Passion for Discovery Motivates Orchid Grower

Awed by the delicate beauty of native orchids, Ravan Schneider treks across the high mountain slopes and through the dense Philippine rainforest in search of these fragile beauties. A modern day orchid hunter, Schneider rides to the jungle fringe on his motorbike every morning to spend the day hiking and hacking his way through the jungle growth in hopes of making a new discovery. It’s his thirst for discovery, coupled with an admiration for the ethereal beauty and stunning variety of orchid plants that motivates Schneider to spend his retirement chasing rare orchid plants. Chronicled in December 2, 2010, online edition of The Epoch Times, an international newspaper, the daily adventures of an orchid hunter make fascinating reading.

Using his eyes and the telephoto lens on his camera to search the lush, green, tropical landscape for new and unusual orchid species, Schneider has chosen to spend his retirement hunting orchids. But unlike orchid hunters of the past who carted off the orchids they found to sell to rich benefactors in Europe, Schneider is content to record his discoveries with his camera lens. As he climbs up the mountain slopes toward the misty clouds that ring their peaks, his body is slung with several cameras. His telephoto lens gets the greatest workout as many orchids in the Philippines grow high on the trucks of trees or dangle from their branches. But Schneider also carries a macro lens for close-up shots when he is fortunate enough to find a ground-growing orchid or happen upon an illegal logging site where he can search for these delicate beauties among the felled branches.

Appalled by the devastation illegal logging causes to natural orchid habitat, Schneider is philosophical about things he cannot control. While logging destroys orchid habitat, it also provides Schneider with an opportunity to discover new orchid species and get up close and personal with tree-growing orchids he rarely has a chance to examine closely.

Photo credit: tauntingpanda