Photo Live Magazine First Issue

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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