The thing Melanie Palik likes the most about photographing animals is capturing their facial expressions.
Melanie Palik is passionate about photography, an art form she embraced wholeheartedly three years ago when she combined it with her love of hiking into the wild.
How passionate is Melanie Palik about photographing animals?
When taking pictures of wolves at Parc Omega in Quebec, Palik mimicked the cry of a wounded rabbit to attract the attention of the wolves so they would turn around in her direction for that perfect close up of their facial expressions.
Palik’s wildlife photographs will be on display at Speak Easy Emporium at 45A Spruce St. S. in Timmins throughout March and April.
The exhibit opened on Friday and included her wolf photos from Quebec along with a series of bird and wildlife shots taken closer to home in Timmins.
The photographs on display at SpeakEasy Emporium are for sale and Melanie will donate the proceeds to Our Place Warming Station which operates out of the south portion of SpeakEasy Emporium on the corner of Third Ave. and Spruce St. S. It is open on Sunday and Monday nights providing a place for anyone in need to have a light meal, hot coffee or chocolate, meet friends and warm up.
“I found my love for nature photography especially birds in 2013,” she said.”
Palik bought a Nikon D60 camera for her venture into photography
Find out more about Melanie Palik’s work at Northern Lights Photography https://www.facebook.com/NLPhography/?pnref=lhc
Palik is originally from the Alderwood neighbourhood in south Etobicoke, but has been residing in Timmins the last eight years.
“At first, I had no idea what I was doing,” recalled Palik. “The D60 was just too much for me.”
She traded the D60 for a Nikon 1 J1 point and shoot camera. All she really wanted to do was take pictures of lynxes, moose and other wildlife without having to struggle with the mechanics of the camera.
Palik soon discovered the point and shoot camera as easy had limitations. The fixed lens only zoomed to 100mm not long enough to capture her animal subjects’ faces.
The resolution also was not great.
She next bought a Nikon D7000 and a 300 mm Nikkor /F4 telephoto lens.
Palik now takes close ups of wolves and other animals without scaring them away or putting herself in harm’s way.
The display at SpeakEasy Emporium is her first gallery exhibit.
Her first public display was at the Porcupine Mall craft show last winter where her wildlife calendar sold out in 20 minutes.
Palik likes to photograph wildlife in the bushy area behind her house or at Hersey Lake.
“I take photographs of everything from little bugs to birds to large animals,” stated Palik.
She particularly likes her wolf photos that were taken at Park Omega in Quebec, 150 km north of Ottawa.
“I was 100 to120 feet away,” Palik explained. “The shots were taken from a raised pedestrian bridge which allows park visitors to take photos without directly interacting with the animals.”
Palik said she feels a special connection to wolves as they are her spirit animal.
“I like their expression and how they interact with each other”, she added.
While some nature photographers like working with a tripod, Palik said she prefers shooting with a hand held camera.
Hiking through the backwoods and carrying bulky tripods weighs her down she explained,
“Birds are my speciality,” said Palik, “I love birds.”
Palik dresses in camouflage so she can approach birds without have them fly away.
“I like photographing Jays, but they are so shy,” she recounted.
To induce her feathered friends to come closer, Palik has also learned bird calls.
She takes photo bursts of up to 10 shots at a time and selects the best photos.
Palik’s recently had some of her photographs published by Canadian Geographic.
Her photo of a Northern Parula is being considered for inclusion in Canadian Geographic’s 2017 Calendar.
To arrange a viewing of Melanie Palik’s exhibit at SpeakEasy contact Christina Geddes at 705-465-1903.
For more on SpeakEasy Emporium click here
https://www.facebook.com/speakeasytimmins/?fref=ts
