According to nature photographer Frank Gorga of Antrim, equipment and technique are only a small part of the process of taking great photographs.

“With nature photography, it’s all about how to approach your subject. It is as much fieldcraft as it is photography,” Gorga said. “You have to know how to find your subject, and you have to figure out how to get close.” 

Gorga’s photographs of dragonflies, damselflies and birds are on exhibit at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock until June 28. The exhibit is titled “Odes and Aves” after the species “odonata,” which includes dragonflies and damselflies, and “avians,” or birds, which are some of Gorga’s favorite subjects.

Gorga, a retired chemistry professor, became interested in dragonflies and damselflies over years of spending time at a family camp on Gregg Lake in Antrim. While he was interested in photography in high school, Gorga took time off from his hobby during the busy years of raising his family and building his career. In 2004, when the first digital cameras came out, Gorga started to get interested in photography again. 

“I majored in biology, but I was never a field biologist. I was always interested in nature; I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau,” Gorga recalled.

Gorga says at first, he knew nothing more than the basics about damselflies and dragonflies. He notes that the easiest way to tell the two apart is to notice what they do with their wings when they land -- dragonflies keep their wings out, and damselflies pull them in.

“It was great, when I was still teaching, to be able to take my photos downstairs to my friends in the biology department, and they could identify what was in my pictures, and tell me about their habitats, their life cycles,” Gorga said. 

Gorga estimates he typically sees about 50 separate species of dragonflies and damselflies in a summer. 

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“I am crazy enough to drive an hour to see a rare dragonfly,” Gorga said. “I drove all the way to somewhere near Nashua to see an American ruby spot.”

In 2007, NH Audubon launched the NH Dragonfly Survey. Volunteers tracked and recorded dragonfly species in New Hampshire for five years, recording 157 of the 164 dragonfly species ever reported in the state. Gorga, who is currently teaching a dragonfly and damselfly photography class at the Harris Center, has become expert at finding dragonfly and damselfly habitats.  The last two classes in the series will be held in the field. 

“The different types of odes all have their preferred habitats. Some need big lakes, some need small beaver ponds, some need rivers, some need small streams with sandy bottoms,” Gorga said. “This time of year, odes are getting away from the water as fast as they can, before something eats them. They like sunny fields, or you will see them in the middle of roads, out of the shade.”

Gorga has photographed the  entire odes life cycle, including the dramatic “emergence”  event, when the adult dragonfly breaks out from the smaller nymph body. 

“Dragonflies spend most of their lives underwater, as nymphs. Around here, they typically start coming out of the water in early May, when the water in their habitat hits a certain temperature,” Gorga said. 

Gorga also enjoys photographing birds, including loons, and took a series of a family of loons on Gregg Lake two years ago. The photographs from the current exhibit are from a birding trip to Star Island led by the Harris Center’s Eric Masterson. 

Gorga said teaching the class at the Harris Center has been a joy. He credits Harris Center naturalist Susie Spikol, who saw him one evening taking photographs at Norway Pond,  with organizing the class and the exhibit. 

“It’s been great to get more people interested in odes, and in the photography,” Gorga said. “I tell my class, you have to pay attention. With nature photography, you just never know what you’re going to see.”

For information on Gorga’s photography, visit frg-photo.com.