- May 15, 2024
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From the 19th floor of Plymouth Harbor, Lou Newman has a clear view of the community’s bird rookery. He can point out every one of the great blue heron nests — at least four — each with herons at different stages of life.
For Newman, at 93 years old, birds are his passion — specifically photographing birds in flight. Most weekends, Newman ventures out to places like the Celery Fields or Myakka River State Park equipped with his mirrorless Canon camera.
He’s also still undergoing physical therapy from a car accident that left him paralyzed about a year ago.
It’s difficult for him to squat down. He has to watch his step more often and needed an extra hand when stepping aboard a charter that took him to a different rookery the other week.
But, as soon as he was able to, he got right back into his passion of being behind a lens in nature.
Newman had a camera in his hands from the time he was a teenager.
Originally from Massachusetts, he spent his high school years in New York. He said that at an early age, he decided to become a farmer instead of a fireman. So when he went to college at the University of New Hampshire, he spent most summers working on farms.
A “college cowboy” is what he called himself.
About two years into his college career, he decided to be a veterinarian.
After graduation, he went to work for a veterinarian in Wyoming before starting his own practice in Montana, in a small town where he said there were 5,000 people and about 75,000 cows.
“Innovative from the start,” is how Newman described his professional life. His own practice grew to include a drug wholesale business and ranch.
At one point, Newman said he did cesarean sections as a drive-thru service. Farmers would bring cattle to him in the bed of pickup trucks, drive them into Newman’s barn and he would perform the surgery in the bed of the truck for $45.
There was a time, he said, when he would perform as many as eight C-sections in a day.
Throughout his time on his ranch, Newman said he often used a camera to document his practice and to show others the work he was doing.
After a while, Michigan State University started bugging him. The university wanted him as a faculty member.
Newman said he shrugged them off a couple of times. But when his wife was diagnosed with cancer, he accepted Michigan State’s offer so that he could move with his wife and six kids closer to better medical care for his wife. Unfortunately, she died about a year later.
But Newman stayed at Michigan State where he pursued a master’s degree.
During his studies, the camera once again became a prominent part of his life to document his research. That included research into E. coli, and later a study for his doctorate where he studied the use of a coronavirus vaccine for calves in utero.
Newman completed his doctorate and then moved to Kentucky for about 20 years and worked as a veterinary pathologist. Then he worked as the director of veterinary pathology diagnostics for a while at the University of Georgia.
Around 1990, Newman decided to prepare for a career in wildlife photography.
He did that for about two years but decided to take a step back and stick to photography as a hobby. The marketing and business side of it wasn’t for him, he said.
In 2002, he made the move to Florida and started getting into wildlife photography thanks to a couple of mentors along the way, like Arthur Morris.
Around this time, he also volunteered as a veterinarian pathologist at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, and a veterinary surgeon at The Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary, now called Save Our Seabirds.
Over the years, though, Newman had the chance to photograph some amazing places. He’s been to 73 countries — all seven continents — and explored the Arctic 10 times.
Alaska is his favorite destination, and somewhere he’s gone a dozen times. China was his favorite country, though.
Some of those excursions came from a time when he taught photography lessons on cruise ships. Over four years, he spent 56 weeks at sea.
“Anytime we went to a location where I could, I was most interested in the wildlife photography that was available,” Newman said.
His growing expertise allowed him to judge various contests and give local lectures.
Now, Newman doesn’t teach anymore. He does have an email list to which he enjoys sending educational emails.
He also emails updates to Plymouth Harbor residents about the nests in the rookery — something he keeps a keen eye on.
And he still takes trips to photograph wild birds.
Before his accident, he said he went on photography trips about four times a week. Then after the accident last summer, it took until about January to get back to doing what he loves.
“I like being out there with a camera,” Newman said. “Even if I don’t take a picture, or I take 2,000 pictures and don’t use one of them … it’s just about being out there, looking at things through the camera lens.”
Recently, he said he’s been going on excursions about two or three times a week. His favorite spot is South Lido, especially during this time of year when shorebirds are nesting.
Most importantly, he just likes sharing his pictures. He donates as many as he sells nowadays, he said.
But one can still find Newman’s photography sold on greeting cards at local shops or around the walls of Plymouth Harbor. His prints can also be bought online.
Over the years, Newman had a connection with cameras, but his career took him to various places, from agriculture to animal science and veterinary medicine.
As a piece of advice on following your passion, Newman said what’s important is, “having the ability to plan ahead, not with the idea that this is what you’re going to do, but so that you have the option to do it.”
“Plans can change, easily,” he continued. “As long as you have a plan, you can change it. … My advice to people is to plan in such a way that you have options. And the person that has a sense of what they want to do is blessed."
