Source: An Interview with Mark Kinnaman
Discovering passion
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I read about the wildlife photographer Steven Blandin. I was amazed to find that he discovered his passion for wildlife photography on an African safari! I do not know how much he loved Dame nature as a child or how much he knew about wildlife then. He tells us that his wife introduced him to nature photography (In their early dating years). That makes my view take a shifty ride on a paradigm shift which changed the belief that hold tight to the job you already have and keep any new found interest or passion to a secondary importance! Steven’ s life says if you find that the seed of passion that lay dormant for a long time;suddenly shoots up into a tree with flowering blossoms and all! Do not crush it. If it drives you towards success take that energy saver ride! You have been gifted! Steven is a winner. He has won innumerable prizes in photography. He has polished up his skills and made them into a professional jewel! What is more,he imparts photographic education to nature enthusiasts. He takes them on wildlife tours too. A wildlife photographer provides that study material literature which biology students seek apart from their text books! It brings the two branches of science so close together! The technical physics of the world of lenses and the fascinating study of Life itself that is biology!
On the other hand the scholar of zoology scared out of his wits at the accelerated manmade extinction of species en masse ;feels drawn towards the camera as a tool to at least record and preserve the images from all angles of the rare species threatened with extinction! This emotional state in itself creates the sensation of holding the hand of somebody slipping down from a cliff. This creates the urge to do more and pull the endangered person who means so much to you, back to life! This is the reason why non tech savvy people might want to attend photography classes! Steven ‘ life is a shining example of passion, love, skill, profession, teaching, renown, all turned to work for a worthy cause! I HOPE AND PRAY FOR THEIR SUCCESS. Lastly I would like to quote him directly. Words that have deeply impressed me. I want to place these words so high that everybody cannot help but see them always! Like the stars. Sad,but even the stars are swallowed by dark matter What we see are images left by stars which were there, aeons ago! I do not want that to happen to photographic images. These images must inspire love and passion, in the hearts of all who behold them, so they may protect all wildlife from going the ‘Extinct way”.
He says “I aim to present my subjects in a non-clustered environment where the viewer can only be captivated by the animal. Demonstrating the beauty and intimacy one may have with nature will hopefully lead and encourage people to preserve and protect nature, our precious home.
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I love my pome
A Pome dedicated to the worker for a green “Cause” and those who Adore him.
PART 11
The hustle and bustle, as the relentless biological Clock
Moves amidst overcrowded space, and flurried flock.
As space adjusts with a life, of edge and balances act
Of offended birds waylaying others with less tact.
Of restless movement,hither and thither and all round,
Of the immobility of egg-hatching mothers holding ground.
Of the stillness, of preening birds practising self indulgence
Of the fluffy fledglings’ lost tumblings, their judged innocence
Confronting hostile “aunts???, or fondling foster mothers,
Playful older chicks, several darting “sisters and brothers???,
To a fluffy stop in front of malevolent- intent- weighing cocks
Skeltering mother frantically announcing lost chick in the flocks.
This boy loved bird watching, their activities and life,
When he grew up, through all the distracting strife
The bird watcher made his choice, his career
A cause,to protect the birds and enhance and steer
Their life through all kinds of danger!!!!
Do deeds even if they sound a lot more stranger
Than fiction, Flyways, bird safety measures, save them
From harm, from pollution and superstition, wicked mayhem.
What he is doing for birds, the list goes on and on
Heard globally , like he is a??? feather??? in the cap of audubon!!
Would that more and more wide eyed kids pursue
Their bird watching dreams and make them come true.
(All because of a Favorite spot
Which led a boy to do a lot.)
BY FA
Remote is pristine!
I love to read about wildlife. If it is about wildlife photography it is related,and I really love to read about it, all the more! I was reading about Robert Fabbri. He says photography has been an interesting passion.His interest for the sea and Fantastic underwater world started very early. This fact I really like, for I believe that something you really love when you are but a child, grows with you from strength to strength into something Beautiful! He was 10 years old, when he got a snorkel..later he did scuba diving and describes it as a long love affair.His underwater pictures are fantastic! I think they would make an excellent supplement to Biology students’ coursework! Just imagine a huge database of wildlife photographs to click on;when seeking examples of thousands of species and genera! A treasure trove!! Well,back from my digression, today these remain the only images on record depicting the birth of a manta ray, in its natural habitat the sea! He lived for 17 years in a remote area on the southern coast of the Carribbean sea, surrounded by thousands of acres of pristine forest. He was attracted by Belize and the barrier reef with its underwater. I could not help noting the fact how much Robert loved going to remote areas.I gather remote areas are totally uninfluenced by the urban lifestyle, which causes smog and an unclear, smoky atmosphere for the camera lens. Interest for wildlife took him to remote areas of a number of countries. It has always been-” very interesting experiences’. In 2012 he retired. Finally a free man he could travel as much as he wanted. He journeyed, always with his camera. He loved the Asian countries. He settled in Vietnam. He encountered primates -orangutaans and the endemic proboscis monkeys along the banks of the Kinabatangan river basin.Unique. 2015 took him to south of Yunnan province of China where he had a captivating experience of the remote areas. He considers himself very fortunate to have experienced some of the earth s most breathtaking locations, its amazing wildlife and people. It is his pleasure to share these images and places with the reader.In the end I would like to mention Sri Lanka. This country is the peak of interest to all wildlife lovers. Robert says of this place “In March 2015 he discovered Sri Lanka, I would call it a major destination for the wildlife photographer, it has been above any expectation!
I just read about wildlife photographer Thomas Marent. Two things stand out about his passion! Rainforest and all over the globe!! He has lead guided tours of rainforests all over the globe! He is responsible for creating interest and awareness of the rainforest. What strikes one so poignantly is the appreciation of a dense, biodiversity of life so beautiful and spellbinding and an immediate feeling of all this tangibility vanishing helplessly becoming less and less before our very sight! This is the point where support for bounties of nature is born And grows with hope abounding!
How Green was my Island
Yes, people do return to their homeland!
Even if it is entirely, just a lovely green islet,
After many, many, many, many years
They return to its sea and sand.
Just as he was,drawn irresistibly by!
An indelible thought of his childhood haunt,
What is a childhood haunt? it is children friendly folk,
Birds, beasts, the secret places, sea and the sky!.
On returning, what greeted his eyes was NOT
The beckoning skyline of his childhood haunt!
It was just a balding hairball, stuck with sticks, rods…
Only thing modern was, they were smooth- finish wrought.
They dared to gleam in the smoky s-m-o-g,
Those HI-rise buildings, dens of gas emissions,
Stifling the surroundings, dimming the green,
Polluting, clogging, cluttering, killing both bird and f-r-o-g.
He longed for the time,when there was a honking V
Up in the sky, and the next moment they dove
Down to the trees, and water spots.Alighting soft,
Everywhere were migrating birds from shore to civvy.
And now here, were the birds and fish strewn
Dead, around his islet, victims of man’ s excesses,
Dirtiness, and greed, dead among empty grease cans,
They use explosives to scoop fish, for big orders, by new moon!.
What hurt him most, was the vacant stare…….
Of the dead birds and fish, as they looked up at
Their Creator, with not an inkling of a question,
No shock expressed, no annoyance, no glare……..
Just a vacant look, dead now, later Extinct
Just like that, from the face of the earth!!
Reducing to hunger and want the poor!!
No lessons learnt.Falls the muffled blame indistinct.
Devoid of greenery, man made destruction!
Everybody abandon the unfit barren islet,
Pretty soon uninhabited, no animal not even a plant,
Just the jangle of crumbling rusty pins of construction!!
Decided. There and then he bought the whole islet,
Multi-billionaire that he was, now with a mission!
To convert the whole place to its Pristine glory
And recapture his chlidhood haunt detailed down to his sweet violet.
(All because of a favorite spot
Which led a child to do a lot.)
Favorite Spot
(a poem with a ‘green’ friendly, eco-conscious missive).
Blue skies, White clouds, Bluer waters,
A Favorite spot, in the Paradise for ‘spotters’,
A lad growing up, in its lonely vicissitude,
Watching, spotting Marine life’s-timeless magnitude.
Under a generously overhung rock,
Like a kept secret under lock
Inside nature’s own accommodating eye
Clear, limpid pool oft visited by,
A family of porpoises seeking rest
And quiet, to nestle together lest
The sea calls too quickly, incessantly
To its restless way of life, instantly.
That lad is now a big guy,
For ‘Pure Marine biology’ his battle Cry!
A formidable task force he leads
Who await his orders like impatient steeds.
Save marine life from pollution and harm’s way
Removing, preventing, correcting, holding sway
They patrol the seas in all weather
Rescue sea mammals, from illegal net’s tether.
His word
Is heard
In many a Top level international moot
Where all bank on him to ‘Trouble Shoot’.
(All because of a favorite spot
Which drove a lad to do a lot)
Hello world!
I am interested in ecology. I would like to use this space to further this cause. Also I will keep putting up my own and other favorite articles and ask questions about them,so that readers of this blog can interact and provide little nuggets of their own heartfelt experiences.Questions like what is your favorite bird? And are your policy leanings causing any damage to that bird’s favorite tree? Are you causing any negative influence on the life cycle of that bird’s favorite insect; just a dot in the food supply chain? And what do you think of the Climate change?
unfulfilledambitions 