Actually it wasn't as bad as all that. I only had to carry and set up Cathy's equipment once or twice a day, but I'm beginning the story in the middle. Cathy was competing in the second Images for Conservation Pro-Tour of Nature Photography. This contest is the brainchild of John Martin, the man responsible for the Texas Valley Land Fund Contest and the Coastal Bend Photo Contest. The Pro-Tour was originally conceived as a competition between the best nature photographers in the business, and hopefully the contest will someday have enough cachet that the big names feel they have to participate. The Pro-Tour is limited to 20 photographers, and these 20 photographers are paired with 20 landholders in a double blind drawing. First place this year is a minimum of $40,000 split between the photographer and the landholder, making it the largest purse of any photography contest.

Photographers have the month of April to capture 60 mind-blowing images, and as April 30 draws closer and closer, the qualifications for mind-blowing become more and more relaxed. The object was to obtain 12 photos in each of 5 categories--Birds, Bugs, Mammals, Reptiles/Amphibians and Scenic/Plants--and only 2 shots of the same species would be allowed. The purpose is obviously to test the photographer in a variety of styles, as well as showing the diversity of the habitat. In fact, friendly competition between photographers is secondary to the primary goal of showing landholders the value of their land. Approximately 98% of the land in Texas is in private hands, so if large tracts of wildlife habitat are to be preserved, the individual landholders have to be shown what makes their land so special. They need to be convinced not to subdivide their property for a quick profit at the expense of wildlife habitat.

Competing photographers were allowed one assistant, and that's where I came in. Since the participants were often alone and a long ways from civilization, often with no cell phone service, it was strongly advised that they have an assistant. We would be the first ones to admit that anyone without an assistant, especially one as wonderful as me, was at a disadvantage. Like the first contest, I wasn't sure how hard it would be to go an entire month watching someone else take pictures without picking up a camera myself. However, being able to catch lots of snakes and lizards made it worth it--turned a 52-year old into a kid again, at least for short periods of time.

One of the things that makes this contest so special is that it tests photographers in every facet of their game--their imagination, their knowledge of natural history, and their ability to use every lens in their bag well to take great shots in every genre. It tests their dedication, their willingness to get up early and stay up late even when the weather forecast isn't promising. Time management becomes a major element. If you've got some pretty good birds shots, but no mammals, it's time to switch priorities even though the birds are doing some wonderful things that you still haven't captured. Very frustrating.

This contest also tests the photographer's ability to perform in the face of adversity. We were living in a 30-ft travel trailer, and the trailer had a mild mouse infestation. We might never have noticed if they hadn't started chewing on the vitamins we left out for the next morning. These mice were obviously not getting enough vitamin C in their diet. We had a couple of live traps with us, so we began setting them up in the trailer every night. In 2 weeks we caught more than 20 mice, and in those 2 weeks we only got about 8 hours sleep. One night, after both traps had already gone off, Cathy felt a mouse run across her leg, a leg that was outside the covers. For some reason she reacted to this by screaming at the top of her lungs, causing me to jump up in bed ready to flee the monsters that were certainly upon us and banging my head on the ceiling in the process. After that we got serious. I wrapped the entire exterior of the trailer in duct tape, and because of an on-line tip, Cathy wallpapered the inside of the trailer with Bounce fabric softener sheets. At least one those things worked, and we caught only one mouse after that.

Not only having the chance, but being forced to shoot on a property day in day out for 30 days, is an incredible opportunity. It gives the photographer a chance to identify what creatures call the place home and work out ways to photograph them successfully. It was also very educational. I have lived in snake country for most of my life, and I thought I knew rattlesnakes pretty well. Once the snakes saw us, I thought it would either head for cover, or if cover was too far away (a virtual impossibility in South Texas brush country), coil into a strike position. We saw 6 large rattlesnakes in a month, all at close range and only 2 ever rattled. One shook its tail a few times just to let me know I was about to step on it. The other we surprised by getting ahead of it. It came around a cactus and there we were, so it rattled for a minute or 2 until it was sure we posed no threat, then it went about its business. The snakes pretty much paid no attention to us, sometimes crawling towards us, sometimes crawling away from us as they tracked rodents. Cathy worked one from point blank range for almost 20 minutes as it drank from a muddy puddle. Very enlightening. Of course our rancher told us to feel free to kill any rattlesnakes after we had photographed them, but how could we kill such cooperative subjects. Besides, anything that eats mice is a friend of mine.

Judging takes place at the end of June, so wish us luck.

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Gordon and Cathy ILLG have been photographing wildlife for over 20 years. Their desire to capture unique images takes them and their workshop participants to new and favorite locations where opportunities are made the most of. Visit www.advenphoto.com to see more of Gordon's and Cathy's work and their tour schedule.