4/3/08
Gardner’s ‘Wild Photo Adventures’ comes to television
By Jerriod Grizzle

JERRIOD GRIZZLE/Manning Times

Videographer David Ragin and host and producer of Wild Photo Adventures Doug Gardner walk through a low point at Jack’s Creek while pointing out where wildlife subjects might be hiding. While Ragin is the lead videographer, other videographers that helped with the show are Rodney Reed and Kenny Shesson.

For photographer Doug Gardner his job is also his passion.

“You have to be passionate about what you do or you will never make it,” he said.

“It is a labor of love,” he said.

This spring Gardner and his lead videographer David Ragin are taking a love for photography and nature to the next level, filming a new television series that shows off the wildlife of both South Carolina and the United States.

“The reasons that I wanted to do this is to share my work with others, create awareness of the natural world and help people become better photographers,” he said.

Wild Photo Adventures TV is the first wildlife and nature photography show of its kind to be aired. The show, hosted by Gardner, takes viewers to location after location where he shows off wildlife, their behavior and provides useful tips on how to photograph wild animals in their natural habitat in new and creative ways.

Wild Photo Adventures is a 30-minute show that will air on PBS, SCETV and Time Warner Cable. The episodes can also be viewed online.

“The show is mine. I footed the bill for the show and edited it along with my editor, Eddie Keels,” he said.

Over the past year, Gardner has filmed 13 episodes that he submitted to SCETV to be aired.

“They have really high standards and ETV follows the Public Broadcasting System’s guidelines,” he said.

When Gardner submitted his work to SCETV the members loved the idea.

“We showed them the pilot show and the producers there said it fit to a tee,” he said. “It is a South Carolinian doing something about education.”

Gardner said the reason he submitted the program is so that everyone can watch and get something out of the program.

He said he is not alone in his venture and could not do it without the help of “some really great sponsors.”

“Farmers Telephone Cooperation, Fusion Photo Art, Really Right Stuff, Lowepro and C&S Enterprises are great and I was so lucky to have them sponsor me,” he said.

His filming of the show has taken him to exotic places, all of which he said he loved.

“We filmed a variety of episodes in different locations. We went to California to film elephant seals; we filmed white-tailed deer and waterfalls; we went to Cades Cove and Crystal River and filmed manatees,” he said.

Gardner said he has been interested in photography since he was a child.

“I love nature and I love photography so I decided to combine the two,” he said.

Gardner said that his job is not always comfortable but he wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

“We often go to film specific things but a lot of the time we get sidetracked,” he said. “We often sit back and look at how beautiful nature is. You don’t pass up an opportunity to shoot.”

Over his 12-year professional career, Gardner said he has had a lot of success as well as some failures.

“People sometimes don’t understand photography. Sometimes you can come trip after trip and not see anything,” he said.

“You can go and have subjects just right or too far away. When they are too far away all you can do is sit there and enjoy the view.”

This journalist got an up close and personal view of what Gardner talked about when he mentioned success and subjects that were just out of reach.

I rode with Gardner and Ragin on a wildlife photo shoot at Lake Marion. While Ragin videotaped Gardner and Gardner himself got wonderful shots of his subjects, there were a number of situations where animals were just too far away.

Gardner said that the first episodes of his show will air April 5 at 4:30 p.m. on SCETV. For more information on the program or to watch the first episode of Wild Photo Adventures online, visit Gardner’s website at www.WildPhotoAdventures.com.