outdoor photography

Marl Bed Flats at Sunset On April 7, I visited Marl Bed Flats to view the sunset. I also wanted to see what shorebirds might be present, and a number of them flew in to the area right at dusk (about 100 Least Sandpipers, several dowitchers and yellowlegs, 2 Stilt Sandpipers, and about 5 Black-necked Stilts). But the sunset turned out to be the highlight of the evening.  We don't have anything resembling topography here in Central Florida, and the highest point in this whole park may be only about 5 ft above sea level (Lake Jesup is below 3 ft about sea level). So to make a sunset interesting, you have to use trees. There's a row of trees marking the "trail" out int he flats, so I decided to use those trees for the foreground. Marl Bed Flats at Sunset Before sunset, I played around with photographing solitary trees in the flats--one alive and one dead. It gave me a sense of solitude that mirrored my own experience out there. There was no one within perhaps ...

Trail to Boonie Falls Last week I was on vacation at Deep Creek in Western Maryland, and in the mornings I would visit Swallow Falls State Park, which has some absolutely beautiful waterfalls. I came home to Florida wanting more, but, well, this is Florida.  I've known of a small falls along the Florida Trail in the Little Big Econ State Forest, but I've never gone to see it.  Those that have often joke about how small it is.  But I decided I had to go see for myself.  The waterfall is called Boonie Falls, and it can be accessed by parking in the grass next to Lockwood Blvd in Oviedo. There is hardly any signage, and so you have to know where it is in order to find it. But I made the half-mile walk to the falls. A Nice Little Pond You Can Almost See The walk out there was prettier than I anticipated. I arrived at 5:30pm, so the sun was still a little to high for photographing trees, but I took a few shots with my point and shoot anyway, just...

A Foggy Morning This past weekend I went out with a friend to a marshy area near Dothan, AL. It was a beautiful marsh, and there many birds singing.  But as the morning dawned, fog moved into the area. As we walked back to the car, this scene struck me.  Thankfully I had my point and shoot camera with me, allowing me to get a couple shots. A Foggy Morning

Western Maryland Back in October 2005 I was living in Maryland, and my father and I drove out to Western Maryland for some fall color photography. This was the view outside of the place we stayed. We spent a pretty good amount of time right here in this grove of trees, and we took a few closeup shots of the leaf "litter" on the ground. It's kind of amazing sometimes how nature can be beautiful at every level, from the scenic view to the close up. Beautiful Leaf Litter Leaf Macro

Trees with Rolling Hills One of the things I miss the most about Maryland is the scenery. I love the rolling hills found throughout the state. This photo was taken on some farmland in northern Baltimore County. For this shot, I waited for the sun to strike the foreground trees while the clouds cast a shadow near the bottom of the background hill to help separate the two hills. Also, they're growing barley on the farm, so I also had some fun photographing some of the barley. These photos were taken with my point and shoot Canon PowerShot S100 HS. Barley

Econ River Wilderness Area This morning I got up early and went to the Econ River Wilderness Area, hoping to see or hear a Common Nighthawk.  No luck there, but the early morning foggy light was really nice, so I took the above photo of some trees in the fog.  And on the way back to the car, a singing Eastern Towhee became very photogenic.  For some reason, I get my best towhee pictures at the Econ River WA. Eastern Towhee Eastern Towhee Eastern Towhee

Great Crested Flycatcher This morning I drove out to the Lower Wekiva River Preserve in northeast Seminole County.  I was hoping to find a Bachman's Sparrow here.  After walking about 2 miles or so, I found two, and it looked like they were paired.  Unfortunately, they didn't stay out in the open long enough for photos, but it was good just to find them.  Hopefully the next time I visit they'll be more cooperative.  I also had a chance to see a couple Great Crested Flycatchers.  This one was calling from the tree where its nest cavity is located.  So I took a few pictures and then let him be. Great Crested Flycatcher I also took some photos of the scenery with my point and shoot camera. Trees at Lower Wekiva River Preserve Trees at Lower Wekiva River Preserve

Marl Bed Flats On March 17th I was at Marl Bed Flats and I brought my point and shoot camera with me.  I always think the Live Oaks on the path out the the flats are beautiful, so when the lighting is right, I frequently stop and take a few pictures.  But this time I must have taken them, went home and forgot I took them.  This morning I found them on my memory card, so I thought I'd share a couple with you.  The photo above is an HDR image made from three hand-held exposures. Marl Bed Flats

Burke Lake Trees Shortly after buying my Canon EF 10-22mm lens, I went to Burke Lake and tried to see how I could make trees look funky.  These are extreme wide-angle shots, all shot around 10mm.  I photographed these near the trunk looking up to the branches.  The resulting effect looks to me to be very similar to the way you see Dr. Seuss draw trees in his children's book.  It's just not right, but it's kind of fun. Burke Lake Trees Burke Lake Trees

Wekiwa Springs SP Canon PowerShot S100 Yesterday I was at Wekiwa Springs State Park with a mission: find a Bachman's Sparrow and photograph it. Then I had other birds I wanted to find too: Red-headed Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, etc.  Sometimes I get so focused on my goals, that I forget how wonderful my surroundings are.  Occasionally, though, I have a momentary lapse of focus and I notice the beauty of my surroundings even with no visible wildlife.  On one of these moments, I photographed the pines and grasses without the Red-headed Woodpecker I was looking for. Wekiwa Springs SP Canon PowerShot S100 These two photos also illustrate how changing the angle of the camera and the focal length of the lens can radically change your image.  The first image was shot looking pretty much straight into the trees at a focal length of about 57mm (35mm equivalent).  The second was angled looking up to the tree tops at a focal length of 24m.  As you c...

North Tract of Lake Jesup CA Yesterday my son had an appointment about five minutes from the north tract of the Lake Jesup Conservation Area. I've never been to this area before, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to check it out.  The area is mostly open fields with palm trees.  Like the Marl Bed Flats tract, you have to share the fields with cattle, so you have to watch where you step.  Anyway, the area is pretty enough.  I didn't see a lot of wildlife, but mid-afternoon isn't the best time to be out there anyway.  It was great to see several Eastern Meadowlarks there. North Tract of Lake Jesup CA North Tract of Lake Jesup CA North Tract of Lake Jesup CA Eastern Meadowlark

Lake Jesup CA - East Tract This morning I went for a little while to the East Tract of the Lake Jesup Conservation Area. It was my first time visiting the area. It was a little difficult to find the trail head.  I walked to the observation tower and back.  It's a very pretty area.  I took a couple scenic shots along the trail as well as a shot from the observation tower. I didn't see anything too exciting, but it was fun to photograph an Eastern Phoebe, an American Robin, a Tree Swallow, and some White Ibises. Lake Jesup CA - East Tract Eastern Phoebe White Ibis Tree Swallow American Robin

Marl Bed Flats Over the last two days I've visited Marl Bed Flats, I've photographed this same tree.  The photo above was from this moring as I was leaving.  The photo below is from a few days ago as I was arriving just before sunrise.  I took both with my Canon S100 HS.  Unfortunately, I had to shoot the photo below handheld, so I set the ISO to 1600.  I think the photo below is stretching the limits of what this camera can handle, but I still find it fun to see how different the same tree can look from two different angles, at two different times of day, and with differing amounts of cloud cover. Marl Bed Flats

Trees at Lake Jesup Park Canon Powershot S100, Joby Gorillapod It's well known that Central Florida is so flat that it's hard to find picturesque landscapes to photograph.  There are some genuine hills along the central spine of the state, but that's about it.  It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that, within an hour's drive of my house, the tallest things that stick out of the ground are trees and landfills.  Last year, I decided to try to take more landscape and nature photos that do not include wildlife (basically that means photographing trees).  I rarely did that, though, largely because I didn't want to change lenses all the time or carry two cameras.  My solution this year is to use the Canon PowerShot S100.  So far, the solution has worked pretty well, as I'm taking many more landscapes than I did last year. Canon Powershot S100, Joby Gorillapod This is how I set up to take the first image above But there is a challenge I'm st...