Winfield photographer wins praise for shot of seagull in flight
Randy Link's dad was kind of a photography wizard, often hunched over in the family home's darkroom.
He scoured negatives and meticulously cut them with a sharp razor blade. You could almost picture Ray Link wearing goggles with a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he brewed a concoction of chemicals to process images.
He liked to use negatives of his kids, maybe sitting in a predictable pose, and then layer them on other negatives. He used a tiny piece of tape to hold them together. And the result was a kind of pre-Photoshop image of his kids superimposed in an absurd, silly location, like driving a retro car.
"Great images are made, not taken," says Link, paraphrasing famed photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams.
Link says his father's mix of creativity and humor is part of the reason why his photos are never ready for the frame after he snaps them. The Winfield shutterbug likes to tweak them with photo editing software.
While Link focuses on still landscape and architecture, he wanted to test his skills at Lake Osborne in Naperville before he and his buddy head to Starved Rock State Park in Utica to photograph bald eagles in the summer or fall.
He had to master the proper lens setting, speed and light of birds soaring and maneuvering in flight. At the Naperville lake in March, he narrowed his squint at a seagull, panned his Canon Rebel EOS and shot nine photos.
At home, he used a process called tone mapping on his computer to intensify the light behind the bird's tail feathers.
And his result is a kind of spiritual image, transforming a seagull into what looks like a dove.
"The sunlight kind of caught those tail feathers like a halo," Link says.
His wife agreed when she admired it.
"It looks like he was coming in on a wing and a prayer," Link recalled.
The Daily Herald photo staff chose his photograph as the top picture in our April Photo Finish contest. As his prize, Link will receive a $50 gift certificate from PJ's Camera, 662 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn.
"It has a simple but effective composition, along with wonderful color, which gives the photo a majestic quality," DuPage Photo Director Scott Sanders said.
Link received his first camera when he was 10 years old. His dad was an Army mapping photographer and captured images of the American southwest and mountains in Alaska.
While his dad taught him the basics, Link has sharpened his skills with online classes and photography magazines.
"I'm finally understanding it now more than I ever did," Link said. "I'm getting the hang of it."
About our contest
Each week our Neighbor section includes at least one entry in our Photo Finish photography contest. If you would like to submit a photo, email it in .jpg format with at least 300 dpi resolution to ssanders@dailyherald.com.