Shooting on the Fly

Jay has an article in the Winter 2009 issue of NANPA’s quarterly magazine Currents. Here it is for your reading pleasure.

Shooting on the Fly
by Jay Goodrich

John Shaw, nature photographer, writer and workshop teacher, once said to me, “The more time you are in the field, the more money you are spending. The more time you are in the office, the more money you are making.” To manage all of my fieldwork I need to spend time in the office editing, selling, and marketing images. I would love to do nothing but travel the globe in search of the next great image, but if that were all I did, I would never make any money.

To add to my stock photography with as little impact as possible on my office time, I attach shoots to personal vacations, conferences, business meetings, workshops and assignments. At the 2008 Annual NANPA Summit, for example, I arrived two days early to take advantage of photographing in a spot where I had never been. What I found was pretty amazing; I shot close to 2,000 frames. What follows is my diary of this project to show you how it came to fruition.

November 15, 2007
Victoria Fox, a local (Colorado) client, commissioned me to furnish her house with ten framed fine art prints. She is looking for images of area wildlife, landscapes and anything artistic and full of color to work with her decor.

December 1, 2007
Victoria stopped when she saw me on the side of the road photographing migrating geese. I took the opportunity to get to know her in a one-on-one situation in a place that we both admire. I asked her where she is from, what her lifestyle is like, what draws her to nature. She told me she loves birds. When I told her that in January I am going to NANPA’s Summit in Destin, Florida, she said she has vacationed in Destin for 20 years.

That evening I researched Destin to learn about the Emerald Coast, its wildlife and its habitat. I found photographers online who had taken images there, and I made notes to reference once I arrive.

I called Victoria to discuss image concepts for her project. I suggested that we incorporate subjects from both Destin, Florida, where she vacations, and Vail, Colorado, where she lives, into the prints I am doing for her. She loved the idea, so I created a list of images to take with me to the Summit.

December 16, 2007
I created a shooting schedule that allowed for one evening and two morning shoots prior to the beginning of the Summit. I had an aggressive list of some 100 subjects that included landscapes, wildlife, plants and insects. Rules in photography are meant to be broken, and, likewise, lists are just a reference point. I will change direction based on the actual conditions once I’m in the field.

February 24, 2008
I arrived in Destin full of excitement to be out in the field again. My first mission was to talk to everyone and anyone about the location, including locals, tourists and employees of the hotel where I am staying. I asked about wildlife and good sunrise locations, directions to local parks and trails where I could expect to find the subjects on my list. I questioned everything with the curiosity I learned from my three-year-old daughter. I left no stone unturned, and even managed to photograph the sunset while checking into the hotel. I spent the evening reading all of the local publications that I could get my hands on. This not only gives me the information I need to get the images that I am looking for, but now I feel inspired.

February 25, 2008
I woke up early, hours before first light, like a giddy school kid raring for an adventure. Sunrise found me on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico, shooting directly down the waterline as the sun came up over the horizon. I watched the waves roll in and out and began to see patterns develop between the wet sand left from the waves’ movement and the water itself. The images that I created had a sort of “inkblot test” look to them.

Once the sun got a little too high to shoot landscapes, I shot some detail images of dune grasses. These images led me to shoot doves that were flying overhead, which led me to the discovery of a flock of American coots in a pond on one of the golf courses at the resort.

At sunset I found a great egret fishing near a pier. I utilized the pier railing as a blind; shooting through the railing’s gray color created an ethereal fog effect. I discovered some brown pelicans at a fishing wharf about 20 miles from the hotel, and will look for them again tomorrow morning.

February 26, 2008
I shot thousands of images, which includes many of the ones on my list, and many others that I did not expect. I sat at the bar in the hotel drinking a beer, relaxing, and knowing that this trip, like so many others, has been successful due to hard work and planning. The rest of my week in Destin will be spent meeting with new and old friends, and learning to become more successful at my life’s passion.

May 25, 2008
I installed ten fine art prints in my client’s house—five of the prints were photographed in Colorado, and five in Florida, as planned. As I showed Victoria the images, I saw a tear in her eye and knew that I had succeeded.

Her happiness led to the next client, one of Victoria’s friends who saw my work at Victoria’s house during a dinner party.

I am now totally convinced that what John Shaw once told me are words to live by, and my method of shooting on the fly has allowed me to pursue this passion uninterrupted for more than a decade.

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