Spring Photography

For the last few days, we have witnessed an Eastern Towhee visiting our backyard to feast on the seeds that fell from our bird feeders. Yesterday, I set up my blind in the backyard and waited for the towhee to make an appearance. Of course, it never showed up. Instead, I saw plenty of robins foraging through the grass. I also photographed the juncos that are still around. As a wildlife photographer, I have to act fast. So, when a fox squirrel showed up, standing upright at the edge of our hillside I clicked the shutter until it disappeared. Squirrels can be very annoying when they raid our feeders (and our pockets) since we have to fill the feeders three times a day when they're in high form. They also destroy (and sometimes abscond with) our feeders. One recently broke a metal perch off a feeder. But, when it comes to modeling for the camera, they are second to none. Who could possibly be mad at such a cute photo subject?

Why I photograph

I came to photography by accident. Yes, I had always loved to take vacation photos and had taken a couple of photography classes geared at amateurs. Sadly, my photos from the 1970s have faded badly. I traveled extensively during the 1980s and I now wish that I had decent photos from that time. The way I traveled, though (backpacking, bus tours, even hitchhiking), prohibited carrying around a big camera.
After my husband and I started dating, we traveled every weekend to a different town and he took a camera along. He graduated into shooting 35mm transparencies and purchased another camera for me. I took my first slides during a vacation to Norway. Unfortunately, it rained the entire week we were there, off and on. Needless to say, most of our photos are not top quality. But I was hooked. I signed up for a photography course with the New York Institute of Photography and we listened to the lessons together. We wanted to operate a homebased portrait studio photographing children and pets, but things didn't work out.
Over the years, my interest in portraits waned. After buying a house here in Pennsylvania, we began to feed the many birds in our backyard. We purchased a 35mm digital camera and I was finally able to photograph birds with a telephoto lens (the digital sensor extends the lengths of a lens). Six months later, I took a photo of an airborne Tufted Titmouse that has won me two awards so far and a feature on TV. But fame alone is not the reason why I photograph.
Photography gives me an opportunity to see the world in detail that I would otherwise overlook. There are photo opportunities everywhere you look. In the city, that could be a fire escape or an interesting shadow or colorful store front. In a state park, there are grasses, trees, water, fungi, animals and birds that beg to be photographed. By showing people the beauty of nature, I hope that they, too, will want to protect it. Children are particularly attracted to my bird photographs and I hope that they will take that enthusiasm into their adult lives. Our own future depends on it.

Spring is Around the Corner

Last Tuesday was a very warm day and, since the weather forecast was not favorable, I decided to take my camera out to the Audubon nature center. As I left my car, I was already greeted by the honks of Canada Geese from the pond area. You can always hear them before you see them. Another sign of the spring ahead was the house sparrow checking out the real estate of a bird house. The pond itself was still covered with solid ice, so there was no sign of life yet besides the geese. As I walked along the trail, I kept my ears and eyes open for birds, never knowing whether it was a slight breeze or a secretive bird that rustled in the thickets. A hawk glided overhead and a honey bee actually landed on my lens. Nature is awakening at last. It was too early yet to see migratory birds, but a red-winged blackbird screeched out his mating call (which can only be attractive to another blackbird) to the world. Too bad it was perched in the middle of a holly bush and I could not get a decent photo of it. They look pretty impressive when they flex out their wings and show off those red and yellow striped feathers.
By March, I'm tired of looking at gray trees and can't wait to go out into nature again and witness its awakening. Our crocusses are coming out now and it won't be long before our silver maple will show fresh greens and the birds are pairing off. The robins have arrived a couple of weeks ago. Another long winter is finally coming to an end.