A day in the life of a wildlife photographer, right in the heart of urban Stratford

Lisa Herlick poses on the banks of Lake Victoria. A popular wildlife photographer on local social media channels in Stratford, she is out in the wilds of the Festival City every day.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Every day, Lisa Herlick heads to the Avon River.

If you’re lucky you may be able to spot her. Most days she’s decked in green camo, or white in the winter. She carries a DSLR camera, a long lens and a tripod, and can spend hours standing still with her eyes on the water.

Like any wildlife photographer she’s looking for it. The photo. Though, what exactly it will be of changes moment to moment as nature unfolds through her lens.

“I’m all about the action,” Herlick told the Times. “I’m all about the eyes … because the eyes tell it all, right? I like getting close enough that I can see their eyes and they can see mine. And I do think that they sense me as I sense them, and so I like close up stuff, action stuff … I like the moment, the impact (as it) hits the water.”

Herlick is a wildlife photographer and owner of Nature n Focus Photography, best known on local social media channels where she shares her pictures for the wider public to see. As previously mentioned, she mainly focuses on the river, Lake Victoria in downtown Stratford and the surrounding greenspaces in the heart of urban Stratford.

Although surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the Festival City, hidden in the in-between places is a thriving ecosystem that she knows well. As she said, on any given day she can spot up to 36 different species of fauna around her – from common species like Canadian geese and ducks to more rare species like bald eagles, beavers and snapping turtles.

Recently, with the drastic draining of Lake Victoria in late-July due to an issue at the RT Orr Dam, the area looks much different. Herlick said the first couple of days were a hotbed of activity for local species, as they migrated away from the areas that were drying up. Now that the lake is no longer draining and some calm has returned, she is nervous about the lake’s health, though trusts the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and the powers that be to manage and maintain the waterway.

Right now, Herlick is focused on capturing an elusive creature – one she hasn’t photographed yet but is sure is in the area: a peregrine falcon.

“I’ve heard it scream and my phone registered it twice,” she explained. “I’ve seen it. I’ve heard it twice. They are in southwestern Ontario, he is located in an area that meets the checklist. I’ve watched videos. I’ve listened to recordings … I would say I’m 100 per cent sure, I just haven’t got the photo yet.”

Marked by their brilliant yellow beaks and talons, blue-gray backs and bespeckled undercarriage, peregrines are a tricky bird to capture. With a top speed anywhere between 300 to 625 kilometres an hour, they are largely considered the fastest animals on the planet.

Herlick said she started her photography journey with a simple cellphone camera that was gifted to her four years ago. She had no professional photography experience, but persistently came out to the river and grew as a photographer. Later, when she was gifted her first $500 camera, it was an exciting evolution that opened up a world of possibility.

Now, as her experience and business grows, she upgrades her camera and gear yearly, with enough kit to come out to the river no matter what the elements are. She has rain shields for when it downpours and snowshoes for when there’s too much snow to trudge through.

Growing up in Wellesley area, Herlick credits her upbringing in instilling her core beliefs and setting her up for success when it comes to nature photography.

“I grew up at the river fishing,” Herlick said. “My brother and I … all day long, we would just wander. We'd go fishing, just explore. And I did that my whole child life.

“My dad was a fisherman and a hunter, so I was kind of like the second son, right? And I actually liked it more than my brother did. But because I was a woman, you never had these opportunities back then … You didn't know you could be a wildlife photographer.”

The secret to her continued success as a wildlife photographer, if it can be called a secret, comes down to those core values instilled in her in those formative years: patience, respect and curiosity.

“I have this high curiosity,” Herlick said. “I want to see its tongue. What kind of feet does he have? I love the ruffled feather look. … When I see a bird, I don't just say, ‘Well, there's the white bird and there's a tern.’ I research each one I do, so then it draws even more of a heightened interest for me to photograph it.”

Respect in particular is important to Herlick, both in terms of her practice and her goal. Being in the same areas everyday and presumably seeing the same animals frequently, she has come to know them quite well and they have come to know her, too. She believes that by continuing what she’s doing, she can spread the same respect she has for nature with the broader public.

“This is why I do what I do, to educate,” Herlick said. “If you know more about the bird, if you know more about the facts, people will respect (nature) again. I think years ago we respected nature because we were in nature more. And I think our mentality would be better, and I think our parks would be cleaner. Society's lost that in touch with nature (quality).

“If I can get birds with names and create stories, it's going to get people drawn in and have new respect – get them out of the house, get them in the park … Once you get in and lock eyes with animals, you respect it.”

To see more of Herlick’s work, visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.herlick.92, or see her social media posts on popular Stratford-based community groups.