Artist's Profile

This profile on yours truly was in the Saturday March 24th edition of the New Glasgow Evening News by Raymond Burns. . Article and photo courtesy of the Evening News.

Gary Murray comes by his skill as an outdoor photographer naturally.A lifetime spent hiking and camping developed into the craft he works hardto perfect on a near daily basis.Skill and passion for the outdoors is evident in his work, whether it's themajesty of a grazing Caribou bull shot in the wilds of Newfoundland or thesubtle beauty of a fallen leaf captured in the ice at the Steeltown Park inTrenton.Murray is a self-taught photographer."I took every photography book out of the library I could. I memorized andthen practised. I would shoot and write down everything I could. It's a goodway to learn exposure," the Stellarton resident said in a recent interview. Over the last seven years he's received lots of exposure in Atlanticpublications (he's a regular contributor to magazines like Saltscapes andEastern Woods and Waters) as well as being published in a calendar andhaving one of his prints used by the Nature Conservancy of Canada as afundraising auction item.It's not fair label him as just a nature photographer though, outdoorphotographer is a much better term, if it happens outside he'll shoot it.His body of work covers just about anything that takes place outsideincluding sports, airshows and even the odd wedding or two."I've just always been passionate about the outdoors. It's just like bikingor skiing, it's another excuse to get outdoors."Another drawing card is the fact photography draws on the physical and themental."You get to use your body and your mind. It's physical, you've got to lug 20or 30 pounds of gear around on your back and then before you use it you'vegot to think about composition and exposure."He describes his work as more of a "documentary style" meaning that what yousee is what you get, there's no jazzing things up in Photoshop. But he willtake the occasional artistic shot by juggling with lenses, filters, shutterspeeds and exposures.Of the thousands and thousands of shots he's taken two stand out as hisfavourites: a Common Merganser photo and pic of a sunset at Abrahams'sLake, both for the simple majesty of nature in its different forms. (Thesephotos can be seen in the slideshow on ngnews.ca)As much as he has favourite shots, Murray has favourite times and places forshooting.He likes photographing the most in May, June and October."The birds are back, the leaves are out and everything's new. In October Ilike the fall coloursSthe rest of the year it depends on what's out therereally."As far as favourite places go, the Cape Breton Highlands and Gros Morne inNewfoundland top the list.His advice to budding photographers is simple."Read your camera manual, buy a tripod and use it, get a polarizing filterfor your lens and read everything you can."As far as his own future in the art, Murray wants to keep learning, keepshooting and keep getting outdoors.

Late Winter- Early Spring Photography

As shades of winter pass, and we are eagerly waiting for spring to begin in earnest, one must sometimes search a little harder when making images.

The first is a good example of that. while hiking in a park in my hometown of Trenton, I saw this leaf frozen in the ice in a ditch! it is important to capture a scene like this when one comes across it, as it was a moment in time. it surely would have been gone, or very different the next day.

The next image is of maple sugar buckets, which will be making an appearance in Nova Scotia shortly.

A Ruffed Grouse drumming on a log is another sign of spring if you can get close enough to one!

Nesting usually begins in late April, though "drumming" begins earlier than that.

After a fresh snowfall is always a great time to head outdoors as great shots await. all that is needed is a little imagination, and tramping around.

gotta run, it is beginning to snow!

cheers,

Gary.