Jul 29, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
The Eastern Sierra experienced a very much welcomed down pour yesterday that lasted for nearly 10hrs. The summer thunderstorms though caused a shut down of computers as the lightning bounced around the office delaying blog posting. At 06:24 this morning our beagle put out the bear alert and sure enough, the mom (seen here) and two spring cubs had been treed by her diligence. By the time I got to the tree with a camera (D810 / 85f1.8 was handy) only mom was visible (I’m on our deck looking at her). So now we’re sitting here, beagle now inside, waiting to see if Newton is right, what goes up must come down! On a photographic side note, this was shot in the new “Flat” Picture Control setting which when it comes to shadows, is magical!
Jul 25, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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With our critter photography, grabbing the heart strings when it comes to mammals in my instances comes down to the ears. Moose, bears, coyotes, rabbits, nearly any mammal with largish ears use them in multiple ways. The first and most important is simply to listen in to the world around them. They often hear things long before they see them. If you spend time watching them, their ears pivot like a radar dish listening for sounds. They are very defined tools that serve them well. As this Desert Cottontail is demonstrating, listening to her young in the grasses kept her attention and ears moving.
These same mammals use their ears to converse with others of the same species what they are thinking. Deer are a great example of seeing this in action when a herd reacts to the alpha female’s alert. Her ears will go to attention and almost point in the direction of the alarm. And while we don’t know what they are thinking, we subconsciously pick up on the orientation of the ear and apply our own human emotions to them. What the ears imply can be used by us in the storytelling that lead to grabbing the viewer’s heart strings. Not that we can control the position of the ears, but we can control when we go click or the final image we put out from our shoot. This very subtle aspect of mammal photography is a very important one that cannot be ignored. So next time you’re photographing that mammal, remember the ears have it.
Jul 21, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
We first saw and started to work with and photographed the Riparian Brush Rabbit (RBR) in Feb, 1993. It was listed as Federally Endangered in Feb, 2000. I was very fortunate that one of the mammals my mentor Dr. Dan Williams worked with was the RBR. One of the most common questions is, “how many RBRs are there in the world?” The official answer is, “We are not sure. In 1993 an estimated 200-300 riparian brush rabbits inhabited Caswell State Park. After severe flooding in the winter of 1997 only one rabbit was trapped during field surveys. While we know population numbers have their ups and downs in their population numbers, we found these poor trapping results alarming.” With the loss of over 90% of their habitat, part of the water issues of CA which we’ve always been involved with, while their numbers are still alarmingly low, they are doin a little bit better than these official numbers. This is due in large part to the efforts of ESRP and their very dedicated biologists.
Sharon and I have been involved with ESRP before its inception and I’ve been honored as a Research Associate with ESRP for more than 20yrs. That sounds like a lofty post but what it means is, I’m the best at sitting on a rock and staring at a hole in the ground for 18hrs. Last week when Patrick emailed telling me and sharing a couple of clicks of the activity of the RBR on the San Joaquin River NWR (a marvelous place for wildlife photography) and said I needed to get over, off I went. Upon Patrick’s suggestion, I came with my blind for the two mornings of work. The reasoning was simple, short time to shoot (activity level and light) and needed them to become accustomed to my presence fast. I could have shot from the truck but that high angle for shooting was less than desirable. I wanted to be on ground level with them, so the background would disappear unless I wanted it.
Literally just after being settled in the blind shortly after sun up (standard wildlife rig: D4s / 800mm w/TC-.25 on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head) the bunnies were out. I had Desert Cottontails as well as RBRs on the dike with my focusing in on the RBR. I was able to capture all sorts of biology from eating, dust bathing, grooming, nose touching and more all confirming the blind was the right call. The story of the bottom photo probably sums it all up best. Last morning, quiet compared to the previous when this RBR came our of the hedge to the middle of the dike. It stopped, looked right down the dike at the blind and made a 90 degree turn and headed straight for me. It would stop, look, hop, stop, look and hop until what you see above. At this point, it went over to the side of the dike, groomed itself and then slowly walked over to the front of the blind and then to the right. I could see its shadow under the front edge of the blind and then out the right side port. Then it went out of site. I watched the corner of the blind. Because of its design, there are little “entrances” which to a small mammal would look like a tunnel in vegetation. Sure enough, a few seconds later a small head pops through the hole, looks around for about 10-15sec and then slides back out. It was the second time a RBR had done that and is the greatest feeling because it means, we did everything right. And the photos? Well they were all sent off to the biologists to use. You see, as Patrick said to me, “You have the most observational time with the RBR of anyone in the world.” My speciality at work, sitting on a rock, in this case a chair, and staring at a hole in the ground paid off.
Jul 15, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
It feels so good to be putting the one thing I’m great at, sitting on a rock and staring at a hole for 18hrs, in use! About a year ago, our dear friend and long time colleague, Patrick emailed me telling me there was a project I needed to get involved with. And it would seem the biologists involved knew of me because of my “flying pika” photo. Patrick is great, he put us together at the same time giving me a thumbs up rating. When working with biologists, especially new contacts, getting the recommendation from another noted researcher sure does help. So I made contact and we started to correspond by email. The great news, they welcomed me to join their Pika project. The bad news, I would have to wait nearly a year to get started. That’s the hardest thing for me to do!
Well the year is up and yesterday morning was my first field day. I’ve written a lot about our work with the Collared Pika, a great little critter in the far north. This critter, the American Pika can be found is many regions in North America and this project with this population is just 20min from our home! Not since working with the Gtr Sage Grouse have I had a project in my backyard. And what makes this Pika a bit different can best be described as it was described to me by the biologist, “the lowest and hottest.” Most of the time you’ll find pika on a talus slope edged with a cornucopia of fresh green forbes and shrubs in which to collect and make haystacks. This population is basically in the middle of a desert with not a sprig of grass to be found! Yet, this population is doing just fine even during our drought. “We thought they would have burnt up and disappeared with the no snow winter you had” the biologist said to me. How do they do it? That’s what we want to find out.
My roll is simple, take pictures. Well, if I do my job right, it will be easy. The one HUGE luxury this project affords me is it is only 20min away! Where normally I get on site for a project for a week at a time four or five times in twelve months. This one, I can work every day I want to which I can’t wait to exploit. This first morning was the walk around, get to know the research site and the critters I’ll be photographing. You see here in the top two photos #1 (in the shrub foraging and watching me) and the bottom photo is #0. I like him already! I walked the plot with my standard rig for the project: D4s mounted to the 800mm )w/TC-.25 connected) on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head with the most important tool, the Di-GPS connected. And do I have a specific photo to capture along with the basic biology that’s my normal M.O.? Oh ya, I most certainly do. The brass ring would be the photo of the pika running across the sand (I still can’t get over where they live) with grasses in its mouth. It has been seen once so it’s not impossible, but it is going to take the hours. It feels real good to be putting the one thing I’m great at, sitting on a rock and staring at a hole, to work again!
Jul 14, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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It was a nice, quiet Saturday when our dog, Sadie sounded the alarm. With her it means either there’s a rabbit or bear in the yard. Well got up to see what had her all excited. It was a sleeping Mtn Cottontail at the base of Tree 2. They’re so darn cute when there’s sleeping, so I slipped outside with the D4s mounted to the 800mm on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head and creeped along the side of the house with the angle of view you see above. Now the cute pose was lost, it opened its eyes and watched me as I sat the gear down for the first shot. At that point, wanted to work the little guy so got close, took a shot, got closer, took a shot. At this point, the bunny started to wonder what all the fuss was about. That’s when its nose went to flicking up and down. The final photo, the one I like the best, the nose is all the way raised. It’s what gives it that “Wyaaaa!” look. The whole experience didn’t last more than five minutes, but it added one more cute photo to the files.
Jul 2, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Watch a gull for five minutes and it will do something stupid. This old adage in wildlife photography can lead to some amazing photos. But few pay much attention to gulls. Why? Because they are so common. But when you start looking at the common and telling its story in an uncommon way, well, it just might lead to something amazing!
Wildlife photography requires the obvious gear, no getting around that. Then moving the ball forward requires understanding basic biology. Then to insert the romance requires thinking about the light and adding it to the rest of the mix. Shooting down in Florida this time of year, the afternoon thunderstorms are a thing of beauty! With a simple iPhone app like Radar Cast, you can watch the storms form and see the direction in which they are heading. With that, you put yourself in the right place at the right time and you come up with the shot. In this case, with simply the Df and 24-70AFS in hand, we headed to the pier where the storm would pass and where their are fisherman. And where there are fisherman there are gulls. The rest is simply putting the pieces together in the frame, the gulls, the clouds and the light.
