By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-927001.mp3
Golden Pond, KY – Artist and ornithologist John James Audubon is famous for capturing and preserving images from nature. The development of film made that job easier for those after Audubon. Now digital cameras bring higher resolution to the field, allowing for ever more life-like and unique photographs. Each year, officials at Land Between the Lakes showcase the lakes area with a photo contest. All pictures must be taken in LBL. Finding that prize winning picture takes persistence and patience. Angela Hatton went out on a shoot with last year's LBL Photo Contest Grand Prize winner to see how it's done.
As any photographer will tell you, the light is best in the early morning and late afternoon. The sun is just over the horizon, giving the pine trees and prairie grasses a golden luminescence. Ray Stainfield unpacks his Nikon digital camera and tripod, and clips the two together. His truck sits at the side of a gravel road that's almost overtaken by grass. Stainfield likes coming to this spot near the Nature Station in LBL to take pictures.
"We might see some butterflies hanging on these flowers now with the early morning dew. There was a lot of them here the last week."
Stainfield wears camouflage pants and a camouflage shirt and hat to blend in with the surroundings. He tries to make minimal impact to the habitats he visits.
"Yes, you respect it very much so. It's their home and you're invading it."
As he walks along a path, Stainfield pauses to point out birds, including hawks, bald-eagles, and a plethora of sparrows. But none of them want to stick around to be photographed. Stainfield suggests a change of venue. He hopes to find more closer to the lake's edge.
Stainfield has been taking photos since his late teens. As a young man, he supplemented his day-job with work as a wedding photographer. But it's been a long time since he photographed people.
"You have to take a lot of photos to get everyone happy. And with a bird, it can't come back and tell you I don't like that one you took of me, or the deer, or whatever. And it's just more fulfilling."
Stainfield loves to be out in nature. He goes out hunting photographs at least three times a week, and may stay out six hours at a time. Waiting takes up the majority of the nature photographer's job. It can take a week for an animal to get comfortable enough for Stainfield to come within a few feet of it, and he often spends an hour or more waiting for a bird to return to a favorite roost.
"It's very relaxing. I'm not going to say if you're not sitting someplace comfortable you can't doze off. I mean, some of my better pictures have when I woke up something's been close."
Stainfield's still not having much luck. Tracks show some animals were here earlier, but they're long gone now. But just when he's given up, a single butterfly flits past and lands on a young willow tree in front of him.
"Looks like one of the gulf fritillaries."
Stainfield stabilizes his camera with the tripod. As the butterfly opens and closes its wings, he snaps two photos.
On review, Stainfield isn't satisfied. He says this butterfly isn't a good specimen because it has damaged wings.
"For your good pictures you need it all there. You don't want it all beat up and everything. You want to have basically a perfect butterfly." 9 sec, Stainfield9
He says probably one out of a thousand meets the qualifications of a "perfect" photo.
"And I'm pretty fussy with my own pictures. But the ones that you want to enter a contest have to be something special. Not only do they have to be the foreground clear, the background washed out if it's a bird and things. You're just lucky to be at the right place."
Birds are one of his favorite subjects, and Stainfield once spent five years trying to get the perfect shot of an indigo bunting. True to form, patience and luck were key when the moment struck.
"I was just happened to be sitting there. It flew and landed in front of me on Queen Anne's lace and started to sing. And I took 12 pictures as fast as you can take them and that was it, it flew away."
Stainfield believes people are starting to realize the importance of preserving nature for future generations. As a long time volunteer at LBL, he has access to areas off-limits to most members of the public. But Stainfield says that shouldn't discourage aspiring nature photographers. His advice: buy a camera, go out, be observant, and start taking pictures.