Symbols

Anywhere you go, anywhere in the world, anyone you show them to will know that bald eagles and buffalo are American. McDonald's, Mickey Mouse, and Coke may be more recognizable, but nothing is more definitively American than these two animals. We could certainly do worse than the Bald Eagle as a national emblem. I highly recommend observing them in the wild--find an opportunity. Same goes for Bison. You've never seen grace until you've seen a 1400 pound bison leap off a ridge and skip through the forest, or an eagle larger than your car skim the surface of the water.

Venom

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/4.5, 1/200s, ISO 100.

It's time for summer block buster movies, so I thought it might be good for SEO to have a blog named for a famous comic book villain. Plus, this Ph.D. knows more about venom than you realized was possible.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 100.

She's a biology professor at USU's Uintah Basin Campus, and studies venom. Evidently, these little salamanders are deadly; if you eat them. Touching them benignly is no problem, just don't put them in your mouth and bite down (apparently, that's not common sense to certain frat boys). As a rule, don't put any brightly colored salamanders in your mouth, just to be safe. Newts, too.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Nikon D800, 105mm f/2.8 Micro VR lens, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Brontosaurus

Did you know there's a dinosaur in the Chicago O'Hare airport? Yeah. I know.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @230mm, f/7.1, 1/40s, ISO 1600.

This Is What I Bargained For...

It's been a busy time around here! We've had all kinds of wonderful opportunities coming into the Studio lately, from high class car shoots to corporate portraits to portraits of doctors to the Bald Eagles I'm photographing tomorrow with the Cache Valley Photographers. Whew! It's really been fun solving the problem of what kind of picture to make for each of these varied clients. And posing Bald Eagles is no picnic, I can tell you!

It's 2:15 am and I just finished some of these images for a client, and I should be in bed. But I've been looking forward to this moment for a week and a half. See, T. texted me the other day to make an appointment for her and her boys to come in for a portrait. ever since, I've been anticipating it. 

This is what drew me into photography nearly three years ago. I spent my class times in high school photographing landscapes and macros of tree leaves and reflections in streams--you know: art 'n' stuff. Little did I know what I was missing out on!

People is where the fun lies. I love making artful pictures of landscapes and trees and mountains and animals and bridges as much as anyone, and I love some of the images I've produced doing it (see tags at bottom of this post). Nevertheless, those things cannot compare with setting up the studio and photographing two brothers. I plan it like a playground: wide open. I just want those guys to have room, and they certainly took advantage of it tonight with twirling and leaping and doing the "shuffle dance". It was all I could do to make sharp images while giggling right along with these guys. They told me the Knock-knock joke about bananas and oranges five times...and got it wrong all five times! We never did figure out why the giraffe crossed the road.

So, I love the landscapes, animals, and the corporate work absolutely: but it's nice to relax a little and play with light every now and then, too.

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 92mm, f/7.1, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Eyes to Die For...

Nikon D7000, Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 lens, f/4.5, 1/400s, ISO 400.

Those eyes are enough to make you want one. Well, almost.

Found this fellow at the Gardener's Market in Salt Lake. I was thinking to myself, "Climbing rope? that's maybe overkill--he's such a little guy...." That was right before this little lab flew six feet into the air and covered the passersby's faces in slobbery kisses. I'm thinking a less dynamic tether--6 gauge linked chain, perhaps? 

This is "Fun"?

Nikon D700, 400mm f/2.8 VR lens, f/2.8, 1/400s, ISO 1600.

Great Blue Herons Hanging High in a Tree

Did you know that Great Blue Herons land in trees? Yeah, me neither. And not, like, big dead trees with big branches: these guys were all landing in the very top of some wobbly spruces! I counted fifteen of them together, and there were probably more in the branches, continuously coming and going. Very enlightening.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f/4 lens, f/8, 1/640s, ISO 800.

It's Cold.

Ever been caught by a strangely cold spell? It's warm this week, and most of the snow is gone...but there is a chill wind out there right now that is just getting me down.

Makes me wanna get all bundled up--right up to my butterfly tatoo.

Nikon D90, 300mm f/4.0 lens, f/4.0, 1/800s, ISO 400.

Eagle Saturday

Not today, of course. Saturday is Utah's Eagle Day. At Farmington Bay on the Great Salt Lake you can go and see lots of these magnificent birds face to face. I went Tuesday, froze my fingers off, and came home with this as one of my favorite images from the day.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f/4 lens, f/4, 1/6400s, ISO 400.

Sea Lions

Ever feel like your house is too small?

Be grateful.

Nikon D700, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens @ 300mm, f/5.6, 1/15s, ISO 1600.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

St. Louis has this terrific tradition of free and inexpensive cultural and educational facilities. There's the Arch, the Art Museum, and, not to be missed, the Zoo. I remember visiting these places when I lived there as a small boy, and was hoping to visit some again while I was there this week. I only had a little bit of time before my flight home yesterday. I used a little bit of it at the Art Museum.

That was a good choice--probably the best choice I could have made. I saw an exhibit on photography commissioned by the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. There were some really moving photographs there, like this one by Marion Post Wolcott (click on it to see the biographical info).

The reason it was a good choice was that seeing some terrific photographs, not to mention paintings and sculpture, stimulated my own eye to start seeing some art around me. I walked around the museum and explored some very nice light pouring through high windows, but there just weren't very many people in the museum on a Tuesday afternoon. I was itching to see some living art.

So I walked over to the Zoo.

It's a great zoo, and it's all very modern and kids and parents alike enjoy visiting there. I asked the gal at the desk if there were likely to be any animals active at that time of day (not likely)...she just stared blankly back at me. I tried a different approach, "If you were visiting here at this time of day and only had about an hour, what would you go see?" The unhesitating answer: Zebras. She pointed me down the path and away I went.

On the way I talked with the docent at the insect house and butterfly-arium (the butterflies were a bit...flighty, but the flowers were pretty good (see Flower Friday below)). I also saw a couple of giant anteaters eating ants, and a cheetah, and a red hog. But they were all pretty lazy.

Then I came around the corner and saw an elderly lady's hair aglow as sunlight poured under the pavilion she was sitting under and lit her up like an octogenarian angel; then a giant pig swam by.

So, I cleaned my lens, but when I looked again the giant pig was still there.

 Are you a product of the eighties? I am. And it shows. There were lots of things from that era that just stick with a guy. So the whole time I was standing there watching these leviathans swimming about, there was just one thing on my mind.

Anyway, one couldn't help being enchanted by these big, lumpy animals with mysteriously dry looking skin. There is really nothing else like a hippo. Look at that jaw!

Fortunately, I wasn't the only one enthralled with the river horses, and these two images are the result of going to the art museum before the zoo.

 Nikon D700, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens, f/5.6, 1/640s, ISO 1000

Nikon D700, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO 1000.

I never did find the Zebras.

Natural History

Nikon D700, 70-300mm lens, f/4.5, 1/20s, ISO 1600.

Canoeing

This was the best of my images from our club canoe trip last Monday (Memorial Day). Kinda fun. Thye were circling directly overhead, and I nearly tipped the boat by leaning back to keep shooting as he flew by. Would it have been worth it?

Nikon D90, 300mm lens, f/4.0, 1/3200s, ISO 200.

No time to Blog--Running from Dinosaurs...

Nikon D90, 55mm micro lens (manual), f/3.5, 1/50s, ISO 640.

Sadie

She lives with my Grandparents. She's some kind of Husky/lab mix. She's a continuously outputting battery of energy, too. These are the only two images that aren't blurry from her constant movement! She's very lovable, too. That's the reason we keep dogs around, I suppose.

Nikon D90, 55mm micro lens, f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 400.

On the Front Seat

That's where you should keep your camera.

Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens @ 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200.

Now What?

Ever feel like you've finally got a hold of a problem, only to find that you don't know what to do with it? Like catching a tiger by the tail, I suppose; or a gator by the throat.

Nikon D90, 12-24mm lens @ 24mm, f/4.5, 1/160s, ISO 800, SB-600 through an umbrella with a full CTO gel.

Passersby IV

This morning, the Cache Valley Photographers had a little workshop to gain more experience and understanding while shooting in snow. We learned a little about Ansel Adams' Zone System and how to use our cameras' data to create better images on site. It was a lot of fun, actually, and we had a good time shooting each other; but you know me--I love to catch the passersby, too.

This pup and his lady were a treat. They were walking around waiting for someone, and we got several opportunities to try and catch some of their story. I love the casual stance of the woman as she chats with another person and the dog's apparently bored expression.


This next fellow was intently walking down the street, and around the corner; returning home from shoveling the walk at the church? taking care of his friend's walks, perhaps? just finished with his walks and on his way to...?


Niko D90, 70-200mm lens @ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/500s & ISO 200, 1/320s & ISO 200 respectively.

Turn Around

Since you always carry your camera, you've just made a lucky image, and you're super excited about it. Now turn around and look for something else to shoot.


Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens @ 95mm, f/8.0, 1/400s, ISO 100.

Always Take your Camera

Everywhere you go, just carry your camera with you. This does two things:
1) It makes it part of you--you just always have a camera.
2) It makes you ready to pull over and turn around when you see a huge bald eagle sitting in beautiful tree on the side of the highway.


Fly inside for more evidence...



Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens, f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 100.