FOR THE BIRDS
Baber exhibit showcases new path for former journalist
Before 2020, Steve Jessmore never considered photographing wildlife. The pandemic changed that and now shooting wildlife is what he’s passionate about. In his heart, he still thinks of himself as fulfilling the same role he did in a journalism career that spanned more than 20 years.
Some of Jessmore’s career-turn photos are currently on display in Park Library’s Baber Room in an exhibit called “Birds Doing Stuff.” It’s kind of a nod to his career as a community journalist in Saginaw, Flint and at Central Michigan University.
The birds are photographed in the middle of living their lives, collecting things for nests, eating prey and socializing with other birds. The pictures are sharp, detailed and printed on metal to provide vibrant images.
Jessmore said he’s always looking for moments to photograph and spends his time on his kayak constantly scanning his surroundings looking not just for photographs but settings in which photographs can happen.
That might involve waiting for the sun to move so that the light moves into just the right place, as it did for a photo he took of a male mallard that was under a dock, Jessmore said. It might also mean watching a space and waiting for a bird to fly across it at an opportune moment.
Birds offer an excellent challenge, he said. They are always moving. That provides him room for his to strengthen skills that are new to him.
Jessmore came into bird photography through the COVID-19 pandemic. He’d retired as a staff photographer and was working exclusively as a freelancer when the pandemic hit. Most of his clients were institutions of higher education and his work dried up pretty quickly, leaving him a lot of free time.
He started watching videos to help him strengthen skills.
“It got old kind of quick,” he said. His wife encouraged him to make the most of every day, and while on assignment shooting kayaks he got a nudge in his current path after taking one out for a spin.
He found going out early in the morning when the light is the worst but some birds are at their most active to be especially chal
His work will appear at the Baber Room in Park Library through Aug. 14. Hours of availability vary depending on when the library is open, and Denise Fanning, who helped Jessmore with his exhibit, said she recommends visiting the library’s website to get hours of operation.
lenging in a way related to his first career as a news photographer.
“You always had to bring back a photo for the front page,” he said.
That sometimes meant making the most out of life’s most mundane moments.
“I always tried to show the normal in a unique way,” he said.
A photo he took of a Northern Cardinal won the 2021 Audubon Society professional division photography award. He captured the bird in winter — his favorite season for shooting birds — while it skimmed just above the snowy ground.
The same year, he got an honorable mention for a photo of a hawk and chipmunk looking at each other as the raptor was preparing to eat the rodent.
His new passion provides him an opportunity to learn to tell everyday stories in a new way, which provides a new set of challenges to master. “It’s keeping me sharp,” he said. It also points to where he’d like to go. Jessmore said he’d prefer to keep going out and documenting those moments that happen all around us.
Birds are a perfect subject because like people they have their own habits and routines, he said. As he was going out onto the river to get photos, he noticed that birds followed the same kinds of patterns daily.
He’s chasing moments and not a registry of species names, so getting on a jet plane with suitcases full of equipment to shoot rare birds isn’t in his future, he said.
His work will appear at the Baber Room in Park Library through Aug. 14. Hours of availability vary depending on when the library is open, and Denise Fanning, who helped Jessmore with his exhibit, said she recommends visiting the library’s website to get hours of operation.
Jessmore will give an artist’s talk in the Baber Room at 5:30 p.m. on June 8. He’s also left copies of a coloring book of some of his shots in the exhibit room.