I interviewed Eleanor Briccetti the morning after the South Korean-bound container ship Cosco Busan crashed into the San Francisco Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of sticky, tar-like fuel and thus creating an environmental disaster of historic proportions. She was distraught. "I can't help but think of those poor birds. Thousands will die before this is over."
I understand completely. At 77, Eleanor is an accomplished nature and wildlife photographer who regularly treks to the far corners of the world—places like Antarctica and the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. She has been known to wait for hours or even days to capture the perfect photograph of a Hudsonian Godwit or a Crested Auklet.
You have to love birds to get the photos she gets, and her passion is clearly evident in her work.
I first met Eleanor six years ago, about the time, she says, "when I decided to put birds and photography together." The Eleanor I knew was my then 7-year-old granddaughter Jamaica's violin teacher. I knew virtually nothing about violins, but my wife assured me, "Eleanor Briccetti is one of the greatest violin teachers in the East Bay."
When I took Jamaica to Eleanor's house for lessons, I noticed she had a wonderful and growing display of framed photographs—not only of birds, but polar bears frolicking in the snow, wildebeest drinking at a pond, and a lioness carrying her cub. Years went by before one day it dawned on me—duh, Eleanor takes all these wonderful photos. This is her work!
As I started thinking about potential Inspiring ELDRs, Eleanor was one of the very first people on my list.
"When I'm not out taking pictures," she tells me, "I exercise at the YMCA with the machines every other day and hike on alternate days. One needs to be fit if you're going to carry camera equipment around all day."
It turns out the gear Eleanor lugs around in the Grand Tetons and other scenic places weighs 25 pounds, including a large body Canon Mark II with a 500 millimeter lens, and a Gitzo tripod with a Wimberly head. "People who know photography will know what a Wimberly is," she says.
Growing up in Westfield, New Jersey, Eleanor was blessed with parents who loved music. Her father was also an amateur photographer, and they traveled frequently. She started playing piano in second grade and violin in fourth grade. "Children didn't start violin as early in those days, as this was pre-Suzuki," she explains.
Her parents took her and her brother to symphonies and musicals in New York and Boston. She was especially influenced by concerts performed in Carnegie Hall by the Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and New York orchestras.
After graduating from Oberlin College in 1953, Eleanor got her first job playing violin in the Kansas City Symphony. "Isn't that unusual," I ask, "becoming a professional musician right out of college?" She shrugs her shoulders and replies, "Oh well, it was easier in those days."
Following Kansas City, Eleanor got a master's degree in violin from the University of Indiana; "did the wifey thing" and raised two children; was the principal second violinist of the Indianapolis Symphony, a member of the St. Louis Symphony, an active chamber music performer and founder of the Indianapolis Chamber Players; and ran programs for young violinists and cellists.
Aside from a couple divorces, the biggest crisis for her came when she had a severe shoulder injury. It required surgery that "cut through all the muscles in my arm" and kept her from playing the violin for almost a year.
I wonder, "What did you do during your recovery?"
"I knew I would go crazy," she replies, "so I learned how to fly a Cessna 150, and after I got my pilot's license I went on to get an instrument rating."
"Oh my," I respond, "You're a pilot, a photographer, a teacher, an avid traveler, and a violinist. Can there be anything else?"
"Didn't I tell you?" she says, "I'm also a scuba diver. I took this up when I moved to California, so I could dive with my son and daughter. We dive together in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, the Great Barrier Reef, and other wonderful places."
"When my mom was still living," Eleanor continues, "she would say, ‘Eleanor's either up there or down there, why can't she stay on the ground?'"
These days, Eleanor is actually very grounded. In addition to all the above, she teaches part time at the Crowden School of Music in Berkeley, and she spends a lot of quality time with her two grandchildren. As far as I know, she has no plans for new hobbies.
To see a slideshow of Eleanor's photo, click here [0]