VI SU AL ART S
BY ALE X NOT MAN
MACRO BEAUTY
The Smithsonian to display local photographer’s winning image
C
ottage Grove’s 29-year-old Thomas
Haney likes snakes, lizards and bugs —
a lot. At one point as a kid in Austin,
Texas, Haney wrangled over 80 lizards
for pets. When his love of reptiles
transformed into a love of reptilian (and
nature) photography, the world took notice.
In 2004, Haney nabbed second place in the Best
of College Photography Annual with a photo of an
Ecuadorian vine snake, its yellow eyes holding the
viewer’s gaze while striking out of the jungle ether
with exposed fangs. Three years ago, he won the
BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s One Earth
Award for his haunting entry “The Lone Fir,”
snapped while following old-growth logging in
Forks, Wash. Last week, Haney received more good
news: The Nature’s Best Photography competition,
one of the largest of its kind in the country, awarded
him first place in the “People in Nature” category.
“It’s a close-up photo of a little raft of bubbles
in a tidal pool in Cape Perpetua,” Haney says. The
macro image features thousands of tiny candy-
colored bubbles (the unusual color comes from
certain lighting that causes an iridescent effect) and
thousands of tiny Haneys, each globule reflecting a
silhouette of the photographer with his tripod. The
photo will be displayed at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of Natural History for the next
year. “It’s really nice,” he says of the win. “It’s hard
to get known as a wildlife photographer.”
The Texas transplant picked up photography when
he was 15, exploring Austin’s unkempt tracts of land
with his lens. Haney decided to focus on macro subjects
like snakes and spiders for two reasons: He thought the
mammalian kingdom was getting enough attention and
the telephoto lenses required to capture soaring bald
eagles and fishing bears cost upwards of $8,000. Today
he uses a digital Canon 5D Mark II with a 100 mm
macro lens, 300 mm macro lens and a 16-35 mm land-
scape lens. He also needs lots and lots of raingear.
Haney’s summers are spent as a wildlife firefighter
and his winters are divided between photography and
building cow-panel greenhouses. He takes three-to-
four-day solo trips to favorites spots on the coast or
nearby Bryce Creek. “It’s always pouring,” he says. “It
can be really hard to do photography in the rain.” Even
when he’s soaked to the bone, he draws inspiration
from his photography idols, French nature photogra-
pher Vincent Munier and Minnesotan outdoor photog-
rapher Jim Brandenburg, who he admires because of
their fine attention-to-detail. That’s how he would
advise aspiring wildlife photographers. “It’s all in the
details, like cooking,” he says. “Every little detail.
Don’t settle. Keep working to make it better and bet-
ter.” And, of course, a good lens doesn’t hurt. ■
To see more of Haney’s photography, visit thaney.com. Don’t miss the
shot of a terrifying crab spider hunting a fl y.
M e d i c a l M a r i j u a n a h a s h e l p e d
t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e r e d u c e t h e i r
u s e o f p r e s c r i p t i o n p a i n m e d i c a t i o n .
I f y o u s u f f e r f r o m M i g r a i n e s ,
C h r o n i c N a u s e a , F i b r o m y a l g i a ,
D e g e n e r a t i v e D i s c D i s e a s e ,
N e u r o p a t h y , A r t h r i t i s o r a n y
c h r o n i c p a i n c o n d i t i o n , i t ’ s
p o s s i b l e t h a t y o u q u a l i f y f o r y o u r
O r e g o n M e d i c a l M a r i j u a n a C a r d .
D O Y O U Q U A L I F Y F O R Y O U R
M E D I C A L M A R I J U A N A C A R D ?
T o fi finn d o u t , c a l l u s a t 8 8 8 . 9 2 0 . 6 0 7 6
V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t O M M P C A R D . C O M
I t ’ s Y o u r M e d i c i n e I t ’ s Y o u r R i g h t
G E T L E G A L !
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eugeneweekly.com • October 18, 2012
31