Cardinal feathers
Cardinal feathers
Cardinal abstract
These images are dedicated to a male Northern Cardinal that unfortunately struck the back door of my house and did not survive. I felt horrible. Before I placed his body to rest in one of our pine trees that he so frequently liked to visit, I captured these few images as a remembrance of his wonderful feathers and visits to our yard.
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Punxsutawney Phil
I am pleased to have a groundhog image of mine appear in Sierra magazine for January / February 2010 (pg. 18), along with some good biology information about this little guy predicting how much winter may be left in February. Let’s hope he sees his shadow in advance ok? You can read the story online at the Sierra Club website here.
This was from my first DSLR the D2H at only 4.2 MP, but still more than enough quality for magazine use. Despite how such a camera may be “shunned” today, I continue to get great use (and sales) out of these files. The image runs in the magazine about 1/3 the page, is cropped just below the front claws, and looks just fine.
Sierra Magazine
The issue also has some of Clark Little’s incredible wave imagery. I have seen a lot of his great work in the press lately. If you have never seen his work, you can see more of it at his website.
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Time at the spa
Yes, another bear photo! 
This image communicates something entirely different than my previous one on bear claws, but they still attract attention eh? This is “Mom” brown bear taking a little time away from the kids for some maintenance of those claws – a little polishing – tending to the cuticles, etc. The deeper water helps stay mostly submerged and away from the nagging insects buzzing around that are quite obvious in this photograph. Actually I was a bit surprised to find this many bugs in mid-September in Alaska, some areas worse than others. I think the cubs look a little bored and impatient waiting on the shoreline for Mom to be done or bring a fish. She knows where to go for a little time away.
It also reminds me of website maintenance and redesign and so many other things I had hoped to do during this time between Christmas and New Years, but I got hit with a pretty bad flu that has kept me from making any progress on that end. It seems like it is on the way out now, but will take awhile before I get re-motivated to take some of that on.
And lastly, I certainly appreciate all the comments, links, and feedback you have provided me on this blog over this year. I know the end of the year reflections back tend to be commonplace, and that is one that cannot be overstated. What’s ahead and what about favorites of 2009? I am not entirely sure yet. My thinking still needs to clear up from flu meds – clear away the bugs, and sharpen the claws, and scratch out some thoughts for some future posts.
This image was captured using a Nikon D700, 200-400 f4 lens, ISO 1600 at Kinak Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Post processing by Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS3 using luminosity masks and Topaz Detail.
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Musical notes
It seems Winter has been with us in Michigan for well over a month now, despite its unofficial start today in this region of the world. I often wondered why can’t we have fall colors start a month early?! :-) On second thought, that would probably screw up a lot of photographers planning fall color trips around peak times. At least our days will start growing longer. My shooting this time of year seems to be split between working inside on rock patterns, (which I need to catch up on) and what I enjoy most of all in the winter – photographing ice patterns.
This winter I hope to return to that pursuit to expand my collection of ice pattern photos. The infinite varieties and patterns tend to offer limitless subject matter to explore. In this post earlier this year, I created a special gallery of one particular outing. The image in this post is from earlier this year and reminded me of the shapes and interaction of musical notes and waves of sound.
I added further processing to it using Topaz Adjust to enhance some of the local areas of contrast. Overall I am content with using this style I created for these patterns – I like the gritty nature to them that emphasizes the lines and shapes (almost haunting as I labeled them in the special gallery linked above).
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Bear claws
Processing bear photos continues….
I thought this was an interesting portrait in how you do not see the bear’s eyes, but my attention is drawn almost immediately to the claws. I wondered if this was an instinctual reaction to a threat. Similar to the way people react to big teeth, antlers, or other features that may be considered as weapons. I have similar images in this sequence without the claws, and they don’t provide quite the same tension.
This big boar (ie. male) was wading around in a river in front of us, digging up fish scraps, blowing bubbles, and generally acting somewhat bored. I was practically lying down on a river bank to capture this low angle view, which I think also establishes a certain intimacy. Thank you for visiting!
Link to gallery: Brown bear photos
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