This spring, here in Michigan, something quite unexpected happened. It started out as it always does in early April, with the sandhill cranes preparing their nest. A week later, they laid their first egg and then a second egg appeared. The devoted parents incubated both eggs and in early May the first egg hatched. This is where the unexpected turn occurred.
Flying squirrels are fairly common, although seldom seen members of the rodent family. The southern flying squirrel is found throughout the eastern half of the United States. The northern version is only found in the northernmost tier of states and in Canada.
Looking for a great winter photography project? How about snowflakes? If you live in the Northern tier of states I promise you will have plenty of subjects to shoot.
This is the archerfish from Asia. These amazing fish have the unusual habit of feeding on land-based insects. Even more unique is their method of hunting their chosen prey: they spit a powerful jet of water at their dinner knocking it from overhanging foliage into the water, where the fish quickly gobbles them up!
I suppose like most photographers I have a “photographic bucket-list”, and documenting the life-cycle of the much maligned mosquito has always been high on that list. Like many of my projects, this turned out to be quite the undertaking filled with many challenging and unique problems.
One of the things I love about photography is it appeals to both the geek and the artist in all of us. On the geek side you have the technical considerations of making an image; the f-stops, shutter speeds, depth of field, histograms, dynamic range, all the stuff we must all master in order to communicate our vision.
Of course we can’t forget about all the ‘geeky’ gear, super telephotos, focusing rails, tele-converters, extension tubes, fill flash, and such. On the artistry side things are a little tougher to define, shape, color, composition, mood, balance, and that fickle mistress light, to mention just a few.
T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that new photo gear soon would be there.