The Power of the Written Word
I got a very nice note from Arthur Morris yesterday thanking me for the copy of "Birds of Central Park" I sent him and asking if I minded him writing about it in his e-mail newsletter.
For those of you not familiar with Artie and his work he is one of the preeminent wildlife photogrpahers in the United States. He has published tens of thousands of images and was, until a few years ago, a resident of our own boro of Queens where he spent many years honing his skills at Jamaica Bay and other local spots. His book, "The Art of Bird Photography," is an extremely detailed look at Artie's particular method of wildlife photography. You can find out more about him and his photo tours on his Web site.
He sent his e-mail newsletter out yesterday. Today I checked the ranking of my book on Amazon and it had shot up from 76,000 to 17,000. That's a big drop that can only be attributed to Artie's newsletter. By the way, the newsletter has a lot of good information (interspersed with ads for his photo tours.) If you want to subscribe you can do so on his Web site.
Here is what Arthur Morris wrote about Birds of Central Park:
Cal Vornberger, who attended a St. Augustine IPT a few years back, was kind to send me a copy of his fine book, The Birds of Central Park.” In the mid-1980s I photographed a bit in Central Park with my first telephoto lens, the Canon 400 f/4.5 FD (manual focus) lens. It was a tough place to photograph. Cal began photographing in the park just after 9/11. He is to be commended for amassing a representative collection of the birds of Central Park in such a short time.
The book is a seasonally-arranged photographic collection with just a bit of text. While some of the photographs feature birds on man made perches like fences, street light fixtures, and pavement, and others have technical and design flaws, there are more than enough quality photographs to put a smile on any photographer’s face. My absolute favorite image is on page 137. It features a Red-winged Blackbird chasing a Great Egret in flight. Both birds are in sharp focus and the background of reeds is quite appealing. That this image was created right in the middle of my old home town, the Big Apple, is simply astounding. And the same could be said of the Eastern Screech Owl on page 139, the Mourning Warbler on page 84, and the Ovenbird on page 68. Ordinarily you would not think it possible to create such excellent images in the middle of a huge metropolis. Some of the images that were obviously taken in a large city are quite wonderful, most notably the cover image depicting the nationally famous “Pale Male,” a red-tail that nested high up on a large apartment building. (When the building’s owner let it be know that Pale Male and his mate were slated for eviction, a firestorm of protest arose and the bird and its nest were saved.)
If you would like to own this quite remarkable collection of bird photographs, you can order a signed copy here: http://www.birdsofcentralpark.com/shop.htm
For those of you not familiar with Artie and his work he is one of the preeminent wildlife photogrpahers in the United States. He has published tens of thousands of images and was, until a few years ago, a resident of our own boro of Queens where he spent many years honing his skills at Jamaica Bay and other local spots. His book, "The Art of Bird Photography," is an extremely detailed look at Artie's particular method of wildlife photography. You can find out more about him and his photo tours on his Web site.
He sent his e-mail newsletter out yesterday. Today I checked the ranking of my book on Amazon and it had shot up from 76,000 to 17,000. That's a big drop that can only be attributed to Artie's newsletter. By the way, the newsletter has a lot of good information (interspersed with ads for his photo tours.) If you want to subscribe you can do so on his Web site.
Here is what Arthur Morris wrote about Birds of Central Park:
Cal Vornberger, who attended a St. Augustine IPT a few years back, was kind to send me a copy of his fine book, The Birds of Central Park.” In the mid-1980s I photographed a bit in Central Park with my first telephoto lens, the Canon 400 f/4.5 FD (manual focus) lens. It was a tough place to photograph. Cal began photographing in the park just after 9/11. He is to be commended for amassing a representative collection of the birds of Central Park in such a short time.
The book is a seasonally-arranged photographic collection with just a bit of text. While some of the photographs feature birds on man made perches like fences, street light fixtures, and pavement, and others have technical and design flaws, there are more than enough quality photographs to put a smile on any photographer’s face. My absolute favorite image is on page 137. It features a Red-winged Blackbird chasing a Great Egret in flight. Both birds are in sharp focus and the background of reeds is quite appealing. That this image was created right in the middle of my old home town, the Big Apple, is simply astounding. And the same could be said of the Eastern Screech Owl on page 139, the Mourning Warbler on page 84, and the Ovenbird on page 68. Ordinarily you would not think it possible to create such excellent images in the middle of a huge metropolis. Some of the images that were obviously taken in a large city are quite wonderful, most notably the cover image depicting the nationally famous “Pale Male,” a red-tail that nested high up on a large apartment building. (When the building’s owner let it be know that Pale Male and his mate were slated for eviction, a firestorm of protest arose and the bird and its nest were saved.)
If you would like to own this quite remarkable collection of bird photographs, you can order a signed copy here: http://www.birdsofcentralpark.com/shop.htm
posted by Cal Vornberger at
7/30/2006 08:34:00 PM
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