If you want to spend a day taking pictures with Debbie Danison Fusco, you may want to pack a lunch. Several days a week, the Palm Beach County native photographer rises before the sun does, packs her bike into her truck and heads out toward the wilds of south Florida to capture anything and everything that moves… through her camera lens. And, if time allows, she’ll faithfully do it all over again,
the very next day. Fusco specializes in landscape and nature photography. She not only has a knack for capturing the moment, but she can also, in a very uncanny way, predict what her subject will do before it even knows she’s watching it.
“I call her Debbie “Hawkeye” Danison,” said fellow photographer Vicki Dameron, also a native of Palm Beach County. “She has this built in radar for great subject matter and an all-encompassing knowledge of nature. Every time we shoot with Debbie, she tells us where to find our favorite animal, bird, reptile or plant. She knows what the critters will do before they even know what they’re about to do. The woman can spot deer, birds and gators better than any other person I know. It’s a blast to watch her in her element, out in the woods or near the ocean, with her camera. I absolutely love shooting with her.”
Dansion-Fusco was born in West Palm Beach in the summer of 1961. During her childhood, she lived in Belvedere Homes near the airport, and later moved to Jupiter which is located in the the northern section of Palm Beach County. She attended Twin lakes High School and grew up with a passion for the great outdoors, a passion that was passed on to her by her family members who were also native to the county. Her grandparents, parents, siblings and cousins were avid hunters and conservationists who had a passion for fishing, airboating and half-tracking through the marshes of south. Some of her pioneer relatives have been credited for creating some of the first motorized vehicles and boats that made it through the swamps and Everglades of south Florida. Their influence, their strong family bond, and love of nature were all passed down to Dansion-Fusco, who spent her entire life in the woods learning about everything it had to offer and taking pictures all along the way.
“I have always loved photography and have been shooting ever since I could hold a camera,” said Danison-Fusco. “One of my first cameras I used when I was young was a Polaroid instant camera. They were great! I had a lot of fun with them back in the day. Later, I moved on to using a Canon.”
Today, she still prefers Canon cameras and likes her Digital Canon EOS Rebel the best. Her favorite lens is a 70mm -300mm long lens which allows her to capture subjects from a distance without being seen. Her wish list for new equipment items include anything new that Canon has to offer. “I want the best camera Canon makes, and any lens that is more powerful than the one I have now,” she said excitedly. “I want one of those really BIG ones, then, I could get even closer, with my lens, to the bucks!”
Style-wise, she describes herself as leaning toward candid, photojournalistic style photography, and steers clear of shots that are staged. “It’s just not real to me if it is posed. I don’t like it,” said Danison-Fusco. She enjoys shooting at sporting events, especially football games, and likes to cover anything that is related to charities and conservation.
“I just like to take pictures, that’s all I can say… always have, always will,” said Dansion-Fusco. “The most important piece of advice I can give to anyone who likes photography is to shoot a lot of images. Each one is different, so shoot as many as you can shoot.”
If you are lucky enough to hang out with Debbie “Hawkeye” Danison-Fusco, and capture nature through a lens with this wildlife phenom, you’ll want to bring extra batteries, extra film/digital cards and some surplus energy. And, by all means, do not forget to pack a lunch.
