WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Every day is Earth Day, it seems, to David Collins, a retired MD who spends most of his time somewhere outside on the hunt for his winged friends. Yet the commemoration – begun on April 22, 1970 – is vital, says Collins. “Earth Day serves as a yearly reminder to me of our relationship to and reliance on our environment, the limited resources available to humans, animals, and plants on Planet Earth, and our responsibility to serve as better stewards of our world.”

That outlook is reflected in his photography, which is why we’re honored to celebrate Earth Day with a small sampling of his work. Because we are both constantly meandering, we were unable to connect in person to conduct this interview. So, Collins graciously agreed to answer a few questions via email. They are in Q & A format.

Collins’s work was featured from May 2 – June 21 at the Welborn Gallery in Yadkinville, N.C.

AC: The news release from Yadkin Arts alluded to your intention of ” … focusing attention on the protection of birds, land preservation, and climate change.” Please share how, through your photography, you seek to accomplish that.

Collins: The birds and the ecosystems that support them are in peril worldwide. As an individual, I know that I can probably do little to reverse all the negative things that endanger and kill so many birds – habitat loss, climate change, building strikes, poisoning, overhunting to name a few. But we have to do what we can to keep what we have. Over the years, my wife and I have been active with local land conservancies, and the Audubon Society. I offer my photographs to conservancies at no charge. I enjoy giving talks to our local Audubon Society and other groups. I love to see my pictures used for a purpose rather than languishing in the “digital dust bin”. I have found that showing folks the beauty of birds in sharp detail and focus generates interest and excitement in birds, and might hopefully inspire them to help protect them. 

AC: Please share your story of making the transition from MD to bird photographer.

Collins: Thirty years ago I visited Costa Rica with my family. I remember seeing a keel-billed toucan at quite a distance through a spotting scope and thinking how cool it would be to get a good photograph of that bird. I somehow held onto that notion over the years. I retired 10 years ago after 30 years of medical practice, and need a new activity. I had been a casual photographer and birder for years. I had an entry level camera with a medium zoom lens, and took a few bird photos while visiting a Florida beach. One photo of a blue heron grabbed me – something about the curve in the wings as the bird took flight seemed so gracefully beautiful. A subsequent visit to Wrightsville Beach, N.C. with a little better camera and lens yielded photos of the black skimmers with their long, pointed wings and acrobatic flight. At that point, I was hooked. 

AC: Why did you choose birds?

Collins: I call birds “The Ornaments on the Christmas Tree of Life” – they are so amazingly varied – often big with flamboyant color schemes, but also small to tiny with more subtle plumage. The hummingbirds offer exceptional, often vivid, examples of size and color variation. Photographing birds affords me the opportunity to be outdoors, particularly at the beginning and end of the day, when the world is quiet and the light is good. If you spend a lot of time with birds you will find moments of peaceful, extraordinary beauty and even epiphany – there was a moment on Great Salt Lake last fall when a flock of four hundred red-necked phalaropes flew just over my head at sundown and I could hear and almost feel the beat of their wings.

I love every aspect of bird photography and modern digital photography makes bird photography almost too easy. The ability to capture numerous images in rapid succession, with fast, accurate focusing, and immediately download them into a computer and view and edit them is part of the magic. The internet allows one to share images with friends and over social media instantaneously. When I have new bird images in my camera, I can’t wait to get them loaded into my computer, clean them up and view the results.

AC: You’ve done a good bit of traveling in putting together your collection. What has that traveling taught you that you want others to know?

Collins: I love to travel. Chasing birds over North and South America in recent years has been a source of great joy and wonder. The birds across North America are amazing and there are places where they still number in the thousands and thousands. Pungo Lake in North Carolina, Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, and the Bay of Saint Lawrence come to mind. The tanagers, toucans and hummingbirds of Central and South America are so numerous, brilliant and varied. The opportunity to meet other photographers and interact with the local people on these trips adds to the fun.

Exhibit at the Welborn Gallery

Collins’s exhibit, “Birds Through a Camera’s Lens was featured from May 2 – June 21 at the Welborn Gallery in Yadkinville. This exhibit was presented in partnership with the Yadkin Arts Council and Audubon NC.

Collins is thrilled at this new opportunity. “The photography show at the Yadkinville Cultural Arts Center is something new for me,” says Collins. “I am grateful for the extraordinary opportunity the Center has afforded me to have this show. The Yadkin Cultural Arts Center is an amazing place and my wife and I have enjoyed great art shows, concerts, and plays there for years. It is exciting to see my photos printed in large format, and I look forward to seeing them hanging in the gallery. Many people have said to me. ‘We are excited to see your photos somewhere better than on our cell phones.’ The photographs in the show are for sale. The printing costs have been covered by anonymous donors. 100 percent of the proceeds from sale will flow to the Center and the Audubon Society, and the show is presented in cooperation with Yadkinville Cultural Arts Center, Audubon of North Carolina, and Forsyth Audubon.”

Learn more

ddcgalleries.smugmug.com

Instagram: #collins4513

Vero: @davidcollins

© Michael M. Barrick, 2024