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Photographer Huard on stopping to examine the blur

By PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com - | Apr 27, 2022

One of Martha Huard’s photographs of a family of ospreys in their nest. PHOTO PROVIDED

Martha Huard tells people she does two things with her photography, “artsy pictures and Nat Geo (National Geographic) pictures.” Whichever she’s working on seems to carry heart and soul. She said, people always seem to like the pretty birds and pretty places, but other pictures can be action shots that are often quite graphic, carrying a different kind of appeal.

“I like doing both, but they are very different, as far as what I’m looking for when I do one or the other,” Huard said.

When out on a mission to capture a scene, Huard said she doesn’t necessarily go looking for either genre, but rather allows the moment to present itself naturally to her lens. One such moment happened, she said, when she shot a great blue heron and an eagle fighting over a fish. Although that isn’t usually a scene people want on their wall, said Huard, she sold five pictures of that particular shot.

While she has become well known on Pine Island for her photography, Huard said she was not always a photographer.

“I always loved being outdoors, but the photography came secondary to being out with the birds. I just wanted to start documenting what I was enjoying and sharing it with other people. When I started posting my pictures, people that couldn’t get out and enjoy nature or hadn’t taken the time to stop and look, started making comments,” Huard said.

One of Martha Huard’s photographs. PHOTO PROVIDED

Her relationship with photography snowballed from there, as she grew and evolved in this particular medium, she said, as she’s learned to spot which moments will be best captured by her camera.

“When you take a picture of something, you see so much more detail. It captures much more than you notice happening quickly in front of you. When you stop the scene and you look at it, you can see all the variations of color. It helps you look at it in a different way. When you can look at something more carefully you can see so much more going on than you can with the naked eye. You don’t even realize what’s happening, because most of what’s going on around us is just a blur,” Huard said.

Wanting to provide a bit of an education to her artwork, Huard designed a children’s picture book titled, “Fernando does NOT want to learn to fly.” All the photographs in the book were taken by Huard herself and the copy is based on what she’s learned about the osprey.

“I like to follow one nest, because you can get a feel for the birds and their personalities. One osprey nest can act totally different than another osprey nest. When I have a nest I go back regularly and document and watch. That particular nest was a story that evolved by itself. You could see this little osprey — he didn’t want to fly. He didn’t want to leave the nest. He took so much longer than the others to learn to fly,” Huard said.

Having been a pediatric nurse for 46 years, the last 25 of which she spent in pediatric oncology, Huard said she had always wanted to write a children’s book. As her experience with the osprey nest seemed to unfold into a teaching instrument, she went with it and Fernando was born.

One of Martha Huard’s photographs. PHOTO PROVIDED

Huard has the book available. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy is directed to message her on Facebook at “Martha’s Photos” page with an inquiry.

One of Martha Huard’s photographs. PHOTO PROVIDED