Hello Iain,
Thank you for the article.
I've been birding since the mid 80's and like most now I carry a digital
camera with me when birding. 'Back in the day' when talking to non birders a
common question was, 'Do I take pictures?' I would always answer, 'no' and I
was until recently fine with that. Birding was enough. Photographic
equipment far too expensive and heavy. I didn't want or need images. But
time and technology moves on and here we are.
I wanted to use the new technologies to engage more folk in birding. And saw
digital photography and social media as good tools to engage people in my
area.
I am the Birdlife Australia convenor for the Sunshine Coast sub branch. So
I started a facebook page which has, as its centre, a photographic
competition [for no prizes save respect]. The motto of this competition is
'quantity not quality' as the aim of the game is to photograph as many
different bird species within the Sunshine Coast area as possible. Each
photo published is identified by a number [the number of spp taken by that
photographer], the location and the date.
Each photo needs to be identified by others in the group. By doing so we
keep the emphasis on bird identification and sites for birding and not
quality of image nor technical photography. Discussion of lenses and
equipment is discouraged and conversations about birds, birding and
locations are applauded. So far we have about 75 members and each year it
has grown.
At he risk of sounding smug it has been quite successful.
Please check it out - https://www.facebook.com/groups/870270729798921/
Any questions from people who might like to start something similar for
their area please send questions.
Finally a reminder - we met once at Bowra in western Queensland while you
were showing one of your South American guides around some Aussie sites....
Cheers now
Ken Cross
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Iain Campbell
Sent: Friday, 19 January 2018 8:50 AM
To:
Subject: Are birders having an identity crisis
Hi guys,
I wrote an article about the merging of photography and birding, and what it
means to be birder now. I used questionnaires for 230 birders to do this,
and I analysed the results after also talking o a few participants with a
please explain. The article mentions new types of trips for the crossovers
but is not a sales pitch. Take a look at the article on the link below and
please tell me what you think, but read it first. We had 1800 responses from
facebook alone, but it was clear that some looked at the title and decided
their view, ie "birders good, photographers evil" or "photographers good,
birders jealous". Let's not do that here.
http://www.tropicalbirding.com/2018/01/09/are-birders-having-an-identity-cri
sis/
Cheers,
Iain
--
Iain Campbell
Tropical Birding Tours
www.tropicalbirding.com
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