[Note: I'm giving a talk on North American Migrations this Thursday 9/15 6-8PM at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. The price is very reasonable, at $10 it's cheaper than a night at the movies, and only enough to keep the lights on! There are about a dozen seats left. If you are interested call the college at (231) 995-1700 to register. The presentation will include some new video shot in the last year, so you'll be able to see the latest views on some of these migrations.]


It was an early morning, just as the sun was rising, and Jen and I were driving up to a art fair that we were in just outside of Petoskey. Well, I was driving, Jen was sound asleep. There was a heavy fog and the sun was just rising behind the fog. To the east, sun rays were streaming through the edges of the woods caught in the mornings fog. The tree line was silhouetted with god rays fanning out towards the ground.

I looked at this wonderful light and a battle raged in my mind, shoot the light or get to the show in time, shoot or show, shoot, show. I'm not sure, but I may have even whimpered a little. I had my gear in the back of the car, pulling at me like a magnet. I looked at the peaceful face of my sleeping wife and thought about all of the work that she does to get ready for these shows. I drove on, taunted by the light.

About a week and a half later I woke up before dawn and looked out my window at a thick, solid fog backlight by the moon. Within moments I had my gear packed and was cutting my way through the fog, on my way to an overdue rendezvous with light, fog, sunrise and tree-line. Below is the image that I captured when we all came together again.



It seems like a lot of my photography follows the pattern of returning several times to places until I get the image that I wanted.

The summer bouquet image that was in the last newsletter followed that same pattern. When I first started shooting in the field I looked at the images and I didn't really like the way the budding Queen Annes Lace looked, it was kind of gnarled looking and distracting. But a couple weeks later when the buds opened up I felt that they really added depth and an extra splash of color to the image. Waiting for the right moment really improved this image over time.


Summer Bouquet

Coming back again and again until I finally pull together light, scene and atmosphere works a lot better for landscape photography than it does for wildlife photography. With landscape photography you can be fairly sure that the landscape will still be there when you return again. I've had some heart breaking exceptions to that, one involving clear cutting along Wheeler Creek one year, but for the most part it's true. With wildlife on the the other hand there are no guarantee that the light, wildlife and gestures will ever come together again. You have to work much more in the moment. But even wildlife can provide it's opportunities for followups.

I've been working with and monitoring Trumpeter Swans in our area for a couple years. As time goes on I see more images that I can make and learn more places where I should try to be when light and wildlife might come together.


I made this image early Friday morning. A few moments later the same swans ran across the water to take flight and I got nice action shots with the birds reflected in mid stride and water caught in mid splash. But there is a branch encrouching through the image. I'll be back again...



Charles St. Charles III