Wild life photographers sometimes work in controlled environments like zoos or animal refuges. Not Joe Mac; the wild is his inspiration. When he works he lives with his subjects. He prefers to photograph in Mississippi and goes deep into the southern wild. He glides across the water concealed in his poke boat or takes up residence in a blind allowing him to capture an extraordinary view of the natural world.
In order to be close to the animals he photographs Joe Mac has designed and built a unique blind. The concept is based on life long lessons in biology reinforced by personal observation. The frame is lightweight plastic pipe covered tightly with camouflage fabric so it doesn't flap and make noise. Weeks before he photographs he sets up his blind in knee-deep water and conceals it with surrounding vegetation. The final clever touch is a fake camera lens sticking out of the front of the blind that he constructed from old coffee cans. The wild life eventually accepts the blind as harmless and is not frightened when Joe Mac quietly takes up residence. Birds have been known to land on his blind and actually perch on his lens.
On a typical day of shooting Joe Mac begins long before dawn. He arrives about 1/2-hour before the sun rises and, in the dim morning light, quietly slips into his blind. Seated on a folding chair in the water he removes the fake lens and carefully puts his large telephoto lens into position and waits patiently. He has artfully blended with the natural environment. The sun rises and his keen eye sees what he has been waiting for; click·a purple gallinule or an alligator looking for breakfast, click·a wood duck landing on the water, click· a flock of pelicans, click· the beauty of the sun as it hangs low in the sky, click, click, click, capturing the perfect moment.
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