Ephraim Heller is a remarkable artist, who doesn’t seem to realize that. When we first talked, he was genuinely flattered that I expressed interest in his work, and that the more I saw, the more stunned I was with the vibrancy and the soul in his photos. At one point I had to ask him if some of his photos were manipulated by AI, because they were that startling. Demurely, he said no. He also said he didn’t know how to use photoshop, but edited some for color and sharpness.
These photos are real. How Old School!
He was a highly successful entrepreneur in the Medical Devices field who, 13 years ago, decided to give that up and move to Wyoming and fully immerse himself in his life-long interest in photography. There, he said, he “spent time in the national parks and forests almost every day in every season.” He said he was “lucky” to meet an accomplished amateur wildlife photographer, Irene Greenberg, who became his mentor.
When we connected, he was just back from Brazil where he’d been photographing animals. In November he’ll be in Churchill, Manitoba to photograph polar bears, and then in Fairbanks, Alaska to photograph the aurora borealis. In February he’ll switch gears and climate to go to Trinidad and Tobago to photograph the exotic wildlife there.
How did you get started? What piqued your interest in photography, and wildlife in particular?
I began photographing wildlife, nature, and my family as a 10-year-old child in rural Massachusetts, where I ran barefoot in the forest and swam in ponds with turtles and snakes. I was fascinated by old mechanical cameras, which I took apart but could never reassemble. One day I attempted underwater photography by putting my camera in a plastic bag. It didn’t end well.
Another time, my father loaned me his camera, which was a relatively expensive item for our family at the time. As I rode my bicycle, I broke off the lens in the spokes. For 30 years thereafter, he offered to sell me camera insurance.
It’s not just luck to get these pictures, is it? What is the technique, the process? Notwithstanding, how much is luck?
To paraphrase Woody Allen, “80% of life is showing up.” You put in time learning the rhythms and behaviors of the animals: where osprey nest in spring, where bears find berries in the autumn, where elk cross the river at dawn during the rut, where river otters den at open water in frozen rivers in winter. Patience, persistence, and attention to detail are part of the job description.
When you find an interesting animal, you anticipate where it will move and what it will do. Even with good preparation, the majority of days are unsuccessful: if I added up all the time spent fruitlessly looking for animals, it would amount to months of my life. When an animal finally appears, it’s a lucky day when it is in a beautiful landscape or engages in interesting behavior in front of your lens.
How close can you get? If you get too close you’d spook the animal I guess?
Ethical photography dictates that you don’t change the behavior of the animals. Getting too close can be detrimental to their nesting, hunting, caring for their young, etc.
Studying the subject’s behavior will usually tell you what’s acceptable. If it is relaxed and ignores you, then you are at an appropriate distance. If it seems alert or stressed, modifies its direction, or changes its behavior, then you’re too close. Whenever possible, I let the animals come to me. When I’ve been in photography blinds, including parked vehicles, I have had bears, wolves, bison, and moose approach within an arm’s length. In Katmai National Park in Alaska, I was approaching a sharp corner along a narrow, overgrown path when a huge grizzly bear came around the bend. I jumped off the trail to let him pass just a few feet away. He was stuffed from eating spawning salmon, and he didn’t care at all about my presence.
It is unfortunate that the norm for visitors to our national parks is to form a mob that pursues and distresses the animals.
What is your favorite animal of all those you’ve photographed?
If forced to choose, I’d pick North American river otters. They are gregarious, playful, hyperactive, expressive, goofy, and incredible hunters. They provide a constant stream of photogenic behaviors and poses, and their river habitats offer dramatic landscapes in summer and winter. I’ve spent days sitting on the frozen Snake River in -20 °F photographing their behavior.
Where was the most inspiring place you’ve been?
The Serengeti. There are millions of animals on a plain that stretches to the horizon, including over 70 species of large mammals and 500 bird species. The word “Serengeti” is said to mean “endless plains” in the Maasai language. It is a photographer’s paradise.
Alaska deserves an honorable mention, too.
What is the worst place you’ve been to?
Some of the most reliable places to find interesting endemic aquatic birds are sewage ponds. I have birded at sewage ponds on three continents. The most memorable were some untreated sewage ponds in Asia. It’s hard to convey the smell in a photograph.
Where surprised you the most?
Brazil’s Pantanal [the largest tropical wetlands in the world, which also goes into Paraguay and Bolivia]. The density, variety, and number of beautiful, charismatic tropical birds staggered me.
What is the closest you’ve come to provoking a dangerous animal, of being in danger?
Wildlife photography is much less dangerous than walking my dog. I’ve never had a dangerous encounter while photographing animals (although I have been warned off by bears, bison, and moose). However, I’ve seen plenty of dangerous situations involving dogs, which most animals consider to be predators. I saw my neighbor get stomped by a moose cow when his dog barked at her calf, he escaped with just a few broken ribs and scars. I’ve been chased by a surprised moose at night when walking my dog and not paying sufficient attention to my surroundings.
Bison, elk, wolves, coyotes, foxes, birds, and many other animals are distressed by the presence of a dog and can be easily triggered. Keep your dog far away from wildlife and on a leash in environments where wildlife may be present.
What’s your Holy Grail shot?
The wolverine, which is a large and charismatic member of the weasel family. They are solitary and have vast, non-overlapping mountainous territories, which makes them extraordinarily rare. There are estimated to be only a few hundred in the lower 48 states. When the territories are fully occupied, Yellowstone National Park is estimated to hold only 6 to 7 and Grand Teton National Park only around 4.
What can we learn from animals?
In the best of my photographs, I hope that I convey the sublimity and fragility of nature and inspire people to protect our few remaining intact ecosystems.
Ephraim retains all copyright of these photographs. So whatever you were thinking…