Some Warblers Finally

(May 6th) Today I was under a bit of a time crunch, so I stayed close to home at Dolph Park. After days of little to no success in Magee Marsh, there were quite a few warbler in Dolph Park today. Almost all were the two most common species - Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, but at this point I cannot complain. This Palm Warbler perched for me in some fantastic light.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are everywhere. They were common in California, Florida, and of course during the spring migration. But they are quite handsome little birds. Even if the background and light are less than ideal, the action of this individual eating a beetle it found makes up for it.

Foiled Again

(May 5th) Another early morning drive to Magee Marsh, and nothing to show for it. The warblers were secretive again, and nothing wanted to come close. You know it was a bad day when a shot of a Tree Swallow this small in the frame makes the blog selection.

No Warblers, but Soras Instead

(May 4th) I returned to Magee Marsh today, making the 80 minute drive before the sun rose. The morning ended short as early sun gave way quickly to heavy clouds which was impossible to photograph birds in without flash. I saw very few warblers, and photographed none of them, but I was witness to a treat of Sora behavior. A pair came out of the reeds and did a bit of a mating dance and lots of preening. Though these birds are not rare, they hide in the reeds most of the time so getting a good look at them is quite a surprise.

Magee Marsh

(May 3rd) Today I went for the first time this year to Magee Marsh. I had been down here last year, but had next to no photography success. This place is famous for migrating warblers in the springtime. Warblers are great little birds, with some amazing colors and lots of species diversity. They are also some of the toughest birds to photograph - being so small, uncommon, constantly moving, and staying under the cover of trees most of the time. Spring migration is probably the best time to try and capture them, and with over a month when they'll come through the more times you try, the more success you can have. Sure enough, my first day at it posed quite challenging. This shot of a Black-throated Blue Warbler was the best I came up with.

At the end of the morning, I worked a much easier subject just to relieve some of the frustration from the warblers. These tree swallows were a lot more cooperative. The light was a bit harsh by this time though.

The Cube

(May 2nd) Today was a day of great fun - several parties and BBQs. It was actually hard to make them all... I didn't really have time to go out taking pictures, but I snapped a shot of Ann Arbor's famous Cube. The picture is a little busy and the balance is off some - wish I had time to work the shot more.

Back to the Haunts

(April 29th) I headed back to one of my favorite shooting locations in Ann Arbor, Dolph Park. It's a rather small park, but for its size, it is remarkably productive. Spring definitely is about to burst forth. Some of the vegetation is just starting to leaf out. Some of the year-round residents like this Black-capped Chickadee are starting to set up nests.

Low On Inspiration

(April 23rd) Today I walked around town and then the Arboretum with a friend to take some shots. We were interested in checking out to see if anything was flowering yet in Ann Arbor, since it almost feels like Spring is around the corner. Well within minutes it got cloudy, and all inspiration seemed to vanish from my fingers. I still took a lot of shots, but they all seemed flat. It says something when the subject that captures your interest the most is a rusted sewer grate.

An Orchid By Any Other Name

(April 19th) Today I had the opportunity of going to the Ann Arbor Orchid Festival. They had a small room in the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens set up with an array of dazzling orchids for one day only. They let photographers in for one hour early to take pictures, which certainly wasn't enough time to work through all the specimens. Orchids are very strange looking flowers.

One of the best things about orchids is that they are so otherwordly. Photographically it makes them great to abstract. I was going in to finally get some use out of the new macro lens that I hadn't had a chance to use during the winter. The lens is great - so sharp. But after I took the photos home I learned that it has no depth of field - even when shooting f11, there is so little DOF.

Working the festival in an hour was quite a challenge. I am beginning to think that photography is never easy :) There were lights set up and so many flowers packed together into the single room. On top of this, you certainly couldn't touch anything, so isolating your subject could be quite difficult. But when you did on a flower like this one, it was so rewarding.

With no visible horizon, it was up to you and your composition to determine how lines should flow and groups should be made. Also, choosing the right angle and frame was critical. The flowers have so much geometry though, I was trying to learn to let it dictate the shot.

Some of the group shots gave a certain depth to the image that the solo shots lacked. The plane of focus was so critical with the DOF of the macro lens. Since I was shooting at f11 and sometimes f38, a tripod was essential. I had some trouble when I did try some hand-held shots for testing purposes. This is something I am going to have to figure out before I take the lens to capture butterflies like I want.

I did take some traditional, single full flower shots, but these pictures are a little boring for me. Orchids are mesmerizing, it doesn't seem right to treat them traditionally.

The colors of some of the flowers were amazing. I did notice that the colors changed dramatically if they were lit normally or by a flash - sometimes this made it look like an entirely different flower. I think this has to do with the UV patterns many of these flowers use to attract insect pollinators.

Rocks and Things

(April 17th) Today was a lot of fun. A friend was visiting from Israel so there wasn't a lot of time for shooting. But a bunch of the Ballroom Team headed down to paint the Rock. This rock is famous all over campus as one of the best places to advertise your group. It was a great time and I think the team did an amazing job!

Nationals - Day 2 - Latin!

(April 5th) After the harbor, it was time for the second day of the 2009 USADance National Ballroom Competition. This day was filled with the Latin dances. That meant totally different costumes. Here everyone was trying to draw the eye - with color, with design, with tan, with sparkles, with makeup, and of course with their dancing.

Here the action was fast and sharp. Dancers go in and out of lines as they move with the music. For the Latin dancers, they dancers are dancing to Samba, Cha-cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive music. As a photographer it's exciting when you get a chance to capture such dynamic moves.

Mixed in throughout the competition are various age groups of dancers. It is amazing how some of the young ones already have such attitude, style, and musicality. This is one of my favorites from the younger couples.

This event turned out to be quite a bit more challenging to photograph than I expected. Using some of the same autofocus methods as with wildlife or even the Standard dancing didn't seem to work very well. There's just too much turning, giving trouble for the autofocus. As usual, more room for improvement. Still it was great to catch some of these lines - you only have a fraction of a second to take the shot before the dancing continues.

Up Again in the Harbor

(April 5th) After dancing and a night of eating like a king, I managed to get up early to walk around the harbor again. At first I stayed near the central area, taking new shots of some of the same subjects as yesterday.

The allure of the ships was still there for me. They have so many lines and curves, that to me they tend to be much more dramatic than the buildings.

I walked a bit out of the central harbor area. The cherry blossoms were really in full tilt throughout the city. Unfortunately I didn't really focus on them, but this shot was one where I used them as an element. Unfortunately, the shot turned out rather weak.

Nationals - Day 1 - Standard!

(April 4th) The reason I am down in Baltimore is to take part in USADance's National Competition. This is the competition to decide who is best in the nation among the amateur ballroom dancers. It's a big competition and a load of fun. In between dancing, I managed to squeeze off a few pictures of some of the other competitors.

Today the events I captured were what are called the Standard events. This includes the Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Viennese Waltz. One of the great things about this competition is that you are right down in all the action, it really feels like the couples are dancing for you - they certainly are taking their moves right at you!

Morning in the Harbor

(April 4th) I'm here in Baltimore for a few days. After feasting with some friends on crabs last night, I woke up early and took a short walk around near our hotel. The Baltimore harbor is a great place to visit, to walk, and to shoot some photos. I am drawn to the ships, especially the historical ones. I tried for a little bit of synecdoche...

In the early morning light, everything just lit up. Bricks in particular took on a deep rich glow. With the sky and water to contrast, it made for some nice combinations.

I was in a bit of an abstract mood, so played around with some different perspectives. Something that already is devoid of concrete form like this sculpture was a natural subject.

I walked around a ways to see what else was around. After about a half a mile I reached Federal Hill overlooking the harbor. I tinkered around taking some panoramic shots. I'm not pleased with how the stitching went, so I'll have to work on that technique.

On my way back through the harbor, I took a few more traditional shots, like of this ship. I am rarely inclined to take pictures of people, but for some reason I saw an intriguing scene that drew my eye and took a few pictures. The person involved took great exception to this, so it'll be a while before I do that again...

Last Chance in Florida

(March 31st) It was almost time to leave Florida. I had one afternoon left and had to spend most of it driving up to Tampa. A year ago I had tried to take some of my first flight shots at a fishing pier near St. Petersburg. They were all terrible. So I wanted to see what improvement I would see, especially after the egrets at Corkscrew. When I got there, the portion of the fishing pier that was good to shoot at was completely closed. I fired this shot of a juvenile Laughing Gull and headed to what I hoped would be greener pastures.

Maximo Park was a nearby location I had been to before, and it sure didn't disappoint like the fishing pier. This Yellow-crowned Night Heron was hunting for crabs in the vegetation. I got a few stares as I was lying to get a shot of it.

I walked around the park a little bit. I ran into this Brown Pelican sitting on the docks all nice and posed up for me.

Near the pelican I heard a familiar call. Most of the time in the US when we see crows it is the American Crow. But near the ocean there is another crow to be found. To my ears it has always sounded like an American Crow who has a strong nasal, French accent.

I headed to the beach area to take a few flight shots. It turned out that the park must be on the route for vultures to head to a roost site. Over the couple of hours I had over 30 vultures fly overhead. Most were Turkey Vultures like this one, but there were a few Black Vultures as well.

A couple of Brown Pelicans also flew overhead at the beach. While I didn't do what I was intending to for the afternoon, I had a good time at Maximo and got a few decent flight shots too. Sometimes deviating from your plans pays off.

Flight School!

(March 31st) Flight is perhaps the single most identifying aspect of birds. I know, technically not all fly and it's really feathers that make a bird a bird, but people think flight when they think birds. Today I was on a mission to see if I could get some decent flight shots of birds. I returned to Corkscrew Swamp and on the walk in stumbled across this doe with her fawn.

As I mentioned earlier, the Snowy Egrets in the swamp were involved in this elaborate fishing behavior. They'd fly over the little bit of remaining water and dart there head in to grab a fish. Many times they were unsuccessful, but they did catch quite a few on the wing. Of course this meant that they were flying!

Photographically, it was a little bit challenging. There wasn't much light beneath all the trees of the swamp. And the birds are white too, making it easy to blow some highlights. Not to mention needing to catch a sharp image... Flash is not an option because these birds are usually wet. It was a bit tricky, but while I think I can improve on it in the future, I was satisfied with the results.

I didn't just watch the flying birds. It is hard to ignore the reptilian king of the swamp - the American Alligator. While I grew up with these guys, they still are quite impressive, especially when you have giants like the ones in Corkscrew.

The Snowy Egrets would fly across this tiny remnant of water, landing on either side. Sometimes they would land on the shore, or in muck, but a few of them would land on logs. These spots were highly coveted and the birds would often chase others off their perch.

The Snowy Egrets weren't the only ones fishing in this last remnant of water. There were Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, Great Blue Herons, Night Herons, Great Egrets, as well as Anhingas like this one. To me there was something comical about this bird with the large sunfish on its bill.

Hunt for the Endangered

(March 30th) I was having great success in Florida, so I decided to hunt for one particular endangered species. I was looking for the Gopher Tortoise and the place I was recommended was Barefoot Beach. So after a short drive, I began to look for the tortiose. I walked down a trail and came across a few osprey nests being tended by the parents.

Further down the trail there were some reptiles, but not the tortoises. Instead there were Brown Anoles everywhere. This is an introduced species (originally from Cuba) that is displacing the native Carolina Anole in much of Florida.

There were also a few morning glories in bloom along the trail. Not the best shot, but I haven't shown a flower picture in a while.

Reached the end of the trail, headed back, and still no tortoise. Finally as I drove out of the site, I saw one along the side of the road. Trying not to be too much of an inconvenience for other drivers, I pulled over and got set up. These tortoises are quite large - weighing as much as a large dog. When you photograph them, you also realize that they aren't that slow. Also the individual I had remained in the vegetation until he turned his back on me to enter his burrow (they dig out large burrows which other animals often use). I am definitely coming back another time to better capture this fascinating endangered reptile.

Another Glorious Morning

(March 30th) In Florida there are so many great places to choose from. I decided to risk it a little and see a new place. I woke up early and drove in the dark to Tigertail Beach. Of course I got there to find the entrance closed for another 45 minutes. After shooting a Burrowing Owl for the 45 minutes, I went in to find a great location. The light was dancing, the wading birds were active, all-in-all it was a great time. One of my first subjects was a white morph Reddish Egret. The white morph is a treat - only about 10% of the species is this morph.

I ran into a bunch of snowy egrets doing another mode of hunting. Here they were stomping the mud at the bottom. After watching for a while, it made sense. They were agitating the mud to get shrimp to move. Then they would strike. Here you can see one individual who got one, but then he had to run from the rest of the egrets that wanted a piece of the shrimp!

There was no paucity of waders... Several Tricolored Herons were around as well. This one gave me some great curves.

The wind picked up a bit on the water. Feathers tend to be stiffer than hair (human at least), so it needs to be a fairly brisk wind to blow around the feathers like on this shot of the Tricolored.

There were a lot of other birds at Tigertail. I saw some nesting osprey and lots of terns and pelicans. There also were numerous shorebirds. With very few people around, they were very comfortable in my presence. So I went for a shot to capture the calm of the experience.

After having a great time at Tigertail beach I headed out. The guard at the beach had told me of a nearby Bald Eagle nest, so I checked it out. It was very cool - the offspring were almost full grown and ready to leave the nest. People weren't allowed to get at all close to the nest, so I sat and waited for an adult to fly in. After an hour of waiting, I snapped a flight shot. Not great, but it's my first passable Bald Eagle shot. Then it was time to head out to the next location...