Shutterbugs

Featuring Bill Bouton

It is a great honor to be invited to join the illustrious group of photographers featured in Shutterbugs! Among the rewards of my passion for photography is the social aspect: being in the field with others of like interests, gathering at gallery openings, hob-nobbing at camera club meetings, and on-line interactions with members of PhotoMorroBay.com, SLO Coast Journal and Flickr. I am very pleased the Journal offered me this opportunity to share with fellow readers.

My primary photography interest is nature. I had a “Norman Rockwell childhood”, surrounded by a family supportive of my interests. Growing up on 80 acres of flower-filled old fields, woods, rivers and creeks in southwestern Michigan, I was fortunate to have nature, rather than media, as one of the major influences in my young life. I relished an occasional Walt Disney or Wild Kingdom “nature film” on TV. But nature programming was rare back then, and the “real world” of nature awaited outside, with its butterflies, its flowers, its snakes, its birds…

My immersion in nature activities led to degrees in, and eventual teaching of, biology - first in high schools, then at a Community College. Soon after my initial employment, I purchased my first camera, a Pentax Spotmatic. I’ve always been a visual learner, and I assumed (correctly or not) that my students were also visual learners. I made 35mm transparencies of every nature subject I could find, primarily so that I could use them in the classroom. I came to be recognized as a good photographer and an entertaining speaker and, for decades, I gave slide shows at meetings and conferences. I still enjoy sharing my images and knowledge in this way.

I regularly donate my images for educational and environmental use. Though I seldom make much money at it, I often sell images to facilities such as museums and zoos, to book authors and publishers, and to makers of various apps, such as the Audubon butterfly app. My biggest break came a couple of years ago, when I photographed Humpback Whales at Avila Beach. Exposure quickly swept across the internet, and I experienced the fun of live interviews with CNN and other media, and of receiving emails from people on nearly every continent.

During a couple of days of sales, I made enough money to pay for my newly purchased Canon 500mm lens, with which I had taken the whale pictures!

While still in Michigan, I changed from Pentax equipment to Nikkormats, and I was a Nikon user for years. After moving to San Luis Obispo, I discovered the digital revolution in photography. Seeing the writing on the wall, while there were still doubters of the liklihood of a digital photography future, I was able to sell all my Nikon film equipment, and acquire digital Canon gear.

My photography might be considered non-creative, and perhaps even boring, by those who heavily-manipulate their images with photo processing software. My early photography of, and passion for nature subjects, leads me to continue to portray most of them as identifiable species for educational purposes. When I upload an image to my Flickr site (see link below), I typically identify the subject with common and scientific name, tell where the image was made, and include a sprinkle of scientific or natural history information when it might add interest.

These are details I also wish to see when I view others’ photos. I am often extremely impressed with many of the images my fellow photographers produce with extensive use of photo optimizing techniques, and I often wish I knew how to use more of those techniques myself for producing creative non-nature photos. My aversion to heavy manipulation of nature images is because, during my entire life, I’ve loved the wonder and beauty of nature passionately, and thus have wished to view it unaltered. I even struggle a bit with fully appreciating Ansel Adams’s stunning accomplishments in black-and-white! To me, most nature is more glorious in full color.

Why do I photograph? First, I am thrilled to spend so much time outside in the “real world”. (Like the excuse I used to hear from deer hunters in Michigan: “It’s a reason to go out into the woods.”) Second, I enjoy bringing my images up onto the computer screen where I often discover surprises. I marvel at the previously unnoticed color and detail on a butterfly. Or I notice for the first time the leggy crab spider, obscured in the background as it waits to pounce.

Antelope Valley Los Angeles County, California

And finally, I enjoy sharing the wonders of the natural world with others who may never see such delights themselves. You can view more of my images by visiting my Flickr pages. Thank you SLO Coast Journal for inviting me to share.

Here on the Shutterbugs page some of our best local photographers share their passion for capturing beautiful and fascinating images. Some images may be cropped to fit our format. You will find more of their work on various photo sites and in our own Great Shots section.

Previous Shutterbugs include David Holmes, Fred Moore, Mimi Ditchie, Alice Cahill, Gary Powell, Ken Bondy, Sylvia Sanchez, Donald Quintana, Beth Sargent, Don Henderson, Jerry Kirkhart, Steve Corey, Linda McDonald, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Ronnie Goyette, Dorothy Cutter, Aiden Briggs, Devra Cooper, Ashala Tylor, Marlin Harms, Howard Ignatius, Elizabeth Haslam,
Mike Baird, Linda Tanner, Fred Moore, Cheryl Strahl, Greg Smith and Bill Bouton.