At the zoo, every picture tells a story.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

There's a common misconception that wildlife photographers must spend hours or even days sitting in the bush waiting for just the right shot.

It doesn't have to be like that, says Michael Wilhelm, a professional wildlife photographer. Especially if you're working from inside the zoo.

"Wildlife photography is a lot like photojournalism," says Wilhelm, who teaches workshops using the Oregon Zoo in Portland as a classroom. "We can go out and just take a portrait of a subject, but if we can tell a story ... that's going to speak volumes about why this subject is worthy of attention."

This month and next, Wilhelm will be showing students how to tell the story of the butterfly from inside the zoo's Winged Wonders exhibit. And while it might sound like cheating, to sneak up on a Red Cattleheart, a Grecian Shoemaker or any of the other butterflies housed in the zoo's walk-through pavilion, Wilhelm says photographers can learn some valuable techniques by shooting insects and animals in captivity.

"You've got up to 16 tropical species in an enclosed target rich environment. ... There's ample opportunity to find a subject and start working on it," he says. "People are walking away from the zoo with a lot of really cool photos, but the whole point of what goes on is (practice)."

By practicing in a controlled environment, Wilhelm says, budding wildlife photographers can learn what kind of lenses, flashes and techniques work in which environments. In the wild, he says, you won't always get the ideal conditions, so it helps to know what to reach for.

"Wildlife's not predictable, that's what makes it exciting," he says. "I might have a bird that's not really perched the way I want it and is not going to stay there as long as I'd like, but if I can pull the right arrow out off the quiver for the right job, I'm poised to make the exposure."

Wilhelm and other photographers from the sponsoring shop, Pro Photo Supply, lead the zoo's workshops, which have become a popular July and August offering. They attract shooters of all different levels, but tend to bring in a mostly older crowd. Wilhelm teaches the advanced class Butterflies With a Pro.

"This is a very hands-on kind of workshop," he explains. "Some people don't need any guidance and other people want a lot of guidance. My goal is to get them to walk away with some new information about how to use these tools."

Along with butterfly workshops, Wilhelm also has shown amateur photographers how to focus their lenses on birds of prey from inside the zoo's walls. He says even if his students aren't shooting Red-Tailed Hawks or Zebra Wing butterflies, many of the techniques they learn can still be applied to other wildlife.

The workshops don't just offer the opportunity to photograph bugs and beasts in captivity. Classes are held before the zoo opens, so photographers aren't dodging strollers, kids with snow cones and other regular traffic. Plus, Wilhelm says, the translucent tent that houses the butterflies creates near-perfect lighting conditions.

"It's the kind of conditions you try to create in the wild," he says. "I talk about using your flash and blending it with available light, but some students don't want to use a flash." In the butterfly tent in the morning, he said, they find themselves in an ideal situation.

A University of Oregon graduate who got his start in journalism, Wilhelm discovered wildlife photography after taking an ornithology class. It was there that he learned the importance of not only knowing where to find your wildlife subject, but also of understanding your subject's behavior.

"More important than patience is researching your subject," he says. "I think that is absolutely at the core of not only increasing your chances of getting the shot, but of going beyond simple (photographs) that hold the viewer's attention momentarily to getting something extra."

Today Wilhelm lives in Tualatin and makes only a fraction of his living from wildlife photography, which he calls a competitive and oversaturated field. He works primarily as a photographer for editorial and trade publications, although he sells wildlife photographs to Ranger Rick magazine, The Oregonian and other sources.

"It's something that I'm passionate about, that I'll do regardless of whether I make any income from it," Wilhelm says. "It's a hobby that generates some income and pays for some travel."

Wildlife photography has taken Wilhelm from Alaska to Belize to Africa. And even though he says shooting pictures of wildlife doesn't require him to sit patiently behind a blind waiting for a shot, he has done just that. He recounts a trip to Nebraska in which he spent days in a 4-foot-by-8-foot enclosure with a dirt floor and a bucket for a toilet waiting to shoot a flock of Sand Hill Cranes.

"On the third night everything came together. We slept with cranes 20 yards in front of us and they flew out (over) us," he recalls. "That's what it takes sometimes."

But even if he fails to get the shot, Wilhelm says, there is no such thing as a wasted excursion into the wild.

"Those are what I call scouting trips," he explains. "A lot of times things aren't going to pan out as you want them to but I've learned something about where a good location is. There's never a lost trip."

WILDLIFE PHOTO WORKSHOPS

The Oregon Zoo is hosting workshops for budding wildlife photographers on Saturdays during July and August. The cost is $28 for members or $32 for nonmembers. For more information, call [phone] or go to www.oregonzoo.org.

A postman butterfly lands on a flower in the Oregon Zoo's Winged Wonders exhibit that features butterflies from Central and South America. The exhibit has become a classroom for wildlife photography teacher Michael Wilhelm, who says students can learn a lot about what kind of lenses, flashes and techniques will work in the wild by practicing in the controlled environment of the zoo.