Wednesday, May 19, 2010

"Evening Takeout"


The last several months have been fairly uneventful for Anthony. 2009, while incredibly thrilling and humbling, was quite the ride. The huge international success of his encounter with the lynx; negotiating contracts and image agreements with publishers, agents, and private individuals; exhibits; crawling through slot canyons in the Southwest to walking among the bears of British Columbia all made for a remarkable time. However, by the end of the year Anthony found himself tired and burned out. He decided to take several months off and put his cameras aside to regroup and attend to other important matters. Anthony began to oversee the remodeling of his home in Olney, IL. While not the most relaxing task, he enjoyed designing new elements in his home decor. He focused on nothing but his home and enjoying time with his wife and two young daughters who tormented the workmen on a daily basis. Known for being fairly reclusive anyway, not many saw him for a while.

Inspiration and passion are amazing attributes. Anthony was near completion of his renovations in mid April and was out on a walk around his lake when a young adult Great Horned Owl swooped down and grabbed what appeared to be a Coot. He watched the owl land in a grove of trees were he spent an hour or so listening to the crows squawk and pester him from above. After finally having enough of their torment, he flew to the other side of the lake underneath a spruce tree where he remained for the rest of the day guarding his prize. Intrigued by such unusual behavior from a known nocturnal hunter, Anthony instinctually ran back to the studio and grabbed his camera. He spent an hour or two photographing the owl keeping a watchful eye on it's surroundings until heading back to the house. Anthony spent the better part of the day still intrigued and peering out the windows to see if the owl was still there under the spruce tree. At sunset Anthony began to see all the elements of a great photograph coming together: great warm light, unique behavior, beautiful subject, backlighting, etc. In that moment all his passion and desire to be out shooting returned without even realizing it. He was out till dark working with this owl, and has been working in the studio and shooting steadily since that evening.