Galapagos Islands, 2024

The first photograph of a Marine Iguana I remember seeing was in a book published in 1971. “The Creation” by Ernst Haas, is a visual telling of the Genesis origin story. I wanted to see such a prehistoric-seeming creature. I finally did, this year. Fascinated by the book’s pictures, I absorbed much more about composition, visual story-telling, and seeing beyond the literal than I realized back then. Some things need a long maturation period.

Haas is a name anyone serious about photography should recognize. Several elite level photographers and their work have served as role models, heroes, and inspiration to me, although they would not generally be known to the world outside our industry. Haas was one of the most important.

He was one of the first photographers to work seriously, rather than dabble, in color, but with technical limitations which might be impossible for most smart phone and digital camera users today to appreciate. Haas’ film choice was Kodachrome, first with an ASA (ISO now) of 10, and then 25. With those slow emulsion speeds, anything moving in less than very bright light was going to be blurred. You just could not get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the subject. So…”when God gives you lemons….”

He would photograph rapidly moving subjects at intentionally slow shutter speeds, creating stunning, story-telling images of blur and color (rodeos, bull fights, rushing animals) that expressed so much more than a traditional rendering. They have an energy and mystery most photographs never achieve. (https://ernst-haas.com/)

To see more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index