Scott let’ s start with the big news for you and that is you’ ve been made an Olympus Visionary, what is an Olympus Visionary – is it similar to Canon Explorer of Light or Nikon Ambassador?
Olympus Visionary is similar( but not necessarily identical) to other camera brand ambassador programs. The Olympus Visionary Program’ s mission is to define the state of digital imaging for the professional and advanced consumer audiences, and to grow support of digital photography, video and multimedia creation.
When someone talks about Scott Bourne, the first thing you notice is you’ re an amazing bird photographer. How did you get started as a photographer, and what led you into birds?
My time in photography actually started in motor sports. I grew up in Indianapolis and was given a chance to photograph the Indy 500. I did motor sports until I realized it didn’ t pay well and switched to weddings and portraits. When my knees gave out I switched to nature and wildlife and eventually settled on birds because frankly I wanted a challenge- I decided there could be nothing more difficult than photographing small creatures who want to avoid you and who can fly. I’ ve also been fascinated with anything that can fly( especially birds) since I was a little kid. The only possession I have from my childhood is a wooden bird call my grandfather left me.
You write in your Artistic Statement about the vision that drives you to create or perhaps capture an image, tell us about that process.
My approach to photography is to see the photo in my mind’ s eye before I snap the shutter. Occasionally this leads to long quests such as was the case with my photo“ Cranes in the Fire Mist.” I spent 13 years looking for that image and finally found it. My entire process is backwards for some people. For instance, when I am photographing birds I first search for a background and then I patiently wait for a bird to come to me. I now consider myself an ornithologist first and a photographer second, so I know to always start in an environment that is bird friendly but it takes an amazing amount of patience to wait on the birds – unfortunately, patience is something most people simply can’ t find. All of my photos come this way unless I just get lucky and when it comes to things like photographing eagles, luck rarely enters into it.
Which photos have you taken as a result of that vision?
Almost all of them. Each shoot takes a lot of research, planning, preparation, travel, and of course MORE patience. Then I find the best situation I can and wait. I see the canvas as my background, imagine the bird there, and wait. I know it’ s counter-intuitive to most people, but it’ s the best way for me personally to get predictably good results.
I don’ t know of many photographers with a vision statement, why did you feel the need to include that?
Most photographers write an ABOUT ME page and I’ ve personally decided that it isn’ t ABOUT ME- it’ s about the birds. It takes real passion to want to do this work. You really have to love birds. You can’ t fake that. Since I am telling THEIR stories( the birds’ that is) I decided to write an Artists’ s Statement that expressed that idea and what it’ s like to go down the path. I thought this might be more helpful than rattling on about myself.
What are the most challenging birds to photograph and tell us why.
For me, hummingbirds are the hardest because they are small, fast, flighty and they are very territorial. There is also a lot of gear required to photograph them. You need to set up perches, flashes( usually four to eight) and a background. Then you need to wait for them to come to a feeder and once they do they begin to defend it against other hummingbirds which leaves you with lots and lots of images of the same bird. That requires you to move a mile or so and start all over. It’ s time consuming, takes a lot of money and again a lot of patience.
Looking through your portfolio, your eagle shots are quite different to hummingbirds, for those of us who don’ t know much about bird photography can you explain how you approach two very different types of birds?
Eagles are actually much easier to photograph as long as you know where to go and when to go there. For one thing they are larger and of course they don’ t fly backwards.( In case you didn’ t know, humminbirds are the only birds in the world that can fly backwards – which makes them that much harder.) In fact, most of my successful bird photography( including eagle photography) can be narrowed down to five things- know where to go- when to go- patience and finding the right light and background.
Back to being made an Olympus Visionary, do you have Olympus specific projects or workshops you’ ll be pursuing?
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