ARTIST PROFILE

Nature and wildlife have always fascinated me. The beauty and gracefulness of her flora and fauna are awe inspiring. When I was a child my mother taught me to be kind and gentle with all the things around me. I found that birds were the most intriguing, I guess it was because of their ability to fly.

I started photographing birds, eight years ago, as a way to relax. Living in South Florida my choice of subjects was the wading birds. I chose a preserve not far from my home, Grassy Waters, it was on the way to work which made it easy to frequent. I was satisfied at first with bird portraits, nice photos but they lacked excitement, so I began taking action photo's, take offs, landings, interaction and fishing and hunting, this made for unique and exciting pictures.

Summer in South Florida is not a great time to photograph birds, so you change your perspective, LOOK SMALL. Hot humid weather brings more photo opportunities. Dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, wild flowers and other little creatures that may be crawling about. You need the same equipment for these creatures as you do for the birds or large animals. A keen eye, good sense of movement and patience. A lot of PATIENCE !!

There are two locations close to my home, Grassy Waters Preserve, West Palm Beach and Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge (Arthur Marshall), Boynton Beach. Two additional spots are Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay, both in Boynton Beach. These are just a few location close to home, there are many more with in an hour or two drive from West Palm Beach, check them out when you visit.

Photo contests are a good way to measure your creativity and have your work critiqued by judges (photographers and artists), enter often. I've discovered that action shots, three dimensional approaches and even weather can factor into the difference between a good and great photo.

I haven't made the jump to digital, the folks I shoot with have nick-named me the dinosaur. I shoot Fuji Superia 400 print film and Provia 400 and 100 slide film, I also shoot Kodak 400UC and 100UC print film. I use extension tubes for macro-photography and occasionally on my telephoto lense. A dear friend of mine passed along some words of wisdom that he had received, "If you think you have a good picture in front of you, turn around". Good words to remember !!