Wow, sunset on Friday was amazing here. After weeks of sub freezing weather and several feet of snow, we had a day with temps in the 60’s! I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera and heading out.
Hooded Merganser Hen at Sunset
I have really enjoyed visiting Greenwich Point Park this winter. As I mentioned previously, one of the species I did not have in my image bank were Hooded Merganser’s. There seem to be a group of 3-4 Drakes and 5-6 Hens that hang out at the large salt water pond in the middle of the park.
Hooded Merganser Drake
The only difficulty I have encountered at this location is that the birds here are not very habituated. You would think with the hundreds of people and dogs that use the park each and every day that the birds would be used to human presence, but they are not. This has caused me to work on environmental composition and telling a different story than just a closeup of the subject. While I would like to get some closeups, the practice of story telling is one that I welcome. To me, that is how you grab the heart strings of your viewers. Without that tug, images are just representations of time.
Hooded Merganser Pair at Sunset
Images captured by D3x, 600 VRII wTC-20E III on Lexar UDMA digital film
I have had a hard time getting this little fellow to pose for me, but I guess the hunger associated with winter and the need for bird seed from the feeder made him cooperate a little.
Red Bellied Woodpecker, Peek a BooRed Bellied Woodpecker
This is a great subject that I hope to have more success with in the coming months.
Have a great weekend!
First I want to start the day off by wishing my beautiful wife a Happy Birthday! Lee Ann, you are the best!! 😉
This winter has been difficult on many of the birds that call New England home during the summer months. While I admit that I am a fairly new (young :-)) birder, I was amazed to see ice/frost on the backs of these Canada Geese. I need to do some research to see if this is a regular occurrence. Interestingly enough, none of the ducks or Brant Geese at this location had any frost on their backs. Im not sure why that is but I am now on a mission to find out!
Canada Goose at Sunrise
I was drawn to this spot originally by the sunrise reflecting on the water. But that quickly faded (it was an overcast morning). Since I had driven all the way down to the water and realized I wasn’t going to be able to make any sunrise images, I decided to practice long range bird shots. The two images here are taken with a Nikon 600 f/4 and 2.0 TCE III, the equivalent of 1200mm of glass. That is the longest combination you can get with Nikon gear. The focus on the images is pretty good, better than when I first started using this combination a few months ago. However I’m missing the sparkle of light I needed to make the eyes stand out. So much for overcast days.
Canada Goose Foraging
Many locations I wanted to photograph this winter have been difficult to access due to snow and ice. Given that we expect temperatures to rise this week and melt some of the ice and snow, I hope to get to some new locations. One such location is Barnegat Light in New Jersey. I look forward to sharing with you images from these new locations.
Let me start off by wishing my wife, family and friends a Happy Valentines Day!
Snowy Forest Black and White
Moose Peterson announced on his website over the weekend that he will be hosting another Yellowstone Adventure next winter. I have had visiting Yellowstone on my bucket list for a while. I hope to visit Yellowstone in the winter and fall. I hear the difference between those two seasons is amazing! Since Moose is one of my mentors, signing up for this adventure was a no brainer. Yellowstone in the winter is a killer for big game and landscape photography. What a combination. It will be a great time!
You will find below a link to all the details. From what Sharon (aka Mrs. Moose) told me, there are only a few spots left for either of the 2 weeks so if you are interested I would call right away. If you are going on this trip next winter, let me know. We can plan on freezing together. Temperatures this week were -30!
Its funny how we come to rely on specific things in our lives. I almost exclusively used Kodak film back in the days of, dare I say it, processing film in my parents basement bathroom! Ill never forget the first time my dad realized that part of “building a darkroom” meant I needed to paint the 1/2 window with black paint so no light could get in. 🙂 But for me that decision was easy. Kodak film had been consistent and reliable and I couldn’t see why I would risk valuable memories and moments to anything else.
So when I switched to an all digital workflow around the turn of the century, ouch that makes me feel old, I tried 2 different memory card brands, or as I like to call them, digital film. In the end, the brand I decided on and have used exclusively now for 5 years are Lexar professional CD cards. The model I use currently are the new 600x Professional UDMA cards.
Lexar Professional UDMA 600x
Knock on wood, I have never lost an image due to Lexar card failure. I always try to be very careful with my cards and only format the cards though my camera. There are a lot of different opinions as to the right way to format or “clean” a memory card but using my cameras has worked for me. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”!
When uploading images to my laptop on the road, I use the Lexar ExpressCard Compact Flash Reader pictured below.
Lexar Professional ExpressCard Reader
In the office, I have several Lexar Professional UDMA Firewire CF Readers (pictured below) stacked. The great thing about using Photo Mechanic as an ingest program is that it allows for multiple card downloading simultaneously. You can stack up to 4 of the below devices for super fast downloading.
Lexar UDMA Reader
Memory cards are a critical part of your workflow and also a potential point of failure. Selecting a brand and understanding how to use their products is an essential part of your workflow. Lexar recently put together a great video of how they produce their products. Their factory and the factory of some of their suppliers is shown in the video. It is very impressive.
I hope you enjoy watching how technology helps make our lives better and the precision used in these products.
NOTE: I do not currently receive any free product or sponsorship from Lexar. Images curtoesy of Lexar and Amazon websites.
As my wildlife and nature image libraries continue to grow, there are certain birds that are more illusive than others. One such bird is the Northern Cardinal.
Northern Cardinal
This fellow landed near me and while I would like to take credit for “stalking” him, the truth is these images were more luck than skill. Still, I believe I can do better with some more progress. While snow still covers the ground in the Northeast, seeing Cardinals fly around the yard makes me feel like spring is not that far away.
Trying different perspectives can be fun. We finally had a break from the bitter cold yesterday. It was a balmy 40 degrees! I headed out early to be by the water at sunrise but found nothing to photograph. So I decided to go home and switch my subjects from shore birds to feeder birds.
Dark Eyed Junco on Snow Slope
I used the nice weather to get dirty……wet actually. As you can see from these images, I got down in the snow and let the birds come to me.
Dark Eyed Junco Stare
Shooting at bird height if you will, makes for an interesting perspective and aids in how the light falls on your subject.
Dark Eyed Junco, Coast is Clear
I have always had a hard time making a good image of Dark Eyed Junco’s from above. With dark upper feathers, capturing light in the birds eyes is key.
I rather like shooting at this angle and love the contrast of the birds feathers and the texture of the snow these images poses. So next time you want to try something new, get down low!
No, you are not going to bang your head. 🙂 I’m talking about the bird!
Mallard Drake Foraging
I took a ride to Long Island Sound the other morning and loved the shimmer of the sunrise on the water around these Mallard ducks.
Mallard Ducks at Sunrise
Unfortunately, the birds down by the water this morning were not very habituated to humans. While I was the only person there (it was 18 degrees f), the birds wanted to have nothing to do with me. These images are taken with a 600mm f/4 with a 1.4 TCe-III. Still not enough glass which is the story of my life!
We have had an extreme winter thus far. Over 4 ft of snow as of this last storm.
Ice in Long Island Sound
It has also been extremely cold. There are several parts of Long Island sound with significant blocks of ice cutting off fishing for many birds.
Snow Covered Boulder
But there is a silver lining to this cloud. The weather conditions have presented many great opportunities to make images that we don’t often have in a normal winter. I plan on making as many images as I can!
Last week was a tough week for me. On Sunday, I finally got out of the house and decided I would try and photograph some birds. It seemed sitting around and feeling sorry for myself was counterproductive. The best way I know of getting myself out of a funk is to try and access the creative side of my brain. The obsessive-cumpulsive side of my brain is rarely any help in this regard. So off to find some birds I went.
I was standing in front of a saltwater pond at O Dark Thirty hoping that a flock of Hooded Mergansers would make their way from the back of the pond to where I was at the spillover along Long Island Sound. With the sun about to break the horizon, I knew if the Hooded Mergansers made it to me shortly, I would have some really nice images with awesome light. I have never been to this spot at sunrise so I was flying a little by the seat of my pants.
While observing the biology of the birds I was watching, something made me turn around, almost like a tap on the shoulder. I hadn’t given the scene behind me any attention because that was where the sun was going to rise, and as all photographers know, the best light at sunrise, usually comes from over your shoulder. 😉 But divine intervention made me look. When I turned, I witnessed one of the nicest, most peaceful sunrises I have witnessed in person.
Long Island Sound Winter Sunrise
For the next 15 minutes, I was mesmerized by the scene before me. As the sun rose, my disposition seemed to change and the weight I had been carrying on my shoulders all week was lifted. It was a truly amazing experience. After witnessing the sunrise along Long Island Sound, I jumped in my truck and drove to the back of the pond to make this image.
Lily Pond Frozen Sunrise
I have always been very fortunate. I have a wonderful family and a wonderful relationship with God. Whenever I have been challenged in my life, it seems God finds a way to send me profound messages.
