vanessa hilliard's photostream  

Please forgive the third-person nature of the following account. It was simply too awkward to write in the first person.

Danielle Vanessa Hilliard (aka Van Hilliard) is a nature photographer specializing in birds, especially those of the shorelines and wetlands of Florida. In previous lives, Van gained wide experience in a variety of ventures. Among other things, she worked in a mental institution, cleaned toilets, worked as a journalist and as a university faculty member. Despite the similarities of these activities, she finds that each made a distinct contribution to her photography approach.
Van spent nearly two decades as a journalist, including stints as a photojournalist, photo editor, correspondent, writer and editor. At one time, her staff included three Pulitzer prize winners for photojournalism. After her journalism career, Van returned to school and earned a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience. She then taught at the university level for 28 years before returning to photography.
Van's photos have won numerous local, national and international awards and have been displayed in numerous exhibits, including an on-going exhibit at the University of South Florida. In the 1960s and 1970s, she won several photojournalism prizes and twice she took first place in national competition for publication design.

Her experience at cleaning toilets earned her no awards, a fact of which she is proud. Her experience on the mental wards likewise earned her no awards but she did leave on her own accord.

Van's photography reflects her interest in story-telling. If a photo doesn't reveal something about the subject and the conditions in which the photo was taken, then she regards the photo as a failure. While attempting to tell a story, she tries to photograph in such a way that irrelevant surroundings do not detract from the main subject, hence the simple graphic approach to subject isolation.

She tries to follow the advice of Henry David Thoreau:
"Simplify, simplify, simplify".

She also follows another bit of advice of Thoreau:
"Beware of people who wear new clothes."

People who encounter Van after one of her outings on the Florida mudflats can attest to her lack of concern for new clothes. Her favorite fashion accessories are kneepads from Home Depot and a headband to keep her hair out of the viewfinder.

Newest photo stuff (note that the "Beware of new things" warning doesn't apply here.):
Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 800mm f/5.6
Canon 15mm f/2.8
Tokina 11-16 for Nikon
12 & 25mm extension tubes for Canon
***
Canon 5D Mark II
Nikon D300s with vertical grip (using it regularly now with 200-400 VR F/4 attached)
Canon 40D with vertical grip
Canon 1D Mark II N
Canon 600mm IS f/4
Canon 28-135 IS
Canon 70-200 IS f/2.8
Canon 70-200 IS f/4
Canon 400 f/5.6 (outstanding birds-in-flight lens)
Canon 24mm f/2.8
Nikon D2X
Nikon D2H
Nikon D70
Nikon D100
Nikon 200-400 VR f/4 (one of the greatest lenses ever made)
Nikon 300 f/4
Nikon 600 f/4 (for several years, my most used lens)
Nikon 20mm f/2.8
Nikon 24mm f/2.8
Nikon 28mm f/2.8
Nikon 35mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Nikon 85mm f/1.8
Nikon 80-200 f/2.8
Nikon 18-55
Nikon 70-300
Nikon 35-135
I can't remember them all.
Sigma 20mm f/1.8
Sigma 24mm f/1.8
Sigma 28mm f/1.8
Sigma 14mm f/2.8
Sigma 180mm Macro f/3.5
Canon F1
Nikon F
Nikon FE (2x)
Nikon FE2
Nikon FM
Nikon FM2N
Nikon 8008 (3x)
Canon AE1 program (2x)
Canon A1
Nikon FG
Nikon EM (2X)
Nikon F5
Konica Autoreflex (several models)
Olympus OM10 (2X)
Olympus OM2 (several models)
Leica IIIg
Pentax (several models)
Nearly all of the original Vivitar Series I and original Kiron lenses from days when these were equivalent (or nearly so) to manufacturers' lenses
Many MF lenses from above manufacturers in focal lengths from 8 mm to 600mm
Others too numerous to mention
Several Gitzo tripods and monopod, 2 Wimberley heads, RRS BH-55 head


Please pick up your copy here for display on your profile.