Beginnings as a Naturalist
My naturalist tendencies started when I was a kid playing in the Ohio
woods, near my Cincinnati home. I was intrigued to see that the small
trees we cut down to build a fort, actually took root and survived the
season. This experience lead me to an active interest in botany, and
all things in nature. In 1997, I photographed a Zebra Longwing in my
Rougemont, North Carolina garden, then later discovered it was the first
documented sighting of the species in the state. One of the ways I learned
how to identify butterflies was by photographing them and scanning the
slides to check them out in various field guides. The other learning
tool was reading local butterfly reports on the CarolinaLeps
Listserve and going out on field trips with the Carolina
Butterfly Society.
Camera Gear
Most people are interested in the type of camera gear I use to capture
my images. I started using a Canon A2 35mm camera with 100mm macro lens.
Then I moved up to a Canon 1N and the 180mm macro lens. The 1N was sweet,
as I found a great improvement in shooting slides by using 1/3 f stops
which the A2 didn't do. Next, I moved up to my first digital SLR, a
Canon D30, a year later to be replaced by the D60, then the 10D. These
days I carry two cameras with me, the Canon 10D digital SLR and the
Nikon Coolpix 8700 point and shoot camera. Both cameras serve my needs
in different ways. I recently came to the conclusion that no one camera
type is the catch all for taking butterfly photos.
Software
All my knowledge of computers is self taught and this
is the tenth year I have been on a PC. I use Adobe Photoshop CS for
editing images, and BreezeBrowser
for image management, Dreamweaver MX for creating the pages. The navigation
was simplified using Xara
Menu Maker.
My Published Photos
My butterfly book photo credits include:
Butterflies of North America (34 photos) by Jim P. Brock and Kenn
Kaufman.
Butterflies of the Carolinas (88 photos) by Jaret Daniels.
Butterflies of Georgia (94 photos) by Jaret Daniels.
Butterflies of Ohio (cover and 72 photos) by Jaret Daniels.
Butterflies of Florida (7 photos) by Jaret Daniels.
Butterflies of Michigan (back cover and 69 photos) by Jaret
Daniels.
Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas (3 photos)
Butterflies of Rocky Mountains National Park (2 photos) By
Leslie Angel.
Albino Animals a children's book by Kelly Miner Halls.
Magazines and news papers that have used my photos include: Ranger
Rick Magazine, Chicago Wilderness, The New York Times,
The Monitor, Florida Today, The News Journal,
Springfield Union News and even a tabloid paper Weekly
World News.
Future Goals
In November of 2004, I quit my
day job with the hope of pursuing my dreams as a professional nature
photographer. Your interest in my project is greatly appreciated.