Born to be wild

Bonnie and Britt Halsell get around, to say the very least. They have traveled across the U.S. and around the world. Stateside, the Florida State Parks’ website has dedicated a page to them for their volunteer work and wildlife photography tours at Silver Springs State Park since 2019.

The “Gazette” caught up with the Nikon-wielding couple on a sunny March afternoon while observing an eagle’s nest in southeast Ocala. They explained that the juveniles were still in the nest and pointed to the mom off to the side. As a brown wing peeked out, Bonnie snapped the shot with her zoom lens, bringing the majestic young eagle up close in vivid detail.

When not taking photos, Bonnie volunteers her time for Florida wildlife nonprofits and helps report information to state agencies and the Audubon Society. Sometimes she has to report nuisances, such as preventing people from making noise, hunting and doing other disrupting things while the eagles are nesting. 

On wildlife expeditions, she’s fearless. Britt said she’ll climb on just anything to get the perfect shot. Once in Botswana, an elephant snuck up on her through long vines (they’re very quiet, we’re told). The vines tripped Bonnie and cut her leg. She lay on the ground while the elephant made a bluff charge. She showed us the scratch in her boot from the incident. TheHalsells said they always have an armed guide near them for protection during such close calls. 

There was also the time a rhino crept up on her from around a bush, Britt said.

“The female,” Bonnie clarified. “The guide knew that female was coming up to the male and I was too busy taking pictures. I can get lost in the moment.” 

Now married, the Halsells started dating 13 years ago. They attended Ocala trivia nights together and their combined brainpower led to many first-place prizes. After saving their cash winnings in a “kitty,” they shared $100 with each of their contestant friends to throw a party. When it was their turn, they hosted a Hawaiian luau and surprised their pals by getting married during the party. 

Photography and a love of wildlife have made the Halsells’ life an ongoing adventure.

“My photographic career started in 1954 when an uncle presented me with a used Kodak Duraflex I camera and a roll of film,” Bonnie explained. “That gift from my uncle forever influenced and enriched my life.” 

Bonnie grew up as one of eight siblings in New York, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Her family moved to Miami in 1960 when her father became a set designer and builder for what would become Ivan Tors Studios, the producer of both the “Sea Hunt” (partially filmed at Silver Springs) and “Flipper” TV series. 

“If I was quiet, I was allowed to visit the sets to watch the filming and bring my new Kodak 110 Instamatic camera,” she said.

After graduating from Florida Atlantic University in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she moved to the Florida Keys, where she worked as a dive instructor and guide while exploring underwater photography. The subsequent years were spent sailing, diving, photographing, writing and documenting her life at sea. 

“In 1980 a chance road trip stop found me in Ocala,” Bonnie’s bio reads. “I fell in love with the lifestyle, flora and fauna of Central Florida and stayed. No matter what I pursued as a career — law or the school system — I was never without my camera. Traveling to new or familiar destinations for wildlife, cultural enrichment, food and people-to-people interaction — all while using my camera to capture the soul of the adventure — is an everyday personal goal.”

As a paralegal, Bonnie started her own service helping people with disabilities appeal their cases when turned down for benefits. She also worked for Marion County Public Schools. 

“The third chapter of my life has been the best one,” she effused, “and it ain’t over yet. Far from it.”

Britt is noticeably more low-key than Bonnie, providing an affable, mellower complement to her zesty charisma. Originally from Alabama, Britt and his family lived the mobile home life across North America in a Greyhound bus converted into an RV. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1993 with a master’s degree in architecture. College would be the first time he stepped into a classroom because he was homeschooled.

After moving to Ocala, he worked with architect Hal T. Reed. 

“I worked for him for 10 years, got my license and had a partnership for a while with Jerry Stevens. And then we went separate for a while, but now Stevens and I are back together again. We’re partners and we’ve got two part-time drafters, but if I want to take the day off, I can, he said.”

Britt’s designs include the Ocala Breeders’ Sales pavilion. In 2019, “Ocala Style” reported on one of Halsell and Stevens’ projects, renovations on William and Michelle Futch’s 1956 dream home, which grew in size from 2,125 to 4,554 square feet and the architects did it all while utilizing the home’s original footprint.

When the Halsells aren’t perched above the roof of their Jeep truck or crouched down in the weeds of a nature preserve, they guide bird and wildlife photography walks at Silver Springs State Park on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month and sell wildlife photography from their studio, BhB.

“It’s mainly my photographs that I have on my site that people contact me to purchase,” Bonnie explained, but Britt has some too, including landscapes and more artistically stylized photography. 

Bhb used to include weddings and parties, but the aftermath of COVID-19 took a toll on their business.

“I did big military balls or dances with seniors,” Bonnie recalled. “I’d go in and Britt and I would set up a whole portable studio with all the lighting and we’d take those sweet 16 photos of the people who were in their 70s and 80s, and, yes, I digitally dieted people and I took 10 years off with my filter,” she added with a mischievous grin.

Britt and Bonnie provide easy-to-grasp photography tips on their tours. They give primers on shutter speed and a little bit about the aperture and help alleviate fears of the manual settings on cameras. She also insists that her tourmates keep their eyes fixed on the target before and while they lift their camera up and zoom in.

“The number one thing is to find the wildlife for the people to educate them,” Bonnie said. “If I can hook one person with one shot into loving that species and they go home and do research on an osprey or another bird or beast, then I have done my job.”

Bonnie and Britt’s next bird and wildlife photography tours of Silver Springs State Park will take place Saturday, April 9 at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The following sessions will be April 23 at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Visit bhbimages.net to learn more.