Tag: nature photography
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“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton Five of them are in the same shadow. That one isn’t. I didn’t notice it in the field. It registered when I viewed it on the computer — one bird, same dead branch, same species,…
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I’ve been shooting long enough that most sightings don’t stop me in my tracks anymore. The spoonbill is different. Every time I see one, I still have a small involuntary reaction, like my brain needs a second to accept what it’s looking at. Part of it is the color. Nothing else in these wetlands is…
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“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir Great Egret chicks reach the point where they’re climbing around the nest and getting rowdy at about three weeks. The Studio of That’s roughly where these three are. The down is still thick, the beaks are still that soft yellow,…
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I noticed movement in the water beneath the trees. Something registered immediately — that’s not birds. I picked up my camera to see what it was. It was an alligator, and it was eating something. It took a second to determine that it had an egret. The birds don’t end up above the alligators by…
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“It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together.” — Mary Oliver, “Praying” Every spring I’m out looking for these. I have a few spots I go back to year after year, and I’ll…
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“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset, and the water caught fire.” — Pamela Hansford Johnson I was out on the bayou and had my camera up when this guy came through on his bass boat. He was just heading in for the night. I tracked him as he passed and got the…
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“Dandelions, like all things in nature, are beautiful when you take time to pay attention to them.” — June Stoyer There’s a version of photography where you chase things: drive to the refuge at first light, wait for the bird to move, hope the light holds. That’s most of what I do. But this shot…
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There’s a version of bird photography where you’re always chasing the rarest thing in the county. That’s never really been my game. These are stilts — not rare, not life-list exciting for most birders. But they were here, the light was workable, and I had the camera up. That’s the part of this that I…
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“Even half-asleep they had such faith in the world that had made them — tilting through the water, unruffled, sure.” — Mary Oliver, on egrets The Great Egret almost didn’t make it. In the late 1800s, these birds were hunted by the tens of thousands for their breeding plumes — the same long feathers you…
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“Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for.” — Lawrence Block Most of my time in the field is spent watching. Waiting on a bird to land, turn the right direction, catch the light. It trains…