Aurora and I have been exploring the Georgia/Florida border; looking for inspiration. We stopped in the Okefenokee NWR – but with a dog in tow weren’t in a good way to go into the swamp. (You have to canoe and even though Finn is a big dog, he is “munchable” by Gator standards.)
Nonetheless, there are opportunities to see flowers and ‘gators outside of the deep swamp.
It wouldn’t be the Okefenokee without one of these.
A few technical details
I’m somewhat proud of these photographs. One of my favorite tricks is to use a long lens (600mm) to get the image. You’d think a “normal” lens of 50mm or so would be the way to go, but that will distort the image. Basically, if you get close enough for the flower to be large, then you’re so close that the perspective is warped. And unlike star trek, warping isn’t a good thing, unless you’re doing it for a reason.
I processed the image in photoshop by dividing into layers and adjusting each layer individually. For these images, I used three layers: the flower, the black water, and the rest.
They’re sisters and establishing their relative pecking order.
I took this image at dusk with the sun filtering in from behind them and illuminating the tall grass behind and around the two deer.
One of the pleasures of watching a population of wild animals evolve over time is that you sort of get to know them. We’ve seen these gals with their mother, and brother as they grow from fawns to mature animals. Mom has just decided that it’s time for her girls to strike off on their own. Their brother left last year after being a “spike” buck and we’ve seen him since with a moderate rack. If the hunters don’t get him this year, he’ll be even more handsome next year.
I’ve joined one of the groups of photographers in the Atlanta area: the Southeastern Photography Society. Partially for social reasons, and partially to get feedback and learn new things.
Anyway they have monthly themed contests and next month’s is “Fur and Feathers.” The obvious choice is animals, though I did entertain several alternatives, and maybe will pursue them. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone with a feather boa who wears fur and would be willing to be an outrageous model. I wondered about a still life of fish flies or lures since they often use both fur and feathers; and something tells me that my puppies would not be keen on being dressed up with a bunch of feathers. So the obvious choice it is.
I get to put in a black and white/monochrome entry and a color one.
This one is one of my favorites, just because it’s funny.
I also like this one of our puppy. It looks like a Julia Ward Cameron work. Either of these will work well enough.
Feathers are a different case.
A bird is an obvious choice:
A closeup of a bluejay feather is also possible:
I have a lighter and a darker version of this, but the mid-range is probably best.
This close up of the edge of a turkey feather is neat, though there are some artefacts from the focus stacking.
One of the big differences between “just snapshots” and art photography is that the artist thinks about what they’re doing, what they’re trying to show, and how to achieve the desired result.
I’ve been reading and studying techniques of composition because … well … that’s one way to learn. The other is way is to go out and shoot, I’ve been doing that as well, and I’m hoping to have meaningful interactions with some of the local photography groups. (We’ll see about that last part, I tried before with one group and had a less than stellar experience. Cliques and in-groups are a thing.)
One book I’ve found useful is Richard Garvey-Williams “mastering composition” It’s inspired me to look again at how I edit images. You can’t always plan out photographs in the wild. You can try, but nature has a way of doing what she wants and the process of observation often perturbs the environment. Shades of quantum mechanics, say what?
The original is pretty, enough, but it’s out of balance and a bit washed out.
Cropping, playing with the image chromatic values (adjusting the image values to remove saturation and then adjusting the midpoint level), and using various trickery to restore the size results in:
This is a vastly better image. The subject dominates the picture and the lines defined by the flowers leads the eyes to it.
2021 has been a heck of a year. Lots of family changes, limited mobility due to Covid, and a difficult combination of on-line and (mandatory) in person teaching.
To the good:
I’m now Emeritus. I was more than a little worried about getting this status, despite a rather decent number of well-regarded publications (>200) and a respectable funding record (Something like $8Million total grant funding as PI, MPI, or Co-PI in the last 20 years).
We’re healthy and in a financially sound position.
We’re vaccinated against that blasted virus. Contrary to right-wing hype, there weren’t side effects and we’re not magnetic or carrying microchips or infecting people with mysterious shed particles.
I helped my ultimate (or possibly penultimate) PhD student to finish their dissertation and graduate.
Our oldest cat didn’t have to cross the rainbow bridge. We finally found what was making him sick, and … well … chemotherapy works wonders.
On the other hand, there are still things to do, ranging from long-term research projects to getting our documents in order.
Still, between using an RV (travel trailer – more in a later post) and vaccination we should be able to get around. I hope we can even visit our UK family and possibly get onto continental Europe.
Another digression, between Monterey (we actually stayed in Marina, but more on that in another post) and Santa Cruz, we visited the Elkhorn Slough State Wildlife Refuge. It’s a great place for birds, in November through early spring, but less so in summer. Still we counted about 15 species, including a couple of new ones for the life list, so I’m not complaining. Rather I’m thinking of an excuse to visit at a better time.
The Center building itself. It wasn’t this nice when I visited about 8 years ago.
The refuge, an old farm, is maintained by the state and in great shape. They will lend you excellent binocculars (Eagle optics), and the rangers are friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable.
A view of the slough from the South Marsh loop
There are about 5 miles of looped trails over a range of habitat. However, it’s mostly slough, mudflat, and open fields with some oak woods mixed in.
A copy of the trail map that they hand out at the center.
Speaking of oaks, California is in the midst of a slow crisis of sudden death oak fungus, so it’s important to clean your shoes when traipsing about. They also had us brush off any possible seeds from invasive species. Poison oak isn’t an invasive species, and it is present in the refuge (the birds love the berries). One interesting difference between the western variety and its relatives in Georgia is that the California poison oak was already turning red and losing leaves. Still you should be careful about it – unless you like itchy patches of blisters. (Using soap and water within an hour or so of exposure is usually enough to remove the oils.)
Burning off Eucalyptis
However at this time of the year, the non-avian wildlife is worth a serious look. In addition to lizards (mostly fence lizards) and a gopher snake that stayed put for an intimate photograph, there were rabbits, seals, and sea otters. Sea otters!
A curious Gopher Snake.
I repeat sea otters. At least two of them (both surfaced at the same time) and possibly three of them. There is a power line that crosses over the Parson’s Slough overlook. An Egret rookery is at the far side of the slough where it crosses. The sea otters were playing in the incoming tide more or less directly under the wire. There was also a curious seal, who would poke his nose up, now and then. I have to admit I didn’t believe that sea otters came in the sloughs, but I was wrong and the ranger was right.
Our day started out sunny, but then the fog and chill (54F, 12C) rolled in, hence the fairly grey photos.
Something of a digression, but we just walked the Tomales point trail at Point Reyes National Seashore through the Tule Elk preserve. This species of elk was nearly hunted to extinction and reintroduced to park about 40 years ago.
Fine, neat, but so what.
Most of the hikers on the trail, and there were more than we’ve seen on any other trail in the park, missed the elk completely. We saw at least 21 and possibly as many as 26 (there was a large herd that was hard to count, my best estimate was 20). There’s a trick to it, well two tricks actually:
Skill and knowledge
Patience
The first step is to find the elk. Being prey animals, even though they’re the size of small cows, they tend to hide away. We saw three heads on the top of a ridge in the distance. Were they elk? Well, out with the binoculars. Yup, elk.
Further on, to get out of the wind (Tulome trail is very windy. The Park Service quietly understates ‘even experienced hikers may find it difficult’.) we took a diversion to hide behind a pile of rocks. There was a small cluster of similar little dots in the distance. Again, out with the binoculars and quelle surprise, a herd of elk, not 100 meters from the path.
Elk as little dots in the distance.
So then it was just a matter of walking to the closest point on the path and waiting. While a fair number of people walked past, chatting about this and that, we watched the elk.
Elk backs with the Pacific Ocean behind them.
At first, they were blobs in the distance.
They walked closer and soon our patience was rewarded. People kept walking past without noticing the animals. Shame.
Two elk
These pictures were made with a 200mm lens, which isn’t a particularly powerful telephoto lens.
R. Harrison, Creative Enterprises 