Apr 14, 2011 | Wildlife Photography
I stepped out the front door to see a shooting star streak by, I took that as a good omen. It was 04:30 when I pulled out of the drive and headed down the road. The wind was blowing pretty hard, which in the winter means a storm is coming but looking up, all I saw were stars. I headed north to a gorgeous sunrise over the Sierra crest. I made a turn west on Hwy 50 and headed over the mtns. I no sooner got west of Lake Tahoe and the rain started, and it poured! I was driving 396 miles and rain would definitely put a damper on my day.
The Riparian Brush Rabbit is a listed species I first photographed 20yrs ago when the world population was best guessed at a couple dozen. Way back then, I spent five days to get a couple clicks of one individual. It was a lot of time for the shot, but it turned out to be “the” shot for the species for a long time. Since then the same biologists I worked with back then have been working amazingly hard to help recover the species. I arrived on site just after noon today and was instantly in the researchers’ vehicle looking for rabbits. You see the winter has been a wet one here in CA and the rivers levels has raised to the point where the RBR habitat has flooded out in many regions and they’ve had to go by canoe and rescue rabbits that are up in the tops of trees trying to escape the flood. Last week 125 rabbits were rescued with 34 being found drowned. Yeah, the population has increased with the captive breeding program the biologists started a decade ago.
We cruised down the levy and much to my delight I saw over 30 RBR this afternoon! I’m not here to take just portraits of the RBR but since I had the opportunity this afternoon, I took advantage of it. The rain had stopped and when the sun came out the bunnies came out to warm up. They are brush rabbits so photographing them in the brush is an important part of the photograph. At the same time, getting a clean shot of the eye is a must and after that, it’s to taste to tell the story. You become an expert real quick of finding their runways, tunnels through the brush that you can shoot down. Then it’s a fine dance up, down, left, right to get the shot tuned, including needed elements and excluding the rest. Handholding is a must to have that kind of flexibility in framing. After that, it’s getting the right gesture in the rabbit, which includes eyes, jaw and ears. I like this one because the wabbit has attitude that I see as, “I’m not going to smile so take your damn shot and leave me alone.” We spent about 10min with it before we continued down the road on task. This is another long term project I’m very honored to be a part of, starting back in the days of film. Well, it’s time to hit the sack. I’ll be up again early tomorrow. Shhhhhh, be vewy, vewy quiet, we’re hunting wabbits.
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 12, 2011 | Wildlife Photography
It’s that time of year again when the snow disappears and spring brings a new beginning. Depending where you are, you might be seeing the birds just arriving back from migration, they might be just now courting or they might already be on eggs. Birds are such a killer way to celebrate spring, while you’re reading this we’re celebrating as I have for 24yrs, out on the lek with Greater Sage Grouse (it will be our 1st morning with them this season). While the portraits are very cool and an important part of the wildlife photography story, telling the whole story requires a little bit more biology, technology and time.
Be it Common Murres, Arctic Terns, Eared Grebe or a House Finch in your own backyard, they are make great subjects. Photographing nesting birds is a huge challenge and a great responsibility. I’m still of the opinion anyone can do it if they take great care, understand basic biology and start now when time is still in your favor. Where do you start? Well, there is a little read paper right hear on the site on photographing nesting birds that I personally think is a great place to start. But it’s not the end all!
For example, when you read that piece written a long time ago, you’ll notice technology has changed a lot. The biggest change for the 2011 season I’ll be making is employing the Pocket Wizard MiniTTl. One of the past issues has been having the flashes placement restricted by line of site. This can be a major problem when you have branches and the like between you and the flashes. Here’s the key to all of this, start now! So I’m testing the flashes with the Minis now but setting up the gear, finding obstructions and testing. You might not be at that place yet, you might be at the beginning. I highly recommend you read the paper here on the site on nesting birds and see if it even interests you first. If it does, you should then pick up a copy of Captured and give it a read. Now if you get through all of this and still are interested, give this video a watch. If you’ve made it this far, then get a pair of binoculars, get out and start looking. The rewards are huge IMHO but you pay the price with the investment in time. I’ve provided a the recipe, you’ve gotta do the baking but the cake when it comes out is oh, so schweet!
Apr 11, 2011 | Wildlife Photography
My images of the San Joaquin Kit Fox have been on the pages of Nat’l G to the cover of Smithsonian, children posters, books and just yesterday on the CBS Sunday Morning show and that’s still not enough! They are still endangered, to few of the public know their story. Now coming back skunked from a shoot with the SJKF, I’ve done that many times. It’s simply part of the game since wildlife. Just because you’ve put the dates on the calendar and you show up doesn’t mean they will. This is especially true when you’re working with an endangered species and there are 200-400 to possibly work with in the area. Amazingly, I saw 16 individuals and had glass on 15 this trip so that’s one damn, fine start to the year!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DMLFSKF0433.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
I’m starting a new phase/project with the SJKF which will take the next year to knock out and I can’t be anymore excited with the start. 10-12 hours days paid off with big dividends. What you see here is an adult coming up from its den mid morning to see the world and take a nap in the sun. It’s pup season so the den gets really crowded so adults come up to get some space. I saw and photographed six pups at two different den sites, all around eight weeks old. Pups are just so much fun to watch because of all their energy. That’s probably why this adult looks not awake yet. You might be wondering about the background. That’s broken sidewalk, cement which the kit fox has dug underneath and made their den. It’s a very active street and yet this pair has been in this location for years have raised many families from what seems to be a very dangerous location for a fox to live.
Probably the most exciting part of all of this is bringing new gear, techniques and ideas to what is an old subject (I’ve been photographing the SJKF for 24yrs). The SJKF is basically a nocturnal critter though you could easily slip them into the diurnal category. Lighting at night is just not an option for every reason, everything from it being an endangered species to they don’t hold still and in one place. Working with what light is available is a must so the magic of the D3s is really proving itself. I’m not a “raise the ISO” kind of guy but in this case, it is the only option. So shooting at ISO 9000, biology is being photographed not captured before. What was really cool for us and the researchers was shooting video at night at ISO 9000. It’s simply amazing! I shot video with the D3s, D7000 and S9100 with all three doing a perfect job for what they were applied to do.
The project is really, really going to push me which excites and scares me to death. Being on scene basically every other week for the next year will push my calendar and productivity to the max. That scares me. Spending that much time with one of my favorite critters excites me to no end! And getting the shots that will hopefully make a difference is a huge responsibility that evokes the same emotions. I think the last 30yrs has prepared me for the challenge, only time will tell.
Photo captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 8, 2011 | Photography
One of the BEST parts of my work is getting caught up with old friends, the critter & biologists I am so fortunate to work with. This morning was one of those great conversations that started at Starbucks and then continued in the truck as we toured various kit fox den sites for four hours. By lunch time the gray skies started to hint that the afternoon work would be postponed. At lunch I caught up with Christine, a biologists I’ve worked with for the last 13yrs and who has helped me capture some of my favorite images. She was heading out to a high school this afternoon to check on a kit fox family that were reportedly living in a drainage pipe at the high school. The odd thing about the report was the drainage pipe had water flowing through it and is right where the buses parked. Kit fox don’t do water but we went out none the less to check out the situation (a family was known living at the school). We moved a bus, got down on our knees and checked out the pipe, no fox. Checked out other nearby areas, no fox. They are good at that, sinking into holes just out of reach of eyes with a flashlight. We were just finishing up when the skies opened up and the rain started to pour. We checked out two other dens on the campus, saw no foxes so got back into traffic and headed back to the office. These are urban kit foxes, masters of living amongst us without living much sign. We just got back to the office just when the phone rang. The folks at the high school were on the phone, they had just caught a kit fox pup. The down pour sent a flood of water down the pipe and flushed out the pup. We had just missed it. It would have been a great photo opp, a soaking wet pup, a urban kit fox being “rescued” by a guy with the biggest, warmest smile on the planet and then placing it back in the den with its siblings and parents. That’s how it goes, you just can’t be every place every time. The photo above is from 20yrs ago and is of a parent with two of its five pups enjoying the afternoon sun. The rain just stopped a little while ago, I have two dens to work today. I love these foxes!
Photo captured by F5, 600AF-I on Agfa RSX 100
Mar 24, 2011 | Photography
We meet Paul two years ago when DLWS was last here and have stayed in contact ever since. So it was only natural that we brought him back for our last shoot because….he’s amazing! DLWS is really all about teaching light, all it’s bad and good and how to make this key element work for us in our efforts to communicate the wonders of our world. Paul being a great athlete, RC started out by making some basic poses for the folks to shoot as we rotated in a 360 to the light. It was a great lesson! The top shot is from that exercise. Then as the light started to fade, the fire came out. We had a GREAT time with this! Everyone shot and got some absolutely amazing images of Paul out on a shallow reef. RC took the “manual” camp of flash folks and I took the TTL and together, all firing pretty much at the same time, spent thirty minutes shooting laughing and simply being in awe of Paul’s talent. As you can see, I did get my issue from the morning solved with the Pocket Wizard (With the AC3) working perfectly! Jake, Kevin & I took turns shooting with the single SB-900 with 1/4 CTO in a EzyBox as we rotated helping the folks. All we had to do was hand the next guy the Pocket Wizard and go. It’s a great tool that Pocket Wizard and did a great job making the bottom image. Can’t thank my bud RC for all he did this week enough, the rest of the DLWS talented staff, Kevin, Jeff & Sharon and all the great folks who joined us. We especially wanna thank Jay n Barbara at the Resort for making our week so successful and fun! Next…off to FL!!!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mar 24, 2011 | Photography
The group so enjoyed working Pualani, we brought her back for another morning shoot. This time though, as you can see, the old was out and the new was in. She’s such a great sport! I put her on a reef just a heartbeat offshore and with a SB-900 on a pole (with its holder standing chest high in crashing water), lit her using High Speed Sync. Now the top image is just what it appears, a back silhouette. But the bottom two photos, you might be asking, “Where’s the flash?” Well, I was asking the same thing! In fact, I was not a happy camper. We where shooting M, 1/3000 @f4 with a 70-200 lens. We were timing our shots with the crashing waves (EVERYONE shot this great opportunity). Well when it was my turn, when I took a click, you saw this little “fart” of light out of the flash. The next camera, blam! My camera, fart. OK, I’ll try my other body…fart! Both of my bodies weren’t communicating with the flash via the Pocket Wizard correctly. I ended up shooting with another body to get a working flash but what you see here was lit in Photoshop. And the issue? It wasn’t until a number of hours later we could do some research. I couldn’t get the D3x to work High Speed Sync above 1/350. RC tickled the keys of his iPad to discover there is a weird bug shooting D3x 14bit with High Speed Sync. Switch to 12bit and all is good. Finding that out during this great shoot though still really makes me mad at myself. I hate equipment failures that are really pilot error!
