Whether it’s in his front yard, the African bush or Arctic tundra, Montgomery photographer Ricahrd Demler captures the wild side of life. A collection of his photos are on display in Lambertville.
By: Susan Van Dongen
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my Richard Demler has photographed them all. Well, not tigers. Not yet anyway.
But he’s made many pictures of lions and bears, notably polar bears, which gives rise to the question, how do you photograph a polar bear? "Very carefully, from a safe distance, with a long lens," Mr. Demler says. "A polar bear is one of the most dangerous animals in the world and would attack you without thinking twice, even if you were armed."
It’s also important, he says, to be in a special vehicle designed to tackle the icy tundra, like the terrain he encountered near Hudson Bay in Manitoba. Preferably, the vehicle should be able to retreat very quickly, if the King of the Ursines shows interest in a quick snack. After all, a 180-pound man would be a mere morsel to a beast that consumes 300 seals a year. And the camera? It would be like croutons just something crunchy to enhance the taste of soft human flesh.
It’s definitely not a hobby for nesters. But it is what the 62-year-old Montgomery, N.J.-native loves the most being outdoors, observing and photographing wildlife. He filled his first full year of retirement with photographic excursions to remote places teeming with exotic animals and breath-taking scenery. Mr. Demler selected a number of his favorite images from those journeys and put them into a collection of dramatic color photographs on view at 7 North Gallery in Lambertville through Jan. 29. A reception will be held Jan. 6, and Mr. Demler will be on hand to tell the stories behind the pictures. For example, he loves to talk about those polar bears.
"I watched them test the ice in Hudson Bay, jumping up and down on it to make sure it was thick enough," says Mr. Demler, a trim man with a tanned, outdoorsman’s look. "Once they’re sure the ice is thick enough, they go out for the hunt."
It’s not a sentimental thought animals devouring smaller, weaker creatures. But it is nature in its truest form, and Mr. Demler has seen many examples of this cycle. One striking image which he has on view at his home is of a young cheetah making her first kill a Grant’s gazelle.
"It’s a compelling photograph," he says. "You don’t know whether to root for the gazelle or the cheetah. But this is the natural cycle, and it’s not for us to interfere."
This picture was taken on a photographic safari in Kenya. Mr. Demler and a few other serious nature photographers went out with a guide and naturalist, who recognized the adolescent cheetah cub, saw its mother watching nearby and guessed correctly that the young feline was learning to hunt.
"We saw her get into the stalk position," Mr. Demler says. "We stayed back and waited and watched from a distance. To follow too closely would have interfered with her learning experience. When we saw the dust churn up we figured she had caught the gazelle, and we moved in closer. The cheetah actually dropped the gazelle several times and it started to get away. She had to catch it again and again. That’s how we knew she was inexperienced."
Kenya was probably the most exotic place Mr. Demler traveled to make pictures. On the other hand, he captured a beautiful moment right in his front yard when a pair of Eastern bluebirds stopped to feast on the berries in his dogwood tree.
"Even simple creatures like the bluebirds and robins on my front lawn can grow in depth and meaning if you take enough time and study them," he says.
Mr. Demler has always loved the outdoors and loved art especially drawing and sketching animals. He was directed in the more practical direction of business and computer sciences, which he turned into a successful career near Princeton, N.J. Expressing himself through visual arts and being outdoors remained his passion, and Mr. Demler took every chance he could to travel and make pictures.
Family and friends began to recognize his talent and encouraged him to market and exhibit his work in fact, he had a show at the New Jersey State Museum in January 1999. Over the course of a decade, Mr. Demler has invested in substantial equipment as well as education and completed a lengthy distance learning program through the Canon Company, earning one of the top awards for his achievements.
"I always promised myself that when I retired, I would see those places and things that I missed when I had to be back to work on a Monday morning at nine," he says. "Now I can take four to six weeks to stay in one area. I’ll stay as long as it interests me. Nature photography takes that kind of patience. But for those who are willing to put in the time, you get great rewards.
"There are moments of magic that happen. Sometimes you just want to scream out ‘I wish all of my friends back home were with me to see this.’"
One of those moments came at Assinboine Provincial Park in British Columbia, a pristine wilderness that can be reached only by hiking 20 miles from the nearest road, or by helicopter. Mr. Demler was waiting out some bad weather in the sparse lodging when he saw the storm begin to break up. The light was extraordinary, and he grabbed his camera gear and ran outside to set up. It turned out to be the signature shot in the exhibit soft lavender clouds against an almost unnaturally blue sky and the jagged Canadian Rockies. The red roofs of the cabins in the foreground are dwarfed by the mountains and look like Monopoly hotels.
"Five minutes later it was gone," he says. "That’s what happens. You can spend days at the same site waiting for the right light, then you take a five minute break and realize that you’ve missed it."
Fortunately, Mr. Demler isn’t one of those lensmen who lives his entire life squinting into the viewfinder. He knows enough to absorb the reality.
"Often, I’ll be in total awe of what’s happening in front of me, so I’ll put the camera down and sit and observe," he says. "Sometimes the moment can’t be captured. Sometimes you have to just give thanks for the privilege of being there and being able to see it. I recognize that."
A new collection of Richard Demler’s outdoor and nature photography will be on view at 7 North Gallery, 7 North Main Street, Lambertville, N.J. through Jan. 29. A meet-the-artist reception will be held Jan. 6, 6-9 p.m. Gallery hours: Mon., Wed.-Fri. 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., or by appointment. For information, call (609) 397-3939.