MONTEZUMA - A lot has changed in the decades since John Francis McCarthy shot his first set of photos.

But one thing that hasn't changed over the years is the artist's love for the medium and its evolving nature.

On Sunday afternoon, McCarthy, a Skaneateles-based photographer, who also owns Finger Lakes Photography, visited the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, in the latest in a series of speakers on the subject of photography.

The series, sponsored by the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, has photographers talk about nature and landscape photography and give a little bit of insight as to what they can do to achieve the images they strive for.

McCarthy said he got his feet wet in photography through journalism.

“I'm originally from Syracuse,” McCarthy said. “When I was living in Portland, Ore. a friend and I ran a newspaper and we published environmental impact statements.”

McCarthy said back then he would go into the darkroom and look at the images the photographers produced and it was then his interest was truly sparked.

But it was a trip overseas that McCarthy's interest took full bloom. McCarthy said while still living in Oregon, he traded a guitar for an airplane ticket to London and later made his way to Dublin, Ireland to stay with family, bringing along his first trusty camera.

“I borrowed a camera,” McCarthy said. “I did a lot with that camera. I even pawned it. But before I did that I brought eight rolls of film with me. Only about two frames from all eight rolls came out, but of course they were the best pictures in the world.”

Thus was born a passion for shooting pictures.

When he returned to Syracuse, McCarthy said he spent 10 hours a day for more than seven months hanging around the Syracuse University community developing room, picking up as much as he could about photography and the process of creating and developing his own images.

It was this time that helped set McCarthy's path as a photographer.

“I'm self taught,” McCarthy said. “This is really a hands-on kind of thing. I was fascinated with the idea of being able to express yourself with a camera and I've been lucky enough to support my self with it.”

The key thing McCarthy shared might seem simple, but is often an elusive aspect of photography.

“If you can get the image in the square, you are 90 percent there,” McCarthy said. “You have to get the image in the square, that is what it is all about.”

But, McCarthy said this is easier said than done, as many know from photos that have thumbs in the frame to part of a face or odd framing. It is something that simply comes with experience, which McCarthy put to good use, shooting photographs all over the Finger Lakes region, including a great deal of work at Montezuma.

After getting the basic feel for a camera, McCarthy said the next thing to decide is what to shoot. That is something that even he has struggled with.

“I used to go to these seminars and lectures about photography,” McCarthy said. “And I would see these beautiful pictures people had and I would think here in central New York we only have 60 days of sunlight really. But this really is one of the most beautiful places in the world and there is so much to take photos of.”

McCarthy also spoke on the changing world of photography in the digital realm, which has taken over.

“In the old days, the technology wasn't there,” McCarthy said. “But now in the digital world you can do pretty much anything you want to do.”

McCarthy said that with programs such as Photoshop, there are seemingly limitless possibilities to experiment with, combining images captured at different exposures to create one perfect image, to creating as greater depth of field.

But McCarthy explained much of this is dependent on the camera itself. McCarthy said people will often get frustrated they aren't capturing the range of color they see with their eyes.

This is caused by the camera's ability to reproduce that. McCarthy explained, the higher quality the camera, the higher range of color it is capable of capturing.

But the most important thing is to be pleased with the experience of taking the photo in the first place.

“You have to make yourself happy,” McCarthy said. “A $100 camera isn't going to do what a $32,000 camera set up is going to do. But it is very important to make yourself happy.”