(Note: All photographs displayed in this interview is copyrighted material, unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited.)

Fabiola Fabs Forns, (known to many as Fabiola del Alcazar) left her native Cuba many moons ago and has been fortunate to live in places as diverse as Puerto Rico, New York, Madrid and finally, South Florida. Having the unique Everglades close by has allowed her to dedicate most of her time to bird photography.

She has dabbled into artistic fields such as music, oil painting and creative writing. She holds a degree in Human Resources from St. Thomas University, Miami and is currently Adjunct Faculty at Miami-Dade College as well as a Mentor for the Photographic Society of America.

Her picture “Snowy Egrets” won the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Award is in currently on exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Fabs recently married her shooting partner, Alfred, in a small ceremony in Bosque del Apache. They both co-lead tours for Arthur Morris and also conduct their own. Out of the box would be a way to describe their style and they really enjoy teaching and helping others.

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Question:

Was there anyone (i.e. other photographers) who influenced your wok, and what was it about his or her work that inspired you?

As a bird photographer of these times, Arthur Morris has been a great influence. As part of his teaching posse, I’ve spent many hours shooting beside him and listening to his classroom training and that is an invaluable experience. I have to thank Jim Neiger, who encouraged me to buy and handhold the 500mm lens, against all odds, when I was a newbie, and was my role model for a while. Michael Brown made me realize you can have your own vision and Robert O’Toole and his magic and friendship are a source of constant inspiration.

I had an epiphany when I saw the work of Swedish photographer Janne Arleklint, and became a fan of Scandinavian artists and their quality of light.

But most of all, I am thankful to Alfred, my loving husband, shooting partner and best friend, with his vast knowledge of photography and creativity, who is always there to encourage me when I’m down and who blows on my sail to push me forward when I feel on top of the world.

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Question:

Have you done any formal training in photography, or are you self-taught?

My only training consists of a couple of classes in the community college where I teach now, and attending countless workshops. Books and Internet surfing help a lot, you learn by looking and critiquing the work of others.

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Question:

What it your favorite/most used post-processing technique?

That changes in every picture, since I am not a routine oriented person. The only consistency I have is trying to do most work before conversion, in ACR.

I have tried other converters and systems and only go back to it. Noise reduction and capture sharpening if necessary. I don’t use much curves or levels since high contrast is not appealing to me. I do like Nik Color effects; it mimics traditional filters such as a polarizer and graduated neutral density filters, and can save a shot taken in harsh light. I don’t consider those any more a manipulation than if I had screwed them to the front of my lens. I have actions made of the most common adjustments, and use them twice if necessary. Ahh, let me not forget, that adding a couple of points to neutrals and blacks in PS’s Selective color for that extra pop.

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Question:

On your photographic journey, did you go through different phases?

Absolutely, and I hope the journey continues to be one full of changes. At one point I wouldn’t shoot a bird that wasn’t flying and wouldn’t consider a still subject. The close mind of beginners! Thanks to Alfred’s encouragement, I started using the tripod and a whole new world open before my eyes. I can make a sharp picture, yes, I can expose properly, yes, but an interesting composition or subject will always hold my interest longer than a technically perfect image with no emotion attached.

As of lately, I am experimenting with low shutter speeds, rotation of the lens barrels, zoom blurs and other means of abstraction. It is important to me to discover new grounds, and in doing so, pay attention to the emotional appeal of an image versus its technical proficiency.

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Question:

Did you ever have any advise from colleagues, reviews etc and how helpful was it to you?

Ironically, I learn more from reviews to the work of others than reviews to my work. I guess that means I’m a stubborn woman <smile>. I like a certain element of shock and disbelief when I do something out of the box, and a conventional critique is not the cure to my maladies. Sometimes it’s hard to find the balance between a far out composition and what is considered acceptable by the majority.

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Q: When you find your subjects to shoot, are you usually looking for something to enhance it?

Yes. I get an establishing shot that usually gets deleted. Then I walk around looking for better backgrounds. Then comes the fun part. That bird has been photographed a million times, how can I make it unique? This may be shooting parts of the bill, making it very dark or very light, moving the camera just so the field marking are recognizable, something that is just mine, and it reflects my style and approach to that particular bird.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but in trying, I am growing as an artist.

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Question:

Tell us about your equipment and what pushed you to that decision?

Now we have moved to dangerous waters. I will try to be as fair and impersonal as I can.

I was a Canon shooter since the beginning of my short career. My first pro body, the Canon 1D Mark II made me very happy and I never saw the need to upgrade to the N version. I used at 45 points most of the time and was quite happy with the results. Enter 1D Mark III and my life took a big turn. Within the first week of owning it, I knew there was something seriously wrong with it. I went public with it a few days before Rob Galbraith published his report, in a thread that put Naturescapes.net in the map outside of the nature photographers’ circle. Thousands of hits later, emotions got so out of hand that it led to my resignation as a moderator and later our total absence from the site.

A few months later, when the Nikon cameras were announced, seeing that Canon was still in denial of a problem, we decided to take the plunge, sell all our Canon gear and go Nikon. A big factor that influenced our decision was the availability of the 200-400/4 VR, which we were drooling about.

Right now, I own a D3 and a D300, have a 600 VR on order and feel very happy that made the switch.

Having said that, cameras and lenses are only tools, and I will use whatever I feel meets my needs at the time.

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Question:

How do you see your photographic future, what do you dream about?

I have been lucky to have one of my dreams come true when my image “Snowy Egrets” was selected the winner in Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards as the Birds category winner. Seeing your work in a museum size and quality hanging at the Smithsonian cannot be described.

Other than that, teaching others, inspiring others to get their own style and be themselves would be very satisfying. Pretty soon I will be co-publishing an educational nature photography forum (Forns/Morris/Shadle will be the publishers) and that will be a good way to attain this goal.

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Question:

Do you have any specific photographic experience that were a wow factor and will remain with you forever?

Yes. Every time I get to see a new species that I only dreamed about, like Puffins or Spoonbills, I get so excited that I loose the ability to photograph. That’s why I like the uncertainty, the hunting part of the trade, and models shoots, no matter how difficult, don’t appeal to me.

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Question:

How important is photography to you besides any financial gain?

Photography is my means of artistic expression; it is color, poetry in motion, music if you will.

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Question:

If you would change what is now your favorite subject in photography, what other subject would you really like to follow?

Definitely flowers.

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Question:

What really inspires you now?

Mood and light.

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Question:

Which one of your own images is very special to you and why?

Whatever happens to be my favorite on the last productive shoot, I tend to favor artistic oriented images even if there are technical flaws. I order my business card in small quantities so I can change the picture and my website’s front page never remains static for long.

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Question:

Can we have a link for our members to view your work in the Internet?

http://www.avianscapes.com

My blog can be seen at:

http://web.mac.com/fabs5

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Question:

And finally, what message would you send to the visitors of our blog and in general to any new or fairly new photographer?

First of all, get to know your equipment as if it were extensions of your own hands. You should know, without looking, where to compensate plus or minus, where to change settings with no lights.

Learn all the rules, so you can try to break them in a pleasing way. Remember photography is a visual art, it comes in through the eyes and if you can elicit a positive response, never mind the rules or the technical side, you have yourself a winner.

Stick to your vision. If 99 out of 100 don’t like but you do, it IS your picture. Seen enough times, taste can be manipulated.

Learn to communicate by the written word, articles, reviews; etc can do your name a lot of good.

Feel what you do and stand behind it, there’s no stronger motivation than passion.

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Many thanks to Fabiola for her time in answering our questions. For many, she has served as a mentor and as an inspiration for the creative-minded photographer.