Photography by Vincent Mistretta
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  • Birds, Travel

    One of My Favorite Florida Locations

    I love photographing in Florida. The diversity of and access to wildlife is hard to beat anywhere. I had the opportunity to visit Palm Beach County this past week. I used the time to visit one of my favorite places, Jupiter Beach Park. The park is a fantastic place to photograph at sunrise. The assortment of birds that I see regularly there are Ruddy Turnstones, Brown Pelicans, Common Terns and Least Terns. I have also occasionally photographed Osprey, Great and Snowy Egrets and Laughing Gulls at this location. Oh yeah, there are a group of regulars here that feed the pigeons each morning, so if you want pigeon pictures, this location will fill your CF card!

    Ruddy Turnstone on a rock

    There is a jetty to walk on which you can capture people habituated Ruddy Turnstones like the photograph above. There is also a long stretch of beach you can walk as well. That is where I shot the Ruddy Turnstone image below.

    Ruddy Turnstone in Rippling Wave

    In order to prepare for this trip, I looked at some past images from the park to figure out how I could improve on the images I already had in my files. As a result I came away with 2 goals for this trip. 1) Take images with cleaner backgrounds. As you can see in the first image, I went to great lengths to ensure that I captured as much of the inlet behind the bird as possible, limiting anything that would be a distraction to my subject. 2) Find some emotion and pull some heart strings with the images I took.

    I think I was successful with goal number 1. The images I came away with on this trip were much better than those of the past. This is good, it means as a photographer I am improving my skills and craft. An essential trait to any business. On the second goal I was less successful. I tried to pull emotion by photographing many, and I mean many, of the Ruddy Turnstones I saw limping around the beach. Why were they limping? Their feet were tied with fishing line, an unfortunate consequence of foraging near fishermen. However I did not pull off telling that story the way I wanted. I also snapped a few pictures of an Osprey flying overhead with a fish in its talons but did not have the right light in order to bring true emotion to that image.

    The closest I came to pulling emotion was this photograph of a least tern preparing to drop into the water at sunrise. At least it stirred emotion in me!

    Least Tern Preparing to dive into the water

  • Birds, Travel, Wildlife

    Whats it Like?

    I know, I know. I have done a terrible job of blogging the last few weeks. I apologize. To make it up to everyone I have some cool content I have been working on. More on that in the coming weeks.

    One question I received from some “wildlife photography newbies” was “whats it like to photograph wildlife”? So I thought it would be interesting to show everyone some “scenes” from 2 of my recent Florida birding shoots. Thanks to fellow photographer Ralph Liniado for providing the photographs of me (save the emails and comments, I know I have a bald spot on the back of my head)!

    The first picture is of me on Pass-a-Grille Beach. Getting low gives bird photography a whole new perspective. Not to mention a wet backside. We did a lot of “scooting” that day, and it was cold!

    Sunset on Pass-a-Grille Beach

    The result of working the scene above lead to the following photo opportunity.

    Laughing Gull, Pass-a-Grille Beach

    The next picture of me was from the Brandon Harley Davidson Rookery, what a great place to take bird photographs at sunset!

    Brandon Harley Davidson Rookery

    This position on shore led to one of my favorite clicks from Florida.

    White Ibis Prepares for Landing

    Hope you enjoyed this and maybe, just maybe it gave you some motivation to get out and shoot this weekend. The weather forecast is for spectacular conditions in New England this weekend.

  • Mammals, Travel

    Hyena

    My African safari was full of great memories. One of the best finds by our guide was a Spotted Hyena den chock full of pups of various ages.

    Hyena Pups at Den

    Hyena Pups at Den


    Hyena Pups with Runt


    How we happened upon this den was an exciting story. On our first game drive in Botswana, we happened upon a pack of African Wild Dogs. When it became too dark to photograph let alone see, we started our journey back to camp for the night. No sooner had we packed up our gear when we heard the dogs and hyena fighting. We turned on the spotlights on the jeep and headed toward the noise. It seems as the dogs were making their way, they happened upon the hyena den and a territorial spat ensued. While we couldn’t make any clicks with our cameras, we now had a new location to scout over the coming game drives.
    The next day we returned to the den to find only pups, no parents! It truly amazed me how these pups took care of themselves while their parents were out gathering food. We worked this area for an hour or so. As the pups became more comfortable they came very close to our vehicle. They are very photogenic animals.

    Hyena Pup


    On our last game drive at Chitabe, we happened upon one of the adult Hyena picking over the remains of an Elephant. Was this soon to be lunch for the Hyena Pups? We couldn’t tell you as we had a flight to catch!

    Hyena at Elephant Carcass


    I have been working on a series of posts about what is involved in preparing for an African Safari. I have received a lot of inquiries in this regard and I figured putting together all the emails into a post or two would be useful. Stay tuned!

  • Travel, Wildlife

    Southern Giraffe

    One of the most pleasant surprises on my recent trip to Africa was the number of Giraffe we encountered.

    Southern Giraffe, Chitabe Camp, Botswana

    Southern Giraffe sitting while eating

    Here are some interesting facts about Southern Giraffe:
    Giraffes roam over large areas of bush and savannah, living often in semi-desert regions where they get most of their water from their food. Similar to camels, they can go 2-3 days without water.
    Giraffes are browsing ungulates, feeding almost exclusively on the new shoots of shrubs and trees. Acacia trees are their favorite food source. The Giraffes use their long prehensile tongue and lips to strip the leaves off the thorny branches.
    While Giraffes can live in herds of up to 15 animals we only witnessed small groups of 2-6 during our safari.

    Given how busy we all are in our daily lives it saddens me that we don’t have adequate time to appreciate certain aspects of our wild heritage. I was one of those people until I made a conscious effort over the last 2 years to change that. I have been deeply moved by what I have seen and where I have traveled over that period of time. I can’t wait until I get a chance to go back to Africa!

    Southern Giraffe Profile

  • Travel, Wildlife

    Africa Day 3, Wild Dogs

    12.07.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    We were very fortunate to witness a pack of 22 wild dogs on 2 of our game drives. This was one of the most exciting parts of the trip for me. I will keep the pictures here to just pack behavior as I know many children read this blog. I will have some scenes of the kill in the website gallery shortly.

    African Wild Dog Pups at play, Chitabe, Botswana

    African Wild Dog Pups at play, Chitabe, Botswana

    You can tell by the image below that these hunts take their toll on the animals. Look at the right front leg on the dog to the left.

    African Wild Dog with Injured Leg, Chitabe, Botswana

    African Wild Dog with Injured Leg, Chitabe, Botswana

    This pack had 14 new pups in the 22, 2 of the pups had already not survived the last few months. That said, our guide told us that this was one of the largest African Wild Dog packs in Africa.

    African Wild Dog pups at play, Chitabe, Botswana

    African Wild Dog pups at play, Chitabe, Botswana

    Flying around the dog kill was this beautiful Yellow Billed Kite. When the dogs were not looking he swooped down and grabbed a piece of their kill which is actually still in his talons in this picture.

    Yellow Billed Kite in Flight, Chitabe, Botswana

    Yellow Billed Kite in Flight, Chitabe, Botswana

  • Landscapes, Travel, Wildlife

    Africa Day 2, Victoria Falls and Zambezi River

    Sunday was an intense day, not only was it our first full day in Africa (after roughly 30 hours of flying) but it was a day with 3 scheduled location shoots, 1 more than we would have on any other day. After we photographed in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park we were off to Victoria Falls. As many of you know, Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

    Victoria Falls from the Zambia entrance

    Victoria Falls from the Zambia entrance

    Above is a picture looking at the falls from the Zambian entrance. You can visit the falls from either Zambia or Zimbabwe. Given that this was the beginning of the wet season, the falls were almost dry. In another 2 months the falls would cover the full length of the photo along the right wall. We were told that when the falls were in full force, we could not stand where we were taking pictures because the mist and force of the water would overwhelm us.

    Man sitting on dry Victoria Falls

    Man sitting on dry Victoria Falls

    If you look closely at the above photo, you can see a man sitting on a dry section of the falls, this will give you a perspective of just how massive an area the falls cover. I would estimate that the section in this photo was approximately 1/8 of the full width of the falls.

    Victoria Falls across the foot bridge

    Victoria Falls across the foot bridge

    Many of you have heard about people bungee jumping from Victoria Bridge. Here is the bridge. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the building on the bridge people jump from and the bungee as it hangs down from the bridge.

    Victoria Falls Bridge

    Victoria Falls Bridge

    Later in the evening we took another sunset cruise down the Zambezi River. In the photo below, we were looking down one of the rivers tributaries that led to the falls. You can see in the photo the mist from the falls.

    Victoria Falls Mist from Zambezi River

    Victoria Falls Mist from Zambezi River

    African Crocodile along the Zambezi River, Zambia

    African Crocodile along the Zambezi River, Zambia

    All in all, our trip to Zambia was very memorable albeit short.

  • Mammals, Travel, Wildlife

    Africa Day 2, Morning Game Drive

    First of all I would like to thank everyone for the notes I have received since my return. I am feeling better and expect to make a full recovery shortly.

    The itinerary for our trip was a fairly simple one. Each day was comprised of an early morning activity (4:45 AM wake up) and an early evening activity. This left the heat of the afternoon (this was the summer in Africa of course) for education, naps, inter-camp travel or individual game reserve exploration.

    The exception to this itinerary was our first full day. We had an early morning game drive in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park, followed by a trip to Victoria Falls and then another evening boat ride on the Zambezi River.

    The main purpose of our stop to Zambia was to have the group acclimate to the time zone and check our gear before we headed to our main photographic destination, Botswana.

    The Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park was full of wildlife. However park management never stocked or reintroduced predators in this park due to its proximity to a large orphanage at the main gate to the park. The prime subjects for us were the White Rhino herd, 5 in total, that were recently reintroduced to the park.

    White Rhinoceros Grazing

    White Rhinoceros Grazing

    It is hard to appreciate the majesty of these animals until you are up close and personal!

    Male White Rhino checking out his audience

    Male White Rhino checking out his audience

    Unfortunately for the group we only located this lone male, the females were nowhere in site.

    One of the challenges that the group faced photographing in Zambia and Botswana were the busy backgrounds. Many people associate photographing animals in Africa with the cleaner backgrounds common in Tanzania (Serengeti) and Kenya. Here are two examples of images doomed by background.

    Southern Giraffe in Zambia

    Southern Giraffe in Zambia

    Common Waterbuck

    Common Waterbuck

    Both of the above pictures are nice “mementos” but not valuable for a portfolio. You might be able to get away with the Giraffe background but definitely not the Waterbuck’s.

    One surprisingly interesting subject were the Fireball Lilies that dotted the landscape of all the parks we visited. You don’t normally think of flowers when you think of the Kalahari and other dry locales.

    Fireball Lilies in full bloom

    Fireball Lilies in full bloom

    Stay tuned for Victoria Falls and the second Zambezi River trip! They will be posted soon.

  • Mammals, Travel, Wildlife

    Africa, First Stop, Zambia

    11.21.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    Hello All,
    I am back from Africa and I have a lot to share with you. I know some of you are asking why I am back so soon. Well, the short answer is I had a bad reaction to the malaria medication I was given and it forced me to end my trip 6 days early. It was a devastating set of circumstances given I had planned this trip for 12 months. However, on the bright side, I am home, safe and under the care of my own doctors. But I will admit that the 28 hours it took me to leave camp and land at JFK were extremely stressful. That all said, I expect to be fully recuperated in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

    So our group had their first stop at Toka Leya camp in Zambia. This camp is fairly new, approximately 1 1/2 yrs. old. It sits right along the Zambezi River, a few miles up river from Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls are one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

    Our first game drive was a sunset boat ride along the river (I know, if my wife or mother finds out I was in a small boat, in the dark, on a river filled with crocodiles and hippos I might not see Thanksgiving Day).

    Speaking of hippos, as soon as we entered the water we saw our first herd.

    Yawning Hippopotamus in the Zambezi River, Zambia

    Yawning Hippopotamus in the Zambezi River, Zambia

    Hippos sometimes yawn to show potential threats how fierce they are. We didn’t need much convincing!

    The Zambezi River is shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia as are Victoria Falls. The ecosystem is filled with wildlife, both mammals and birds. We could have stayed in the river for several days and not had a chance to photograph all that we witnessed.

    Zambian sunset from the Zambezi River

    Zambian sunset from the Zambezi River

    The summer months in Africa are considered the rainy season. An advantage of being there during this time are clouds! The rest of the year has just plain blue or grey skies which can get pretty monotonous.

    Sunset over Zimbabwe, from the Zambezi River

    Sunset over Zimbabwe, from the Zambezi River

    Over the next few days/weeks, I will journal for everyone our daily game drives as well as provide information about our experiences during the trip. Many people have asked me about what I brought and how I packed. A separate post would be necessary to do justice to this topic and I will provide this information at the end (most likely after the holidays).

    If you have any comments or questions about the trip either drop me a line of leave a comment. I will most definitely be around the next week.

  • Travel

    Worldwide Photo Walk

    Scott Kelby’s Second Annual Worldwide Photo Walk took place today, (Link). Some 30,000 photographers around the world in 940 cities took part in this event. A New Canaan, CT walk was hosted by Phil Scott of Phil Scott Photography (Link). Phil did a great job of organizing the walk and picking a great route, especially with the town sidewalk festival occurring at the same time. The best thing that Phil did for us was order a great day of weather!

    Rainbow in the Sky

    Rainbow in the Sky

    The route gave something for everyone to shoot, even someone like myself who has lived in New Canaan for 19 years.

    First Church of Christ, Scientist

    First Church of Christ, Scientist

    Lastly, as the day came to a close we wondered through the sidewalk fair on our way to the cafe at Mead Park for lunch.

    New Canaan Sidewalk Fair Band

    New Canaan Sidewalk Fair Band

    Hats off and thanks to Phil for organizing a great day.

  • Mammals, Travel

    Solo

    06.14.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

    I had planned to stay at St. Mary Lake for an additional day and a half to practice what we had learned during base camp. Having some free time to decompress and practice what Moose and Jake taught us was actually more beneficial than I thought it would be.

    Black Bear along Going to The Sun Rd., St. Mary Lake, Montana

    Black Bear along Going to The Sun Rd., St. Mary Lake, Montana


    One of the themes Moose was harping on me all week was not to take too many “head shots” and to think about how to present the animals in their environment when communicating with your viewers. I tried to practice this much of the day.

    Elk in Glacier National Park

    Elk in Glacier National Park

    But the highlight of the day for me came right at sundown when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Grew Wolf targeting a meal. After working the spot I was able to get this shot when he came out of the brush!

    Grey Wolf, Glacier National Park

    Grey Wolf, Glacier National Park

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