PERRY, Maine — Don Dunbar used to be a very shy guy. But what began as an interest and has now turned into a business —photographing wildlife and scenery — has showed him that he can enjoy both the solitude of photography while presenting his images to the rest of the world.
“Photography has really opened me up more and more,” he said. “Until a couple years ago, no one even knew I did this.”
Whether he is climbing the rock face of a cliff at East Quoddy Lighthouse in 36 degrees below zero weather, or sitting silently in a camouflage net waiting for eagles to swoop down and feed on an alewife run, Dunbar, 49, is content to be alone.
Recently he headed out to Sandy Stream Pond at Baxter State Park, determined to get “the shot everyone wants, with a moose in the foreground and Mount Katahdin as a backdrop.”
It was midweek, on a Thursday, and already the area was crowded with other photographers — too crowded for Dunbar. “People are flying in from Europe to photograph at Baxter,” he said. “There were four people on just one rock that day.”
So Dunbar stole away to a secluded spot farther down the lake and waited.
“It wasn’t 20 minutes later that this huge moose came along, racking up the trees. He stepped out into the water in front of me and turned his eyes right on me,” Dunbar said. Dunbar was afraid the moose would keep walking so he slowly stood up to make the moose stop.
It worked and he got the shot.
Unfortunately, the moose put his ears down, a bad sign. “Just then I saw a cow and calf in the woods nearby and the male just decided to go after them.”
Was he scared?
“Of course, but I really don’t put myself in any dangerous situations,” he added with a smile, belying his words.
Sometimes, just to get a perfect shot, he has tied himself to his Jeep, to give himself a rescue rope if needed.
“I’ll admit. People sometimes call me crazy.”
Reckless or not, Dunbar is humble. He calls himself just a man with a camera. But there is a silent beauty to his photographs — exquisite moments of nature caught in time. They tell the story of Dunbar’s world — the Down East that tourists and natives alike can appreciate. He has captured red-golden sunsets, eagles fighting while in mid-air, birds in snowstorms, whales breaching. None of his photographs contains people — they are snapshots of the wildlife and scenery that show Down East in its best light.
He does not Photoshop or digitally maneuver any photograph. He lets the sunsets and sunrises provide the colors. Whether it is sea smoke at dawn or the red sails of a ship cutting through Passamaquoddy Bay, Dunbar uses the available light to set the scene.
He says wildlife photography is not for everyone, that it requires patience and persistence.
But when it is very quiet, or he’s sitting still in a wildlife refuge, Dunbar said uncanny things often happen.
“Things just happen for me. The animals, birds, just seem to come to me,” he said, which is why he is never without a camera.
Just riding to the grocery store on a recent snowy Friday, he was able to capture a flock of Canada geese and a herd of deer.
In his own backyard, he took an amazing photograph of a bobcat. He was oceanside one afternoon when two sea otters swam up to him and began mating.
“I was walking up to a stand of alders to take a photo and a gorgeous green butterfly flew out of no where and landed on one of the trees,” he said.
“It’s really odd. The animals just seem to come to me,” he said.
His success is a bit amazing to Dunbar, who began his career with amateur video and turned to still photographs only about a decade ago.
Monday through Thursday he works in Eastport at a manufacturing plant, takes sports photos for the local weekly paper, and is the official summer photographer on a whale watching cruise ship.
In the small time left over, he is free to pursue his passion.
“I was always into wildlife, even as a child,” he said. “When I take a picture, I have learned to be patient, to wait for that certain pose.”
He said some wildlife photographers take thousands of shots of a single encounter. “I wait for that one special shot,” he said. “I think I want to see and experience each picture I’m taking. I’ll wait for hours for that right shot.”
Dunbar recalled a time he was caught sitting in a chair by the incoming tide. “It came right up under my chair and I had to hook my legs up over the arms and wait for the tide to recede,” he said. While waiting, a cormorant came up from under water with a fish in its mouth. “It was gorgeous with the water droplets just falling off it. I guess I’m just lucky,” he said.
But taking wildlife photos is not without discomforts — hours in a blind or sitting in a hidden spot. While out for a hike one day, Dunbar spotted a beautiful snake behind him and quickly laid down on the path to take its picture. Unfortunately he had lain in an ants’ nest. “But I got the picture,” he said, smiling and showing off a close-up of the red forked tongue of the snake coming directly at the camera.
Dunbar uses a variety of zoom lenses: 18-200 mm and 80-400 mm. “You can purchase special wildlife lenses for $10,200. But I can’t,” he said. “I have to be willing to try harder. I know the moment I press the button, that I’ve got that one special picture.”
Dunbar is keenly aware that when dealing with wildlife, he may only have one opportunity or a split second to get that unique shot. “I can’t ask the deer to hold that pose while I get ready,” he said.
“I also know that some people don’t have the chance to see this incredible wildlife and beautiful scenery as easily as I do,” he said. “If I can share it, that’s very important to me. I feel like I’m bringing eastern Maine to the world, one image at a time.”
Don Dunbar’s photography may be found at www.easternmaineimages.com, and at several retail outlets and galleries in the Eastport and Perry area.
Don Donbar’s Top Five Tips for Wildlife and Outdoor Photography:
1. Always have your camera ready and with you wherever you go.
2. Know what your equipment is capable of, use a tripod as much as possible.
3. Be ready for changing conditions and lighting and adjust accordingly.
4. Know the behaviors of the wildlife you’re photographing and be patient.
5. Mostly, enjoy what you are doing and experiencing while out taking pictures. You will come away with more memories than photos.