By B.C. Manion
Visiting Stuart Marcus’ wildlife photography gallery is like taking a trip around the globe.
There are images of big cats – leopards and lions – that he tracked down in Africa and photographs of penguins he captured in Antarctica.
The collection also includes images of bats, iguanas and rhinos. There are pictures of birds, too, including the blue-footed booby, the red-footed booby and the masked booby that Marcus shot in the Galapagos Islands.
He’s particular about the kinds of animals he photographs.
“You can see big herds of camels in Australia,” he said, but when he was there, he didn’t take any pictures of those. “I didn’t want to photograph an animal that was brought there.”
The same goes for foxes. “Foxes were brought to Australia because the English wanted a fox hunt. They’re not native.”
Some of his favorite shots have resulted from work he’s done with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He’s worked with the department there on studies done on grizzly bears and harbor seals.
“I’ve been going to a spot where basically I have seen the same bears year after year after year,” Marcus said.
While some may appreciate the aesthetic quality of Marcus’ work, he said that’s not what drives him.
“If you see artistic merit, thank you very much,” he said. “It was purely unintentional. The intent is to capture animal behavior without interfering.”
Over the years, his experiences have created vivid memories and he keeps copious notes, to help him fill in the details.
“This beautiful young leopard, he is a young male, absolutely in the prime of his life,” Marcus said, describing one of his photos at the HiBrow Art Gallery, at 14125 Seventh St., in downtown Dade City. “He was photographed in the Serengeti, in the Seven Hills area.
“He’s one of the few animals that’s actually ever succeeded in scaring me — in making me move backwards.”
When Marcus and his guide initially spotted the leopard, it was moving away from them.
Marcus said his guide asked him if he trusted him – and Marcus told him he did.
The guide then proceeded to drive on a game path that took them all of the way around the plain, a trip that took over an hour, so they could try to catch a glimpse of the leopard on the other side.
Shortly after they arrived on the other side of the plain, they saw the leopard approaching.
“We stay still in the Jeep. In about another 20 minutes, he emerges from the grass. He’s walking right at the Jeep. I am down, shooting out the window, so I can have a nice low angle of him walking up to me, and I thought he was going to go through the window to get to the other side of the Jeep.
“He did not turn until he literally was two or three feet away from the window.”
The leopard then climbed a fallen tree branch, where he watched for his prey – giving Marcus ample opportunity to capture images of the big cat.
He was thrilled to get the shots.
Leopard sightings are rare, Marcus explained. “Less than 2 percent of the people that ever go to Africa ever see a leopard in the wild.”
Another image from Marcus’ photo collection shows an eagle ray jumping out of the water in an area near Heron Island, a coral atoll that sits on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.
“It’s in the morning, we’re waiting to leave and rays are jumping. The water is clear enough that I can track them under water.
“For about two hours, I’m tracking rays and have not pushed the shutter one time. I have a mantra that I am reciting to myself: ‘When his nose breaks the water, push the shutter. When his nose breaks the water, push the shutter.’
“If you wait until the top of the arc, you have a lovely splash.”
“I took one shot. I knew I had it when I took it,” he said.
Getting the shots that he wants requires being willing to be patient, to go off the beaten path, and to endure bitter cold, searing heat, heavy rains, deep snows and high winds.
The 60-year-old is willing to go where he needs to go, but he doesn’t take undue risks.
When he is out at night in Africa, for instance, he has a guide, a driver, a spotter and an armed guard. “The armed guard is not to protect us from the animals.”
The Dade City man said his interest in wildlife began when he was a young boy.
“I was blessed, in a way, that my dad was an airline mechanic. He worked for National Airlines. We traveled as children. In those years, we would go to the zoos like everyone else. As I grew, I simply developed this fascination with animals in their native environment,”
He got into photography when he was about 18 years old.
His dad had some cameras, so Marcus began experimenting with them and expanded his repertoire.
Around 1975, he sold his cameras, his darkroom and his golf clubs to start a business in the electronics field.
That business, Sound Connections International, designs and manufactures high-end audio and video connectors for the entertainment industry. The business is located in Lutz and is run by Marcus’ daughter-in-law.
Years after he got his business rolling, Marcus went on an Alaskan cruise. While he was on the trip, he saw some excellent photographs that had been taken by someone on a whale-watching excursion. It reignited his interest in photography.
That was about 20 years ago.
Since then, he has traveled all around the world to add to his photo collection and, at a friend’s encouragement he put some photos up on display.
He’s been showing and selling his photographs ever since.
Marcus has no intention of packing up his cameras any time soon – unless, of course, it’s to go to out on another photo expedition.
