Sunny 16 Camera Club

I was able to touch a part of the finer things in life one summer morning and share in three of my five favorite things to do; float with my canoe down a backwoods stream; do a little fishing; and photograph nature. In time I found myself laying the fishing rod aside and began to wade through the cool waters with tripod and camera in hand. Sometimes we get lucky and things just fall into place. As the light filtered through the green canopy and backlit the haze that floated through the trees, my eye drifted away from the stream and into the woods. It was here I discovered a dwelling of nature where time, place, and light converged. On any other morning this is merely a group of trees standing inside an overflow section of the stream, but on this day, it became a woods enchanted with life and mystery.

There was an old tree truck that long ago fell from its heights into the creek. Now, many years later, covered with lichen and moss, it becomes a wonderful backdrop for a nature photographer. In the summer, sunlight rarely fully illuminates this location because of the leafy covering, instead beams filter through the canopy of trees and spotlights the surface carpeted with discarded elements of nature.

A dried and curled leaf was trapped by a few threads of a spider’s web that became visible in the narrow beam of sunlight as it reflected off the silvery strands. A small eddy in the creek caught a leaf in its swirl causing it to spin around and around in the same place. A flash of red from another dried leaf caught the sunlight and the remnants of haze set aglow by the morning sun drifted through the trees and across the surface of the creek.

Nature has a unique often subtle way of demonstrating beauty. That broken and weathered trunk was at one time tall and strong and able to stand for many years against the elements. But, now in the final stages of its life cycle, it exhibits a gracefulness and dignity only nature can command. Maybe we could all learn something from such things, that in all stages of life, there is beauty and wonder, grace and dignity, if only we took time to step away from our narrow view of the world and try to understand.

How easy is it to overlook the simple beauty of light shining through a branch of a maple tree or the delicate beauty of a spider’s web undulating in the gentle morning air. Being a photographer is all about looking for light…but it’s more than that…it’s also about looking for and finding unique opportunities from ordinary situations…about discovering beauty and simplicity in the midst of chaos. Before long, one begins to understand that it is during those transitional times, when the light changes, is when the most magic occurs.  Life is lot like that, I’m beginning to discover as I grow older and watch parents enter their twilight years and see my own on the horizon.  Photography can teach us a great deal about life:  Timing is the key…willingness to change your perspective and observe from a different point of view is the mechanism…being there to capture the moment is the reward.

The diversity of nature may surprise us if we stop and observe closely enough. Photography often presents us with opportunities to those subtle events that we more often than not would simply overlook. Things we so often take for granted take on a new life when viewed from the perspective of a photographer’s eye. A thistle is just another weedy plant until the light catches it just right and one takes the time for a closer look. Often, all it takes is a simple perspective shift to reveal hidden beauty…even in a weed.

This year I began to explore in more detail another area of photography that I had not explored in depth before; Wildlife Photography. I discovered, not surprisingly, that it is much more difficult that one might think. Having visited other photographer’s websites to gain a sense of what their ‘wildlife’ images look like, I kept wondering how they managed to get so close to some of these critters. I will often see owls or birds of prey, but usually they are way off and even with a 500mm lens, too far to do much good.

I’ve come to the conclusion that luck plays a big part of it. Recently, I arrived at Shanty Hollow Lake well before daylight and paddled my canoe to the upper end hoping to catch the sun rising over the lake. I was greeted with one fine show as a result. After the initial morning program played out, I continued with my outing by doing some fishing eventually drifting into one of the several large coves on the north end of the lake. It wasn’t long, and was still early, when I saw a green heron fly across the lake and set down behind some cover on the far bank about 30 yards or so from where I was fishing.

Green herons are interesting birds…rather small about the size of a crow…and have the ability to extend their neck about double the sitting length. They prowl along shallow waters and bend way over leaning close to the water until an unsuspecting minnow swims too close and…zap…the minnow now becomes a meal.

I extracted my camera from the dry box, and paddled slowly in the direction where the heron prowled the bank. I couldn’t see him at first, but by the time I closed within 10 yards I spotted him under some brushy cover. I began to snap away grateful for my good fortune to have gotten so close to a usually wary bird. For the next thirty-five or forty minutes, I followed the heron along the bank as he went in search of a meal. He never seemed too concerned until I closed to within 5 or 6 yards at which time he began to show some signs of alarm by raising the hackle on his head and squawking loudly…but he still didn’t fly off allowing me another few minutes of close observation. Eventually, he simply jumped up and off he went and I figured the photo shoot was over so I went back to fishing.

About 10 minutes later he flew back in and sat down a little further up the bank close to a partially submerged log. Again, I extracted my camera and made my way over to where he was. To my surprise and delight, he allowed me to close again to within about 5 yards. This time, he worked his way down the submerged log and offered the best photo op of the morning.

The water was a dark green with natural cover in the background. The heron was standing in full sunlight his image perfectly reflected in the water underneath him. I fired off several shots thinking that something special just might have happened. It wasn’t until later after I downloaded the images did I discover just how special. The green heron’s portrait is one of the best wildlife images I’ve ever taken…only because he allowed me close access. Luck is simply being able to take advantage of a good opportunity when it arrives.

You can view a few of the images under the sunny16 gallery section under Destinations/Shanty Hollow 2009