Jun 12, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
I’m often asked which photographers have inspired me. Those who know me know I can’t remember a person’s name seconds after being told it. I can name all the critters of North America, but someone I just meet, their name is lost to me. And while I don’t recall names worth a hoot, I can remember all the photographs I’ve seen over the decades. One of the photos I saw when I first got into photography decades ago was of a Red-tailed Tropicbird. The way the light came through the wings, the crazy long, red tail and the “floating in air” look of its flight simply caught my imagination. It’s a photograph I’ve always wanted, a species I’ve wanted to experience. And forty years later, I meet my inspiration!
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
The photograph I saw all those years ago is pretty much the top photo you see here. It was simply a tropicbird floating by. Getting that shot way back when would have been quite a feat with manual advance camera bodies and manual focus (and just 36 exposures!). Today, it’s actually a slam dunk! I simply put the D5 / 300PF up to my eye, panned and shot. Seriously, with the D5 set to Auto Area AF, Exp Comp 0 and on CH with the speed of the 300PF autofocus and extreme light-weight and sharpness, the only thing to worry about was the sunburn (I got toasted!)! So then getting “the” shot that made me go experience the Red-tailed Tropicbird was a easy peezy. But coming back with more was truly my goal.
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
Once you’re on Kauai, finding either the White-tailed or Red-tailed Tropicbird is pretty simple. Getting close, really close to these species there is only one place to go, the Kīlauea Point NWR. This is flying bird Shang-gra-la! The tropicbirds nest here (they lay only 1 egg) which instantly means you’ll easily find them. With that challenge met, it’s then the challenge of capturing their story. Being a pelagic species which means they spend their life at sea on the wing making them great fliers. They eat fish specializing in eating flying fish. Then in telling their story, you can see that flight is a big part of that story.
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
Watching them is what I did at first. Seeing patterns, watching routines and guessing at their meaning was a little time-consuming but important for being in the right place and the right time. For example, a group of 5 or 7 would launch into the sky, fly up and then fly backwards in what appeared to be an aerial courtship display of some sort. They would do this over and over and over again. Then they seemed to pair up and do flights together. All of this would happen in spurts of great activity and then none, craziness and then, snore. They would start their activity below the cliff out of sight and then would skyrocket with the wind up into site and above our heads to perform. It was great fun and a challenge to bring this story home.
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
Then there was simply capturing their elegance of flight. I can’t emphasize enough the ease the D5 / 300PF brought to this especially when shooting directly overhead or when they screamed past us down the bluff. It was truly rewarding, romantic, fun, bird photography that we did for hours on end. The biggie for me though was to finally, after decades, bring back an image the inspired me so long ago to be a wildlife photographer. That leaves me now with just a few hundred images of others to chase because it is others images that inspire me!
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
Jun 6, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Giant Frigatebird
captured by D5 / 300PF
We jetted from Florida and Photoshop World directly to Kauai for a Pacific paradise birding adventure. We really love Kauai having come here many times but this is the first with the express purpose of photographing birds. We started off with birds I’d seen before but not spent time photographing, they are grouped under the big heading of pelagic birds. That’s a term used for a group of birds that spend their life at sea except for nesting season. Amazing flyers, watching them catch and soar in the trade winds is a thing of beauty. That’s what I wanted to bring to my photographs.
Red-tailed Tropicbird
captured by D5 / 300PF
The birds dart about in the winds as they perform courtship to aerial chases with incredible speed and ease. There was only one option as far as I was concerned for gear, the D5 / 300PF with the D5 set to Auto Area AF. I started with the TC-14eIII because of the old adage, “Go out with your longest lens or come back short,” but it was too long as the birds were WAY too close for that much lens.
Laysan Albatross
captured by D5 / 300PF
The biggie to making the photos was the background. For example, didn’t want gray skies in the background. With the intermediate rain showers, the can be a challange. Next was the horizon line, you need to be sensitive to where it is in the frame and how prominent. Then if shooting down on the waves, the amount of placement of white when the subject is a white bird. Then there is the gesture of the birds themselves in flight and the ease and elegance that they fly. We were there shooting until the wind burn on our faces drove away. But we’ll be back because there is simply nothing like photographing birds in paradise!
May 23, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
American Black Bear
captured by D5 / 800mm
One of the great passages of spring is spring babies! Mother Nature knows how to celebrate when it brings us the kiddies to celebrate in our photographs! Yellowstone this past week was full of kids, especially with calf Wolf, Elk & Bison. But we had special moments with like Griz Cubs and others as well. When you are invited into the home of these critters and you can be a good guest and bring back the photographic memories, well then you simply count your blessing and share the stories!
Up by Tower were a Black Bear and her cub. We were told that there were three cubs, but we only saw and photographed the one. Now it was your basic Yellowstone Bear Jam scenario which can drive some mad, and ugly. We avoided that by simply standing further back and longer glass. Shooting with the D5 / 800mm and picking the spot I wanted to photograph the bears on my terms. Living literally with black bears, I had a good guess where they might go and what they might do. After waiting twenty minutes, the show began. The cub so full of life bounced of rock, tree, plant, mom and then rock and tree again. It simply brings tears of joy watching the spirit of spring.
The Badger was a real happy find, a den with what we were told four pups, We only saw two and the pup’s reaction to spring was much different from the bears. Still using the same technique of standing further away and shooting with the D5 / 800mm, we watched as the pups did their usual, try to get mom to wake up and play. Mom doesn’t do that but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
It’s so good for your soul, so good for your photography and is, well, just how we should celebrate Mother Nature everyday!
May 21, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Yellowstone Griz
captured by D5 / 800mm
Probably one of the biggest reasons I love being a wildlife photographer is because no matter how well I plan, how well equipped I might be, critters always surprise me. In that moment of surprise there is delight, learning, bewilderment and sometimes, a photograph to record the memory. Of course the pitfalls are monsterous but equally the rewards are staggering. So it was this afternoon in Yellowstone when we came around the corner and there were two 2-3year Griz siblings enjoying the afternoon sun. There was a small bear jam and since I’ve enjoyed griz many times, I took a vantage point where I could only see them through a small hole in the pines. Not even a good shot, just a fun shot to preserve the joy and fun of watching life unfold. It is essential in our photographic pursuits as we strive to do our best, to have fun and be open to all of life’s surprises!
I want to tip my hat to the Rangers and Techs at the bear jam. There were not only very professional but friendly and courteous to a crowd who at times was downright stupid. They are too often thought of as an obstacle so I wanted to commend and thank them for helping all those today enjoy our wild heritage!
May 16, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Many think of Bison when they think of the great American West, my mind often goes to the Pronghorn. The fastest mammals in North America, this speedster is elegance on four hooves. But often you only see photos of the distinctive male with its “heart-shaped” horns. The female or doe lacking these often get little or no love. So when the opportunity to put them in the limelight to give them a little love.
In these examples of love, I used light and background to bring drama and story to the females. The first light of the day is gorgeous in The Black Hills so being up early and finding a doe was the only challange. We could easily roll up on this browsing doe and with the rim light on her and the dew, easy click for the D5 and the 300PF. Then later, beddin down to chew her cud, the far-off burnt hillside made a dramatic out of focus background that the D5 / 800mm easily brought together in the viewfinder. The only other thing I look at is the ears, I always want the ears forward, not back. And now you have ideas how to so love to the “other” Pronghorn.
May 11, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
It’s calving time on the plains. These orange bundles of cuteness look nothing like what they are going to grow up to be. But they don’t know that. And calves typically hang with their moms, never even knowing their dads. So when this curious calf wondered far from its mom to check out the bulls, well, my imagination took over my biological knowledge to simply ask, “Are you my daddy?!”
