MICHAEL BROWN

Michael Brown’s path to nature photography was set into motion at his high school graduation. Waiting his turn to be called up to receive a diploma, he contemplated his future. He knew he wasn’t ready to spend more time at school by going to college, but also wasn’t interested in many of the vocations available to him. He made a commitment to himself to find a direction, and shortly after graduation found it in a Sunday paper classified ad for a photographer.

He applied immediately for the position as an architectural and portraiture photographer and was hired. They offered good pay, plenty of travel around the country, and two weeks of training. He had always enjoyed the thought of becoming a photographer, and how hard could it really be to point a camera in a certain direction and mash that button down, anyway?

Of course, it was harder than it seemed, but Mike was eager to learn and his personality was an asset to the company in working with clients and securing new ones. Over the next five years he traveled the country, armed with two Mamiya 645 bodies, lenses, and lights provided by the company. He was never without his own 35mm Minolta SRT 101, which he used for landscape and flora shots found while traveling secondary roads. He was truly enjoying his job and at the same time cultivating a passion for nature photography.

But constant travel took its toll, and when Mike was offered a contract to shoot for the military, he took the opportunity. He worked at the Fort Jackson Army Base in Columbia, S.C., which was a short fifteen minutes from his home. Mike’s schedule was at his own discretion as he took photos around the base for promotional purposes. He enjoyed the four-year contract a great deal and was disappointed when it ended.

For years, urging by family and friends to finally settle down, to go back to school, and get a “real job” went unanswered until Mike met Angela. They were married in 1984 and Mike’s focus turned towards a job with good benefits and chances for furthering his education. His camera was set aside for twelve years but in his mind he was still taking photos, evaluating scenes, composing shots, and studying subjects. An infatuation with daylilies (hemerocallis) led to a hybridizing hobby to create more unique flowers.
A growing interest in the internet finally led Mike to dust off the camera gear, to take some photos of his flowers and then digitize them for presentation online. He was dissatisfied with his images when comparing them to those of other hybridizers’ flowers, so he looked for new ways to photograph his subjects. This developed into a more artistic approach and viewer’s questions turned from details about hybridizing to Mike’s photographic technique! He began to receive invitations to present programs on photographing flowers in different states; he was thrilled at the interest his photos had generated.

His work began to encompass more subjects and much more intimate close-ups to capture minute details. Mike delved into macro abstracts, and when he acquired a digital camera, he photographed even more adventurously with lesser costs associated per capture.

Today Mike has an impressive portfolio of images expressing his personal visions in photography, to which he adds on a regular basis. He is a NatureScapes.Net Flora and Macro Gallery Moderator, and attributes part of his growth in photography to learning in online communities.

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