Ethereal Plumage Gets Featured on The Phoblographer

A photograph of a Vulture feather from the series Ethereal Plumage by James Henderson
Feather; Vulture from my series Ethereal Plumage

The large photography blog, The Phoblographer, did a feature of my work with feathers. On the 29th of June, 2021, they ran “James Henderson Creates ‘Featherscapes’ Using Beautiful Bird Feathers.” I like the term “featherscapes. It reminds me a little of my slip of the tongue where I said “feathergraphs” as I shot my focus stacking tutorial.

In the interview I talk about how I started shooting feathers. I also talk about some of the technique and my thought process: “one day I looked down at it, and it was like I’d never seen it before. That day I knew I had to photograph it. It was curvy and elegant and textural—all the things we look for in a subject. That evening I made my first exposures of that feather, just looking for how to do it in the way the subject demanded. ” You should go over to their website and read the entirety of the interview.

You might remember that I have a previous post about focus stacking using a Peacock feather, as well as a post of when my feather series traveled to Florida.

Focus Stacking a Peacock Feather With Helicon Focus

Peacock feather copyright James Henderson

Several years ago, when I first began photographing feathers, I tried some software called Helicon Focus. It was good, and I used it for a while, then switched to another program. Time passed, and I don’t even remember why I first switched. But I was successfully using the other software and Photoshop to stack my images. Recently, however, I was preparing to be a guest lecturer Continue reading “Focus Stacking a Peacock Feather With Helicon Focus”

The Carolina Parakeet

Carolina Parakeet copyright James Henderson
Carolina Parakeet copyright James Henderson

Some things exist only for a time and are gone. As George Harrison sang, “Darkness only stays the night time; In the morning it will fade away.” The exquisite darkness, lit by starlight, sung about by the night creatures, passes into the hands of the day and is changed. As George asserts, All Things Must Pass. Take childhood for example. When I was a child, I heard about a bird called the Carolina Parakeet. I couldn’t believe there could be such a bird, so exotic, so beautiful, and at one time so plentiful. I was intrigued by its name as much as anything. A “Carolina” anything meant it had to be local. My curiosity sparked, I had to find out more about them. Continue reading “The Carolina Parakeet”