Some of the most entertaining animals that we encountered on our recent safari were the primates, primarily the baboons and monkeys. They were usually found along the road, seemingly there to play with one another and put on a show for visitors like us. When there weren't putting on a show for us, they were caring for their young babies like this one. It was fascinating to watch how they cared for their young ones. This baby baboon was feeding on something under the watching eyes of his mom.
Lilac Breasted Roller - Kruger National Park, South Africa
I am sure that my buddy Jeff Clow will fall off his chair when he sees this post. While I am a nature photographer that primarily shoots landscapes, I will shoot wildlife if I come across them. Jeff has been more of a wildlife shooter than me and he has recently been focusing (pun intended) on birds. I don't have much interest in photographing birds and it has been a long running joke between us about his need to shoot birds while I want to move on.
The other reason he might react to this post is that, on our recent safari to South Africa, he was desperate to photograph the Lilac Breasted Roller pictured in this photo. Every time that we spotted one, it seemed to take off or be on the wrong side of the jeep, leaving Jeff frustrated. Near the end of our safari, I called the Roller Jeff's Moby Dick. Well, he finally got a shot of it near the end of trip and I am glad he did. When I saw my shot and saw that it was in focus, I knew I had to post it.
Grief - Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa
When planning our trip to South Africa, we decided to fly into Johannesburg early and do a couple of day trips before our safari. Our first excursion took us to Pilanesberg National Park and Game Reserve. This turned out to be our first experience with predators and their prey in the Circle of Life.
It was late morning and the temperature was approaching scorching. The wildlife typically finds shade and might remain there for the afternoon. Our guide Peter spotted a female lion under a tree and we stopped to see if she would get up and wander. After waiting a few minutes, it was clear that she wasn't moving and he decided to head up the road before we headed to lunch. We spotted a dazzle of zebra with a baby that was one or two days old. It was really cool to see the little guy following and playing with his mother. As we followed the zebra, our guide realized that they were heading in the direction of the lion. He thought that if they continued on their path, the baby zebra would be at risk. Well, he called it exactly as it would happen. We watched in both horror and fascination. As the baby zebra went behind a bush our eyes and camera lenses turned toward the lion, waiting for her to pounce. That's when the action happened. Unbeknownst to us, there was a second lion that none of us saw and she attacked the baby zebra. The rest of the adult zebras took off in a gallop, but it was too late for the baby. I am sort of glad not to have seen it. As soon as it happened, the adult zebra stopped near our truck and looked toward where the lions were. That is when I snapped this photo. While I won't forget this, I think the most haunting memory will be the grief that the mother expressed when she realized what happened.
Fresh Kill - Kruger National Park, South Africa
One of the goals when visiting Africa on safari is to capture photographs of the "Big Five". The term was originally used by big game hunters to reference the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. Included in the Big Five are the elephant, lion, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. They were chosen to be included due to the difficulty and danger involved in hunting them.
Photographing them is a lot easier than hunting them and not very dangerous at all. By the last day of the safari, we had many photographs of four of the five. The leopard had proven elusive, and when we headed out on our last morning, hope was starting to fade. About 15 minutes after entering the park, we got very lucky. A male leopard was spotted that had just made a kill and was dragging it to a culvert along the road. After getting some decent shots, we started driving away. Everyone was quite excited and happy, but the adventure was only half over. I happened to spot some movement to our right, which turned out to be the leopard's female counterpart. I fired off this shot of the female as it approached the culvert. Her eyes were intent on eating, but the male decided that he wasn't going to share his kill and sent her on her way. Quite interesting behavior.
Elephant Bath - Kruger National Park, South Africa
Going on my first safari, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it was going to be hot (probably averaged 100 degrees for the duration of the safari) but I wasn't expecting to experience the effects of a two-year long drought. The last two years, rainfall has been 65% and 52% of the long term average year respectively. Wildlife can be found in early mornings and late evenings, but the rest of the day, it can be hit or miss. I think we were reasonably lucky during these off hours.
The day I shot this photo, we had been driving without many wildlife sitings, Our guide Gregg decided to take us to the Lake Panic Bird Blind to see if we could shoot some of the exotic birds that are found in Kruger NP. Once we got there, birds were quickly forgotten as an elephant herd decided to visit the lake to escape the late morning heat. It was quite the sight, as these magnificent animals started to use their long trunks as water hoses, splashing lake water on all sides of their bodies. I happened to catch this elephant in the process of spraying his back.
Peek-a-Boo - Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
What a great experience I had on our trip to South Africa. After 20 hours on the plane, missing my connection and finally getting home, I am just scratching the surface looking at my photos. I am not a wildlife photographer so this trip was a learning experience for me. The huge benefit to me was shooting with more experienced wildlife photographers so that I could learn some techniques. One of my good friends, James Keith is someone that I learned a lot from. The photos that he captured are amazing. One of the things I learned from him was patience (something that I am not good at) and pre-visualization. Occasionally, I would turn to see what James was shooting and he often was looking in a different direction than the rest of us. In this case, he was looking in the direction of this Steenbuck and realized that he was waiting for it to peek above the branch and look in our direction. So I waited patiently and captured (okay, maybe stole) this composition.
Play Time – Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
Just got back to Johannesburg last night and headed home on the flight from hell (16 ½ hours) tonight to Atlanta and then on home to Connecticut. What a great trip exploring the wildlife in South Africa with great old friends and brand new ones. Lots of long days in temperatures that averaged around 100 degrees. Despite the long flight and the heat, the wildlife was well worth the inconveniences.
I shot this photo in Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Our guides were amazing and they got us into position to ride beside a herd of more than fifteen elephants. These two young elephants decided to spend some time playing as the herd headed toward the water hole. What a great experience, one that I will never forget.
A Little Fog and Color - Ashcroft, Colorado
Yesterday I posted a photo of the New England colors of autumn. The colors there vary greatly with the diversity of the trees. This photo shows a different type of foliage a couple of thousand miles to the west in Colorado. The colors in Colorado are one-note (at least where I visited), as the dominant tree in the area are aspens, whose leaves turn a bright yellow. Which do I like better? I would say neither. If you are looking for pure color, New England wins, but if you like the backdrop of the majestic Rocky Mountains, Colorado wins. I'll take either one (or both) during the fall season.
I will be away for a couple of weeks and will not be posting on my blog or social media in my absence. I'll see you in November.
Covered Bridge View - Albany, New Hampshire
Well, the colors of fall have arrived in New England and the countryside is beginning to light up here in Connecticut. Fall is my favorite time of year and I hope that I will be able to get out in the next two days to capture the beauty of autumn. After that, I will be heading out of the country and, by the time I get back, the foliage will be a memory. This photo was taken several years ago on the famed Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire from the Albany Covered Bridge. The "Kanc" is a favorite destination for leaf peepers from all around.
Glacier Fog - Glacier National Park, Montana
You never know what you may find in Glacier National Park until you hit the Going to the Sun Road. When you leave the hotel and head onto this winding 50-mile road that traverses the Rocky Mountains and crosses the Continental Divide, you have no idea what the weather will be. That's because the mountains make their own weather-- you can be clear and then turn a corner and the fog has set in. On this morning, we encountered some of that and, as we turned a corner, we saw this scene where the fog was lifting. The early morning light added to the mood.
Deposition and Erosion - Badlands National Park, South Dakota
There are very few terrains that look so different from one another depending on where you are than in the Badlands of South Dakota. Driving the 31 mile road that traverses this rugged park, the landscape changes many time from jagged rock formations to mounds of rocks. They vary in forms of mountains, mesas, canyons, buttes and hoodoos. These formations also have very different layers of rock, often having very different and unusual color.
To explain the formation of the badlands as simply erosion would be a mistake although it is a major contributor to its development. The process of deposition was prominent in the building of the different layers of mineral material such as clay and sand. Each layer solidified and was then covered with the next one over a period of almost 50 million years. When the layers solidified, erosion from wind and water created the many different landscapes that are found there today.
This photo, taken at the extreme eastern end of the park, shows the jaggedness of the peaks. If you at the foreground, you can see how the erosion created these short rock formations that extend well behind and to either side of where I am standing. I have only visited this place once and am really hopeful that I can get back there soon.
Hello Old Friends - Monument Valley, Navajo Nation
Do you have a specific location that, when you get there, you say to yourself, "Hello, old friends?" Well I do, and that is Monument Valley, located on Navajo land on the Utah/Arizona border. I have visited this place quite a number of times and I can't seem to get enough. This visit was even more special, as I was shooting there with my great friends, Jeff Clow and Jaki Good Miller. Jaki had never visited the Valley before and it is always something special to me to share it with "newbies", knowing that they would love it as much as I do. Jaki and I had landed in Albuquerque and had a five hour drive to the valley. I had always driven there from the north, stopping at the 13 mile marker to get the iconic road shot leading to the magnificent buttes in the distance. While this approach was not as dramatic, it was still memorable. I stopped about five miles from the turn into the valley and captured this view just before the darkness blanketed the sandstone buttes.
Pemaquid Sunrise - Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Bristol, Maine
I am so far behind in reviewing the photos that I have taken this year, its not even funny. I conservatively estimate that there are close to 8,000 that I have not reviewed and cull out. It is hard for me to have an exact number as I bracket a lot. With two more trips scheduled for the rest of the year, that number will be well in excess of 10,000. I will be spending much of the winter getting through this backlog, but it is a problem that's nice to have. This is especially true when I come across a favorite subject like this one in great light.
This photo was taken in April on Jeff Clow's Maine Lighthouse tour, which I co-host. Everyone who visits the Maine Coast's lighthouses seems to have a favorite one. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse has always been and always will be my favorite. It can be photographed from four distinct vantage points and, if you look at all four, you might not think they are of the same place. This vantage point is the easiest to capture (two of the others require some scrambling over rocks) and, when the light is right like this sunrise, it is hard not to get a great shot.
Red on Green - Moscow, Idaho
Okay, I know this title is lame. After over a thousand blog posts, it sometimes is difficult to come up with a catchy title. I stared at this photo for about ten minutes and this was the best that I could do. In any case, this photo was not from my recent scouting trip to the Palouse, but rather from my very first visit there. The Palouse extends into the western part of Idaho and this was our only sojourn there. This "salt box" barn sits all alone in this little valley and stands out primarily due to its bright red color. It contrasts quite well with the surrounding green farmland and blue sky (maybe I should have titled it "Red, Green and Blue"). It is also a great contrast to some of the abandoned and dilapidated barns that I have been posting over the past month or so.
For those of you who follow me regularly, you know that I often wonder how things got their names. So here are a couple of useless tidbits. The term "salt box" is a reference to the old wooden boxes that were used to store salt (no, I am not old enough to remember them). This style of barns and houses originated in New England, and were built that way so that snow would slide down the steep roofs. The other arcane tidbit is the name of the town that this barn is located in, Moscow. It turns out that one of the original traders was born in Moscow, Russia, and he opened the first trading post in the area. I had never heard of the town before my visit, but was surprised to also find out that it is the home of the University of Idaho.
Summer Snow - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta
One thing about visiting Banff National Park in June that is for sure -- the weather is unpredictable. You can experience beautiful sunny days with cumulous clouds or you can run into the winter's last gasp with snow. This past June, we experienced both. On our first visit to Moraine Lake, it was snowing reasonably heavy, and when we got to the parking lot, only a few of our group braved the hike up the "rock pile". I was not one of them as it was difficult to see through the falling snow, plus I had shot there many times before. I also suspected that the snow would stop falling and I would make my way up also. After about a half hour, the snow did stop and this was the scene that awaited me.
Now, Moraine Lake is my favorite stop in Banff with its pristine emerald water amid the surrounding Canadian Rockies. It's location says it all -- The Valley of the Ten Peaks". I have shot it in a lot of conditions but this was a treat. The light snow gave me a look that I hadn't seen before. The fir trees had just enough snow to accentuate them. Surprisingly, the lake was relatively still, giving a very nice reflection. The ever present canoes (in the lower right corner) had a nice layer of snow on them. All in all, the experience just added to my love for this place.
Thunder Hole View - Acadia National Park, Maine
Normally, if I was standing at the bottom of the stairs next to Thunder Hole, I would be surrounded by tons of people vying for views of this popular stop in Acadia. Of course, when you arrive to witness the sunrise that begins when the sun peeks above the Atlantic Ocean on the horizon, the majority of visitors are still in their beds. It also helps that the main reason people flock to this place was not on display. This attraction gets its name from the loud thunderous sound when the tide is coming in and the right size wave hits a small inlet. Water typically sprays very high and wets the many people waiting for the sound. If the tide was in and the ocean cooperative, I wouldn't have been able to stand in this spot, as I and my camera equipment would be totally soaked.
This composition shows part of the Thunder Hole's surrounding rock wall on the right and Otter Cliff in the distance. Between these two point, the famous rocky and rugged Maine Coast is on display.
Boardwalk - Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana
Growing up in South Jersey has some great memories for me. For most of my young life, one my favorite things to do was to head down the Jersey Shore and spend time on their beaches and boardwalks. Those days are long past and now I love spending my time on boardwalks of a different kind, like this one in Glacier National Park. Instead of the countless amusement piers, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, arcades and endless number of t-shirt stores, I would rather see wildflowers on either side of me and the majestic Rocky Mountains ahead and behind me. You won't find any waterfalls along the boardwalks on the Jersey Shore and there sure aren't any mountain goats there either.
This is one of the great hikes that you will find at Logan Pass, the high point in the park along the amazing Going to the Sun Road. The Hidden Lake Trail starts at the back of the Visitor Center and rises toward Clements Mountain before descending to Hidden Lake. The first half-mile is the boardwalk pictured in this photo, followed by a more normal trail the rest of the way. A little over 1.35 miles after starting the hike, you arrive at Hidden Lake Overlook. If you stop there instead of continuing down to Hidden Lake, you will have crossed the Continental Divide; climbed to 7,152 feet of elevation; seen a pristine mountain lake surrounded by numerous mountains; and probably walked past wildflowers (in the summer) and mountain goats. Not bad for a coupe hours of hiking.
Ramshackle - Farmington, Washington
As I am going through my photos of almost 90 barns that Jeff Clow and I scouted in the Palouse this past August, I can't help but have mixed emotions about looking at all of the barns that are no longer functioning for what they were built for. On one side, abandoned barns can often make great photography subjects and allow for the documenting of the history of a place. On the other hand, I am sure that the state of these barns more than likely have caused its current or past owners a lot of emotional angst and pain. In a perfect world, these barns would be in great shape and be part of a functioning farm. Of course, that is wishful thinking, as technological advances and capitalism have forced many small farmers out of business. Farming is not the only industry that has seen this happen, with most industries going through the same type of transitions. Many people just refer to this as progress, but they often don't consider the personal impact on those who came before.
Stairs - Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont
This stairway photo was taken in the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building at the Shelburne Museum. I wanted to post this photo, as it was the first time shooting with my new Fuji XT-2 and I wanted to test out its high ISO capabilities. For those of you who are interested, this was a hand-held shot at ISO 12,800 at 1/45th of a second at f8. Shooting with these settings a few years ago would have been impossible, but sensor technology is advancing at such a pace that nothing surprises me anymore. Even with the settings pushed so high, one would expect lots of noise in the resulting photo. I was quite surprised that although there was some noise, the algorithms in Lightroom handled it quite easily. All in all, I won't hesitate shooting at high ISOs with the XT-2. By the way, the Shelburne Museum is well worth a visit if you are ever near Burlington, Vermont. I will be posting some more photos from there and will talk more about this great museum.
Tranquil Morning - Pyramid Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta
The alarm goes off at 3:30am and the last thing you want to do is to get up. The easy thing would be to hit the snooze button a couple of times and get some much needed sleep. Then, when your mind is contemplating doing that, it realizes that you are in the Canadian Rockies with your friends in one of the most beautiful places in the world. If Mother Nature is kind, there will be some great clouds in the sky and the sunrise will provide some beautiful light to the mountains and lakes. All of a sudden, the decision is made, time to get up and get ready to go.
The morning when I captured this image, Mother Nature was particularly kind to us. We got all of the conditions we wanted along with mirror-like reflections and an encounter with a bull elk and his harem. That is what getting up at o'dark thirty is all about for a nature photographer. Not all of these good things happen every time you shoot, but the anticipation of it happening is worth getting up early. Even when it doesn't work out, you are still hanging out with friends in a great location.