the unique elliptical shape of the bays and the fact that they are all rimmed with sand banks on their southeastern edges, many scientists believe that they were formed by asteroids. Others researchers tend to believe that erosion led to their creation.

When I visit the bays I try to arrive as early as possible to beat the harsh sun and wind that makes photographing the many orchids and pitcher-plants extremely difficult. Early morning is also a great time to spot animals as the preserves are brimming with wildlife including black bears, bobcats and abundant bird-life. LOBHP is mainly composed of dense evergreen shrub bogs (known as pocosins) and long leaf pine savannas. These moist, open areas are easier to access for photography and I have spent many visits in an area smaller than an acre.

I will be visiting the preserve again in a few days and am really looking forward to exploring deeper into the pocosins and surrounding ecotones in hope of photographing venus-fly traps. The preserve can be intimidating if you don't know where you're going (and I really don't) so a lot of looking around is required. However, I never go home without a few really nice images and each time I visit I am able to zero-in of where the best places to explore are. I'll let you know what turns up!

Clay

USA Today Macro Photography Article

For those of you who are just beginning your journey into the world of macro photography –and who didn't get enough of an overview from my posts, Intro to Macro Photography 1, 2 & 3 – check-out this article published in USA Today which gives a nice, albeit brief summary, of the basics of macro photography.