Wild at Wingswood - Come Join Me!

This weekend I am excited to be able to head to South Carolina to help out my good friends at the Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw (near Charleston) as they hold their yearly fundraiser "Wild at Wingswood". For the second year in a row, the esteemed Jack Hanna will be on hand to lend his vibrance and passion to the proceedings. I am lucky to be able to attend and serve as photographer for the events this weekend. On Saturday (10/29) there will be a family event from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm that will allow nature lovers of all ages to get to see the Center's amazing raptors (birds of prey) in live flight demonstrations as well as a chance to meet the legendary Jack Hanna. For more details about attending click HERE.


Saturday night is the "Big Event", Wild at Wingswood which will feature live local music, amazing food from some of Charleston's top chefs, live flight demonstrations, as well as both live  and silent auctions. I am honored to have two of my images featured in the auction. Blue Lion fans will recognize my image "Focus" from other blog posts - this is a Tawny Eagle I "shot" at the Center in 2010.



   The second image that will be auctioned is one I took at the Center this past June. This is a very elegant Golden Eagle with a look that illustrates the intensity of  all birds of prey.



If you happen to be in the Charleston area this weekend, I'd love to get to meet you and share this spectacular gem of a conservation organization with you!  In 10 minutes from now I'm off to the airport to begin my journey to Awendaw!
CHEERS!

Happy Halloween!

I've been holding on to this image for a while waiting for the "right" time to share it with the world. While hiking along a dirt road last spring, I encountered this interesting/creepy/funny "face" that was looking back at me from the vertical part of the road cut. I have no way of knowing if it was a "natural" occurrence or if it was helped along by local people. I'm willing to go with the latter likelihood, but I still enjoy the quirkiness of it. As we're in Halloween "season", I could not resist sharing it!




Click in the image to view it in its original gallery

Turbulent Times

Today's post takes me back to a very "turbulent" time of my life. Back in July of 2009, I was lucky enough to have the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream and visit New Zealand. I spent 3 weeks there. The first week was centered around my presentation at an educational conference on the North Island. The next two weeks were spent touring the South Island specifically to photograph some of the amazing scenery there. Several days of our trip were spent in and around the "Adventure Capital" of New Zealand, Queenstown. I spent little time in the town proper except to sleep as the great sights were away from the city center. I did happen to be in my hotel on the night of July 15th. At 9:22 pm, I was in my bed watching TV (we were planning a dawn photo shoot for 7/16!) when the turbulence started! At first my bed started to feel like a waterbed and then I heard the bottles and glasses in the mini bar start to jingle. As soon as I realized what was happening, I got up and opened the door of my 4th floor hotel room and stood there. The motion of the earthquake was a rolling one, and felt as if I was on a ship in rough seas. The scariest part for me was standing  in the door and thinking that I did not want to "ride" the building down in case of a collapse, but I also did not want to be in the lobby area if there was a collapse. Of course, the quake was over before I had a chance to settle my potential "lose - lose" situation.  Thankfully, there was no damage to the hotel and all returned to normal after a bit and my nerves settled. 


Given the amazing level of connectedness we have, I knew within minutes of  going online the location and magnitude of the earthquake. It was a 7.8 magnitude that struck 115 miles away from Queenstown in the Tasman Sea off of the coast of the New Zealand near Dusky Sound. (Click here for technical details). This quake was one of the top 4 most powerful earthquakes in the world that year! 



Rosy fingers Dawn Over the Remarkables(Click the image to see it in the original Blue Lion Gallery)
The image you see here was taken the next morning from the shores of Lake Wakatipu. The mountains are called the "Remarkables" and host a large ski area on the back side.  The morning was a very calm one which was a definite contrast to the excitement of the previous turbulent night! 
Thankfully, the quake was remote enough that no people were injured and property damage was minimal. By comparison, the devastation of a smaller quake in an urban area can be extreme. The Haitian earthquake of January, 2010 measured "only" a 7.0 on the Richter Scale and the deadly Christchurch earthquake in February, 2011 was "only" a 6.3 on the Richter Scale. I know I remain grateful for the location of the Dusky Sound earthquake and also for New Zealand's strict building codes which dramatically reduce the damage of earthquakes. 
I'm curious as to what earthquake experience my Blue Lion Blog readers may have had. Please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section below. 

Minds work best when open!

Today's post takes  me in a slightly different direction. As a nature photographer, most of my images are meant to reflect the subject in as authentic and "as is" view as possible. Over the years I have tried to present here exactly what I originally saw through my lens. This reflects my science background and the need to "document" my observations, rather than to interpret them in an artistic way. Early on, I feel that my images were an extension of "data" rather than potentially something more expressive. As I have (hopefully!) grown as a photographer I "see" more when I am composing a shot and now consider a a wider range of composition choices before pressing the shutter button. I'm also more willing ( and hopefully able) to see an image that is technically a bit off and see another view of it so that it might have  some artistic value. 


This image of a cluster of Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) was one I liked, but since I had spontaneously shot it handheld on a breezy morning it was not as sharp as I would want. I liked the composition and the bokeh, but the softness of the flowers was just not acceptable. It was at this point that I started to see beyond the documentary photograph and began to envision it as something more impressionistic. As such, I embraced the "weakness"of the photograph and sought to enhance the softness and through some Photoshop filtering and layering. The result was surprising to me as it has a very painterly feel while preserving much of what I liked about the original photograph. 

Click in the image to visit the original Blue Lion Photos gallery

As a person who feels that "Minds work best when open", I think this is a small example of an open mind being able to be flexible enough to see another interpretation that can be artistically pleasing. I would not expect to see all future Blue Lion Photos be impressionistic, but such a style is now another facet of the diamond of my particular experiences. 

This REALLY is one of the "Good Guys"!

This week in my biology classes, we were learning how to use microscopes and also did a research project that included seeing over 20 different species of single celled creatures and a few micro invertebrates. My love of nature and photography also extends to this "micro-world" as well. The samples we were able to view yielded a number of interesting subjects that the vast majority (99.999994%) of people have never seen nor heard of. As such I will occasionally share such videos here to hopefully allow you to participate in some of what I call "Micro Safaris" 

Today's creature came from  a sample of pond water at our school's tiny pond. At first I thought I saw a Paramecium dividing, but then the micro annelid (segmented worm) named Aeolosoma wandered into view both amazing and disturbing those who saw it's fascinating and grotesque (to some) movement. 

As it turns out, Aeolosoma is a "good guy" that helps in the efficient breakdown of detritus (rotting gunk)on the bottom of ponds. It's presence in our pond sample is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.  

Now that you know this - take a risk and try to "enjoy" your visit with Aeolosoma! 

Please feel free to comment on this as I am especially interested in how people react to this unusual creature! Do you love it? despise it? curious about it? both amazed and yet repulsed?  Share your thoughts! THANKS!