| |
| Home | Stock Library | Features | Portfolio | Products | About | Blog | Workshops | Contact |
|
|
« previous | next »
Muttonbirder and Feathers
Muttonbirding is an activity still carried out by Aboriginal Tasmanians and other long-time settlers in Bass Strait. Every year around Easter, thousands of shearwater chicks are pulled from their burrows and plucked for their downy feathers. The industry is strictly monitored to ensure the population of shearwaters overall is unaffected.
I was positively driven to make my story on muttonbirders exceptional. Beginning photographers “take” photos while more advanced photographers “make” photos. But it wasn’t like I was in a studio. I was in a dark little shed on a distant island with very little equipment. I decided to turn the darkness to my advantage. This was one of the rare opportunities where I could deliberately use a slow shutter speed for effect (outdoors during the day is always too bright). I scooped up downy feathers from the floor with one hand and and whirled them around the man’s head while I fired the camera with the other. I love this shot for both the effect and the intensity of the colours that Kodachrome can produce under flat light conditions. But wouldn’t you know it, when I submitted my story to the magazine, they never printed it, choosing instead to make a full page out of a similar shot—one without the feathers!
All photographs and text are copyright Esther Beaton and other parties.
The images shown throughout this website may not be downloaded, copied, stored, or reproduced in any way, whether digital, electronic, film or paper, with the exceptions mentioned in the Stock Library Terms of Use. Prohibited reproduction will be considered a breach of the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth) and of the Berne Convention. To obtain permission to reproduce any images, you are invited to go to the Contact section of this website and to make your request in writing.
