Friends

Where would we be without them?

I started my photography in the Snoqualmie River Valley in Washington St. in May of 2015. The last two years have been spent on the Olympic Peninsula where I now live. In that time and with the thousands of shots I have taken some of the best captures have been the friends that I have made.

The friends I have made are a great group of people that love the outdoors and the many beautiful subjects it has to offer. Vickie, Jon and Scott. Phil, Marco and Todd. Tom , Ada and Sally, and there are more. We met at rivers, ponds and fields , wearing waterproof boots and warm coats to shoot birds at sunrise, otters in the river and sun sets at days end. In spring we walk the trails shooting migratory songbirds in sunglasses, shorts and ball caps. Then it’s stocking caps and gloves to shoot the moon and stars at night. We meet for Northwest landscapes, flowers, waterfalls and bees. In the fall there are dew covered spider webs and the valleys and woods are frosted in eerie yet lovely morning fog. And then there’s architecture, portraits and video. The subjects have no end nor the people to find them with and once you have captured something great you will always work to “get a better shot of it”

In the attempt to get the” better shot” it’s another trip to the field, the river or the beach. Sometimes it’s a weekend overnighter camping in the woods or in the mountains shooting the stars. Sometimes it’s longer traveling across the state and out of state finding new roads, new fields and new lakes, chasing Loons, Cranes and even Comets . Pitching tents, rolling out sleeping bags, whipping out a camp chair and sitting by the fire. In the summer of course its shorts and bug juice and with me in the morning there is always a thermos of coffee, winter, summer, spring, fall it doesn’t matter. I love my coffee, and my friends, I love my friends.

most recent

I was asked for a post that showed some of my most recent photos. Recent being a relative term I’ve included shots for within the last year. The shots are basically in order of when shot. The last two being taken in the last week. Enjoy.

Calendar of subjects

I was asked if I could show what it was that I shoot throughout the year. I am in a new area and have some friends that are interested in seeing some of my subjects (mostly birds) so here goes, it has been a fun year. This starts January 2021 and ends with January 2022. Hope you enjoy, it is all so much fun.

From Home

Well the times have been rough for us all. I surely feel for all of us bound up at home, unable to work and with everyday life all a skewed. But like most things this too will pass and we will soon rise again. With my “home time” I took out my Cannon gear and started looking around the yard to see what would be fun to shoot. Wow! I found a lot. I shot small branch birds, as I call them, blossoms, flowers, the deer that roam through the yard and there’s a sunset every night. I shot the moon, the clouds, reflections in water and have found a new style for me that I will share with you when I get enough for a group of photos. For now here are a couple of shots taken due to being at home all the time.

Salvia and Bee

One of the new fawns this year.

Sandhill Cranes, oh the sound

I have family in Texas and Arizona and on a couple of trips to visit them I’ve taken the time to go to both the Bosque Del apache and Bear River wildlife refuges. Both of these parks should be on you list of places to view and photograph birds. I saw the Cranes at Bosque in the winter. These animals are very impressive, just to listening to them is an experience.

I haven’t seen any Cranes at the Bear River refuge but there are lots of other birds that are a shear delight. The first time I went there I saw 12 species of birds that were new to me. Night Heron, White Faced Ibis, Snowy Egret, Curlews, Field Swallows and Terns to list a few. I’m going back.

Sandhill Cranes at Bosque Del Apache

Sandhill Cranes at Bosque Del Apache

Snowy Egret at Bear River wildlife refuge

Snowy Egret at Bear River wildlife refuge

New Gear

Gear. Gear, gear, gear. Just ask a photographer about their gear. The lenses, fast and slow. Focal lengths, zooms and primes. Cameras that are full frame, cropped frame, mirrorless and micro 4/3rds. Frames per second and the ability to get good video. Autofocus systems, Bokea and the ability to handle noise, Wow ! there’s a lot to talk about here.

Well I had been very happy with my gear. My lenses were fast enough and plenty sharp ( I shot with Primes). My camera was state of the art at the time. All of my extra bits IE. straps, tripods, filters and remotes worked just fine, what’s to want? There’s always something more we photographers want. Faster frames per second, better resolution, less grain (noise) in the photo, longer reach with the lens and on and on.

In the pursuit of the perfect photo I was feeling limited using a 400mm prime lens, I couldn’t zoom in or out with it. Sometimes I was too close, sometimes I was too far away. I shot with Canon gear and they had no lens that could do what I needed, so I switched to Nikon. I had read about a new 200mm x500mm lens that had gotten great reviews. Sweet, just what I needed. I was excited. I found a good Nikon camera (D500) that was very similar to my Canon in it’s abilities so I bought a used camera and a new lens and wow what a difference

For me when I’m in the field the most important function in my camera is the autofocus system. If the camera doesn’t focus well it doesn’t matter about the Bokea, the burst rate or the focal length, what can I do with out of focused pictures? Well this system performed very well and I have been very happy. A lot has been said about Prime lenses being sharper than zooms , I honestly don’t see a big difference and the ability to zoom in or out has made for so many more opportunities to get the shot.

I have kept my Canon gear with the primes, I just use them for different types of photography. Gear, gear, gear!

It’s hard to have too much!

Trumpeter Swans near the Snoqualmie River, shot with the Nikon at 340mm

Trumpeter Swans near the Snoqualmie River, shot with the Nikon at 340mm

September the birds are gone

The small migratory birds of summer have pretty much flown now but I had a great time shooting them this season. We see around 35 species of birds here in the valley all with their different timing, behavior and environment that they like to perform in. The bittern have their odd but amazing mating call and can be seen often when the are feeding chicks. I got lucky to see 5 at once and all in the same frame which is very rare.

The Cedar Wax Wing is a rather surreal bird with it’s soft color and plumage and it looks great with the forest for a background. The Goldfinch, the Swallow and the few types of Woodpeckers are all a challenge to shoot in their own right.

Every year I go with my granddaughter to take pictures of Multnomah Falls in Oregon and this year was the best. You can do all right things in regards to settings and lenses and such but in the end it’s all about the light, and here in the Northwest it can be tricky. Well this year it was perfect and what a joy. It truly is a small adventure every time, photography is like a “box of chocolates” you never know what you’re going to get. (Borrowed from Forest G.)

Cedar Wax Wing

Julys summer fun

This summer has been great. I have spent a lot of time at the ponds here in the valley shooting summer migratory birds, the Bittern, Eagles fishing and MAN! we had a total eclipse. How cool was that. I went to my sons house on the central Oregon coast where we saw the eclipse in totality. What a rush. And of course you can’t visit them without a trip on their boat to go fishing. Fish and crab is a staple at their house.

On the morning of the eclipse I woke up early. I have a great internal clock that wakes me before my alarm goes of if I am planning to do something exciting and boy was I excited. Well of course it was total fog when I looked out the window, it’s common and usually burns off in a few hours but I wasn’t going to risk it. From their house it is just a few miles up into the coast range and I knew I could get above the fog in just a few minutes, so I took off. Well the road heads east from the coast so I am headed straight for the sun rise and sure enough right by a nice place to pull off and park there is the sun, just hanging there above the hilltops, waiting on the moon.

Something I have learned is that when you need to get something right, don’t hurry. I knew I had time to prepare each step of my setup correctly, making sure everything was functioning right, battery full, filters on and secure. My tripod needed to be up on my tailgate so I could look through the viewfinder easily and it needed to be stable so it all wouldn’t tumble to the ground. A good tripod is well worth the investment. Checking each and every little thing is necessary, checking it twice is usual and then paying attention is all that’s left to do.

Well I did need to mess with my setting a bit to get the exposure just right and I did so in time. I snapped off a shot about every 10 seconds and just when the eclipse reached totality I heard this “POP POP”. There were three collage kids from BC that had parked behind me. We had said “Hey” to each other when they had shown up and they had looked through the camera to see the action close up and in celebration of their amazement they had just opened two bottles of champagne. What a day