Editor’s note: This story is about former Alexandria resident, Spencer Lucas, and appeared on the University of South Dakota website. Lucas lived in Alexandria and attended school from preschool all the way through high school. He went on to Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD and then to Medical School at USD Sanford School of Medicine. He graduated in May of 2023 and matched into a vascular surgery program.

By Cole Tessendorf, Callie Olson and Autumn Hurd, students in the USD Sanford School of Medicine Student News Group

As an above-average golfer, a dog dad of two and a huge geek for endovascular surgery, Spencer Lucas 2023, M.D., may appear like every other medical student at first glance. But despite being “just a little busy” with medical school, Lucas has always found a way to make time for another passion: photography.

Self-taught through YouTube videos and trial and error, the Alexandria native said that his initial interest likely stems back to social media over a decade ago. “I think I was that kid in middle school posting 10 photos in a single day. I don’t even think I had any followers yet, but that was definitely when this passion of photography started.”

Lucas dabbled in taking photos of just about everything, including landscapes, people, animals and the night sky. “I remember branching out and following a professional photographer whose job was to take photos of food for magazines,” he said. “I obviously never got into that type of photography, but I think that’s where I figured out that there are so many different ways you can appreciate photography.”

While he has noticed that his preferences have slowly changed over the years, he has always had an unwavering fascination with astrophotography. The goal of astrophotography is to capture photos of night skies and visualize the stars, planets and other celestial events.

“Sometimes the photos are unplanned and I get lucky,” Lucas said. “I could be simply driving home and look outside and see a beautiful sky and think ‘dang, that looks good,’ and head out to a park or lake to snap some photos.”

To some, it might seem as easy as finding a clear, dark sky and pointing the camera up. But Lucas explains that many external factors significantly affect the sky visibility and effectiveness of his camera. So, to guarantee a good shot, substantial research must be done to coordinate the weather, cloud cover, wind speed, humidity, moon phase, distance to city lights and even the time of year.

But regardless of whether he gets a good photo or not, Lucas says that this hobby has reminded him of how “beautiful our lives are on the planet.”

“It sounds weird but lying on a boat dock at 2 a.m. listening to some music and staring up at the universe is quite cathartic to me,” he continued. “It reminds me that we are all humans at the end of the day, and we should care for each other regardless of race, gender and political views. And that’s really why I appreciated and decided on medicine in the first place.”

In fact, Lucas says that photography has many similarities to medicine. “A photographer’s job is at the mercy of a lot of external circumstances, like clouds, light pollution, wind and moon phases,” he said. “In the world of surgery, our lives are also at the mercy of external circumstances. It would be easy to get frustrated when it appears everything is working against you. But it is so worth it when you get that perfect shot, and sometimes, it’s even better than you expected.”

Lucas, his wife, Carli, and their two dogs recently moved to Charleston, South Carolina, as he begins an integrated vascular surgery residency at the Medical University of South Carolina. While residency may not allow quite as much time for his hobbies, photography will certainly continue to be part of his career.

“In vascular surgery, we take a lot of photos during endovascular procedures,” said Lucas. “The specialty as a whole is very dependent on imaging and technology. That’s something that made me interested in the specialty. It combines imagery and the ability to be creative with how we can help our patients.

“We are taught early on in school that everything is either black or white,” he continued. “I learned quickly after starting my clinical rotations that we live in a world of gray.”

In many ways, medicine is truly a world of gray. Yet somehow, Lucas continues to find the color and shoots for the stars, literally, in all that he does.

The holiday season is almost upon us, and I’m sure now is the time your significant other, family, or friends are scratching their heads on what to buy you. Perhaps, you are also looking for something new to put in your camera bag. In this article, I choose 5 items ideal for wildlife photographers. 

Lens

My first choice when it comes to lenses for wildlife photography is the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3, this is a lens I have owned for a couple of years now and I love it! The throw range from 200 – 600mm is very quick with just a quarter turn, and this allows you to find your subject quickly and compose your image. 

Another massive plus for this lens, is the barrel does not extend at all. This is a great feature especially when your camera is mounted on a gimbal head, because of no extension, you do not need to adjust the gimbal to rebalance it. When handholding, this feature is also beneficial as the lens does not get too front-heavy as it extends. These two features alone helped me to pick this lens over its closest rivals, which are the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 and the Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3.

The Tamron and Sigma are cheaper options, but the native quality of the lens, and those other plus points made it a no-brainer for me out in the field. Now, if Sony wants to reach out and let me have the 400mm f/2.8 or the 600mm f/4.0, I would not complain!

The one feature I do not like about the Sony FE 200-600mm lens, is the included lens foot. It is not Arca Swiss compatible. You can, of course, attach a suitable plate to the bottom of the foot to fit on the tripod, or the other option is you can buy third-party feet for this lens, which may be your better option.

Teleconverter

Being out in the field, I often wish for more reach and the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter is one option to get there. Depending on which model camera you have, you may just prefer to crop, but in wildlife photography, sometimes the cropping can be very heavy so in my opinion, it is best to get as close as possible to the subject in the field. A teleconverter is a great option to get that extra reach, which also means you can still keep a nice distance away from your wildlife subject. 

The 1.4x teleconverter would turn the 200-600mm lens into a 280-840mm lens. The downside is the aperture range drops to f/8.0 – f/9.0. If you choose the 2x Teleconverter, the focal range becomes 400-1200mm at f/11.0 – f/13.0. 

One other downside to Teleconverters, is you may lose sharpness. From my own tests and from research, the 1.4x suffers a lot less with the drop in sharpness, as opposed to the 2x which makes sense. 

The sacrifice in loss of aperture and loss of sharpness is a worrying prospect, but if you are lucky to be photographing your subjects in great light most of the time, it should not really be a problem and I still highly recommend this for your camera bag. It is nice and compact, and can even fit in your pocket.

Tripod

Tripods are a great purchase for wildlife photographers, and the choices available are crazy! I spent 2 months searching through the online stores looking for a new tripod. The costs can really climb depending on what you are looking for, such as do you prefer carbon fiber or aluminium, video head or ball head, and even center column or no centre column. The choices are abundant, and depending on what choice you make, the costs reflect on those decisions. 

When I was searching for a new wildlife tripod, I wanted a few things: video head, carbon fibre, lightweight, and can take the weight of my gear. I eventually decided to try out the Benro Tortoise Carbon Fibre 3 Series Tripod System with S4Pro Video Head.

When I received this tripod, I was impressed with the packaging and the nice carry bag it comes with, it felt more luxurious than other carry bags I have had with tripods. The tripod and video head itself, are nice quality, very sturdy which is the most important part, and easy/quick to set up. 

I have used the tripod a few times out in the field now, and for the price of around $400, I am impressed.

Camera Bag

A camera bag for wildlife photographers is a big deal. You want a camera bag that can fit in the often very large lenses plus any other gear you may own. For my kit, I opted to buy the Vanguard VEO Adaptor R48 backpack, which for the price, I am very happy with. My Sony 200-600mm lens fits in there perfectly, even when attached to my Sony A7 IV camera body. I also have room for a few of my smaller lenses, plus plenty of pocket space for spare cards, SSDs, filters, and spare batteries. 

The backpack opens up at the back so you do not need to worry about the extra weight opening the bag up by itself (that happened with my older bag and my gear fell out onto the road). Opening up at the back is also a great security feature. 

The bag comes with a waterproof cover, which is always very handy and for this bag in particular, you also have connections inside, which you can plug in a power bank to use for on-the-go charging. The backpack is nice and comfortable to wear, even with heavy gear inside. I’m not sure it would be suitable for the larger 400mm or 600mm primes, but for the larger zooms, it certainly works. 

Beanbag

This is an item, I tend to keep in the car. Whilst the majority of the time I am photographing wildlife, I am out and about, lying down in fields, sitting in a hide, or walking around beaches etc., there are other times, that I use my car as a hide. 

Many species of wildlife have become accustomed to cars driving by, but still get scared at the sight of people, so if I find a safe place to park and I know my target species comes close to that spot, I can pop a beanbag on the window and shoot from inside of the car. The beanbag offers great support for your lens, and will eliminate camera shake if you were hand holding the large lens. 

Beanbags are very lightweight, so you do not have to leave it in the car, you can certainly take it out and about with you, especially if you want to be more stealthy without setting up a tripod. 

It is a humble piece of gear and a valuable piece in my collection. 

Summary

These are my five gift ideas for wildlife photographers. Whether you are a beginner to wildlife photography or experienced, I hope this gives you great food for thought. 

Options are aplenty in this field, there are so many lenses, tripods, bags etc. all available to look at but this should narrow down and give you an idea of what I use, and helps me out in the field to get the results I want. 

What items would you buy? Are there any items you would put on the list? Let us know in the comments below.

Photos capture a moment but can also tell an entire story. For retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Stacy Pearsall of Harleyville, she found a way to do both during her career in combat photography.

Her work will be on display beginning Oct. 21 at Greenville’s Upcountry History Museum.

Combat photography exhibit

Pearsall’s 10-year military career started when she enlisted in the Air Force at 17 years old. She spent her first four years doing intelligence work and processing film from U-2 spy planes before transitioning to the 1st Combat Camera Squadron.

“I applied for the 1-Combat Camara Squadron in Charleston,” Pearsall said. “By the time I got here, 9/11 had happened and most of my unit was deployed. From there I was on the road for 180 days or more a year.”

Throughout Pearsall’s six years with the squadron, she documented a variety of military operations including a critically injured soldier being loaded from an ambulance onto a military helicopter in Iraq. She also photographed soldiers before, during and after patrols.

Pearsall was wounded twice while on active duty and medically retired in 2010.

Life after the military

After her military career ended, Pearsall said she struggled to find her purpose outside of the Air Force.

“The physical recovery was challenging enough,” Pearsall said. “That took me 18 months. I think the mental part was even more difficult because all I had ever identified was being (with) a military person and being a combat photographer. The doctors were so focused on telling me the things I could not do and that’s all I really heard.”

One day while she was waiting at a Veterans Affairs Hospital, she met a World War II veteran who survived D-Day. That encounter inspired the Veterans Portrait Project.

A new chapter

Pearsall coordinated with the VA public affairs office and arranged to photograph veterans in waiting rooms at various hospitals as they waited for their appointments. She also recorded the veteran’s story.

Since 2009, Pearsall has documented more than 7,500 veterans across all 50 states.

Drawing from Pearsall’s more than 20-year combat photography career, Syracuse University in New York compiled a 45-photo exhibit called “Hard Earned: The Military Photographs of Stacy Pearsall & The Veteran’s Portrait Project.” It features images she has taken throughout her years as a combat photographer as well as her ongoing Veterans Portrait Project.

The exhibit will run from Oct. 21 to Jan. 14, 2024, at the Upcountry History Museum. It will be accompanied by a companion exhibition with military objects and archival materials from the museum’s permanent collection as well as some loaned objects.

For more information, visit upcountryhistory.org.

Combat photography fast facts

• Traveled to more than 40 countries
• Served in three combat tours of Iraq
• Bronze Star Medal recipient
• Air Force Commendation with valor for her combat actions in Iraq
• Two-time winner of National Press Photographers Association’s Military Photographer of the Year award
• Holds an honorary doctoral degree from The Citadel
• Hosts and co-created “After Action” TV series on PBS

Flashbacks to the ’60s might be common for some flower children, but one Rochester photographer is using her flash to go back to the 1860s.

“It’s essentially the same process they used in the 1800s,” says Rochester-based photographer Emily Baron, describing the retro tintypes she creates.

The realization that her art form has such a lengthy history is something she describes as “kind of wild to think about.”

Tintypes, sometimes known as ferrotypes, are photographs produced on metal sheets. They were most popular in the 1860s but have made a resurgence in modern day photography as a fine art form.

Baron, who moved to Rochester in June 2022 because of family working at the Mayo Clinic, worked as a photographer previously in New York and North Carolina. She’s always loved photography but is particularly drawn to analog photography and enjoys experimenting and learning how things work.

“With tintypes,” she says, “you are literally making the photographic emulsion on a piece of metal, and I think that is so cool. It’s an amazing combination of art and science.”

Despite the current preponderance of digital photography, Baron says she’s always continued shooting with film. Baron explains that she likes how analog photography is tactile and methodical. “With digital you can shoot multiple frames a second, which is great for certain things,” she says, “but shooting film or tintypes forces you to slow down.”

Though largely self-taught as a photographer, Baron first learned the basics of working in a darkroom in a high school class and later attended a workshop on the wet plate process. She says most of what you need to know to be a successful photographer can be learned online.

Seeing a photographic image developing is something Baron describes as magical. “The darkroom allows you to take the image you took with the camera and turn it into the image you had in mind,” she says.

To create a tintype, Baron coats a 4” by 5” inch metal plate with chemicals to make it light sensitive. The chemicals involved include collodion and silver nitrate. She then puts the plate into a holder in her large format camera that is held on a sturdy tripod. The exposure time varies between seconds and minutes depending on how old the chemicals are and how much light is available.

Waiting patiently for the subject of the tintype to appear, Baron develops the exposed metal plate in the dark under a red light before she fixes it so it will no longer be light sensitive. Then, she varnishes the plate. While it only takes about 15 minutes to capture the image on a plate, the varnishing process she uses, which uses sandarac, takes about two weeks to dry.

The process requires gloves and eye protection. “Silver nitrate stains everything,” says Baron.

Baron’s love of the tactile nature of the sturdy metal photographs might be a reaction to the “clutter” created by the ease of taking photos in a digital age. “It’s so easy to snap a photo with your phone at any time,” she says, “but what happens to all these images? Most of them are never looked at again.”

With tintype photography, Baron says the photographer must be more considerate of the subject, the composition, and the lighting of a photograph. “It makes you think so much more about what you’re taking a photo of,” she says.

When Baron experiments with new lighting or tries out new chemicals, she often takes self-portraits. “I have more self-portraits than I care to admit,” she says, adding that her favorite tintypes are those she’s taken of friends and family. She also creates tintypes of still life scenes in her studio.

Baron says the tintypes’ lack of “film grain” and their sensitivity to ultra violet light gives them a unique image quality. The trade off for that quality is that the process includes a lot of technique that can potentially go wrong.

“Pouring the collodion takes some practice,” she says. “If you don’t pour it well, you’ll get all kind of weird artifacts on the final image. The process is very time-sensitive, too. Once you sensitize the plate, you only have a few minutes to take the image before it dries out.”

At the Lowertown Fest in Rochester this past August, Baron set up a mobile tintype stand right next to the dunk tank with a quilt hung as a portrait backdrop. She is just starting to make tintypes for events and festivals and is still working on perfecting her mobile set up.

“The process is so involved that it requires a lot of preparation,” she says, “and I’m still working out some kinks for tintypes on-the-go.”

She built a darkroom at her home and hopes to start teaching analog photography classes.

“My dream is to create a community darkroom where locals can develop and print and collaborate,” she says.

For Baron, the charm of making tintypes is linked to their permanence and physicality.

“Being able to create tintypes and having a one-of-a-kind, physical object you can hold is really something special,” she says.

To learn more about Emily Baron’s photography find her at

embryoh.com.

To find Emily Baron’s online photography shop, go to

littlecamerashop.com.

Residents and visitors to Southbury will soon have the opportunity of stepping back in time to see what the town and its people looked like over the past couple hundred years, without the need of a time machine. The 350th Anniversary Steering Committee, as part of its year-long celebration of the town, is proud to unveil a new, historical photography exhibit at the Gloria Cachion Gallery in the Southbury Public Library that will include images from private collections, some never before seen by the public.

This free photographic exhibit is the first of three months’ worth of changing images that celebrate some of Southbury’s outstanding people, places, institutions, and events. The changing exhibit will last three months from October to December. Each month will feature different photographs. The first part, which will open on October 3, 2023 is called “Early Southbury” and will feature many old images of Southbury, some dating as far as late 1800s.

Most images in this set are digitized photographs and come from both public and personal collections, including those of the Southbury Historical Society, Kayanne and Bill Davis, John and Lynn Dwyer, Christine and Ed Edelson, Melinda and Ray Elliott, Joyce Hornbecker Family, Ed Platt, Marilyn Stebar, Sandy Tarbox, Shirley Thorson and Cathy Phillips Weissmann.

Gosia Liedlich, the town’s Digital Communications Specialist, is a member of the 350th Anniversary Committee, and was leader on the project, including collecting and assembling the photographs. “It has been a privilege to work on this exhibit,” said Liedlich. “I’ve learned a lot about Southbury and its history in the process and we are thankful to all the current and past residents who brought in or sent us the photos.”

The town historian John Dwyer, co-chair of the 350th Committee, along with Southbury Historical Society President and committee member Melinda Elliott, collaborated on the captions for all the images.

The 350th Anniversary Steering Committee sincerely hope that residents and visitors alike will learn something new about the town and come away with a deeper appreciation of Southbury.

The exhibit will be open during regular library hours which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30am to 5:30pm, Tuesday and Thursday 9:30am to 9:00pm, Saturdays 9:30am to 4:00pm and Sundays 12:00pm to 5:00pm.

The Town of Southbury is holding events and activities all year long to celebrate 350 years of community, culture and history (1673-2023), aimed at highlighting the past and progress of the one and only Southbury.

The 350th Anniversary Steering Committee is: John Dwyer and Kevin Bielmeier (co-chairs), Brian Jones (vice-chair), Justin Bette, Lynn Dwyer, Melinda Elliott, Michael Ganem, Kara Kenney, Mary Korsu, and Gosia Liedlich.

For more information on all the 350th events, visit www.southbury-ct.org/350.

A “luminescent” picture of a tri-spine horseshoe crab gliding along the bottom of the sea has won Frenchman Laurent Ballesta his second Wildlife Photographer of the Year title.

Ballesta, an underwater photographer and marine biologist, captured the image in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines – a haven for the crabs.

In the photograph, it is accompanied by three golden trevally fish.

Horseshoe crabs have survived for more than 100 million years, but they now face habitat destruction and overfishing as they are caught for food and for their blue blood, which is used in vaccines.

Mr Ballesta is just the second person in the Natural History Museum’s 59-year-old competition to have won the prize twice.

He first picked up the accolade in 2021 for a shot of camouflage grouper fish in a swirl of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia.

Kath Moran, chair of the judging panel, described the winning photo as “luminescent”.

“To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing,” she said.

“We are looking at an ancient species, highly endangered, and also critical to human health.”

The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award went to 17-year-old Carmel Bechler from Israel, for snapping several barn owls in a hollowed-out concrete building by a roadside.

He used his family’s car as a hide with long exposure times to capture the light trails of passing traffic.

“I hope to share with my photography that the beauty of the natural world is all around us, even in places where we least expect it to be – we just need to open our eyes and our minds,” he said.

The winning photographs were selected from 49,957 original entries from 95 countries and were announced at an awards ceremony in South Kensington, London on Tuesday.

Among the 17 other category winners was a beached orca in the Netherlands photographed by Lennart Verheuvel which was later found to be malnourished and sick – most likely from PCB contamination.

Poisoning from this industrial chemical is common in European waters despite the chemical being banned decades ago.

Agorastos Papatsanis captured how the parasol mushroom releases its spores for them to drift on air currents in search of new places to grow in his home country of Greece, capturing the colourful refraction of light through the rain on Mount Olympus.

An illuminated forest in Tamil Nadu, India, won the Behaviour: Invertebrates award, with Sriram Murali showcasing how fireflies attract mates by combining 50 exposures of 19 seconds with 16 minutes of the beetles’ bioluminescence.

Two Nubian ibex locking horns in a cliff-side clash in Israel were captured by Amit Eshel as he crept up to the battling males, who ram their heads together during the mating season in a competition of physical prowess.

Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, said: “Whilst inspiring absolute awe and wonder, this year’s winning images present compelling evidence of our impact on nature – both positive and negative.

“Global promises must shift to action to turn the tide on nature’s decline.”

View the other contenders for the prize below.

It is October already! Can you believe it? That also means the holidays are around the corner, and I’m sure many of you would love to receive some amazing camera gear or even treat yourself to something nice. In this article, I pick five items that would be ideal for any new or experienced portrait photographer. 

Lenses

My first pick for this will be the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 lens. Of course, if you shoot with other systems, then you should be able to find the alternative options available. I love this lens and focal length for portraits, the shallow depth of field with beautiful bokeh, the fast response and focusing and light weight, which is perfect for on-the-go shooting. At the price point of $598, it is a bargain for the quality you receive. 

Of course, if given the chance, I would love an f/1.4 or f/1.2, but those lenses come at significant price increases, whereas the f/1.8 is a very good sweet spot. 

Lighting

The Godox AD200 kit with trigger is an affordable, lightweight solution for off-camera flash. In this kit, you have a bulb head and speedlight head, which give you different types of light. You can go for more harsh direct light or combine either of these heads with softboxes, beauty dishes, etc. to really have fun and gain the effect you are striving for. 

For beginners, this kit is a great option that does not break the bank. If you have more money to play around with, however, and are an experienced photographer, you may want to consider the Profoto range of lights. 

Light Modifiers

As with flashes or other types of lights, there are plenty of choices available out there, and light modifiers comes under no exceptions. There are all kinds of modifiers you can use either on the go or in the studio. Whether you want a strip box, square box, octabox, or beauty dish, each one of these options is going to offer you a different look with your portraits. 

One thing to consider is different lights may require different brackets to attach your modifier, so please bear this in mind when making your choice. As I chose the Godox AD200 as my light, I originally combined this with the Godox softbox and bracket kit, which is an affordable option for beginners.

Backdrops

If you prefer shooting in a studio environment, then backdrops can plan an important role in your day-to-day productions. As you are in a near fixed location, it is best to try different backdrops or fabrics to give your images that extra dimension. There are many types of backdrops to choose from, such as paper, canvas, fabric, and collapsible. All of them certainly have their uses, such as with paper backdrops, when they get too scrunched up or dirty, you can tear off that part and keep going, but it will run out eventually. 

Canvas and fabric are probably my favorites to choose from, as not only are they easy to use, but they also have great textures, which can really add depth to your images. I love the canvas backdrops from Westcott and in particular, this one called Grunge Concrete is very neat. 

Cleaning Kits

So, you have the camera already, you now have the lens, light, modifiers, and a backdrop. What else could you need? To be honest, a photographer is probably never done when it comes to buying stuff, especially with Gear Acquisition Syndrome. For my last choice, I have to go with the humble cleaning kit, as it is just something that every photographer must have!

Cleaning kits are often very affordable, and this one comes in a nice case, so it is very portable or handy in the studio. With shooting mirrorless, sensor swabs and a rocket blower are no doubt my most used items, so a kit like this is worth its weight in gold!

Summary

That is my five gift ideas for portrait photographers. Whether you are a beginner to photography or an experienced photographer, there is something here for everyone.

What is on your wishlist this holiday season, or is there anything else that should be on this list? Let us know in the comments below.