Autumn Impressions

While I was at North Chagrin Reservation in Cleveland, I noticed the beautiful reflections of autumn trees in the Sunset Pond. I experimented a bit and was rewarded with these impressionistic shots. To take photos like these, it is essential to use a circular polarizer and a tripod. The polarizer intensifies the colors, but it will cost you two stops of light. Such slow shutter speeds require a tripod. Add to that some optimization of the colors in Photoshop and you have fall foliage photos worth framing.

Picture Perfect

Sometimes the best photographic subjects are close to home. When we planted a new native garden this year we bought a Joe-pye-weed. Now it is blooming and a big draw for bees and butterflies alike. Last Sunday, for example, I saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on the Joe-pye and grabbed my camera. I then spent some time capturing this beautiful specimen. A few days later, on a recent bright overcast day - perfect lighting for macro photography - I went ouside to take photos of our lobelias. But then I saw a Monarch butterfly landing on the Joe-pye and chased it instead. It had long been my wish to get a closer picture of one with its wings open. It was not easy. The Monarch did not like my close presence and kept flitting away to the other side of the plant, with me in hot pursuit. Finally, I decided that I must have something good on that flash card and left the Monarch alone. I was right.
People who see my photos often say, "You must be very patient!" They're right, of course. But luck is also involved. Had I not gone out at the time when the Monarch was on the Joe-pye I would have never captures this photo.

Happy Hummers

June is not turning out to be one of my best months this year. Besides having some unpleasant medical tests done, my right knee, which I injured years ago, is also hurting a lot for over a week now. So, instead of going to the air show with my hubby this past weekend, I could only watch the planes that flew by our backyard. Since we live in the airport area, I saw quite a few and heard even more.

To make my time at home more pleasant, I've been photographing the ruby-throated hummingbirds that visit our feeder. I could do this from the comfort of a garden chair. Life doesn't get much easier than this, but photographing hummingbirds is no easy task. First of all, they are fast--really fast. A more dedicated photographer would probably set up several flashes, but I only have one flash and so it took quite a few shots to get a decent photo. Yesterday, I finally took some shots of both a male and female hummingbird that I'm proud to show everybody (which I'm doing right here). The hummingbirds are hitting our feeders hard and are not happy when the syrup gets too old (too old meaning three days max.). So, they might as well pose for my camera to earn their keep. They are fun to watch, but they are quite territorial and don't like it at all when another bird shows up at the same time. Never mind that there's enough for everybody, and how do some people manage to photograph half a dozen hummingbirds at their feeder at the same time?

Other than that, I haven't seen any unusual birds lately, except for a possible oriole sighting, but it has been a strange year. The weather has been weird this summer and the birds and plants are surely affected by that. Oh well, that's what makes bird photography so interesting and sometimes frustrating.

Busy Time

This is the busiest time of year for me. As a bird photographer, I was looking forward to migration to add some new species to my ever growing stock photo list. I was not disappointed since I took some great pictures of an eastern towhee, a white-crowned sparrow, a white-throated sparrow, a cardinal and a red-bellied woodpecker. On my wish list of desirable species is a bluebird. Yes, I do have bluebird photos from last year, but none of them is very sharp. So, on Tuesday, a birder friend and I went out in search of bluebirds. We did find them, including one that sat on top of a No Parking sign, cleaning its feathers. When not grooming itself, it and its mate fed the fledglings in their birdbox. But they didn't let me come close enough to get a really sharp photo. I didn't want to interfere with the feedings of their young so I backed off. On the way back, I took some photos of a yellow warbler, but again they're no more than record shots. So the quest for a great bluebird shot continues.

I am also getting ready for the Pennwriters conference which will begin next week on Friday. This time, I not only have an agent appointment, but I also volunteered to be a time keeper for another agent. Friday promises to be very busy.

I learned yesterday that my nonfiction proposal to Pennsylvania Magazine was accepted. This photo feature will showcase an artist who paints noses on military planes. I am very excited about this and can't wait to go out to the base to photograph some very big birds.

In June, I booked a photo exhibit at the new library in Robinson Township. I am pleased to show my work for an entire month in the town I've lived in for almost 10 years. And besides, I always love to hang around libraries.

Happy spring to you all!

Bird Photography

I've been photographing the birds in our backyard for the past couple of years, but some species are so shy that I could never get a close-up picture of them. Last fall, I purchased a collapsible hunting blind so I can get closer. I have yet to figure out the collapsing part of it. It's supposed to fit into a small bag but it took too long to fiddle with that, so I just left it out of the bag all through winter. Now that the weather is more favorable, I've set up the blind several times to get a closer view of the many birds that visit our four feeders. My objective was to catch a shot of the Eastern Towhee that has been foraging under the feeders. On Tuesday, it finally showed up once and I fired away. Although it never returned after that, I was able to grab some great photos of a White-throated Sparrow which is quite beautiful in its new spring dress. The blind really works in allowing me to fill the frame with the bird. Even shy birds such as Red-bellied Woodpeckers show up occasionally when they don't feel threatened. Now, if I could only snatch a photo of a migrant passing through...

Why I photograph

I came to photography by accident. Yes, I had always loved to take vacation photos and had taken a couple of photography classes geared at amateurs. Sadly, my photos from the 1970s have faded badly. I traveled extensively during the 1980s and I now wish that I had decent photos from that time. The way I traveled, though (backpacking, bus tours, even hitchhiking), prohibited carrying around a big camera.
After my husband and I started dating, we traveled every weekend to a different town and he took a camera along. He graduated into shooting 35mm transparencies and purchased another camera for me. I took my first slides during a vacation to Norway. Unfortunately, it rained the entire week we were there, off and on. Needless to say, most of our photos are not top quality. But I was hooked. I signed up for a photography course with the New York Institute of Photography and we listened to the lessons together. We wanted to operate a homebased portrait studio photographing children and pets, but things didn't work out.
Over the years, my interest in portraits waned. After buying a house here in Pennsylvania, we began to feed the many birds in our backyard. We purchased a 35mm digital camera and I was finally able to photograph birds with a telephoto lens (the digital sensor extends the lengths of a lens). Six months later, I took a photo of an airborne Tufted Titmouse that has won me two awards so far and a feature on TV. But fame alone is not the reason why I photograph.
Photography gives me an opportunity to see the world in detail that I would otherwise overlook. There are photo opportunities everywhere you look. In the city, that could be a fire escape or an interesting shadow or colorful store front. In a state park, there are grasses, trees, water, fungi, animals and birds that beg to be photographed. By showing people the beauty of nature, I hope that they, too, will want to protect it. Children are particularly attracted to my bird photographs and I hope that they will take that enthusiasm into their adult lives. Our own future depends on it.