Jay Diaz Says Great Photography is All About Patience

October 14, 2009

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It was a September Sunday afternoon. The beach at Captree State Park on Long Island had started to erode for the fall, and Jay Diaz, Pentax point-and-shoot camera in hand, spotted the image he wanted: a butterfly approaching a flower close to the surf. Jay saw he could catch all three subjects in one photo. "Moments like that really move me," says Jay, 58, first-line Technical Support technician at the Law School. He waited for just the right moment. Then snap, he got the image! In fact, photography helped Jay through a traumatic childhood, as he moved in and out of foster homes and ran away from home at 17. His first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, gave him a hobby and a purpose. He bought it with money hard-earned from two jobs; he's worked since he was 11. Jay, who now lives with his dog Buddy, began photographing on Staten Island, which at the time Jay was growing up, was 60 percent woodland. But he also found ways into Manhattan, to photograph in Central Park. Ansel Adams was his idol. He's never taken a photo course and considers himself entirely self-taught.

Nature has always been his favorite subject. And he especially loves so-called macro photography, in which the photographer, or his lens, zooms in very close to a small subject – say, a nail on a board or a small insect. True macro photography records images on the "negative" or film pane that are the same size as the image in "real life."

"I just love to get close, then closer, then really close," Jay said in an interview. To wit, the praying mantis photographs of which Jay is especially proud. He is able to get close enough to the critters that he doesn't have to use special lenses.

So fascinated did Jay become by the "architecture" of the praying mantis's body that he began studying the insects in great detail – in books and with his camera. "Did you ever notice their pincer claws, which look like they're praying, and the way they can turn their head around more than 180 degrees? Or how about the way their eyes look? I look at these fascinating insects and I truly understand, no matter what my beliefs, how we all had to evolve from the same father and mother."

In fact, the praying mantis has five eyes, Diaz learned. And the movements it uses to snare its prey are so fast they can't be seen by the naked eye.

Jay photographs many other subjects, too – flowers, animals, trees, birds. He loves inspiring others and he loves to hear from people who like his work.

"It's a hobby as well as a way of life," Jay said. "I'm a quiet person, and the camera just lets me be who I am."

Jay is regularly featured in The Nature Conservancy's Daily Nature Photo series (seven times and counting!) and was recognized twice so far with "Photo of the Week" for Snail on a Leaf and Morning Dewdrops on Leaf. You'll find Jay's photos on Flickr and other photog websites under the alias "KoolPix" or "Jay D."