Nature photographer to current at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge – Grand Forks Herald

Bruce Flaig remembers the day he photographed a fowl catching an insect in its mouth. The fowl was sitting on a submit, its beak open because it caught a wasp.

It’s a powerful picture, however one which didn’t occur with simply a few clicks of the button. The picture was captured after 100 or extra snaps of the shutter.

That sometimes is the rule and never the exception with regards to nature images. Capturing wildlife additionally takes a number of endurance. Sometimes, Flaig has waited hours in a blind to seize a picture.

On March 21, Flaig, of Fertile, Minnesota, will current a set of nature images at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge.

Contributed / Bruce D. Flaig

The one-hour presentation, which is free and open to the general public, begins at 1 p.m. and is hosted by the Friends of Rydell and Glacial Ridge Refuges. Flaig will current images from his assortment of greater than 200,000 photographs. Most of the images he’ll current are from northwestern Minnesota – inside one to 2 hours of his yard, he mentioned. He’ll additionally share ideas and methods about getting began in nature images, show among the lenses he makes use of and reply folks’s questions.

“It’ll start out in the winter,” he mentioned of the images he plans to share, “go through the seasons and end up back in winter.”

Flaig, who grew up in Moorhead, began photographing nature about 40 years in the past. Over that point, and as a member of the Air Force, he lived in a number of states and a few abroad nations, his digital camera ever close to. He’s additionally had many experiences within the wild, a few of them unnerving – akin to being charged by a moose, encountering a coyote that walked previous him inside just some toes and mendacity on the bottom not removed from a younger rattlesnake – however outdoors its strike zone – making an attempt to seize the proper shot.

His introduction to images began as one thing to do, he mentioned, “but then I got more and more involved. … It’s really nice to be out there and experience nature and try to capture a little of it.”

Of his many experiences – and his large assortment of pictures – Flaig mentioned it’s robust, if not unattainable, to pick a favourite. He has a few dozen that he considers to be good pictures.

“That’s one of the reasons I like it,” he mentioned. “I’m always trying to improve.”

Contributed / Bruce D. Flaig

For these wishing to be taught extra, the presentation will likely be a terrific introduction to nature images, in keeping with Refuge Manager Gregg Knutsen.

Many folks come to the refuge with their cameras and “it’s something we encourage and provide opportunities for,” he mentioned. “But a lot of people need that starting point, such as how do I get started, what can I expect? So that’s where we thought having Bruce come and show some of his photos and experiences would hopefully get people excited.”

Knutsen said it will be a great opportunity to ask questions of a seasoned pro, learn about equipment, and “methods to take advantage of these high-quality cameras we have on our phones.”

Flaig, who has shot with movie and now digital, mentioned he loves the choices of in the present day’s cameras and software program, however he’s carried a number of the talent he realized early on into how he shoots in the present day.

“The cameras are better, but really what’s gotten better are the lenses,” he mentioned. “The high quality of the lens makes it simpler to do what you’re making an attempt to do. But what I inform folks is that 90% of the picture happens behind the digital camera; 10% is the gear. An individual has to ask, ‘why am I taking this picture? Why did I stop here to look at this? What do I want to portray?” and a host of other questions, some technical.

When starting out as a photographer, “Ask yourself what you want to concentrate on, because you can’t do it all,” he said. That will help decide on the lens needed. “And then go out and take photos of something that you like, and then when you get back take a look and ask yourself, ‘did I get what I wanted?’ If not, what didn’t you get proper and what are you able to do higher subsequent time?”

Even with 4 a long time underneath his belt, capturing photographs in nature in all its selection remains to be thrilling for Flaig. The Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, he mentioned, is a good place to deliver a digital camera.

“I’ve spent a lot of time there; there’s all sorts of things happening there – birds, wildflowers, some reptiles. It’s a good, fun place.”

There is not any pre-registration required to attend the presentation. For questions or extra info, contact Knutsen at 218-686-4329 or [email protected].

Andrew Weeks is an award-winning journalist who has reported for newspapers and magazines. Prior to becoming a member of the Grand Forks Herald as its open air editor, Weeks was editor for a number of years of Prairie Business, a publication of the Grand Forks Herald and Forum Communications Co. Before that position, he was open air editor for a day by day newspaper in Idaho.