Quote:
Originally Posted by N.V.M.
Senna,your statement did not "hurt" my feelings, its just not necessary to get emotional. obviously when there's exclamation marks, that's what i think.
i'm a big boy and although relatively new to this, i do realize the potential risks, and deemed them low for the time and place of the shoot.
i've heard the debate on other websites, and therefore its not something i did without thought.
we have a guy on our website who is a professional wildlife photographer, who is actually in South America right now doing his exotic bird thing. i plan to pick his brain about it when he gets back. he teaches bird photography techniques, including multiple flash set ups, etc. i'm quite interested in his thoughts about it.
here's a thread he posted to prove he has no problems with using lighting with an owl:
Long-whiskered Owlet (Peru)
the Wild Life Officers,meh, you know are going to tell you something that is strictly by the book, so i'm going to have to take that with a grain of salt.
i guess, if anything, i'm surprised you would think i would harm a bird. |
I only used one exclamation mark...I don't think I'm the one being emotional.
Just because a guy is a pro and makes a living doing bird photography, it doesn't mean he's being ethical about going about his work. Now, I don't know him or his style very much so I'm not saying he does. It's just that I've assisted a few professional photographers who have made me think, "WTF?"
Like the wedding photographer who I second shoot for who likes to pose brides so their arms look very masculine. Aiyiyi~.
You wrote that he doesn't have a problem with using flash. Of course not - it's the nocturnal animal that will.
Here's how someone who works for O.W.L explained it to me: If someone pops a flash in your face in a dark room, it takes a while for your eyes to recuperate, right? The Human eye with pupils fully dilated is about f3.5 - a nocturnal owl's eyes are many stops more sensitive, as they can see well enough to hunt on a moonless night. One or two flashes won't hurt for an owl out in the wild, but if many people use a flash on a bird within a short length of time as they can at places like Reifel, then the cumulative effect of all those flashes can cause eyesight problems. It may prevent an owl from hunting that night - and if that continues for days on end, then the owl doesn't eat for many days. This is what I had in mind when I wrote my original post...I hope you understand now where I was coming from.
Why would you take what a government representative says with a grain of salt? If anything, I would take what other people say on the internet with a grain of salt, unless they are a trained professional.
No, I would never think you would intentionally harm an animal. If I came across that way, I apologize.