[Leica] Re: Secret to photographing wildlife

[drodgers@nextlink.com]

OK. I just received a private e-mail where someone (jokingly I hope)
inferred that photographing stuffed snakes for my assignment bordered on
dishonestly. It wasn't a hard news piece. It was a magazine article. It was
not totally free from danger and risk. I climbed a rather precarious cliff
and set one coiled specimen on a rock outcropping.  It turned out to be the
best photograph in the bunch. The editors must have known that I didn't
spend a month climbing around looking for snakes. I had photographs to
support the article three days after I receved the assignment. I don't
recall any discussion of how I got the photographs. We were all very busy
and under a tight deadline. I admire people who camp out in blinds for
weeks on end to do wildlife photography. But I had a job to do and I needed
to do it quickly and safely. There's a difference between photography for
enjoyment and photography as a profession (I only do the former now).

I photographed stuffed snakes to support an editorial piece. Should there
have been some sort of  disclaimer in the caption like "this was not a live
snake"? My appologies if  this  question sounds ludicrous or if it's too
far off topic. I'm just curious what people think about this.

To remain slightly on topic, I can say that if I were photographing
wildlife in a precarious situation I would use some old beater cameras and
not my Leicas. Wierd things can happen when you photograph wildlife. I once
saw a blacktail deer with the largest set of antlers I had ever seen. He
was in velvet standing right next to the road. It was a beautiful morning
in Northern California. It was right next to a large cattle ranch. I knew
the owner's son well  and I didn't need permission to go onto the property.
. I stopped. The buck strolled across a stream and over a ridge. He wasn't
at all spooked. Had he been I wouldn't have persued him. It was early
August, even before archery season. I grabbed two cameras and a tripod out
of my car.

I got totally caught up in stalking this big buck. After an hour it got
very warm. The light was still good. I'd had three near opportunities to
photograph this gorgeous animal. One time I turned around only to find him
25 yards behind me. As soon as I moved to position my camera, he hopped
off.  Finally, I got tired of carrying both heavy cameras. I hung one up in
an oak tree. I left it dangling down by the strap so it would be very
visable and easy to see later. Sounds crazy I know, but as I said, strange
things happen.

Long story short, I gave up a short while later, mainly out of worry about
the camera I left behind. I never saw the buck. Further, I never found the
camera that I hung in the tree. I thought I had only gone a few hundred
yards. But it was like the tree dissappeared. Lesson learned. I even went
back twice over the next week to look again. As far as I know, it remains
hanging in the tree to this day. Pentax body with a long lens. Can't
remember which lens, but it was a fairly expensive piece back then.

David