Photography

It gets difficult to isolate a single flower amongst a field of flowers. It required lots of looking and maneuvering on the narrow ledge I was perched on. ...

Sometime in the early 1980’s I made my all time favorite flower image...This picture has been used for posters, calendars, books and cards...Ever since that time, I have tried to capture flower pictures in that same style, using selective focus to create an impression of spring. I have never made another flower picture that I have liked as much, but at least I still have fun trying. Read the whole story and see the images in the blog.

The river was really flowing today, about 23,000 cfs, which is 10 times more water than 2 weeks ago. That also means the water is about 8 feet deeper than normal, and many areas what were land 2 weeks ago are now under water...My friend Paul Sayegh didn’t want me paddling alone on the river when it was that high, so he decided to come too. I am not sure if that means he is a good friend or just as crazy as me.

Turtles were the one species that was abundant today. We must have seen at least 50 different turtles sunning them selves. Unfortunately, the majority of turtles in the river are not native to our area.  The Red-eared Slider, the turtles you may have had as a kid, are the most common.  Many people have released their “pet” turtles over the years and now there are thousands of them in the river. We saw many of them today, along with one new non-native species that I have never noticed before, the Pond Slider. And we did manage to see two different individuals of the local turtle, the Western Pond Turtle.  Read the whole story and see more pictures.

...I took a closer look at 2 images that I thought were out of focus, trying to determine what went wrong. Once I enlarged the images I discovered they were not out of focus but that the fog cloud had shifted and the sun projected the shadow of the tree onto the fog. If you notice the tree behind the shadow is in good focus...

Whenever the river is running high it is more difficult to find and photograph wildlife. Part of the reason is areas that were shallow and good fishing areas for wading birds are now deep under water. This weekend was one such a time.

When this happens I try and go to areas out of the main channels of the river, more into back bays and lagoons. But even these areas are about 5 feet deeper than normal and a lot of the wildlife gets displaced. One of the species that seems to do better under these conditions is beaver...Read more and see more images below.

Some days when I am out on the river it is real easy to spot the wildlife and others it is not so easy. Today was a mix of both. But this one particular female Black-crowned Night Heron was especially difficult. Read the blog to find out more.

You can tell spring is in the air by watching the wildlife.Two weekends ago, when I was leading my workshop group at Effie Yeaw Nature Center, we saw at least 50 turkeys....We did see something I had never seen before and that was turkey sex. So for all you city folks here is what it looks like!

About a week ago I posted an image on Facebook of a leucistic turkey that landed in our backyard. Since that time I have learned more about them...

There are lots of times when I am out kayaking that I get just a glimpse of a subject and then they are gone. Lots of the time I am able to just fire off one or two frames and my subject is gone.  I barely have time to aim the kayak, drop the paddle, raise my camera and fire.  That is why I use the custom settings on my camera.  I have C1 set for animals that are fairly stationary; and C2 set for birds in flight.  My settings for C1 are...

I love watching the progression of color during sunrise and sunset...When I first approached the river the sky contained some nice pink clouds...