Walkabout

Amateur naturalism, part four

I didn’t initially intend it this way, but we’ve been working through a scale of increasing difficulty and effort in this series, starting with insects, then working through birds, then reptiles, and come finally to mammals. In my journeys, mammals have been the hardest to photograph and observe, for a number of reasons. So [...]

Just because, part five

This is, unfortunately, a great example of a photo that’s far too busy – too many different things clashing together, preventing any strong focal point and destroying the uncluttered composition that every photographer should strive for. Given what I was after, though, there wasn’t much I could do about it, and catching the spray [...]

Frustrations, part seven: Still not clean

I actually got out last night for the Leonids meteor shower, braving the cold like a dedicated nature photographer… well, okay, to a small extent, anyway. I was unable to travel very far, so it meant trying to find a darker sky spot in an area not particularly known for it. The cities aren’t [...]

But is it art?

It’s funny, now that I think about it, that I haven’t tackled this subject here before. I mean, what’s a blog for?

The photographer part of me has this little hate-affair with the “art world.” While opinions vary a great deal, it isn’t hard to find the prejudice that photography is not art, and [...]

Amateur naturalism, part three

Our next topic in the series is reptiles – you can also refer back to the posts about insects and birds if you like.

Reptiles (and amphibians, which I’ll also refer to here but will use the same term for each just for convenience) are perhaps the most misunderstood of animal classes, which is [...]

Do you like exploring?

Google Earth is a fun program, allowing the user to examine just about anyplace on earth (and elsewhere) from the vantage of aerial and satellite photos; I spend no small amount of time checking out areas of interest, finding places I’ve been and little curiosities.

Along those lines, I finally finished a project I’ve [...]

Sylvan Heights continued

And so, our saga resumes where it left off, with our heroes trapped within the confines of a completely non-treacherous and non-threatening bird park…

As I mentioned before, Sylvan Heights Bird Park provides great opportunities for close encounters, and to the photographer, the urge to do personal portraits of the birds is practically irresistible. [...]

Too cool, part eleven: Sylvan Heights Bird Park

As I indicated in the previous post, we had a trip planned that might produce some new images, and while I’d like to build the suspense to the point of frustration, I find this a hard thing to do, especially when I lead the post off with a header photo. So yes, we did [...]

That’s not right

I’ve had this image kicking around for a few years now, so I figured I’d feature it as a bump while I’m away, hopefully getting some new images.

In nearby Duke Forest, there’s a tree that developed in a rather curious way, one that (as a complete non-botanist or -arborist or -treeist,) I cannot [...]

‘Tis autumn, methinks

I’ve got, believe it or not, three book reviews (well, two and a half) coming up, that I want to space out, but at the moment I have nothing else handy to post. So we’ll go with some recent pics and soft music in the interim. You’ll have to provide the music.

At left, [...]

Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you have a reading light over your bed with a funky switch, one that allows the light to turn off randomly.

There will be times when you leave the room with it on, and return forgetting that you left it on, and aren’t reminded of this because in the time you were away it shut itself off. You will, of course, be fast asleep at 3 AM when it turns itself back on. You will not be fast asleep past this point.

This, however, will not compare to the time when you are reading a suspenseful book late at night, and just as you’re getting to the part where the protagonist is about to be ambushed, the light will go off. Your state of mind, which has automatically put yourself in the protagonist’s shoes, will come very close to forcing you out of bed onto the floor and groping for a weapon in full action mode, before you remember that fucking light. It’s amazing what can take place in a fraction of a second…

Amateur naturalism, part four

Just because, part five

Frustrations, part seven: Still not clean

But is it art?

Amateur naturalism, part three

Do you like exploring?

Sylvan Heights continued

Too cool, part eleven: Sylvan Heights Bird Park

That’s not right

‘Tis autumn, methinks

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