Daddy Long Legs

I was wandering in the dark, damp woods and came across this daddy long legs spider on a leaf. As I watched it I noticed the rhythm in its leg movements which led to this short video. 

Technical: High ISO, 16k? 1/125 sec, f8, @60fps. slowed to half speed in FCPX

April Shower

What does an intelligent, rational nature photographer do with a new camera? He goes out in the rain to test it. I have been waiting for an opportunity to test the slow motion video features on my Sony RX10ii and this was a perfect opportunity. I have previously tried filming frogs jumping, it worked but I didn't get enough material for a story.

Technical: The camera had some problems in the rain. The LCD would display an error message but the electronic viewfinder continued to work. After thoroughly drying it all is back to normal. An eye dropper will also be used to place the water drops within the frame. The four raindrops in this piece took half an hour to capture.

Woodland Robins

I see robins in our yard but rarely think about their lives in the woods.

The ground is alive!

I was studiously looking for insects on bloodroot flowers when the ground suddenly became alive with snakes sliding through the leaves. I had stumbled garter snakes emerging from a winter nest site. There is something disconcerting about getting eye to eye with your subject when there are a dozen snakes at your feet.  These docile reptiles have been given a worse reputation than big bad wolves.

Winter Begins

What a difference a little snow makes! I was in the woods when the first snow came on Thanksgiving and watched the animals while staying warm but getting a little wet. 

November Color

The golden color of October has faded. I'm grateful for blue sky in November. One of my current projects is recording squirrel behavior. Yesterday I donned an orange vest and went out looking of them. I saw a nice deer but the final shot of my sequence did not happen. 

April is a Memory

I was walking one morning last week and the  leaves of this bloodroot caught my eye. Woodland beauty continues even when the flowers are done blooming. The leaves will grow and glow until the canopy closes in. 

Good Night 2014

Last night was a great night to look up to the stars and reflect on memories of 2014. It was a good year. Bundle up, get outside, and look at the stars tonight. May you have a marvelous new year enjoying the beauty of nature!

Autumn Creek

I  recorded as much fall color as I can last week. It has been a refreshing return to landscapes I have ignored for the last several years. Seven Mile Creek Park in Nicollet County is one of those areas that has both great scenery and is an excellent songbird location because of the normally flowing creek.

In Plain Sight

I was walking in the woods yesterday and ducked under a low hanging branch. The branch caught on my neck and then it started moving. I put my hand up to brush it off and found a stick bug attached to the branch that had broken off, talk about a coincidence. I put the bug on a tree where it rested for a couple minutes before slowly made its way up the side of the tree. The image shows the power of the diagonal line and contrast.

Autumn Ferns

I rarely use the technique of framing in composition but I couldn't resist putting these ferns on the lower edges to frame this October scene. The lines seem to form a diamond in the woods. This was taken along a country road in the Minnesota River Valley which is an often overlooked autumn location for color.

Possibilities

My last post was grumbling about teaching a class on photographing fall color in the absence of color. I changed my mindset from photographer to teacher and my outlook improved dramatically. The students loved the colorful ash trees, asters, and sumac making my day a success. So much of photography is about seeing possibilities.

Technical: recorded with Canon Elph, contrast enhanced in Lightroom

BC (Before Coffee)

It doesn't have to be a Monday but it always seems to be a morning. The irony is that this snail is shown moving at twice actual speed so could be considered AC, after coffee. Filming this snail gave new meaning the the term: snail's pace.

Spring Chickadees

Everyone sees chickadees at their feeder during the winter. This pair set up a nest and is raising a family. I have been watching the nest daily hoping to film the young peeking out of the nest.  Family commitments will not allow more time at the nest so the young will meet the new world without an awaiting photographer to record them.

Woodland Snail

I can't find much information about woodland snails in Minnesota. The best information I can find says they are transplants that were originally imported for food and went wild shortly after that.  There may be better information out there. If anyone knows I would love to hear from you. When the rest of the world is exploring the woods looking for morels I'm busy photographing snails. There's room for everyone.

Dutchman's Breeches

I love the descriptive names of wildflowers, they are so much more elegant than scientific names. Spring gives me a chance to get reacquainted with my 20+ year old 100 mm macro lens. It takes several seconds to gain auto focus and complains with a grinding noise while it searches for focus, like my knees when getting up after shooting these guys.

Nest Building

I spent some time last week watching a pair of chickadees excavate their nest.  They are just as entertaining and frenetic in the spring as when at winter feeders . Both worked on excavating the nest and one was so impatient to get in that it looked in to see how the other was doing. They were laying in carpet (grass, etc.) on Saturday so the nest must be complete. Hopefully there will be some young to see in a couple weeks.

April Showers

These woodland leaves pop up with the more showy hepatica and bloodroots. They are either wild onions or garlic, I didn't do a sniff test. 

Technical: These are a depth of field challenge. I usually shoot at f22 or f29 and manually focus at different points on the leaf.

Coyote Contemplating Ice

Saturday morning I was watching this shallow oxbow pond because a deer had crossed it earlier in the week when I didn't have my camera. I was hoping another one might make the crossing but this coyote appeared. It spent about 20 minutes trying the ice in different locations, rolling in the snow, and finally choosing a safe crossing. This is a frame from video footage.

Relationships

I am frequently asked what I like to shoot and the stock answer is nature, stills if it holds still and video if it moves. However the real answer is I like to shoot relationships. This  is an example of how a photograph can have more than one meaning. Is this David and Goliath, parent/child, small/big, or green/yellow? Let your mind wander, what is it to you?