Weather on my days off has not been good recently. Sunny during the week….rainy on the weekends. So it has slowed the digiscoping down a bit. In this down time I wanted to focus on something that is a discussion point among my birding and photography friends. what is nature photography?
When I bought my first camera I had some crazy ideas apparently regarding what nature photography is. I mean, I had looked at all these images and imagined what the photographer had done to get the image. I assumed he has spent many hours studying his subject and was bale to put himself in position for a good shot should it have arose. I had many frustrations but started to learn my way around with the big 600mm and all that gear. I was much younger then….at least 15 years ago.
As I met more and more bird/nature photographers. What I started learning were the 'tricks' of the trade. Those being:
1. Placing a perch by feeders to get those clean backgrounds.
2. Using a call to lure the birds in to get the picture they wanted and the background they wanted.
3. Going to and owl rehabilitation place, paying $ to photograph tame/captive birds and passing them off as wild.
4. Going to a caged enclosure and taking photos of wolves, bears, fox, etc. and passing them off as wild.
5. The ever famous use of bait to lure in owls/raptors/shrike for flight shots and pretty perches.
6. Paying someone to find the bird then photographing it without any knowledge of the subject.
What I had to ask myself was……is THAT bird or nature photography? To me….no. And I have done the top two. I had to look at myself in the mirror and ask myself if bird photography is worth that? Is it worth sacrificing my morals, integrity, and the welfare of my subject just for a photograph? No it is not! That is why I took up digiscoping.
And the most alarming things that is happening is the paying of a 'pro' to take you to a location, 'show' you how to take pictures, and then you have a group of people with all the same pictures and no originality. That is where photography has gone as the 'pros' cannot make barely a dime on stock due to the saturation of good photographers with the same images as the pro basically. So they have you pay to shoot with them (or rather to be their friend for a few days so you can say you shot with xxxxx photographer) with a little bit of instruction going on because often, the 'pro' is right next to you shooting. You have done nothing more than overpay for something you could have done on your own and also developed your own artistic style rather than copying another's. In the age of having to have everything right now….this is where bird and nature photography has come. It is sad and pathetic in my book.
I would like to ask a question. Do you see anything wrong with the above listed items? Are they something you would do with no guilt?
All I have to say is digiscoping has really advanced to the point where the big glass is not really needed except for occasions such as super slow shutters, owls at night. That type of photography. And my back thanks me every day! It has brought the joy back to the process of taking an image.
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