m
nunr/i^nin , PHOTO BY KU F AVH
t'lIOi OGRAPHING BIRDS can be fun with even the simplest of camera equipment.
Photographing Birds For Fun
BY BILL FAVER
Winter days can be good times to try pho
tographing birds just for the fun of it While
long telephoto lenses and
sophisticated cameras will
help, you can get good pic
tures with just the simplest
of equipment. Photograph
ing birds can be a challenge
to our creativity and an an
swer to our need for com
petition, exercise, and satis
faction of accomplishment.
Major problem in pho
tographing birds is getting
close enough to them. Birds can avoid us like
few other creatures and just as we are about to
get the picture, there goes the bird! We can get
close to the birds in two ways: we gel close to
them or we bring them closc to us. Blinds, cam
ouflage suits, camera set-ups with remote con
trols, backyard feeders, and decoys are all
aimed at gelling closc lo the bird or luring them
in lo us. Of coursc, tclcpholo lens, binoculars,
and telescopes can be used to make them appear
larger on the film.
With birds we often don't have time for much
planning. We must do that before we see the
bird. Check the lighting, the lens settings, film,
etc., before we begin our stalking. .Have the
camera out of the case, ready to go! When a
subject appears, take a picture, then move clos
er, take another, move in, etc. Get what you can
when you can, then try to improve on it. At
some point the bird will Hy and you should re
member when that happens. It could help you
next time you encounter the same spccics.
Birds should be doing something, if possible.
They can be bathing, scratching, dusting, flying,
sleeping, stretching, nesting, feeding young,
standing on one foot, or just posing. Try to cap
ture an activity, or a feeling, or some dramatic
moment. Often side-lighting or back-lighted
silhouettes can be helpful for the dramatic shots.
The pictures should be simple and unclut
tered so the bird is the main subject and imme
diately draws attention. Use either a vertical or
a horizontal format, depending on the bird or
the background. Try to Till the frame with the
bird, allowing space for a bird to look into, lean
into, or move into the picture. This is more
pleasing than having the bird centered in the
picture. Curves, diagonals, and other forms can
add interest. In groupings, odd numbers are bet
ter than even ones. Try to get sharp, bright eyes
in your your photographs, even if some parts of
the bird appear fuzzy.
Bird photographers warn us to be cautious
about disturbing nesting birds and to forego the
picture rather than to cause harm to the bird.
We photograph birds because of their beauty
and because they arc readily seen, frequent sub
jects. They can be easily attracted and they arc a
continuing challenge to our creativity. And we
can have fun.
1
. V// LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ? ^
Girl Scouts Changing As The World Changes
(The following letter, written as a
reply to a letter last week by Karl
Brandt of Shallotte, is printed here
at the request of the writer.
Editor's note.)
Mr. Brandt:
In reply to your letter in the Jan.
17 issue of the Beacon, as the
Service Unit Manager I was asked
by leaders of Girl Scout troops
throughout Brunswick County to try
to clear up your misconceptions re
garding the Girl Scout program and
the Girl Scout cookie sales.
The Girl Scout cookie sales is a
long honored tradition throughout
the United States. Girl Scouts have
been approaching the public asking
"would you like to buy some Giri
Scout cookies?" since 1936, long
before the "feminist" movement be
gan. Those girls were learning pro
duction, marketing, public relations,
money management, values/morals
and other skills useful to them in the
'30s, just as our girls arc learning
today.
Our girls are the future women of
the 1990s and the 2 1st Century. We,
as leaders and parents, must prepare
our children to face their futures.
Economical unrest faces families
in today's world and tomorrow's.
Check around, Mr. Brandt, and you
will find both partners working in
more than 57% of today's families.
(Compare those numbers to the
30% in 1960, 39% in 1970 and 50%
in 1980.) A staggering 24% of our
American families are single work
ing parents and the majority of the
single parents are mothers.
These numbers won't decrease,
instead they are on a steady rise.
Our daughters, unless they are
lucky and bom into a billionaire's
family or marry into one, arc going
to become part of those numbers.
We want them prepared to be able
to earn a competitive salary if they
have to work or choose to work at a
career they enjoy. A salary they can
live comfortably on, not just survive
from one pay period to another as
most families today do.
Today's Girl Scout programs arc
designed to teach our girls skills
they will need whether they arc
hoinemakcrs, mothers or career
women helping to support their
families.
We work very hard in our troops
to help our girls learn life skills. We
teach homcmaking skills-providing
good nutritious healthy meals and
snacks, how to have a healthy life
style, childcarc, how to deal with
relationships, money management
and organization skills, decision
making skills, self-assertion, and
self-esteem. We teach arts, commu
nity involvement, environmental
skills, communicating with others,
and we introduce them to new expe
riences.
The traditional woman's role of
the "little woman" in the kitchen
cooking, cleaning and changing dia
pers is changing daily. Our troops
around Brunswick County work
hard learning how to cope with the
new role women in today and to
morrow's lifestyle must play.
We're changing as the world
changes.
Guts? The women and men (and
yes, Mr. Brandt, we have men
throughout the Girl Scout program)
who arc leaders in our communities
arc the bravest people I've ever met.
They volunteer their lime to reach
into the lives of millions of little
girls to teach them morals and val
ues and all the other skill* they will
need to survive in the world we'll
be throwing them into. As role
models, these people are untouch
able! We have homcmakcrs and
mothers, career women and men
wiihiu the ranks of our leaders, 2!!
unpaid volunteers.
Mr. Brandt, we invite you to be
come a Girl Scout leader and teach
those skills you feel arc so neces
sary for our girls to know.
Whitney Walters
Service Manager of Brunswick
Long Beach
Don't Forget Who Put Power In Their Hands
To the editor:
I have been a Brunswick County
resident all of my life. I have seen
this county progress faster than I
had ever imagined in such a short
period; most of which I very proud
of.
But with the current board of
county commissioners, there are
some very serious issues that have
come to mind that I feel I must
share with my fellow county resi
dents.
The new county commissioners
seem to be dwelling on the past.
They seem to feel that there is a
need to rehash decisions made by
their predecessors. Is it their place
to try and undo what the former
commissioners (who were also
elected by their constituency) have
done in what they thought to be in
the best interest of the county?
If that is so, then is it not con
ceivable that everything that has ev
er been done anywhere by anyone
can be undone by those put in pow
er to do nose very things that we
entrust them to uphold?
It is an age-old tradition to say
what is wanted to be heard in order
to get in the position to do what you
want (that is in the political arena).
But this is not the way things should
be done. Whatever happened to
truth, whatever happened to a man's
word being his bond? Why must ev
ery issue be black vs. white, Dem
ocrat vs. Republican, the northern
end of the county vs. the southern
end? Are we not all of the same
county? Don't we all want to main
tain the good qualities of this fair
county of ours to remain ever avail
able to our children and their chil
dren?
I feel the new board of commis
sioners should realize the vast
growth of the county and come to
terms with the needs of all its citi
zens. There are five departments in
the county administration that are
headed by black citizens of the
county.
These department heads seem to
have been singled out by the newly
elected board for reasons that have
not been clearly defined. Instead of
focusing on these departments, 1
think it would be a wise decision to
include the 30-odd other depart
ments along with the five men
tioned earlier, and embrace them all
with the supporting, helping hand
that we look for from our county
commissioners and all elected offi
cials of the county, the state and the
country.
The media seems to have placed
a lot of faith in this new board and
has already given them much
praise. I only hope that they are cor
rect and that the new board of coun
ty commissioners will give out their
leadership to all of its citizenry and
not single out just those that don't
seem to fit in with their personal/
political ideologies.
The power is in their hands, but
let us, nor them, not forget who put
it there.
Andrew Hill, III
Leland
Stop Playing
Politics On
School Board
(The following letter, written to
Donna Baxter, chairperson of the
Brunswick County Board of Edu
cation, is printed here at the re
quest of the writer. Editor's note.)
Dear Ms. Baxter
As a taxpayer, concerned citizen
and grandparent of a future student
of the Brunswick County School
system, 1 would like to voice my
complaints, opinions and concerns.
The students do not care if mem
bers of the board of education are
Republicans or Democrats, so
please, for the sake of our students,
stop playi:.^ politics and gel down
to the business for which you were
elected-to help set policy, oiler
guidance, leadership and to set
goals for our administrators, teach
ers and students. Remember, I said
"guidance," not interference.
While I can understand you may
have a very rare case in which a
sensitive, personal matter must be
discussed in private in order to pro
tect the person or their families
from embarrassment, I cannot for
the life of me understand why you
would need to have a private
meeting for a public school system.
I understand there will be time
the members do not agree, and this
is good. But when a vote is taken
every member should support the
majority decision, not try to under
mine the board. It sends the wrong
message to the teachers and stu
dents.
Brunswick County is a great
place to live. We have great people,
great climate, beautiful bcaches,
and, with the cooperation of you
(board of education) and the county
commissioners, we can have a
"great" school system.
If you will let the administrators
administrate, and let the teachers
teach, then the students will learn.
Educating the youth of our coun
ty should be our number one priori
ty, and should be supported by ev
ery citizen, not just parents.
Let us all support our tcachers,
administrators and students. It will
make Brunswick County a better
place to work, live and play.
Nick Newton
Ocean Isle
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Spotlight Was On Alligator
Make Everyone
Do The Same
About Lights
To the editor:
Thanks to (former) Town Man
ager Blake Proctor of Holden Beach
for taking no action on an ordinance
to protect sea turtles from artificial
light.
Had it not been for spoUights on
the beach we might have had a great
tragedy when three women saw an
alligator coming out of the ocean.
Visitors and families arc drawn to
our area because they can walk the
beach safely at night with their
flashlights. Children go home with
happy memories of Holden Beach
and looking for ghost crabs at night.
They look forward to coming back.
The sea turtles manage to conic
back every year but usually after
midnight when young people arc
asleep.
Beryl Walker
Holden Beach (in summer)
To the editor:
It is now one week since I had
my security light taken down and 1
still sec a great number still, accord
ing to our pontifical town board,
creating a nuisance.
If 1 have to abide by a stupid or
dinance that deprives citizens of
their right to security, then everyone
should do the same.
In the interim, I assume that the
Town of Holden Beach plans to col
lect S25 per day for each day the
lights plague mankind.
J. A. Fournier
Holden Beach
Chiropractic Center
of Shallotte/Ocean Isie
Hwy. 1 79. Ocean Isle, 579-3502
Dr. H.J. 'Skip'' Davis
Most Insurances Accepted
Mon.-Fri. 8:30-12 & 1:30-5:30, Thurs. 8:30-12
Hwy.
Sunset -
Beach
904
4 Mile
Hny 179
*DR DAVIS
Rd.
Ocean Me
.7.
/Sj
K
<\
V
Kozo Hair Design
Village Pines ? Shallotte
is pleased
to welcome
Elaine Pigott
She invites all her friends
and customers to call her.
754-9477
is Open Mon-Sat ? Walk-ins welcome
c*g
W? K
MICHAEL F. EASLEY
Former District Attorney for
Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus Counties
Announces the Formation of a
Professional Association
for the General Practice of Law with
ROY C. BAIN
and
MARY P. EASLEY
EASLEY & BAIN, P.A.
Attorneys at Law
Mary Elizabeth Wertz
is an Associate with the Firm's
Wilmington Office
Wilmington Office: Southport Office:
122 Market Street 120 E. Moore Street
P.O. Box 1467 P.O. Box 10486
Wilmington, NC 28402 Southport, NC 28461
(919)251-1811 (919)457-5670
(919)251-0358 (919)547-0801
Roses are red
Dollars are green
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