Photographer Michael Giglia’s image of an osprey lifting up off the water carrying an alewife in each talon was creating quite a stir last week. I went to see the show at Southport Memorial Library last week and I have to say, the photographs capture the essence of the subjects beautifully. 

Now, I know what some of you are thinking right now: Hey, this is my chiropractor. Yes, yes, it is. Michael and Susan Giglia opened their office, Damariscotta Chiropractic, 40 years ago over on Bristol Road in Damariscotta. There are many of us here in the Boothbay region, and beyond, who are, or have been, patients of one or both of them. Michael’s photos have adorned the office walls, and, now through February, all of us, patients or no, can see them at Southport's library.

For example (yes, here comes a back story – don’t you just love ‘em, too?), there’s “Angelic Motherhood,” a photograph of a mother egret feeding her baby. It’s a beautiful, large photo of the white birds set against a dark background. “Yeah, they were set back in the trees a bit. The mother comes in (back to the nest) and the baby grabs hold of the mother’s beak. Then she moves her beak down its throat and squirts food down,” Michael said. “I guess that’s why the mothers have a membrane to protect their eyes because those babies really grab for the food.”

There’s also a mother ibis and night heron feeding babies. “The night heron mother was feeding a chomped crab to her baby, who was not small – maybe almost half the mother’s size – and it just grabbed it from her beak,” said Michael. “I was real close for this one – they were at this rookery in a tree – and I could shoot it with a short lens.”

These days his camera is a Canon R5 and R lenses, but his first camera was a used 35mm Kowa. Then came a Pentax, followed by a Nikon – all film cameras. When their kids, Nikki and Jian, came along, they went with the all-in-one cameras because "it was about capturing moments, not taking pictures." Then the digital era kicked in.

"More than half my life they were film cameras that you could take 12, 24 or 36 photos with," he recalled, "so you had to be really good at figuring things out (before shooting); you couldn’t take 20 frames a second like I do now. You were much more skilled taking those shots with the earlier cameras. And I think you may be a better photographer having that experience. But who knows?"

Other subjects in the show  include adult and juvenile American bald eagles, merganser and cormorants; alligators, grizzly bears and even feral pigs. Geographic shots include a circular mounted image entitled “Glacier Yin and Yang” taken in Aialik, Alaska. Other “photo shoot” locations are New Jersey, Louisiana and Belize.

Michael never travels without his camera – even on his way to the office. He’ll stop over to Damariscotta Mills first thing in the morning and maybe catch a few shots. Other times, when he’s not keeping patients’ spines in optimum condition, he will spend hours waiting ...

“It’s a Zen thing too,” he says. "It's not about the outcome, it’s about the adventure of getting there. I love getting the ‘great pic,’ of being in the right place at the right time.”

Examples of right place-right time include a bald eagle standing on a piling with an American flag in the background. The family was on vacation in Alaska when Michael saw the raptor and started taking photos – for a good 20 minutes or so, which his subject must have enjoyed because it looks directly into the camera. While shooting, he becomes aware of a boat flying an American flag passing behind it.

But that osprey photo causing the big stir at Southport Memorial Library, “Big Haul” – was taken at Damariscotta Mills when the alewives were running. “It’s the most relaxing time of my life – waiting and watching. I waited four hours for that one. There’s an osprey that comes in May and stays through early July and we spend time together. The osprey always sits in the same tree and lets me get pretty close. It’s a sort of Zen experience.”

All of the photographs are printed on metal. You may have already seen some of Michael Giglia’s photos in Boothbay Region Art Foundation’s annual photography show, now the Maine Photographer’s Showcase in 2023. As you all may recall, the 2024 show had to be canceled after a car went through the front windows and door. Michael's work has also been exhibited at River Arts in Damariscotta and Maine Art Gallery of Wiscasset. But this exhibition at Southport Memorial Library is his first real show. Speaking of, the library will receive 10% of the proceeds from each sale. 

Southport Memorial Library, at 1032 Hendricks Hill Road, is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with evening hours on Thursday from 6 to 8. For more information, call the library at 207-633-2741 or visit www.southportlibrary.org

For more images and info, visit https://michaelgigliaphotography.com