Local photographer goes wild

Nothing is more peaceful for Rhonda McClure than capturing the magnificence of nature with a camera.
“Everything about photography appeals to me,” said McClure, a Kingston resident.  “It is all I do with my spare time. It opens up the world. It lets you see the creation God has made that is so special that people miss.”

Photo courtesy of RHONDA McCLURE

Rhonda McClure’s photograph of a resting buck in the Smokies will make the cover of the latest Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency calendar. McClure, a Kingston resident, said she’d never had her work published before.

Photo courtesy of RHONDA McCLURE

McClure’s photo of a Cooper’s hawk reflects her talent and patience.

Buy this photo

She was recognized for her skill when her photo of a stretching buck was selected to be in the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency’s publication of their 2013-14 Tennessee wildlife calendar.
“I received a letter about two months ago,” McClure said. “I was shocked I got the cover.”
It is the first time her work has been published.
She said others were taking photos of the buck, which was resting in high grass in Cades Cove in the Smokies, but the others left before the buck lifted his head for her special shot.
“The reason his face is up in the air, it was around rutting season. He caught a whiff of a doe, so he raised his head to smell her,” McClure said.
A photo she took outside her own yard in Kingston was also included in the calendar for the month of July.
It’s a juvenile Cooper’s hawk.
“It was on my fence,” she said. She and her proud husband, Ray, live in Eblen Estates.
McClure loves animals and loves focusing on them in her art.
She gets lots of inspiration even in Roane County, although many of her pictures are taken in Cades Cove.
“We have all kinds of little varmints here,” McClure said.
The calendars are available at www.tnwildlife.org.
McClure’s website is www.facebook.com/RhondaMcClurePhotography.