close your eyes and hope for the best

George Hunter 1945. (click image to enlarge)

Tapiti rushed over to the mance, found us all unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning and had dragged us outside into the -40°F fresh air. All I remember is that I had one terrible headache that lasted a week. Tapiti had saved our lives.

As a photographer with the National Film Board Stills Division from May 1, 1945 through April 30, 1950, I kept suggesting assignments in Western Canada to be able to work out of my Winnipeg home for as much of each year as possible.

In February of 1946, after covering the Manitoba Music Festival, I received a telegram from Ottawa with cryptic instructions: “Contact M.D. 10 at Fort Osborne Barracks re photographing Operation Muskox.” I learned this project was to be a test of heavy-duty tracked vehicles traversing muskeg and tundra under severe Arctic weather conditions. It would be a joint venture by Canadian and United States armed forces. The rugged machines arrived in Churchill by rail and were to cross the Canadian High Arctic to arrive in Yellowknife by late March. The Iron Curtain was still a threat at that time. My assignment was to photograph the vehicles as they were being made ready for the expedition and to cover their departure. I would not be travelling with the moving contingent.

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Man with decorated teeth, India. (click image to enlarge)

The people I met day in and day out radiated a pride and dignity I have not encountered elsewhere… Maybe this pride and dignity derive in part from the act of being singled-out, one in a country of a billion, to be noticed and appreciated.

I went to India looking for both inspiration and a challenge. I got both in spades. I spent the first three days trying to find a hotel room that didn’t call to mind a prison cell. When I finally settled on a place where I could bear to use the shower, I ventured out to take photos, with portraits predominantly in mind. I had no idea how people would react to me. Would they refuse to have their photo taken? Would they be shy? Would this first foray be the litmus test for how the rest of the trip would go?

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Southern Elephant Seals, Falkland Islands. (click image to enlarge)

It turns out that four or five tons of undulating blubber on sand doesn’t make much noise. I don’t know what got my attention but I looked up to find a freight train of flab and testosterone rolling down on me.

Southern Elephant seals are stupendously large (up to 5 tons for males) immensely fat and when they are molting and lying about in their wallows, seriously smelly. They are marine mammals built for a submarine existence and not surprisingly, are quite ungainly on land. What else would you expect? How would you do on the beach without any arms or legs? Similar I would think: a big flop with the ladies. They have faces that only another elephant seal could love and January in The Falkland Islands is the season of love.

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Rock Hopper Penguins, Falkland Islands. (click image to enlarge)

For a wildlife photographer it is paradise. It is the opportunity you have dreamed about. It is an undiscovered Galapagos.

Sitting at the edge of a Rockhopper penguin colony is a magical experience. Rockhoppers are the cutest penguins on the planet. It is wonderful to watch them wend their way to and from the sea on penguin highways that wind through the tussoc grass and then up and down rugged shores and unbelievably steep rock. I spied the above three Rockhoppers spying me spying them spy me… through the tussoc. I crouched even lower and shot through the grass. When I say, “shot through the grass” I’m talking about a lot of grass. I was shooting wide open with a 180mm lens. Using a short tele’ wide open throws almost all of the grass completely out of focus. The grass close to the lens actually disappears in the final image giving a soft focus effect. This technique draws the viewer right into the Rockhopper’s world. While it is possible to shoot through grass or leaves you need to make sure that nothing is in front of the focal animal’s eye(s). That isn’t as easy as it sounds as the grass can be so far out of focus that you can’t see it through the viewfinder.

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Goldfish in a blender. (click image to enlarge)

… I was off to the Pet store to pick up my unsuspecting model. Finally I saw him, he wasn’t afraid like the other fish, he was trusting… I could identify with the little fellow, as we all sometimes feel that we have lost control of our lives.

Some shots just happen; you are in the right place at the right time. Though the reality is that for most of us these shots seem to be few and far between. Sometimes you just can’t afford to “wait for the light”. Other times, you can plan all you want, but then mother nature likes to crash the party. Another way to create some magic is to plan a shoot out ahead of time and see what you can come up with. These images rarely end up exactly as you envisioned, and in fact can take on a life of their own, but somehow they are more gratifying in that you have put some thought into it and have made a concerted effort to create something special.

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