February 2003
An Interview with
Dwight Hiscano
An interview with Dwight
Hiscano, one of New Jersey’s premiere nature
photographers
Interview by Lynda Hester D’Orio
Photos by Dwight Hiscano
(click on any image for full size)
Q: Why
photograph in New Jersey?
A: I was born here, I was fortunate to grow up in “real”
New Jersey. My family has a piece of land in Sussex County, it’s
been in the family for over 100 years now and I grew up with that. It
used to be near wilderness, now it is developed. Having grown up
there, I grew to cherish what New Jersey has to offer in terms of a
natural landscape.
I
didn’t realize New Jersey was considered the armpit of the nation
and had such a bad reputation until I traveled and went to college. I
was on the receiving end of insults about New Jersey, and it wasn’t
what I knew. I knew about these places, I was familiar with the
highlands and camping on the Appalachian Trail.
 So I
came back from school and since I was interested in photography in
college, decided to pursue it as a career. I figured I’d start with
New Jersey. I think my goal was to show people landscapes here are
easily as beautiful as any I’ve seen and I’ve done a lot of
traveling. These
landscapes are as beautiful as New England… some of them are at
least as beautiful to me as those in Pacific Northwest or Alaska. I
guess I’m just trying to prove something.
Q: What
do you hope people get out of your photos?
A: Most importantly I hope they come away
feeling this is important and it should be preserved. That it is not
only beautiful, but it is part of our heritage, especially here in New
Jersey. These are the front lines right here. I’m trying to drive
home this is in our backyard and well worth exploring and preserving.
Q: For
amateurs who want to try nature photography, what would you tell them?
 A:
It depends on what they are after.
First of all, you don’t have to travel for hours to find a beautiful
spot; you may find something wonderful in your backyard.
I’m lucky. I’m
minutes from South Mountain Reservation, Watchung Reservation and The
Great Swamp. However, my point is you don’t have to go to the
Delaware Water Gap or the Pine Barrens or to Diamond Beach. If you
look, in your own backyard, you’ll find great opportunities for
photos.
Q: When
you want to take a photo, what do you look for?
A: I don’t necessarily look for
anything, I think that’s a mistake a lot of photographers make and
it’s a mistake I used to make, a lot. If you go out with the
intention of finding something… a photograph that you’ve already
taken in your mind, you’re going to miss everything else. What I try
to do when I go out, when I’m not stressing out and rushing and I
have time to relax, I try and get into a meditative state and try be
as calm as possible and be as much a part of the landscape as
possible.
Q: How
do you do that?
A: It requires deep breaths and remaining
calm and then I am more likely to notice things in a landscape. Once
I’m in that state of mind, different things will pop out that you
would not normally notice. Whether it’s bark on a black birch or
silver birch tree or beads of water on a flower petal, a reflection or
some contrast or a composition of a few branches that arc a certain
way, that compliment each other. It’s a matter of noticing
something. Once I’m there, then I’ll spend and hour or more
composing the shot.
Q: Do
you go back at different times if you like it?
A: Often I’ll see the potential in a
site but it will require different lighting. I’ll be there perhaps
late in the day, and I’ll realize that with the sun in different
direction this will happen or something else will be highlighted and
this will work. This shot on the cover of the book of Van Campen
Brook, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area… I went back three
times before I got that shot because the light was not doing what I
wanted.
 Q: How
about equipment?
A:
I might have to walk five miles before I get to where I’m hoping
to end up. A lot of work I do outside of New Jersey is backpacking
10-20 miles into wilderness before I get to the location. Actually I
have a nice daypack (he leaves for a moment to produce it for me) it
looks like any other daypack from the outside, but inside it houses
one camera outfit in there, one medium format body with various
lenses. (Dwight hands me the camera body, it is heavy so I ask how
much does that weigh?)
I
never weighed it but I’m carrying close to 20 pounds with a tripod.
I carry three lenses, a telephoto, standard and wide angle. I
may also be carrying 50 pounds of camping gear.
That’s about 70 pounds to carry and my back is suffering from
it. I also have a Pentax 645, which I often bring, but the negative
area of the slide isn’t as large.
Q: For
students or amateurs, what advice or tips could you pass on to help
them improve the quality of their shots?
A: You want photos to be able to reproduce with
as much detail as possible. A lot of people shoot with negative film,
and there are so many variations when you’re reproducing a print
from a negative. It’s difficult to get what you saw that day and
know how it is going to turn out. Most of my work, if not all the
landscape work now, is shot in slide film/transparency film.
Shoot with
either Ektochrome or Fujichrome if you want your colors to be more
saturated, Fujichrome Velvia is a great film or Provia is a little
faster.
Something
to keep in mind, Velvia is sometimes a little saturated color-wise. One of the things
I lose sleep over is at what point are you “lying” when you take a
photograph. I’m being totally honest, a lot of photographers these
days go a little nuts with filters, and with the film. I personally
don’t believe Mother Nature needs any help. I didn’t used to be
like this, but I’m a little bit more a purist and I’m trying to
stay true to the subject. If you look at the work of some famous
photographers, you’ll notice the colors are not quite what they
should be, you can see that even in my earlier work. Lately, I’m
trying not to use filters, that is my goal.
Some people
are digitizing photos. They take a landscape and superimpose a lion or
a moose in the landscape and that’s fine and all, they’ll end up
selling the thing, making posters out of it, but it’s a lie, you are
making something up. If you are telling
the audience it is digitized, it’s digital art, that’s another
thing.
 Q: How
about time of day--what’s a solid choice for time of day to shoot to
achieve dramatic or good lighting?
A: The “Golden Hour.” Typically the
rule is just before daybreak or just before sunset. In the summer you
get about an hour, in the winter you have about two hours or so where
the light is warm and golden and the shadows are longer, lot more
interesting. Midday is a lot more contrasty. I do believe if you went
out, you could still find something. It’s
not a rule though, the Golden Hour. I had a great landscape that was
actually taken at midday and it looked great because it was a hazy
day. If you are shooting a flower or fall colors you’ll reproduce
those colors under a bright, cloudy sky.
Before
I go any farther, in terms of equipment, a lot of people get caught up
in their equipment. I’ll be talking to someone about photography at
a cocktail party and they’ll tell me I got myself a Hasselblad
and this zillion dollar lens and now I can go out and shoot
anything I want. It doesn’t depend on the equipment. You can get
some very successful results with a point and shoot camera, but a lot
of people make that mistake and get caught up in numbers and how long
the lens is it a Canon or Nikon. You can get really beautiful shots with a point and shoot
camera. I had a friend in college who had a Diana--a $1.69 camera. She
sealed the camera leaks from light with electrical tape, went out to a
cornfield and shot some black and white images with it. And they were
moody and beautiful.
Q: How
about black and white images?
A: I love black and white images. If you
are going to shoot black and white, you should print it also. With
color, you’re not necessarily going to print them yourself …. if
you’re sending images out for printing like when I have to do a
larger print, if it matches the slide I’m happy with that. I may
have specific instructions to the lab regarding lightening or
darkening an area, but with black and white you’re better off
printing it yourself because just like color negative film, there are
so many variations possible when you send it out to a lab.
Q: If
you want to try printing, are there places people can go to learn or
rent space?
A: Yes, I’m sure local colleges offer
that. The New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, which is right her in
Summit offers darkroom space for a monthly fee. I’ve never done
that, but it is out there. I would recommend local colleges, YMCA,
local courses to learn.
Q: What
brought you to publish this book?
A: Rutgers University Press helped me.
I sell a lot of work in galleries. I do a lot of freelance
work as well. I printed up some little note cards back in 1989 to get
my name out, they were New Jersey-oriented and had a statement about
conservation on the back. They were in some shops and The Nature
Conservancy bought a bunch and they were giving them out as gifts to
supporters and that  got my name out. Then someone from a gallery got
one of these cards in the mail and called me up and said we’d like
to see your work because they had a lot of requests for New Jersey landscapes.
Over time, my work has gotten into ten or more corporate collections.
These photos are very appropriate for offices.
It’s
a struggle, it isn’t consistent, and I try to get into more
galleries every year.
Q: Your
work is available in poster form?
A: Yes, some of it is available on the
Internet. As for the
book, it started because I had some reasonable amount of success with
the galleries. All too often, someone may not want to spend $600.00 on
a photo or $150.00 for a picture, so I wanted to make my work more
accessible and spread the word. So it seemed liked the right way to do
it. This is what is here, this is not the armpit of the nation, and
this is a beautiful place.
Q: You’ve
segmented the photos in the book in geographic regions, why?
A: Because of the variations of landscapes
we have here, the diversity of landscapes, that’s I think one of things that makes New
Jersey a really special place. A lot of states don’t have beaches
and mountains and swamps and Pine Barrens and volcanic ridges.
A lot
of people never have seen the Pine Barrens, just to drive through it.
It is the first national reserve, largest intact forest of the coastal
Atlantic, the largest preserved forest between Boston and Washington.
It is well over one million acres. It’s bigger than the Grand Canyon,
twice the size of Rocky Mountain National Park. People have no idea.
Q: Have
you had any unusual experiences while taking photographs?
A: Every time I go out I have a nice
experience, even if I don’t get a shot.
That’s another thing, early on in my photography,
if I didn’t get the shot, I’d get all upset if I didn’t
get what I was after. That used to upset me, but after five or six years, I
realized I have nothing to lose to go to a beautiful spot and I come
away with a nice memory.
I
see bears every now and then, but they usually run the other way.
I’ve seen Coyotes and a lot of footprints and tracks. I’ve seen
wild turkeys many times. I’ve seen bobcat prints, but not bobcats. I
see copperheads, they’re beautiful, and their markings are
incredible. You have to
be cautious.
Q: What
do you think is the condition of New Jersey’s open spaces, are you
concerned?
A: Of course I’m concerned. There’s so
much potential for preservation, for taking care of what we have.
There is on the other hand degradation and apathy. There seems to be a
division. Every time I get the Nature Conservancy newsletter or the
New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Trust for Public Land
newsletter or attend a board meeting of the Nature Conservancy, I
encounter what’s going on in the state in terms of preservation of
the state, it will lift me incredibly. If I’m in a bad mood, I’ll
read the Nature Conservancy newsletter and I’ll cheer up. It’s
that dramatic what’s going on and it’s a wonderful time to be
here.
Q: If someone sees
your book and your photos and wants to help with conservation, what do
you suggest?
A: Go to www.nature.org
(The Nature Conservancy Web site) and look at what they are doing, all
over the world they do incredible things. There are many groups here
and around the country doing amazing things.
Q: Are
there other photographers you like?
A: In New Jersey, there are a couple. JJ Rai,
a landscape photographer. He’s a nice guy. He’s got a
really nice handle on how he approaches a landscape. His composition
is really beautiful, a lot of his work reminds me of Elliot Porter. JJ’s work is really beautiful, his calendar is worth
checking out.
There’s another photographer, he does work in
black and white, Clem Fiore.
He does work for the New Jersey Conservation
Foundation, his work is great.
He has a book,
“Vanishing New Jersey Landscapes,” a beautiful book. His
approach is like Ansel Adams’ black and white landscapes, really
beautiful work.
Q: What
would you like people to know about you?
A: That’s a tough question, I’d hate
for anyone to assume that I’m some socialist, environmental
“whacko” I don’t think that’s what conservation is about. Yet,
I do jump into swamps up to my neck to take photographs, who else
would do that? I’ve walked through the Pine Barrens in 100-degree
heat and pulled a hundred ticks off my body, while I’m going. I
guess I’m fanatical about the work, about photography, the art.
What I don’t want people to think is that
conservation is something that is political. I’d hate to be
mislabeled like that. Teddy Roosevelt was a conservationist, one of
the greatest we’ve ever had and he was also a conservative
Republican. A lot of people have a tendency to label conservationists,
and preservationists….I can’t emphasize enough that conservation
is mainstream, it is an apolitical issue. It should never be treated
as a political issue.
Q: Do
you have any upcoming or future works we should look for?
A: I
have
one gallery show scheduled April at GJ Cloninger and Co. in Morris Plains in April. I’m waiting to hear
from some museums. My work has been exhibited at hospitals such as
Morristown Memorial and Overlook and various corporations in New
Jersey and I’m always pleased to discuss shows with anyone who is
interested. I am also working on a book about the Delaware, it may
come out in a couple of years. That’s a goal of mine, something
I’m working on recently. I’ve only seen one very nice black and
white pictorial book on this, so that’s an opportunity for me.
I have a Web site where you can find out
more about my work: www.dwighthiscano.com
Q: Finally
Dwight, do you give lectures or slide shows on nature photography?
A: Yes, I do give some presentations to
groups, camera clubs and through the Nature Conservancy. I’m doing
one of these at the Nature Conservancy in the fall of 2003. People can
or email me about that at: dhiscano@aol.com.
If folks are involved in an outdoor club or a camera club, I’d be
more than happy to give a presentation.
Thank you
Dwight.
Book Review, New Jersey, the Natural
State
Tips for Nature
Photographers from Dwight Hiscano
Dwight Hiscano's work can be seen at the following galleries and
exhibitions:
New Jersey Landscapes
(group show), April, 2003
Artists' reception, April 11, 2003, 7:30-9:30
The Mendham Art Gallery
13 West Main Street
Mendham, 973-543-9544
Solo Exhibit October, 2003
GJ Cloninger and Co.
Art Consultants
39 East Hanover Avenue
Morris Office Park
Morris Plains 973-549-1195
Nature Conservancy
Pinelands Photo Walk and Slide Show
Saturday, October 25, 2003
Fee: Members $5.00/Nonmembers: $8.00
The Nature Conservancy, New Jersey Chapter
908-879-7262
The Nature Conservancy
Pine Barrens Program Office
120-34 Whitesbog Road
Browns Mills, NJ 08015
phone 609-735-2200
Nature Conservancy
Skylands Slide Show
Wednesday November 19 at
7pm in the Kay Environmental Center
Pottersville Road, Chester
Galleries and dealers:
The Anchor and Palette
Bay Head, NJ 732-892-7776
The Aesthetic Image
Short Hills, NJ 973-912-0606
The Mendham Art Gallery
13 West Main Street
Mendham, 973-543-9544
GJ Cloninger and Co.
Art Consultants
39 East Hanover Avenue
Morris Office Park
Morris Plains 973-549-1195
art4business.com
Copyright 2003 L.H.D'Orio
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