Gualala Arts Lecture Series presents:
Hummingbirds of the Andes

with Lawrence Beck
Thursday, May 30, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
Admission is $5

Naturalist / photographer Lawrence Beck will be offering a presentation on his favorite subject, Hummingbirds of the Andes. The evening will begin with a brief discussion as to how he became interested and actively involved in hummingbird photography.

Following this intro, the visual "digital slide show" will begin with each individual species of hummingbird, labeled M or F depending on sex when the distinction is possible. All images that follow will be of the same species and sex until the next image of a different gender or species is labeled. In this way, the attendees will know each species without having to interrupt the image flow, choreographed to music. The presentation will end with a question and answer session.

While Beck is not an "expert" on hummingbirds, he has spent the past seven years in a passionate effort to optimize image capture and document these magnificent creatures in their native environment. A disturbing trend in hummingbird photography is the capture of hummingbirds and their subsequent placement into a box filled with flash units, or the use of up to six flash units on light stands surrounding a flower that a hummingbird will visit. Beck's images have all been produced with one flash unit on his camera and he will explain why he eschews these other invasive methods.

While this will not be a "how to" session - Beck offers Hummingbird Photography workshops at his home on the Bodega Coast as well as trips to Ecuador for this purpose - he will present photos of over 40 different species of hummingbirds from Ecuador and Southern Colombia. Most of these birds have been photographed in flight as opposed to standing on branches or flower stems.

Accompanying the presentation will be framed and unframed prints, showing how Beck presents his work. More information and images of Beck's hummingbird photography are available on his website: lawrencebeck.com/Portfolios/Pages/Hummingbirds.html.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.