Hogzilla
17 June 2007
Pigs here in Kona don't get quite as large as the infamous
Hogzilla,
but that doesn't make them any less of a challenge. The local
pigs are not native to the island and can cause considerable
damage. Even the Sierra club approves
of hunting pigs in Hawaii. Hunting is challenging enough but for
an even bigger challenge try shooting the pigs... with a camera.
I've tried on many, many occasions to get a good picture of the wild
pigs. It is amazingly difficult. The pigs seem to have some
sort of ESP and only show themselves when I don't have my camera with
me. At 2:30am when I'm sound asleep then the pigs have wild
parties all over the farm but on Friday evenings when I'm ready with
my camera the pigs are nowhere to be found.
Scroll over this image to see the enchanced version.
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I have occasionally managed to drag my butt out of bed at 2:30am.
I have even managed to sneak up close enough to the pigs that I could
almost pet them. But photographing wild pigs in the dark has
proven to be beyond my abilities. I usually end up with nothing
but a bunch of dark pictures with fuzzy dark blobs in
the middle. One time, trying to be clever, I mounted the camera
on a tripod and left the shutter open for 15 seconds. It was
still way too dark and the camera's flash didn't help so I tried using
my flashlight, swinging it back and forth to illuminate the entire
area. That worked great for getting a picture of the trees but
the pigs wouldn't hold still for 15 seconds so they're not visible in
the picture. I was left with a picture of invisible black pigs
at night.
I have a whole collection of black pictures with fuzzy blobs in the
middle. Some of them even show fuzzy glowing eyes. If
someone points out the fuzzy blob and you really use your imagination,
then you can kind of make out a pig-like shape. Mostly though,
they're just more pictures of invisible pigs.
As you can see below, I have finally managed to get some pictures of
pigs. It was 5am and just starting to get light. I could hear the
all-night pig party starting to wind down so I forced myself out of bed
and grabbed my camera. It was a large heard of pigs with a couple
boars, some sows and several piglets. I'm sure they knew I
was there but I moved slowly and quietly enough that they didn't
spook. When I got close enough I started taking pictures.
Hand holding the camera wasn't working, all the pictures were super
fuzzy because it was dark enough that the shutter speed was way slow.
I tried propping the camera against a tree to steady it, that helped
some. The obvious solution is to bring a tripod but sneaking up
on the pigs is difficult enough without having to carry and set up a clunky
tripid. If you think you can do better then by all means, come by for
a visit and bring your camera. Pigs rarely bite and the big boars
almost always run away from humans when the heard gets spooked.
Update: Apparently, the last time my sister visited us, she managed to get
a picture of the pigs having a party in the back yard. She sent me this picture
of the Pig Party. I'm not sure, but I think this picture might be a fake.
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