The Way We See It

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Winter Diary (Post III)

After the Owls
Shot on February 23, 2013 this photo was made as the sun was setting.
With nearly 500 miles on the Jeep we saw very few owls
but many amazing landscapes.
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Winter Diary (Post II)

Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) - Minnesota
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS w/ Canon 1.4x vi

Many nature photographers and enthusiasts take a hiatus during the winter months. To be honest, I can't blame them. Years of shooting in the bitter cold takes its tole on the extremities. My fingers, toes and tip of my nose now fears the frost. It's hard not to question my own sanity, yet... I persevere. I console myself with the naive belief that I am unique in this craft and that few are willing to capture the harsh months like I do.

In a few days I turn 48. As I approach 50, I am increasingly curious about how these experiences impact my longevity. Does the solitude during a winter shoot save me as many years as the cold takes away? I doubt I'll ever know, just like I doubt I'll ever stop.

In my last post, Fool Me Twice, I shared a treasured experience with otters that emerged from an ephemeral break in the ice. During the next five posts I spare you my words and just share some of what I've seen this winter. It's been a good year so far, now I'm looking forward to what follows 47.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me!

River Otter (Lutra canadensis) - Minnesota
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L IS

I’m the guy who preaches, “get it right in camera!”

I tell my students and friends to practice exposure theory, “know what the meter says,” and “add light to white.” Yet, when faced with a critical moment, fear of loss consumes my process and I find faith in technology.

I’m not a faith type of guy, so why does a logician suddenly find religion when knowledge and experience should suffice? Call it fear of failure, chicken shit or misplaced confidence, but when the chips are down, I tend to trust the meter.

River Otter Pair (Lutra canadensis) - Minnesota
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L IS

Fool Me Twice, Shame on ME! Last week I blew a fleeting moment when I underexposed a great-gray owl in twilight. I knew the meter would get it wrong, but I had faith... I was wrong!

This morning I was at it again. As the sun slowly spilled over the horizon a pair river otters (Lutra canadensis) emerged from an ephemeral hole in the ice. Knowing their intolerance for people, I had less than five minutes to work. Should I trust the meter? Hell NO! Snow-covered lake ice will never be exposed correctly by a camera that interprets its world at 18% gray. Yet, the little voice in my head kept saying... “in five minutes they’ll be gone, trust your meter.” I shrugged off the doubt added light to white and overexposed the suggested “correct” exposure. Trepidation and fear of failure lost this round, while logic and experience ruled the day.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Butterfly Effect

Moon Tree Number II - Minnesota
Canon 5D mark II & Canon 50mm f1.4 USM

Most of my free time is spent at work, working on work or talking about work. My commitment to “the job” reflects the passion for the work I do. Twenty-one years later, I still believe that I can influence the future and make a real difference in the lives of the people I see each day. Teaching is one part insanity and one part naïveté.

I am delusional because I believe that what I do each and every day really matters. It’s a crazy thought when you go to work with the assumption that what happens today makes a difference tomorrow. Some call it the “butterfly effect;” a sensitive dependence on initial conditions which assumes that a small perturbation will result in large-scale changes to a future state.

Eastern-tailed blue butterfly ( Cupido comyntas ) - Wm Obrien State Park
Canon 5D mark I & Canon 100mm f2.8 USM

What is your motivation? If you work for the money, you will never know the pleasure in the work you do. My craft, photography, is not limited by the product. The picture is something to share, while the story in the image reflects the life that is lived. Like the work I do everyday, my art is my passion. Images are like the beat of wings in the still of the night that generate ripples in the air. Regardless of the stimulus, both will have unpredictable consequences. In this non-linear world where chaos rules, I choose to embrace the experience, and believe my actions can influence the future.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Grus canadensis

It isn't often that I choose to do a photo essay without words to accompany the imagery. I often use this blog as platform to educate readers about evolution, ecology, image-making or Minnesota. In breaking with my traditional pattern, I'll let the photos speak for themselves and hope that you enjoy this migration story.

Grus canadensis - Crex Meadows, WI
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Jekyll and Hyde

Stony Point in Black and White - Hwy 61 Scenic Drive, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii & Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

A story about the stark contrast in one’s humanity, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde symbolize both the best and worst in any situation, moment or time. Say their names and the imagination runs wild. They are good and evil, Yin and Yang, light and dark all wrapped into a single package; he is the misguided man who wants it all.

Owl Landscape (Aegolius funereus) - Hwy 61 Scenic Drive, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii & Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x Converter

February is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A time of stark contrasts where daylight grows and temperatures fall. Void of life, its leafless forests reveal the gems who hide in a summer’s shadow. The mass Exodus that began in August leaves the hardy behind, where survival is intimately linked to a well managed energy budget.

Contrast - Hwy 61 Scenic Drive, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii & Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

Yet the dearth that is February includes small nuggets of gold. One’s barren woods is another’s cornucopia. While resources are depleted to the north, ours are free for the taking and opportunistic migrants seeking easy food will see the Jekyll in my February’s Hyde.

Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus) - Hwy 61 Scenic Drive, MN
Canon 7D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Fowl Weather....

Winter Wood duck (Aix sponsa) - Vadnais Heights, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300 f2.8L IS on a 5 deg F Day

Just a few promised images produced on February 3, 2013. The product of "The Hammers," these pics were definitely worth the pain!

Agitated Drake (Anas platyrhynchos) - Vadnais Heights, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300 f2.8L IS on a 5 deg F Day

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Hammers

Summer Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) - Badlands NP, South Dakota

The life of a mid-continental inhabitant wears on the psyche. Cold nights and cold days are our way of life. Sure I live south of the border, but it’s no party in Minnesota on a typical winter day.

This Sunday past Tamy and I visited the “Swan Lake.” It was 5 ℉ when we departed the warmth of our home, and the temperature edged upwards to a whopping 7 ℉ after hours of photography. During the shoot, we both experienced “the hammers.” For those not in the know, “the hammers” are the mind-jarring pain that accompanies an intense exposure to the arctic air flowing across exposed extremities. So intense is this stimulus that I liken it to a mallet striking bare fingers and toes against an iron anvil.

Summer Day in Black and White - Badlands NP, South Dakota

I exclaim, “it’s unfair!,” The arctic air is no impediment to the fowl who winter at the lake. They bathe and tussle in the frigid water as if it were a hot tub on a summer day. We, the featherless, lack the down and plumage that repels the cold. With toes and fingers adapted to touch and fine motor coordination, our asset is now the enemy. Densely packed sensory receptors become overloaded by the intense cold stimulus and, unlike our feathered friends in their Turkish bath, we suffer.

American Bison and Flower (Bison bison) - Badlands NP, South Dakota

There it is,... the REAL Life and Times of a Wildlife Photographer. To be honest, I’d love to show you some work from the shoot, but my hands are too cold to process the images. Once they thaw, I’ll post the shots... until then, enjoy this summer day at Badlands National Park.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

January 26, 2013

The Sculpture - Osceola, WI
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE
3-Shot Stitched Panorama

January 26th was another 14 degree morning. The crisp night turned water to stone, and a sculpture was left in its wake. Ephemeral as the day's weather, the ice evolves as warm air replaces cold. The artist, Winter, manipulates her medium with a frequency unlike any I have seen before. Her work is nothing short of a masterpiece, and I am lucky when I stumble upon her unique vision.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Species Profile: Kirk’s dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii)

Kirk's dik dik (Madoqua kirkii) - Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1D mark II + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS w/ Canon 1.4x converter @ f4.5

Dik-dik’s are unique members of the family Bovidae. Like their more famous Bovid cousins, the dik-dik is a ruminant with unbranching horns and paired toes. Smallest among the antelope, these diminutive wide-eyed creatures can top out at 42 km per hour to evade monitor lizards, caracals, leopards and lions prowling about the brush-lands of East Africa. A preorbital gland lies ventral to large lashed eyes, and secretes a sticky substance used to mark territorial boundaries. The elongated nose with bellows-like musculature is an adaptation to the extreme heat on the savanna. Expansions and contractions by the snout increases airflow across blood vessels thus maintaining a constant body temperature. Famously monogamous, dik-dik males deposit dung or urine directly on the excretions produced by their mate. Such behavior is likely to deter intruder males from invading the tightly guarded territorial boundaries.

The male dik-dik pictured here just “over-marked” his mate’s feces prior to being photographed. Captured in Lake Manyara National Park, we found this dik-dik during our search for leopards in the tall brush.