FOR THE BIRDS

A bird in the camera is worth a cover page on the phone book. Not many photographers can boast that their work has been featured on the front page of the phone book two years in a row, but Valley artist Laurie Jo Green can.

Most will remember the baby grebe riding on its mother’s back that graced the cover of the MTA phone book. When speaking of her wonderful grebe photos she refers to “the summer of grebes” and how they are “accepting of ‘visitors’ if you don’t get too close.”

With her eyes twinkling about birds, she explains, “(It) was a kick” because she got to “watch the mating, nest-building, egg-sitting, babies riding on the backs of the parents and the parents readying them to be independent, leaving them in the fall, and the then the juveniles leaving later.”

Her observations were from a “rubber fishing-style boat” where things became animated while getting into position to shoot “and having the wind come up and spin (the boat) in the wrong direction.”

Speaking of the grebes, she continues, “I also like the interaction between the birds” and to “be able to capture the ‘family’ experience between these birds. What great parents grebes are to their young. Both parents are caregivers and teachers. There is a kindness, patience with the young. There is an abruptness with the older ones. It is interesting to see the expression on the juvenile’s face as it tries to determine if it will get food or be rebuffed and told to take care of itself.”

Her bird pictures have soared successfully through many competitions and often chirp out as winners. Being an avid bird photographer, she says, “I look for birds where ever I am.”

The shooting life began for Laurie when she “got a camera in 2003 and just dove in and started taking pictures.” Many “favorable responses” from her peers encouraged her to “start learning about cameras and lenses.”

She explains that she has “mixed feelings about becoming too technical, … letting (the) mind get in the way. When something is working, I will go with that, even though much of the time I am not sure why. Sometimes I will know there is a photograph in a picture and (just) wait until I find it.

“I like to take the image all the way through processing to printing,” Laurie adds, elaboration on learning about different papers, print media and occasionally “play(s) with an image in Photoshop.”

When asked about her famous in-flight waxwing photo, she explains, “I took many, many shots of the birds over many days. I learned how they behaved and where they hung out. Then I was on my lunch break, found a flock and got the shot. It took just a few minutes. However, it took a lot of preparation to get to the place of being able to find the (waxwings) and a bit of luck to get the bird in that pose.”

It is an advantage when “there are more eyes looking out for where the birds are,” says Laurie, who gets bird-awareness calls regularly.

When her friends cry “birds,” Laurie will pick up and go. She tells of the case in summer 2008 when “I was told about a pair of cranes that were raising two young ones and I was allowed to go on these people’s property (to observe). There was also a swan and loon nest there. I (would) spend hours watching the birds, anticipating which way they would head and how to get into position that would give me good shots.

“The cranes got used to me being there, knew they were safe, and so I got some good shots. Most of all I got to spend the summer watching the crane babies grow up and fly away in the fall.”

She elaborates on another crane opportunity that culminated with a prize-winning shot, taken at a friend’s property in Willow.

“We were inside drinking homemade wine (and) sitting by the wood stove when the cranes arrived in their yard,” she says. “It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to adjust the settings on my camera and started shooting from inside the house. The settings were perfect. I would not have thought to shoot that way, so basically sometimes I need to stay out of the way and let the shots happen.”

When asked about how photography has changed her life, she says, “Most everything I do is (now) somehow related to photography. I see and hear things differently now; (my) perceptions have changed.”

On a personal note she says, “The photography helped me during a difficult time when my parents were dying. I could decompress through loosing myself in photos.”

It is not surprising that Laurie is an active volunteer with the Alaska Wild Bird Rehab Center. She tells of an experience in November when a swan was stranded on Big Lake.

“Fortunately, the ice held as (she and another volunteer) went out there” to make the rescue. She is happy to say that the swan has since been released in Cordova.

So what is the future of this very successful photographer?

“I want to branch out to shoot a greater variety of subjects,” she says, adding that she thinks of herself as “an opportunist when it comes to getting subject matter” and that some of her best images have been “compositions I would not have thought of.”

Soon she will make a trip to China with a tour group and two friends. Let’s hope her world travel experience with the camera is as successful as her shared view of Alaska that many locals have come to anticipate.

Laurie will be on hand to meet the pubic and chat about her prize-winning work on display at Primrose Retirement Community in Wasilla on the Valley Second Saturday tomorrow from 1 to 3 p.m.

Second Saturday

Green hearts

• Mat-Su College Greenhouse, on College Road off Trunk Road. This Valley Arts Alliance event will have live music and informal talks about gardening, art and photography, from noon until 4 p.m.

Dorothy Page Museum

• 323 N. Main Street in Wasilla, 373-9071. Artists reception featuring the Mat-Su College Art Department Faculty at their exhibit called “College Faculty Out of the Classroom,” from 2-4 p.m.

Primrose Community

• 889 N. Elkhorn Drive, Wasilla, 315-4025. Photographer Laurie Green will be on hand to meet the public and chat about her prize winning work on display “A Close Look.” Reception 1-3 p.m.

Fireside Books

• 720 S. Alaska St. Palmer, 745-2665. Debbie Bohm will read Valentine poetry and literature at 3 p.m.

Valley Winery and Brewery

• 1705 N. Ranch Road on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, 357-9463. Local art will be on display, as well as a wine- and beer-making presentation, from 2-6 p.m.

Turkey Red

• 550S. Alaska Street, Palmer, 746-5544. The Alaska Gallery presents a reception for Patty Halley, 2-4 p.m.

Pandemonium Bookseller and Café

• 1325 E. Palmer-Wasilla Hwy., 376-3939

Group show by the Valley Fine Arts Association called “All About Love” with an opening from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Sicily’s Pizza

• Parks Highway (previously the Alpine Garden Grille)

Group show by the Valley Fine Arts Association called “An Assortment of Birds and Trees” with an opening from 1 to 2:30 p.m.