"Photo of the Month" April 2010

This image represents April in my 2010 Lowcountry Calendar: http://www.southernlight.biz/.  Live Oaks have got to be among the most magnificent trees on planet earth and here in the South Carolina lowcountry, we are blessed with more than our fair share. They are one of the most photographed subjects in the area and I am no different than a lot of other shooters in that regard. Live Oaks have made every one of my calendars since the year 2000 when I first started publishing. This picture was made at the grand entrance to Tomotley Plantation in Sheldon after we’d had enough rain to bring out the Resurrection Fern.  I chose to shoot a detail shot by looking down one side of the long alley with a long lens to compress the huge, angular branches of nearly a dozen trees. I was after a part of the whole, rather than the entire “Gone with the Wind” scenic.

Photo tip:

We as photographers need to learn to see as our lenses see. Practice seeing like the different focal length lenses in your camera bag, so you will know without putting a lens on your camera body what you will get. In my photo classes, I encourage students to use one focal length lens for a couple of weeks at a time, without using another. In my six-week class for example, I have an assignment where students use three different focal lengths, each lens for two weeks. The idea is to learn the potential of each lens so eventually you won’t have to deliberate too long before grabbing the lens you want when faced with any given situation. It’s challenging at first to find enough subjects to shoot using just one lens for this extended period, but if you stick with it you’ll expand your vision to utilize each lens to your full potential. 

"Photo of the Month" March 2010

This image represents March in my 2010 Lowcountry Calendar (http://www.southernlight.biz/). It was made during one of two shows I co-hosted here in the Lowcountry for Doug Gardner, producer of “Wild Photo Adventures”, his wildlife photography show that airs on PBS on Sunday evenings.

We visited an active Brown Pelican rookery in the Charleston Harbor. As with all rookeries, care must be taken, not to get too close when photographing or just observing nesting birds. Crowding them will disrupt the bird’s natural behavior; and could even push chicks out of the nest. Seabird rookeries, like this one at Castle Pinckney, are protected by state and or federal law, which forbid you to set foot on the island. We were happy to anchor our boat just off the shoreline in order to safely observe and photograph these magnificent birds. Long telephoto lenses are made for capturing subjects at a distance and we as photographers and good stewards of the natural world need to use them that way, keep our distance, get our images and not scare the wildlife by pushing or crowding them. This is especially true during nesting season.

But too often, over zealous photographers ignore the basic rules of field educate, in pursuit of their getting their pictures. If we all don’t start working within the state & federal regulations for our wildlife refuges and parks we will soon find ourselves with restricted access or locked out all together. All you have to do is look at the restrictions just imposed by officials at Lake Mattamuskeet and Pocosin in western North Carolina, confining photographers to the roads and paths. This may be in part, because they are short handed and don’t want to police photographers or deal with the extra permitting, but having to deal with a few irresponsible photographers may have encouraged their decision to strip away the freedoms for all of us, freedoms we all take for granted living and working in this country. No more photo blinds or special access! This makes it very difficult, if not impossible to get good behavioral shots of migrating waterfowl.

Photo tip: For the best chances to capture great wildlife photos one must do some simple observation and a little homework. Study your intended subject’s natural behavior and patterns so you know how to best approach them before you ever trip the camera shutter. Try taking your binoculars into the field and spend some time just observing, interview a biologist friend or ask one that works with the DNR or US Fish & Wildlife Service, and even sit down at the computer and do a little googleing. You will be rewarded with new knowledge and much better pictures J

Eric Horan

To view “Wild Photo Adventures online go to: http://www.wildphotoadventures.com/

To see more of my work please visit: http://www.southernlight.biz/

"Photo of the Month" February 2010

This image represents February in my 2010 Lowcountry Calendar (http://www.southernlight.biz/). Friends, what are friends for? Well they’re there when you need them and they reciprocate the attraction and respect you have for them. And sometimes friends can open doors for you and present you which unique situations, you may otherwise not have. This is just what my photographer friend and naturalist Marvin Bauknight did when he invited me to Oldfield Plantation, where he works as the resident naturalist. They have had a fox den on property for several years and he and I devised a plan to observe and hopefully photograph the mother fox and her three pups. About an hour before sundown we hunkered down, in full camo clothing, with tripods and long lenses, up against a hedge of waxed myrtle bushes. We sat quietly for over an hour before these pups started to emerge from their den and explore. Skittish and nervous at first, the pups eventually calmed down and accepted us as non-threatening.

Photo tip: When shooting wildlife subjects develop a plan based on camera position, best light, animal behavior etc… and dress to blend with your surroundings or use a blind when appropriate, move slowly or not at all so that you do not disturb the animals, and they will likely accept you and carry on with their natural inclinations. This planning and preparation gives you the chance to experience what it is all about for the nature photographer, to observe animals in their natural habitat with normal behavior. 

Eric Horan

"Photo of the Month" January 2010

This image represents January in my 2010 Lowcountry Wall Calendar (http://www.southernlight.biz/). I made this picture while exploring the upper Broad river, on an especially warm evening, in my 13ft. Boston Whaler. Since January is not the best time to capture the beauty of the spartina grass but frequently a great time of year for dramatic sunsets, I thought I would underplay the grasses and focus on the sun. I like landscapes that have a strong “sense of place” so the viewer can easily identify the geographic location. At the coast we may not have the same breathless beauty of the western Rockies, or the Pacific Ocean, but we do have a more subtle beauty and a very distinctive topography. And though I did not want to show the drab grey- brown of the winter grass I did want a foreground that would help define this place and at the same time, support the main subject, the sun. I looked for a camera position that would allow me to show the shapes of the grasses against the skylight reflected in the water.

Photo tip: When we talk about the photographic cliché, sunsets are at the top of the list. Mostly, I no longer go looking for sunrise and sunset pictures by themselves like most of us photographers do when we’re starting out.  But having said that, the best times to shoot are often right around sunrise and sunset.  So today I try to think more about using the rising or setting sun as elements in more dynamic images. It does get harder and harder to capture a sunset that will stop and hold an audience even for a few seconds so we have to think about making more interesting pictures using the sun as part of a collective composition. It could be a silhouette of a bird or tree or maybe a strong environmental landscape.

Eric Horan