(Become A) Versatility Virtuoso

You may have heard some photographers stressing the importance of 'making photos' rather than 'taking photos.' In order to make it as a professional (nature) photographer, one has to be able to adapt to the situation that you're faced with and come home with good, salable images. Otherwise, it is highly likely that your client will not call on you again.
Although I love the serendipity of hiking along a mountain trail and coming upon an amazing subject to photograph, more and more, I find myself shooting with an agenda in mind. This morning was no exception: I needed to make photos of trout lilies for Meet Your Neighbours, for my catalog of wide angle macro photographs for an upcoming project and for my general stock collection to boot. To make things more tricky, each direction required a different style and approach.
With a little creativity and good planning a single location can yield a wide variety of completely different images that can be delivered to different customers and markets without conflict. All of the images included in this post were photographed in a single morning.

On Charting My Course

I am driven by goals. Some people like goals and others find them detestable. I need goals because they give me a focal point in the sea of 'what ifs' and 'wouldn't it be cools' that cross my mind throughout the span of a year. I also appreciate the fact that at the end of another 365 days I can look back and actually feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile –if I actually have, of course. I have a tendency to forget about the good things that I've achieved and all too often will focus only on the things that need work if I am not careful. That isn't always a bad thing in terms of learning how to grow as a photographer but we all need little positive reinforcement from time-to-time.

One peculiar thing that I've noticed over the past few years is that the number of items on my list of goals has begun to shrink, while the ambition level of each seems to be rising. I have found this to be a very natural progression as my maturity as a photographer grows and my focus becomes more and more fine-tuned. In actuality, each one of my goals has a lot of moving parts and pieces – they just happen to share a common umbrella. For example, in 2010 I am focusing on four main projects. If things go as I hope, the outcome of some of these will include components such as books, exhibitions, and articles. In the past, I might have just listed these products individually. Now, I've begun to look at a body of work and consider all of the different ways that the imagery can be interlaced to support a common message; not exactly brain-surgery but it takes me a while to catch on sometimes!

I recently flipped through Andrew Zuckerman's book Wisdom. There is quote in the book from Ben Stein, in which he basically states (paraphrase) that one should "Focus on the best thing that you can do in a given year and your career will take care of itself." Right now, I am not quite at that level of trust but maybe one day I'll arrive. Although I'm not quite so young anymore, at 33 I am still dumb enough to be joyfully ambitious in the face of great odds. That is a piece of my youth that I hope I shall never lose!

For those seeking some instant inspiration and goal-setting advice for the approaching New Year, I came across this free downloadable e-Book from Seth Godin today. It is packed with thoughts from people way wiser than me.

Riding the Wave (Venture Beyond the Obvious)

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to take a second trip to Western Australia, one of my favorite locations in the world. One of the stops on my itinerary was Hyden, WA; a place famous for the geological feature known as ‘Wave Rock.’ This ancient granitic formation, which is thought to be around 2,700 million years old, has been captured through the lenses of a lot of photographers from around the world. However, one curious thing that I’ve noticed is that most photographers tend to –seem to, anyway– only cover the famous aspects of the formation and stop there. What I found during my visit, was that there were a multitude of other aspects of ‘the wave’ that I found to be much more intriguing, albeit less well known.
One thing that I soon discovered after climbing on top of Wave Rock was that granitic dome offered a spectacular view of miles upon miles of rugged bush land. Additionally, the surface of the rock was filled (at least during my visit) with several ephemeral pools bursting with all sorts of interesting plant and animal life. The pool featured in the photo above contained sundews, tadpoles, insects and other interesting creatures. Further on, I came to several collections of huge boulders surrounded by gnarled scrub vegetation. These structures made for excellent photographic subject matter in the nice filtered light of an approaching storm.
Early the next morning, as I explored the fog-laden landscape surrounding Wave Rock, I photographed an eerie beauty of a ‘salt lake’ to the tune of honeyeaters, magpies & wattlebirds. This moment was followed up with a magical encounter with a pair of kangaroos, which silently bounded out of the mist just a few feet from where I was standing.
As I left Hyden, I remember thinking how strange it was that I had never seen any photographic representation of all of the very wonderful things that I had discovered there. I was reminded of just important it is for photographers and artists to push past the obvious and seek imagery that is unique to our own experiences. For all of the amazing wonders in the world, such as Wave Rock, there are a million more things just as amazing, waiting to be discovered, if we are willing to put in the effort.

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

Room to Roam

The more time that I spend photographing animals in the field, the more that I've begun to pull away from the tight, crisp, maximum depth-of-field shots that I used to make early-on in my career. Initially, I was so intrigued by what I was photographing that I failed to capture much more than just a shell of subject. It took me a while to realize that there were so many folks who literally had thousands of scientifically accurate photographs in their files of just about anything that I could imagine. It also didn't take long for me to realize that the photographs that I was selling –that really grabbed viewer's attention– were not the perfectly sharp, show-it-all type of images. Jim Brandenburg certainly had a great influence on this departure in my work through his masterpiece, Looking for Summer but it was only this year that I believe that I've finally 'let go' of worrying about making images to fit a certain niche. My subject-matter is still –and I suspect will always be– nature based but I don't worry so much about getting it all in focus. What I'm looking forward is narrative, imagination and passion in my work. In order to reach their maximum potential, every artist must come to a place where he or she realizes that there will only ever be one of themselves in this world and that they will be doing the everyone a disservice if they deny their own unique voice.

I photographed this black rat-snake last weekend on a photo hike with my friend and fellow photographer Greg Kiniry. It was hard not to go in tight on this beautiful creature at first, but as it worked its way toward the rock I anticipated that there might be an opportunity to do something special. Although I had captured several frames before this image presented itself I knew that I wanted to keep the snake small in the frame and give him room to move through its environment. For me, there is a beauty in the image's simplicity that is both closer to what might encounter in the wild and also somewhat symbolic –not intentionally– of where I am at in my life. I don't want to be boxed in. I need room to expand; to grow. I am excited about this turn in my photographic experience and feel that I'm finally hitting my stride.

Removing the Labels

I recently heard an interview with Freeman Patterson in which he referenced the importance of "Removing the Labels" when making an image. This simple, yet powerfully insightful statement has become a bit of a mantra in my photo-making lately.

Over the last couple of years I have spent a great deal of time creating documentary images for a few different conservation organizations. These images have/and are being used to promote and spread the word about various properties and preserves. I had been (and must admit that I still am) spending heaps of time pouring over natural history texts; trying to learn as much as I could about the species in my area. As I hiked any given trail each bird sound, each tree, each rock that I knew of would almost shout out its name to me. It became a little too much and I found that my obsessive studying had diminished my passion for the getting out there a little bit. So, I backed off of the research for a while and tried to re-discover what attracted me to nature and nature photography in the first place. After a lot of soul searching I realized that it was that it was the raw, child-like wonder that I used to experience when I would go exploring had been replaced by a type of cataloging mentality that was much more left-brained than right brained. In other words, I was becoming much less of the artist that I inspired to be and was drifting more towards (although a long way off from) the biologist that I had always wished that I could've been.

Now, obviously there is nothing at all wrong with wanting to know as much as possible about the world around you. Too many people drift around in a sort of blissful fog in totally oblivion in regards to their surroundings. I just happened to go the other side of the spectrum which can be just as mentally crippling if not kept under control.

So, right now I am really enjoying getting out and working hard to "remove the labels" for the natural world and enjoying just "seeing" and "being" while I'm out and about. Although I cannot say that my images have vastly improved –the public can be the judge of that– I have come a long way back towards and the point where looking through the camera makes me gasp in excitement at my subject instead trying to grapple with where it happens to fall in spectrum of natural history.

An Excellent Surprise

I spent Saturday a.m. working on wildflower images and testing out some of the techniques that I will be using at my "Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge" workshop which is being held on April 26th at Table Rock State park. I arrived fairly early and had a lot of fun trying out different compositions that might work for my sepia series (see owl on post 'Serendipity). After a period of rain I packed up and left for some shooting at home.

My first good discovery at home was a very large "slimy salamander" (Plethodon glutinosus) which wasn't very interested in having its photo made! So, after a couple of poor attempts I let it return to log that I found it hiding beneath. However, the most exciting discovery was just a couple of feet a way. After I rolled the log back over, I looked up just in time to see a large bird spring from the ground and quickly fly a few feet away only to suddenly disappear in the leaf litter. I knew right away that it was some type of night-jar. I hoped that it was a Chuck-will's widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis) –which I had been dreaming of photographing since moving into our place two years ago– but I couldn't say for certain. I quickly threw on the 300mm lens and 2x teleconverter which were in my bag and slowly moved forward hoping to have a chance at photographing the elusive bird. However, just as I got close to spot it suddenly sprang up again and moved about 10 more feet away. This time, I saw exactly where it landed and was able to make a few nice shots before it moved into some undergrowth. I was also able to confirm its identity as a Chuck-Will's Widow. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have finally made an image of this species. It may not be the most dynamic photograph in my file but it will certainly be one of the most memorable ones for me. What a day!

Clay

Pickens County Land to be Preserved

This past Fall I had an opportunity to visit a spectacular piece of land in Pickens Co., SC known as the 'Nine-Times Tract.' Although this piece of land has been enjoyed by residents of Pickens for many years, it is a piece of land that very few people have heard of outside of the county. My role in visiting this special place (and reason for tagging along with more important members of the SC conservation community) was that I had been asked to create a portfolio of images of the landscapes, flora and fauna that best showcased what the region had to offer. The 2200 acre property was (and still is in part) privately owned and the rumors were that it was going to be put up for sale for development by the end of the year. It was critical to save this last large remaining chunk of the Blue Ridge Escarpment because the diversity of plants and animals that it harbors. Among those are the green salamander, faded trillium, sharp lobed hepatica, gorge goldenrod and the list goes on. It is also an important site for umbrella species such as black bears which are increasingly under pressure due to development.

Fortunately, good news came last December when Upstate Forever posted a release on their website stating that the property is going to be preserved with the help of the South Carolina Conservation bank and state and local officials. I am so happy to be a part, however small, of this effort and look forward to continuing to make images this spring.