The Carolinas Raptor Center...and a moral question.
So next weekend I am going to the Carolinas Raptor Center outside of Charlotte NC. Nearer to Huntsville actually. What do they do there? Glad you asked. From their site:
Carolina Raptor Center: Conserve. Educate. Inspire.
Mission Statement: Carolina Raptor Center is dedicated to the conservation of raptors.
As a charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, CRC relies on public financial support to fulfill our mission goals that include environmental education, the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors, and environmental stewardship. Carolina Raptor Center is currently celebrating the 40th year since the first patient, a Broad-winged Hawk, was brought to Dr. Dick Brown in the basement of the biology building at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
So most of their focus is on rehabilitation of injured raptors (and there are a lot of birds in that category you wouldn't normally think of. ) to release back into the wild. Birds that cannot be released post injury are kept onsite and used in educational programs. Lots of environmental education for school kids. Plus they have really fun events there at the center where they bring out some of the birds and do lectures on habitat, food sources, and the like. A good place to spend some time with your kids.
But twice a year they close the center down for the morning on Saturday and Sunday and invite local photographers (and some folks who are just genuinely interested) to come and take pictures of some of the residents. They call it PhotoWILD
Owls and eagles and hawks, OH MY! These birds are ready for their close-up.
Amateur and professional photographers alike will enjoy this professional photo shoot featuring Carolina Raptor Center's resident raptors. Each day highlights over 20 different raptors in unique settings each day. The morning starts with an early-bird breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by six, thirty-minute sessions, including a free-flight rotation with some of our flight show superstars.
They place perches around two or three open areas and rotate a variety of the raptors around the perches on half-hour schedules. It makes for some interesting activity as some of the birds are just as docile and happy to be sitting around with a bunch of folks taking pictures and talking and some..well..
A beautiful example of the American Kestrel. Indigenous to NC, but I have never gotten anywhere NEAR as close to one as this guy. Wanna see why I was able to?
Because he was quite happily sitting on the glove of his handler. They are terribly skittish birds and this one took the better part of 30 minutes before he would sit on the perch, rather than on the glove, without just being as agitated and fidgety as all heck.
Notice what I did not do here. Edit out the jesses from his legs. Could I? Sure. I am fairly proficient with Photoshop (See Monday Mugshot Makeovers). But I don't want to try and pass this off as a 'wild' bird. I have shots of Kestrels in my portfolio from the wild. Just not this close up. And that is what produces the moral question.
I have talked before about how most of the INCREDIBLE shots of birds you see in magazines like Audubon, Bird Fancy, even titles like NAT GEO and such are shots that are taken over bait, drip water attractants, and even completely fabricated perches with fresh foliage and suet or seed added directly before photos to make sure they look 'just right'. There are folks out there that make big money, like $350k plus a year, doing workshops where they setup such and have 6-8 deep pocketed semi-pros (or straight up working professionals) come out and shoot dozens of species. One of my favorites is one where the ad states you walk 40 yards from the back porch of the luxurious bed and breakfast, to the blind they have setup over a small pond that had perches customized to the 3 or 4 types of birds they are hoping to shoot that morning. Of course they get the pictures, the birds are likely sitting on the porch going "HEY...where are the fat guys with the cameras? We are ready for breakfast damnit!"
Now these birds are a bit different. They litterally are tied to what they are sitting on. Most of them could not really fly away, but they could flap about and likely hurt themselves again. Or get far enough away they could not be recaptured and maybe starve or end up trying to eat something off the highway. Which is how a lot of these guys wound up here in the first place.
The first time I went I was amazed at how close we could get. I had my 300mm with me so could stay a good bit away and still frame in tight on the birds. But there was a younger guy there who actually complained to one of the staff because unlike years before, they were asking the photoghraphers to stay at least 8 feet from the birds at all times. Some, like the very skitterish Kestrel, even a bit more. He said that the was not made aware of these limitations and he did not bring adequate lenses to have to be so far away. WHAT?!?
When he moseyed off, I stopped the volunteer and told her that he was full of shit and that it was HIS responsibility to have the equipement he needed and moreover, the most important thing was the safety and comfort of the raptors. She thanked me and said that she had never had anyone complain before but that she would certainly mention his viewpoint to the head staffers.
I caught up with the 'pro' that had complained and asked him if he really felt that the staff should allow us closer, even if it made the bird uneasy. That is when he dropped his cards.
"I edit these slightly and sell them as wild captured images to stock companies. They don't want captive bird images and they want images that are as close as possible."
I have to admit, I started laughing. Why? Because I had spent the weekend before on Jordan Lake, in cold temps, shooting photo after photo of Bald Eagles that were FAR on the other side of what my 300mm f2.8 lens, even with a 2x Teleconverter, could adequately capture for what I would have even thought of putting on a blog. Much less selling to Stock. And this clown was going to sell his Photoshopped shots of jessed birds for stock images? And was COMPLAINING about it? After I saw that he sort of realized he was being an ass I asked him if he had longer glass (I recall his having a 80-200 mm zoom on his DX body so decent reach) why didn't he just bring it along incase and he admitted that he didn't own such, but rented when he needed it.
I let it go. I wasn't going to change this kids mind. But hopefully I made him think a bit.
Made me think though. Should I post these images? Should I put in big capital letters "CAPTIVE BIRD" so it is clear. Should I care? My favorite photo from the day was...
See that lil Hoot sitting there just as casual as can be. If he could talk, he would have the same voice as the Ant in the old Ant and the Aardvark cartoons.
This owl was shy and kept turning her back to us. When the handler talked to it and encouraged it to turn around and be pretty, it made a sound just like a cat when you are talking all silly to them. 'mewh'
This is a mature Auger's Hawk. Or Auger's Buzzard. Depend on how you want to sell it. The next weekend after I took this, the Auger that the Seattle Seahawks football team uses for their mascot flew away from its handler and landed on a fans head in the stands. This one was making gouges in the telephone pole it was perched on as it tried to get the leash off. Saw at least a hundred stories about them after the football game event. Would a stock photo of this one with the jesses photoshopped out sold for a stock image. Maybe.
But here is the one that really is close. This is a Eurasian Eagle Owl. We don't have them here. But jeez, this is a huge bird and some of the shots of it in flight between the perches are incredible. Could I photoshop out the lead?
Sure. Light colored, mixed in with leaves and such. No problem. Did I? Nope. I did this instead.
Better angle on this Barn Owl. Colors were nicer and the bokeh of the background worked. So I removed the tether on this one instead. Wrong? Maybe. Have I sold a print of it? Nope. Wouldn't unless someone wanted one after I told them it was altered and then I would give the money to the Raptor Center.
So I am going back. I have my 600mm this time so I can stand even further away and still get crazy close up shots of the birds. And I actually have an idea for a 'posed' shot to do during the flight session if I can talk the handlers into doing it. If I do, it will be awesome. And it will be honestly presented as staged. I guess that is where I draw the line. Disclosure. I have no need to hide or lie about a photo since I have no intent of 'getting rich' from this. Nope, it ain't the camera. It is the image at the end that we hang our name and thereby reputation on.
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