Feb 12, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
It was a gorgeous, sunny, winter’s morning with a thin layer of new snow on the ground. The scream from downstairs had me flying out of my chair at my desk and racing down. I get down to see Sharon pointing franticly out the front window and the first thing I thought was, Bobcat! Chipmunk … Chipmunk! Why all the excitement over a chipmunk? It’s the beginning of February and we normally don’t see them out of hibernation until the middle of April. And that wasn’t the only one, we saw another one today and that is really blowing our minds. And it doesn’t stop there.
We have Band-tailed Pigeons in the feeders as well starting a week ago. We normally don’t have them until mid to late summer! They like it warm and dry … warm and dry and it’s February they’re in the Sierra! And if that weren’t enough, our normal winter main resident, the Clark’s Nutcracker is absent. They should be pounding our suet right now to feed their young and we don’t have a one! Now we keep records to watch the patterns over the years but what we’ve been seeing doesn’t fit any pattern of our decades here. It will be very interesting how it all plays out. The challenge now is to get the shots of these “spring’ critters in the snow. Making the common, uncommon ….
Feb 6, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Just as birds look their best in spring, mammals tend to look their best in the heart of winter. Fur serves many purposes and for most mammals it’s warmth in winter. Fur has always fascinated me because it varies so from critter to critter, habitat to habitat. Some like the Arctic Fox and “The Bastard” (White-tailed Hare) completely change color as well as fur density from winter to summer. Some like the Coyote and Bighorn just grow denser fur between seasons. And some like little rodents don’t do much of anything because they sleep through winter. Whatever the mammal though, when they have their best coat on they look their best for photography and for most of North America, that’s winter time.
When it comes to photographing these critters as you can see in the photos, I love the overcast, stormy kind of light. Why? There are many reasons the first being, their thick, brown coats look the warmest against the bluish nature of the light. If I were for example, to change the white balance so the coyote were to have the bluish color cast of the light, it would come across as a cold and evil critter. But using a warmer WB the coyote now comes across as a warm and cuddly critter. If I wanted the bighorn to appear like it was struggling through winter, the bluish color cast would work to convey this. But I want the bighorn to look like it’s going through its day just like it were any other day so the warmer WB. And all of this is based on that thick, winter coat and the world in which it is set. Both of these images were shot with the 600mm / TC-17e so that I could isolate the critter in its world so the snow is just an element and not an avalanche. So winter coat, light, WB and lens all had to come together to make the photo.
Feb 2, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Art and craft of wildlife photography has changed in some aspects greatly since I started back in the 70’s and then, it’s not changed at all. One of the best lenses to have is a 400mm and back then, they were rare and expensive. Now, you can pick up a 70-300 or 80-400 for less than those back then, and they are smaller and sharper. And we’re no longer stuck with just 36frames at a time, thank goodness. And while the art of wildlife photography has greatly increased in the last decades, the craft has suffered some as many turn to technology rather than personal growth to make the great image. Yet, the number of photographers exploring wildlife photographer is slowly declining and the number of images being shared to the general public slowly declining as well. I need YOU to make them great images and share them to enlighten all about our wild heritage! Many ask though, “Where do I start?”
In all sincerity, the best place to start is in your own backyard! It’s where I’ve been shooting and continue to shoot for decades. You can get a real quick course on making a backyard shooting gallery in my KelbyTraining course. But the basics are real simple: food, water, light and time and of course, a camera. And with no real knowledge other than how to load batteries and a CF Card, you and the critters will teach you all you need to know. It is very intoxicating and with that first bird or squirrel in the viewfinder, the bug will bite and life takes care of the rest.
What is the end goal? I’m not sure there is one to be honest with you but being kissed by a griz like Jake is here is not it. Unlike other photographic disciplines, wildlife photography is so dependent on a subject showing up and we have no control over that. Without that control, we must depend in large part to luck but it’s a luck we make for ourselves. That luck we make comes from lessons we learn in our own backyard by watching and shooting. Putting ourselves in the right place at the right time with the right gear comes from the lessons we teach ourselves. And as we continue to practice this over the years our photography grows as do the stores we’ve captured. And that’s where the sharing comes in. But it all starts with that first lens, camera and critter in our backyard. As the old saying does, try it, you’ll like it!
Jan 23, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Ten months ago, I first posted my discovery why we weren’t having any Flying Squirrels coming into our feeders at night. I’d looked out and seen a young Bobcat perched in the tree right above the feeder. Over the last ten months, we’ve seen it only a couple of times. I was looking forward to snow being on the ground so I could more easily track it. But with no snow, didn’t know if it was even still really around. Then a week ago it reappeared and has been here every night since. In fact, it’s out there on the limb right now as I type. And I haven’t a clue why and it’s driving me nuts!
While we have rabbits on the property and they had young again a couple months back, we’ve never seen any sign of them ever being prayed upon. And Bobcats love rabbits, their relationship well documented in the literature. A number of years back, we did find the tail of a flying squirrel and always assumed a Pine Martin got it as we have them. Now though, I just don’t know. All I do know is the squirrels have moved around the corner of the house to the other feeders where I can’t photography them and the Bobcat, it’s just not been wanting to play. Until last night ….
I seem to check all night long to see if first, it’s present and second, what it’s up to. The first few times months ago, it would either leave or go so high up in the tree, I could not see it anymore. But the last few nights, it just has laid on the limb and watched me. Yes, I talk to it because, well, what else is one to do besides stare. When I found it last night, it was on a lower limb and as you can see, there was very little obstruction between it and me. So after studying the situation for a while, I went back inside. Ten minutes later I went back out to see he it had moved, it was still asleep. So I went back in, grabbed the D4, 200-400VR2, set the ISO to 12000, set the zoom to 400mm, put the Fenix Flashlight in Sharon’s hands and went back outside. Well, we walked under the tree, Sharon lit up the cat, I shot some frames which at the end, it kinda peeked at us and then we went back inside. I went back out an hour later and it hadn’t moved. Went back out another hour later and it was gone. And as soon as it disappears, the squirrels are back in the feeder. I really wish the snow would come, I really want to find where it goes during the day. I just love having here at night. A photographic challenge is well under way and the jinx has been broken!
Jan 9, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
As the bewitching hour edged closer, I got ready. I had just brought the rig Df/800mm out and set it up when I looked out the window to see the Townsend’s Solitare sitting on the bird bath looking directly at me. Busted! It was the third time it had made an appearance at the birdbath since the 1st, at least that we saw but he had the best of me this time. I was simply too late to make the click. I watched him and once he had his drink and flew off, I opened up the door to shoot.
Well, just a few seconds later the flock of Evening Grosbeaks appeared. There was about twenty hitting the feeder and the birdbath. It was one helluva a commotion as they went back and forth between the two. The Mountain Chickadees, Pygmy and White-breasted Nuthatches came in as well as a lone Pine Siskin. And for about five to seven minutes, the feeders looked like the normally would, full of activity. And then, swooooch, they are all gone and it’s dead quiet again.
The photos I’m after are the approach to the feeder or the birdbath. This morning I set up on the couple of pine boughs they alight on prior to jumping to the birdbath. This is because as this moment in time, the light was the best at this one spot. I prefocused on the branch and waited for them to land. Ya, you could chase them about with your lens as they land but the activity is so fast and so brief, this is usually an unproductive approach. I like the light on the first image, like the feel of the second and the attitude of the third. I like best I had some critters to photograph even if it were for only a few minutes. If the cycle holds, I won’t see them tomorrow but just in case there is a change, the lens will be set up and the coffee ready. And of course, need some snow!
Dec 28, 2013 | Wildlife Photography
Forty years ago today, the Endangered Species Act was signed into law by President Richard Nikon. One of the original critters to receive protection from the ESA was the San Joaquin Kit Fox, who you see pictured here. The Act despite repeated legislative attacks still survives to protect much of our wild heritage. Many species have thrived under the protection of the act, others, still slip slowly towards extinction. The difference though for all these species does not rely on politics or biologists but with you, the public. It is understandably hard to think of our wild heritage when we are concentrating on things like economics, but we need to. You can just look out your own window at the weather as many do these days, and scratch your head wondering if this Climate Change “thing” is really starting. Our acts of yesterday effect us today. Our acts or lack of action today will effect those coming tomorrow. It’s a day to celebrate all our successes from the last forty years and time to act and plan towards our successes in the years to come. It can best be summed up like this. If John Muir didn’t have the foresight to protect Yosemite, we wouldn’t have it to enjoy today. The question is, do we have the foresight today to protect what we have for future generations?
Note: this photo is from the first project I shot all digital in 2000 (D1 / 400f2.8AFS). It went around the world minutes after taken introducing many to the magic and use of digital in science.
