May 2010
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Small Wonders
Somedays I would go into the woods hoping to see a spectacle of marsh birds only to find the trails almost silent. At first this was a disappointment, but now when the obvious doesn’t present itself I find I am far more attentive to the small wonders. They take some serious searching for at times, and then, like the dragon flies, are not always easy to capture. But there is something very...
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Goofy Little Goslings!
This week was special as two of the Canadian Geese pairs who had been nesting on beaver “huts” at the marsh, hatched their goslings. Females usually lay 5-7 eggs, with each one taking more than a day to lay. They typically take a month to incubate and then 1-2 days for the baby to peck his way out of the egg. Goslings can see, walk and swim as soon as they are born and can dive and...
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Dragonfly-ing
I am learning patience from dragonflies. Yesterday I decided to take on one of the biggest shooting challenges for me to date: capturing dragonflies in flight. Understand, I am generally impatient waiting for microwave popcorn, so standing in one spot for 50 minutes trying to focus and track erratically flying winged-things is not exactly in my comfort zone. But I loved the challenge! I totally...
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Dragon Flies
I have always been intrigued by the shape and movements of the dragon fly. But not until I started photographing them did I realize how truly intricate and beautiful they can be–particularly their double set of “stained glass window” wings. I find them extremely difficult to shoot “in flight” because of how erratically they fly, but they are often quite accommodating at...
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Eye Contact
One of the experiences I truly enjoy when photographing wildlife is that brief moment when you and the animal make knowing eye contact and you know, that they know, that you know, they see you. Those next few seconds are always curious and exciting for me. I feel like there is an unspoken conversation going on. (ok, maybe I am spending too much time in the woods…) Will they allow the...
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Floating Air
On my way through the woods yesterday I got distracted by the air bubbles forming as water cascaded over a small series of rocks. The stream was not very deep and the water was quite clear so it was fascinating to see the algae, stones and mud floor blending like a blur of colour. Shooting at f4 and f5.6 (as open as I could go with the 300L with and without the 1.4x attached) I would try to...
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Splash Landing
It’s hard not to smile when you watch geese land! Their webbed feet make ideal landing gear and it can be quite dramatic, often resulting in nose dives, belly flops or collisions. It’s very rewarding to capture this relatively in focus. The sequence here was shot at 420mm f5.6 1/2500 ISO 320 on a Canon 7D
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Eye to Eye
One of the things I like to practice is changing my lens perspective and trying to capture creatures from a different viewpoint. Often this means getting down low and trying to position myself eye-to-eye. It is not always easy as some of the smaller beings like to stay in hidden places that are not always comfortable when you are lying on your stomach. Shooting with my 300mm lens I have a minimum...
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The Glory of Green
For a very short window each spring life explodes with the most glorious shades of green. New leaves stretching out on trees are a bright chartreuse, almost translucent, for just a short window of time before darkening to a deeper green, while new shoots of bright yellow-green start poking out of the ground. I love this time of year! So here are a few shots of natures greens in all its glory. (...
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