We are nature photographers, based in Sarasota, Florida. Photography keeps us traveling both inside the US and out. In the past four years, one or both of us have photographed all over the US as well as in Costa Rica, Honduras, Venezuela, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uruguay, Trinidad, East Timor & China.
We have been photographers forever. Susan began her photographic career as a photographer's assistant during college hand loading film in a closet, developing black and white film and making enlargements. She mostly shot manual medium format. Today she uses digital and loves virtual film as much as she loved the real thing. She finds the digital medium to be more time consuming but it provides the opportunity for incredible control. Tom began when he bought his first camera, a Kodak Brownie, at 11 years old. His second was an OM1, which went around the world several times.
About the Photography
We shoot thousands of images every year. We split our time between photographing in the field and processing images in the studio, which leads to great prints.Almost all of our subjects are photographed in the wild: Lilac Breasted Rollers in Kenya, Southern Lapwings in Uruguay, and sting rays in the Caribbean. We shoot hundreds of images of each subject.
The only captive subjects are those that are no longer photographable in their habitat. Our pandas are the best example. Photos of captive animals are labeled.
To photograph a wild subject, we research habits, habitats and seasonal behavior; we travel to local fields and distant continents. Sometimes photography is easy and other times not.
We had a report of burrowing owls in the middle of a New Mexico town behind a shopping center. We drove our truck to the lot and photographed as many as eight owls out of the window. That was an easy one. On the other hand, we once discovered a sandhill crane sitting on eggs. However, we didn’t know when the eggs were laid. So, for 25 mornings, before dawn, we set gear up on the edge of a pond and waited for the crane to stand, hoping for a sight of chicks rather than eggs.
About the Process
Before digital, we were part of a very small group of photographers who chose to take each step in the creative process ourselves. We carefully tested and selected our film. We researched cameras, lenses and locations, we shot and developed the film in a darkroom we built ourselves. When other photographers asked, ”Why?” our answer was that we wanted to ensure the quality of the process rather than leaving it to minimum wage technicians who had no stake in the end product.
Today more photographers manage the digital processing of their images, but many still trust the production of prints to someone else. We still control the process from beginning to end. (For more details on the all new magic of creating digital prints, see our Purchase Prints page.)
