Frog's Eye View: Amateur Shot Lands Extension Aquaculturist on Magazine Cover

By: Jamie Creamer

When Dave Cline pulled the February issue of Outdoor Alabama magazine from his mailbox, it made him want to shout.

There on the cover was his "Frog's Eye View," an awesome up-close frog photo he took in the pond in front of his Auburn home.

The shot won first place in the reptiles/amphibians/fish category of the magazine's 2006 photo contest, edging out another great Cline frog photo for the top honors.

"That it won the contest was great, but to have them pick it over a thousand other entries to be on the cover, that really boosted my confidence," the Extension aquaculturist and AU master of aquaculture 1991 alum says.

And as if that weren't enough mileage out of one picture, "Frog's Eye View" also earned him first place in the wildlife category of the Alabama Farmers Federation's '06 photography competition.

Not bad for his first venture into competitive photography.

"Aside from a couple of awards at a county fair, these were the first contests I'd ever entered," says Cline. "I'd just always lacked the time and confidence to enter my stuff in anything."

He shouldn't. It's good. From nature scenes and landscapes to sporting events and portraits, Cline's photographs are sharp, vibrant and beautifully composed. Just check the few of them he has posted online at www.davidclinephotography.com.

The photography bug first bit Cline back in high school in upstate New York, when he received his first 35-millimeter camera as a gift and took on the role as yearbook photographer/darkroom technician.

"I enjoyed all of it, especially the time in the darkroom," he says.

In the years after that, though, the lack of access to a darkroom and the high costs of film and processing forced him to basically let the hobby slide.

Then dawned the digital era, and Cline was one of the early converts. He bought his first digital camera-and his first version of image-editing Adobe Photoshop-in 1999, and he's been honing his photography and Photoshop skills on his own ever since, mainly through trial and error, extensive research and reading and a sharp eye.

"I read everything I can get my hands on and look at other people's photography and try to figure out what special techniques they used to get certain effects," Cline says.

Cline took "Frog's Eye View" and his second-place Outdoor Alabama entry, "Curious Frog," actually sitting in his pond, holding his camera just above the water.

"I'd been watching the frogs for a while, so I went out and sat in the pond, waiting for the right shots," he says. "They finally came along."

He took the award-winning photos the summer of 2004. He knows it was 2004, because in 2005, he didn't take many pictures. He had more important things on his mind than photography. Things like survival.

It all started when he hit the big 4-0 and decided to take up running again after a 15-year break. On his first day out, he tore his Achilles tendon.

Several weeks and two unsuccessful surgeries later, doctors ran a CAT scan on him to try to figure out why his leg wasn't healing-and why he was inexplicably losing weight. They found a tumor on his kidney. It was malignant. They took out that kidney.

In the midst of all this, he got a serious case of shingles.

"That was the worst part of the whole seven-month ordeal," he says of that vicious, unrelenting pain.

But now he's cancer- and shingles-free and back on track, juggling his job as Extension aquaculturist for 35 east and north Alabama counties, his pursuit of a doctorate in aquaculture, his burning desire to take his photography to the next level and, most important, his roles as husband to Tracy and dad to a 3-year-old fireball, Michael.

"I've got a hundred pictures I need to be working on (in Photoshop) right now, but the only time I have to work on them is between 8 and 10 at night and when I can grab some time on weekends," Cline says.

Although it's more or less a hobby now, Cline says he could see it developing into more.

"It'll have to become a business to support my hobby-and my desire to buy cameras and lenses and doodads," Cline says. He took the frog photos with a 6.3-megapixel Canon EOS 10D; since then, he's stepped up to an 8.5-megapixel 20D.

His biggest "jobs" have been a couple of weddings, but he'll tell you up front that's not where he wants to go.

"There's money to be made in that, but weddings are not my first choice," Cline says. "Talk about high pressure."

You'll note in the online portraits portfolio that he has two categories: people and pets. That latter is where he's thinking he wants to specialize.

"I enjoy doing them, plus, people will pay for portraits of their pets," he says. "It's hard to get those frogs to pay."

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