Kersti and members of the Seattle U. Wildlife and Ornithological Society,

Sooooo, um, like, um, do you guys, like, sit in an um forest glade, or like meadow a with wildflowers and like chant until some birds come in on their like, um own? Or do you use binoculars and field guides with pictures like, um the rest of us? What you are reading on Tweeters in regard to photography is neither ridiculous nor arguing. It is an intellectual discussion and a technical exchange of information. It's a concept you should have picked up by now in college. Study of wildlife, be it through photography, direct observation, banding, or some form of electronic monitoring are all vital to the study, and therefore understanding of a species. I can't believe you haven't learned this from Seattle University if you have taken any kind of biology courses. Photography is among the least invasive of these techniques. With the long lenses photographers use, they rarely have to get closer than someone using a pair of binoculars. Most bird photographers are bird lovers and are doing what they love because they actually care about their subjects. I have regularly seen photographers (not 100% I grant you) give up a shot if it might disturb the bird. Understanding a living organism and educating others who are not able to be there, is what allows us to generate understanding and caring, leading to the preservation of species....not conquering them. So the next time you look at a picture of a bird, use a field guide, watch a movie or television documentary, remember the photographer who had to sit days in a blind, lie on their belly in pond, wade in a swamp up to their ass in mud and skeeters, dive in freezing Arctic waters, or hang from a cliff, often at their own expense, just so you could experience "the beauty and inner growth".



Jeff Cohen

north Seattle


Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:03:32 -0700
From: muulk at seattleu.edu
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] please stop this



Hello all,
This is my first time writing, and I have a small request. Please stop this ridiculous arguing over gear and ego.
I have these sent to me so that I may enjoy what others are experiencing in nature, not to get caught up in the destructiveness
of the human, trying another angle at conquering nature, under the guise of wildlife photography. If you so need to document every tidbit of a bird's life that you end up missing the beauty and inner growth provided to you by outer experience, well that is unfortunate. You are behaving no better than paparazzi in my opinion.
Let the birds be for God's sake, so that we may enjoy them, and each other, respectfully...
Thank you,
Kersti



P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Kersti E. Muul
First President; Seattle University Wildlife and Ornithological Society

Environmental /Ecological Studies 2010
206-651-6637
muulk at seattleu.edu

Research Intern
College of Forest Resources; Wildlife Conservation Option
University of Washington

'Life is really very beautiful, it is not the ugly thing that we have made of it; and you can appreciate its richness, its depth, its extraordinary loveliness only when you revolt against everything - organized religion, against tradition, against the present rotten society - so that you as a human being find out for yourself what is true. Not to imitate but to discover - that is education, is it not?'

- Krishnamurti
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