For years I have been photographing nature, and all it has to offer, and thus far I have found that I was mostly only able to capture things at a distance, or that were familiar with my scent and presence. This led me to wondering how I could get better shots and pictures. Well, I have a friend who goes out hunting quite a bit and he uses what is called a ghillie suit. Seeing how I am a starving artist I told him how I would be unable to buy a ghillie suit kit, and he rebutted me with the fact I could make one on my own. So, left to my own devices I decided to make my own home made ghillie suit.

I experimented with several different fabrics until I cam across someone selling jute just for the purpose of making a home made ghillie suit. I quickly bought a large amount of it, and then went to a thrift store and bought some cheap clothing, along with a used sewing machine. I also visited the local hobby shop and picked up some clear thread. I was well on my way to building my first home made ghillie suit. I started with the fabric and the clothing, sewing it together in such a way that it meshed together without folding or wrinkling, then after about two weeks worth of work I asked my friend what I should do next. He said to drag it behind my truck.

Later that day I strung it to the back of my truck and drug it along a soft dirt road for a few yards, but it was quickly getting torn up. So I fixed it, and went back out and drug it by hand by using a hangar with a rope. That seemed to work fine, and once it was all a nice dirt color I went out and started adorning it with grass, leaves, twigs, and other such materials. In the end I was about half way done, but had a lot of empty patches still. Over the next month I filled those out on my home made ghillie suit, and by the next Sunday I was out in the woods with my camera - which I also made a little cover for.

I was able to get more close pictures and see more wildlife with my home made ghillie suit than I ever had before, I was absolutely amazed at how many stills of birds, deer's, and even a raccoon I was able to capture on the camera. I go out using that suit every time, and in my spare time I am making a better home made ghillie suit that has more pocket space and a much larger amount of coverage as far as the added leaves, grasses, and other materials go. I plan to use it the next fall, so that I can get some great stills. My biggest goal will be to capture a bear on my camera; however, I would want to do that at a great distance.