I’ve taken a lot of trips this year to the western U.S. to photograph ”grand landscapes.” Living and shooting in the east presents several challenges to me as a professional nature photographer. Let’s face it—people respond positively to grand scenic landscapes. Show them dozens of great shots from a flat and featureless landscape (such as the Chesapeake Bay), and you might get some nods of approval, but show them one poorly composed, middle-of-the-day, flatly lit shot of Half Dome in Yosemite, and suddenly you hear oohs and aahs. Most viewers respond to the scenery first and foremost, and the artistic nature of the image (or lack thereof) second. Which means I now spend a lot of time and money traveling to scenic locations far afield, and have focused less and less on the more subtle (but in my opinion, no less beautiful) landscapes where I live.

I recently spent a day photographing Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and part of the Chesapeake Bay tidal estuary. Blackwater offers little to someone looking to make a stunning grand landscape photograph—no giant snow-capped mountain peaks here, nor raging waterfalls or wild seas pounding against a rocky coast. Nope, just some marsh grass, a few trees, and lots and lots of water: pretty much as featureless as you can get. In my humble opinion, however, it is precisely the kind of landscape where your skills as a photography are truly challenged and honed. I don’t think it’s all that difficult to make a stunning image of stunning subject matter; when your subject is stunning to begin with, most of your work has already been done for you. But to make a beautiful image in a barren landscape—to make something out of nothing—now that’s what separates the men from the shuttermonkeys.

It’s a fundamental lesson that many photographers forget: you have to shoot what Nature offers you. Every natural area has its own special and unique beauty, and your job as a photographer is to discover it, and to find a way to express it to others. If Nature offers beautiful and rugged mountain scenery, shoot it. If Nature offers abundant wildlife, shoot it. If Nature offers mud and slime . . . shoot it. Find a way to find what’s beautiful, and to express each area’s unique character. That beauty might not reveal itself all at once—it may take special light or the right time of year for it to emerge—just don’t stop until you find it.

My day at Blackwater reminded me of these simple truths. Fortunately, the Eastern Shore was displaying its beauty that day, full force. Heavy rain the day before, followed by clear skies and cooling temperatures overnight, created a thin layer of ground fog at sunrise. I spent three years photographing the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries for my book Chesapeake: Bay of Light. During that time, the Bay revealed its beauty to me in many ways. My favorites, however, were those rare days when the water was completely still, and the horizon obscured by haze or fog. The line between water and sky would become completely indistinct, merging into a seemless whole. This was one of those days.

I made this image of five Canada geese early in the morning, with soft warm light filtering through the fog. Don’t like Canada geese? Do you feel that they are an uninteresting species, maybe even a nuisance? Tough: shoot them anyway. Even “uninteresting” species can make compelling photographic subjects. I don’t care if it’s a picture of a rat—if photographed properly, it can be just as stunning as a picture of a Siberian tiger. For this image, spacing of elements was vital. I made sure that the five geese didn’t overlap at all, and waited for the right moment, such as when the goose on the far right flapped its wings. Instead of trying to zoom in just on the distant geese, I opted for a wider “landscape” shot, to show the geese in the context of their foggy marsh environment. Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 100-400mm lens @400mm, f/8, 1/200 sec., ISO 100.

Next I photographed sunlight filtering through fog in a grove of trees. The forests that line the Blackwater River are not terribly exciting—there are no towering giants like the redwoods of the West Coast—but in the right conditions even mundane forest can appear magnificent. I intentionally kept my exposure low for this shot, to render the tree trunks in silhouette and to lend a gloomy feel to the image.  Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 100-400mm lens @105mm, f/16, 1/200th sec., ISO 200.

Even after the sun started to burn through the fog, the remarkably still conditions were perfect for shooting reflections. I found this heron, standing quite still in flawless blue water, and set up to shoot, waiting for the right moment. Just before flying away, the heron opened its beak briefly, striking the perfect pose. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I usually don’t get too jazzed about shooting herons—I’ve photographed more herons than you can shake a stick at, as the saying goes. But no matter how many herons I’ve shot, that’s what the Chesapeake Bay keeps offering up. And I would never pass on conditions like this, even if my subject was a pigeon! Canon 5D Mark II camera, Canon 500m lens w/1.4x teleconverter, f/5.6, 1/400th sec., ISO 200.

The day ended with fire. High clouds drifted in and were set alight by the last rays of the sun. Unfortunately, I had nothing but scrubby marsh at my disposal. No excuses, however, I needed to find something that would make the image work.  When photographing a featureless landscape, I always look for an element to simplify a composition, such as an abstract shape or line, whether it be in the land or sky. Here, the curve of marsh grass creates a foreground that relates to the curving clouds in the sky. And that’s the unique beauty of the Bay—revealed best when marsh, water, and sky come together as one. Canon 5d Mark II camera, Canon 24-105mm lens @ 24mm, f/16, 1/10th sec., ISO 100.

No matter where you shoot, always try to find something special, something unique to your subject, that creates a compelling image. It might not be as well received as a stunning western landscape, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you had the skill to create something out of nothing.

to continue along the lines of the upcoming “Name all the creatures!!NAME THEM!!!!” debacle soon to be revealed on AATM, here are 2 snippets of video from the recent non-MFer/Engagement extravaganza 2009:

from these videos i draw 2 conclusions -

1) i have a very large array of facial expressions, in fact, i am somewhat muppet-like

2) i need major neck liposuction-ectomy. eeesh!

and how cute is that fiance of mine??!! that is all.

My good friends Ben and Bianca are getting married, and they’re cruelly forcing us to go to the Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast of Mexico to attend the wedding.  So I’m off today for 4 days of nice warm beach-y weather!

I’m staying at the resort they’re getting married at from Friday through Monday, which leaves me a couple days to see a bit of more authentic Mexico.  Since it’s not much time, I decided to stay in an ecological reserve called Sian Ka’an.  I’ll take an all day tour of the reserve on Thursday, then spend some time at the ruins near Tulum before heading to Excellence Riveria Cancun for the weekend.

It’s almost 50 degrees warmer in Cancun than in Austin now, so it should be nice!

I have to admit, I identify with the Ash-throated Flycatcher. Much like myself, many individuals of this species apparently have a terrible sense of direction – they leave Texas or California (reliably indicated by Woody Guthrie to be “the Garden of Eden/ a paradise to live in or to see”) and instead of ending up at their traditional wintering grounds, they end up…. well, in Queens.

Which is why I ended up in Queens. I wasn’t lost, though. In fact, this bird rivaled the Union Square Scott’s Oriole for proximity to a subway stop. Only the subway stop was not in Union Square, surrounded by coffee shops and boutiques and the bustle of the farmer’s market. It was… well, in Queens.

Nevertheless, after Sunday dawned all innocent of the split-personality precipitation that forced me to spend Saturday in a series of bookstores and bars (a terrible burden), I got on the A train and traveled out to the strange netherworld where a confused Ash-throated Flycatcher had lingered for some two weeks. It was brisk but cold, and the subway in this remote, benighted land ran above the ground, if you can imagine that. I left the station, rounded a corner, and peered into a vacant lot where the bird had been wont to linger.

It wasn’t there. And worse yet, when I spotted a group of birders on a nearby lawn and rushed up to join them, I heard those most dreaded words…. “It was just here a minute ago.”

Yes, the Ash-throated Flycatcher had put in an appearance, and I’d missed it! Would this be Western M(*^*(^^&^$%#% Reef-heron Part Deux?

We scanned the backyards full of hedges and bittersweet. I wondered if anyone was going to call the cops. We turned around and scanned the shrubbery around the elevated train line. I wondered if anyone was going to call Homeland Security.

We spotted House Sparrows, Robins, Mockingbirds. A Song Sparrow, a White-throated Sparrow, a female Cardinal. A good variety of common, typical, not the least bit lost birds.

The only official-type person who ever did ask us our business was an off-duty bus driver who pulled over, curious about what he’d been seeing people staring at all week. We explained it to him as best we could. He seemed duly impressed.

But as time went by and the bird didn’t show, I was feeling less and less impressed myself. I could have gone to Jamaica Bay, I thought, and looked for the Red-necked Grebe; I could have gone to Central Park and looked for owls; I could have gone to Staten Island and looked for the Rufus Hummingbird. But no. Here I was, staring at trees and Robins and various sparrows….

Suddenly a Mockingbird flashed across the corner of my vision; only it wasn’t a Mockingbird, too small, proportioned wrong, and most of all, too green and brown for a gray and black bird.

The Ash-throated Flycatcher landed just long enough for my to register it, then ducked behind a convenient shed. But soon it was back again, showing off not just for me but for two other birders that I was able to get on to it. It flitted from weed to weed, apparently resorting to seeds in lieu of flies.

The traditional description of the Ash-throated Flycatcher is a smaller, washed-out Great Crested Flycatcher. But this hardly does justice to a bird with a pearl-gray throat, a bright rufus wing-patch and tail, and a belly the color of the lemon cream in a Whitman’s Sampler. It kept fluffing up its crown while I watched it, a Tyrant Flycatcher to the core, even if it was alone and confused and dearly wishing it had taken that left turn at Albuquerque.

Eventually it moved back into the scrub, and I got back on the train for the long trek back to Brooklyn.

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Here’s a guest post written by our young friend Connor Dixon.  We first met Connor and his family on a Rogue River trip a number of years ago.  On that trip he was too small to kayak but just the right size to pick up by the back of his life vest and throw out into the pool in front of camp. Being a kid he would sputter back to shore and ask to do it again and again.  Connor has come a long way from his watery beginnings.  This summer was a busy one for he and his twin sister, Savannah. They paddled the Middle Fork Salmon, Grand Canyon, took a river rescue class from our friends at Sierra Rescue and, although too young to receive their full certification, took an ACA instructor course from Mary- all  at the ripe old age of 16!

Connor "helps" out with the drive from Boise to the Payette River.

My trip started with excitement, daring, and luck (getting my boat and paddle passed the luggage handler before she thought to call over her supervisor). In Boise, I was picked up by Phil and we drove to a friend’s house who was very kind and let us “crash” there. Everyday, it was from here that we would begin our drive to the diverse whitewater Mecca known as the Payettes.

Gearing up for a high speed seal launch into the South Payette.

The first few days were spent warming up on the South Fork with runs on the staircase section and the canyon section. From fun boofs on Little Falls to the slide on the Staircase section, the South Fork of the Payette is pure fun.

Checking out the "lower five" on the North Fork Payette from the road.

On the fourth day, it was time to scare myself a bit. Every time we had driven up to the South Fork, I craned my neck to take a look at the famous North Fork. Definitely the hardest run I had seriously considered doing, after a conversation with Phil about it and a quick call to my mother (also a kayaker), we had the green light to do the lower 5. After about an hour of scouting, I came to three conclusions. The first, road side scouting is great! The second, construction of the road on one side and a railroad on the other had blasted sharp rocks into the river causing me to think being upside down would be a really bad idea. The third and final conclusion was that I had to run it (a very unpopular decision on the rational side of my brain).

Connor in Juicer rapid, North Fork Payette, Idaho.

The attribute about the North Fork that most concerned me is the amazing length of the rapids. Swimming would be disastrous. A “rapid” seemed to just be a period of higher gradient change between some class III. At the put we ended up joining forces with a local paddler, Mike Copeland and a few of his friends- it never hurts to have the extra company on the North Fork. Favoring a warm up instead of a beat up, we decided to put in below Hounds Tooth, a class V drop. After some North Fork boogie water, the first big rapid, Otters slide was run successfully (and successfully got my heart rate up). A short distance afterward, Juicer appeared on the horizon, or lack there of. On our scout, Phil and I had decided to go left (punching through a weird v wave/boil/hole) and drive right afterward to avoid the nasty Juicer Hole waiting for us below. I was feeling really confident… until I flipped in the entrance. All I could think was “there is a really ^@#$%*& big hole below me”.

Connor and Phil in Crunch Rapid, North Fork Payette, Idaho.

Rolling up (which seemed to take forever, like rolling in molasses) and getting some idea of where I was pointed, I drove right, avoiding the sure swim that is Juicer Hole.
After a creek line in Cruncher where I hugged the right side a little tight, my first run on the North Fork of the Payette was complete. My personal comfort had yet again been challenged and pushed to a larger scale. After a final day boating the Staircase section, Phil and I parted company to meet a week later on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. One thing was for sure, I definitely had to come back and boat on Payettes again.

DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking

We made it back safely from our trip and while we were gone, boys went to play football up north. Not a successful game but there is always next year.

We had a great time while the boys’ grandma Dorothy moved in with them.  They complained loudly about not wanting her to fix spaghetti too many times so I thought I had better make things easy on Dorothy and fill the freezer with “pre-fabricated” foods.   We don’t usually eat that stuff but it made things simpler and the boys much more appreciative of what I do for them every night.

Alright, where we were, the chefs didn’t cook frozen dinners, they made special things for us and we loved every single bite they served up.  We had dinner among other places at Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe’ where we sat at the sushi bar.

The Flying Fish Cafe’, we sat right here

at the show kitchen bar

Raglan Road,  Fulton’s Crab House

Here we were sitting at the bar at Fulton’s.

and many other places.

Here are some more pictures of what we saw and where we had fun.

We went on safari at the Animal Kingdome park and saw the king of the animal world sitting on top of his hill. I hope you can see him up there on the right of the tree.

The trunk of this tree holds a huge theater and has been carved or sculpted with over 300 images of animals.

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72 year old Jean who gave us a tour of a restaurant

And there is Mike on the back porch of the Hall of Presidents

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And while we had lunch in France with a very famous rodent, we actually saw the Space Shuttle take off for another adventure

We were thoroughly entertained the whole 9 days

5 friends and I travelled for 1 month in Papua, Indonesia looking for Birds-of-Paradise and a variety of other spectacular creatures. We found incredible birds, places and especially people throughout our journey. A birding and logistics heavy travelogue is available here.

It was around this time last year that we were in Bhutan finishing up a 2 month stay.  We spent that time traveling with a Buddhist study group, scouting rivers for upcoming kayak groups, running our Class II-III trip, catching what we could of the fifth king’s coronation and capping it all off with our Class III-IV+ trip.  What follows is an account from that final kayaking trip.  You can follow the links to these Bhutan posts to read about our other adventures there.  If these trips sound interesting to you, consider joining us in the Fall of 2010 when we’ll return again to kayak Bhutan!

We are two weeks away from our next vacation to Walt Disney World. This is a Christmas present for our children and it will be a complete surprise to them. They have been asking when our next trip will be and we have been telling them how we are setting up a Grand Gathering Family Reunion in December 2011 (which we are) so they are completely unaware. We are picking them up from school and heading south. We figure they will start to get a clue when we leave their Aunt and Uncle’s house in North Carolina to keep driving south.

I am most excited about our dining plan. I plan on reviewing table service and counter service restaurants that people have asked the most questions about. I plan to do reviews, with photos, of the restaurants and food for:

Tony’s Town Square – We have dinner reservations and hope it is a nice evening to have dinner on the patio and watch Spectromagic.

Boma – This is for our date night. We are leaving the children at the Neverland Club and heading out for a delicious dinner ALONE.

Hollywood & Vine – We have dinner reservations for our first night. Having never been to this restaurant before and hearing mixed reviews I want to see for myself what the restaurant is really like.

Cinderella’s Royal Table – This is a restaurant we dine at every trip. We will be taking my brother-in-law and sister-in-law for their first trip to the castle for dinner. We always have good luck here with good dinners. I hope our streak continues.

Crystal Palace – This is another restaurant we eat at every trip. This time we have dinner reservations as the children love the peel and eat shrimp.

Biergarten – We have not been to the Biergarten since 2005. We are excited to be returning and seeing the band’s Christmas show. We will also be watching the Candlelight Processional on this night so it should be a great evening.

Tusker House – We have lunch reservations here. This is the one reservation we are having second thoughts about. We will have been on vacation one week at this point and think we may end up at Downtown Disney rather than Animal Kingdom. I may try to change this reservation to a Cape May Cafe Clambake dinner.

I also plan on reviewing and photographing as many counter service restaurants as possible. On our itinerary are: Columbia Harbour House, Pizzafari, Cosmic Rays, Sunshine Seasons and the counter service restaurants in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Morocco and France.

We should come back with tons of pictures and very full bellies. Can’t wait to share it all with you!

Be sure to check in mid-December when I will start posting all my new dining reviews, Disney at Christmas pictures and hotel review.

Destination: Singapore Changi Airport WSSS
ETD: around 1530
ETA: around 1800
Flight: Garuda Indonesia GA840
Date of Journey: 28th June 2009
Seat: 6F

This is my second last trip on this sector as I am going to move back to Bali after this (anyway, that’s where I belong) for my own good. Tears aside as my farewell to Singapore will be presented on different post later this week.

I don’t want much bullshit so let’s go direct to this trip. Sorry, if you’re interested to losten about what happened in the fiscal and taxation department of Ngurah Rai international terminal, contact me and I’ll tell you the story.

Here’s my plane, PK-GWZ

Taken from my seat, the baggages being loaded to the plane

Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 bound for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi

Both Batavia Air’s Boeing 737-400 and Thai’s A330-300 waiting for the landing of Garuda’s Boeing 747-400

Facing the Kuta Beach

Now facing Jimbaran Bay and Uluwatu

Airborne

Benoa Bay and Garuda’s engine (CFM56…)

Mount Agung and its mystery remains unsolved

Bon Appetite. Main course was pasta with chicken. Desserts were fruits (watermelon, pineapple and papaya) and Kit Kat. Drinks were mineral water and apple juice (Sunkist, previously Garuda used Buavita).

The very friendly hostess asked me whether I wanted additional drink. I opted for Coke and she handed me a cup with Coke in no time. Very friendly service, thumbs up for Garuda! In this picture though, I had drunk half of the cup.

Since Garuda had not yet introduced their brand new “Garuda Experience”, so the only entertainment available back then was this little screen featuring Just for Laughs and commercials.

The sky with a few editing (thanks to Picasa), should be above Java Sea by then

Approaching Singapore

Sunset from the sky

Changi Industrial Park

Landing soon

Landed and finding the parking station

Cathay’s Airbus A330-300 and Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-200…

Parked next to Japan Airline’s Boeing 777-200

Japan Airlines’ JA732J in oneworld livery

Changi Airport’s Terminal 1 interior

This trip report marks the end of an era of me living here in Singapore. But shed no tears as there is possibility that I may go to Middle East particularly Israel, Russia and Spain for WYD2011. I would like to thank Garuda for the pleasant experience (and the frequent flyer miles too!). I hope you’ll really be upgraded to 4-star airlines in the coming year.

And that’s my trip report for now. Look out for my next trip report on my journey home to Bali. Hopefully I can go to some exotic destinations across Indonesia as well such as Wamena, Larantuka, Maumere, Timika and many more. Also, look out for my hottest post that would change my life, my new school coming up in the next weeks on Apa Kabar Bram (sounded like Today Tonight or A Current Affair promotion).

I’ll see you then.

A few weeks ago, I joined a photographic day at the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey. I found out about it through the excellent Wild Arena, and their page about it is here. Previous days with Wild Arena have been very good, so I was keen to see what this one would offer. What I got was a great selection of British Wildlife, which despite being captive made great photography subjects, and I had a great time there. It’s also worth noting if you’re planning on taking one of these excellent days that no tuition is provided, which may put some people off but was fine for me, as the other photographers are more than willing to give you a hand if you need one with anything.

After his meal, this wildcat looked down away from the camera, giving a pleasing composition.

The day kicked off quite early, at about 9.30 I arrived there, having driven a short distance from London. A few other photographers were already there, and I talked for a while and looked round the enclosures, before at around 10.00 we all went out in two groups, each with two keepers. Wildcats were planned first for us, foxes for the other group. The 3 wildcats, who turned out to be the most photographically rewarding subjects of the day, were in a large square enclosure, and all the photographers sat on one side of the square, whilst the keeper kept the wildcat mostly on a large log about 4 metres from the photographers. This was excellent to have such a great animal so close, but not without a few issues as my 400 had problems focusing quite that close!

This angry wildcat was growling for food.

The wildcats performed excellently, snarling and baring their teeth whilst looking at the scrap of meat the keeper was holding, it’s worth mentioning here how helpful the keepers were, very obliging to move the cat round to get the best light or whatever. After shooting some tightly cropped conventional portraits to begin with, I tried a more creative composition below, which is a way of shooting I’d never seen used with the cats before, as opposed to the many head on, teeth out photos you so typically see. After I took this photo one of the cats got bored (understandable given that he had been going for a tiny chick for 5 minutes and still hadn’t got it) so we moved on to another cat, who had the not unimpressive talent for running past the cameras. Most of the photographers there tried for a panning shot at that time, as the light levels were low, but I went for my favorite tactic of placing the 10mm lens right in the wildcat’s path and shooting with a remote release. I’d love to say I got some great shots, but they were truly awful due to the fact that the cat would knock the camera over, and the backgrounds being difficult (grey sky and looking upwards into mesh). Maybe one to try next time?

The ultra-wide aperture helped throw the background out of focus here.

After all the wildcat photos had been taken, we moved on to the foxes in their large green enclosure. At first they proved elusive, but we left the first group and moved onto another group opposite, who were a lot easier to find! In a similiar fashion to the wildcats they posed beautifully, and also ran around for panning shots (wish I had brought my 70-300!). The light was a bit rubbish, very cloudy and grey with a bit of light rain sometimes, so I stuck to shotting wide open at f2.8, which worked alright, and in portrait format to get a few shots that were a bit more unusual than what everyone was shooting. The only problem I had a one point was that the foxes were eating from a bowl in one corner of the enclosure, and I was shooting against a very bad wire-netting background. I got round this by moving out a bit, and shooting wide open to diffuse the background as much as possible.

Despite the bad conditions, this fox portrait ended up quite well.

After shooting the foxes for quite a while, we moved on to their collection of birds of prey. The birds brought out for our photos were a little owl chick (which seemed to have a permanently surprised expression on) and a very handsome barn owl. Both were posed on posts, the little owl with a very bad background, and the barn owl against a tree. They were both within easy reach of short lenses, but I stayed on the 400 for the wide aperture which really helped the little owl portraits. For the little owl chick, which was first, I shot wide open to blur the very dull grey background, and tried a variety of compositions moving around the fence post perch, but I stuck with the portrait shots. Later, I converted it into black and white, something I’m very keen on, as the light and conditions were very flat and boring.

The black and white conversion made this picture much more interesting.

The barn owl was posed with a tree behind, and as such was in quite deep shade. Rather than trying to push the exposure, I went for my ultra-techie approach of taking the flash off-camera, much to the disappointment of all the Canon shooters who couldn’t! With a “shower cap” jessops diffuser on the SB900, I put it on the flimsy stand and placed it on the grass below the tree, angling it upwards to add a catchlight to the owl’s eyes. The setup worked quite well in the end, and I got some decent shots out of what could have been a very mediocre session.

Lit by an off-camera flash, this barn owl was posing in front of a tree.

After the birds of prey had been taken away, we had a chance to get some macro shots of a delightful young hedgehog which was placed on a nice old log and then trundled off any way it wanted to, whilst all the photographers moved around to get it in frame. Don’t underestimate the speed these little fellas can move, this one was seriously speedy! My 105 VR had difficulty locking on (as any macro lens will, as all macro lenses have slow AF) but by prefocusing and a lot of guesswork I got some decent shots. The AF really annoyed me though…he just wouldn’t slow down at all!

One of the only shots where the AF could keep up...

We were taken out to the deer section before lunch, where a platform has been erected overlooking the grounds of some red and fallow deer, stags and hinds, about 40 in total, so lots to photograph. Sadly the platform was quite high so there was no opportunity to get to ground level, as I like to do when taking animal portraits, but the slightly higher than ground level platform still allowed for some decent shots, although they didn’t turned out quite as good as I’d have hoped.

The red deer hind, shot from slightly above.

After this there was a short lunch break, in which I chatted to a few other photographers, whilst a few cleaned their kit, chimped or downloaded their photos, and we went out to see the otters. 3 of them in total, and they were in a large pond with a grass bank rising up in front of it. The idea was that the keepers would throw the fish to the otters in the pond, and the otters would run up the bank with it and then eat it on the grass. That was the theory anyway! It turned out that the otters used different tracks every time, so focusing was a pain as they were going pretty fast coming up the bank. Another opportunity for some panning shots but the light was too bright to get the right shutter speed for it. When the otters were eating I got low down on the floor, and got some decent photos, although loads had the fish in the otter’s mouth as well, which was annoying, or the otter’s head in an awkward position. But they turned out nice against the green diffused background on the whole.

Shot from ground level for maximum impact.

Another fox was up next, this on inside a rectangular small enclosure that you could shoot from outside over a waist-height fence. This fox was more than happy to pose on a log whilst everyone snapped away, and with the composition sorted (portrait, fit the whole head in) I got some nice shots. It was best to crop the face quite tightly due to some unsightly brown backgrounds that were in place behind the fox, and yet again the f2.8 aperture came in really handy. The fox was a great performer and I ended up with some really nice shots of him in his lovely fur looking at the camera attentively, just what makes a good animal portrait.

The diffused background makes the fox stand out well here.

The next animals on the list were ferrets and snakes. Both were shot in similiar enclosures to the fox-really just a giant bathtub that you stood at the edge of and shot downwards into! Because the angles this created were useless for engaging portraits, I put my wide angle lens on, attached the remote release and lowered the camera holding the strap onto the floor of the ferrets’ enclosure. This worked out very hard, because the ferrets would run at the camera fast, giving me only enough time to take one exposure and then hoik the camera back up over the side. As a result, I got no decent pictures, I’m afraid (the backgrounds didn’t help at all, this is probably the biggest issue when photographing captive wildlife).

If that hadn’t been enough already, we ended up with a trip to the wetlands section, which had a view across a river to a group of herons standing on the opposite bank. They were fishing, fighting and flying around, which would have led to some good photos if I had had a long enough lens! This is where they photographer next to me with a 300-800 really had an advantage! The interaction between them was good, but I couldn’t get close enough for any good portraits. A mediocre one is shown below, sadly.

More reach needed!

All in all I really enjoyed this day. Although the subjects were captive, which can be a problem for competition entries etc. all of them were behaving naturally, and none of them were at all tame (especially not the ferret that decided to lick the front element of my 10-20!). I ended up with a great set of photos, in particular the wildcat ones which I am most proud of, and was most glad I went on this trip.

San Simeon State Park is one of our favorite places to camp.  When we were a newly wed couple, we loved it.  With kids we love it.  With groups of friends, we love it.  It’s such a nice place to stay.

Just look at that sunset!