Animal Crackers

 

And some bugs and birds as well.

This will be my last post until I hit the road in mid-March for 8 months. I thought I would share some photos of the “wildlife” I have encountered over the last few years.

Let’s start with bugs.

Biggest crab I have ever seen, and wearing a hat no less. OK, not really a bug but it looks like one. How about some spiders?

A Tarantula from New Mexico and a Cigarette-Butt spider from Florida.

Here is a stick bug thingy also from Florida and some caterpillars from Washington.

Canadian Geese seem to follow me wherever I go. I saw these two while canoeing and they invited their friends to visit my campsite at Jenkinson Lake in California.

I ran into a wild Turkey at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in California.

I think this is how they say hello.

Or maybe not. It’s amazing how they can plump up their plumage.

I also get ignored by birds.

Or maybe that is their photogenic side. A cheeky little Chickadee serenaded me in Olympic National Park.

Villanueva State Park in New Mexico is a nice spot alongside the Pecos River. Just don’t go there when cows have booked the group site.

They think that they have a free run throughout the campground.

And they will make your kids wait to use the playground.

I had to push several down the slide just to get my turn.

Deer are plentiful wherever I go but this one loved the smell of my tacos and stopped by to ask for one near Mount Shasta in California.

I never knew they scratched themselves likes dogs.

Tree Rats are everywhere as well. They will sneak up and grab your snacks if you do not pay attention.

They also send out scouts…

And will yell to try to scare you away.

I don’t have a lot of bear photos but I did run across these ones at Lake Mary in Mammoth Lakes, California.

Mom was keeping an eye out.

While the kids played.

I expect to have more bear photos after I visit Yellowstone this year. Big bears. Grizzlies. Yippee! They have wolves there too. Luckily I will have a hard sided trailer to camp in during my time there.

Well, it kinda looks like that. Minus most of that.

I have also seen some lizards. Some small…

And some big.

And the occasional turtles, like these ones from Hillsborough River State Park in Florida.

One thing you may have noticed in most of these photos is the lack of eye contact with the subject. So I will add a little photo tip to end this post.

EYE CONTACT

You have your subject composed in your viewfinder. Maybe a once in a lifetime shot. Take that shot. Then try to get eye contact. Whistle. Most animals will turn their head to check you out.

Just don’t do that with bears.

Regards,

Greg

Water and Reflections

 

The sun has risen but the wind has not kicked up yet. The lake is still mirror smooth. Time to take some pictures.

Reflections.

With the sun still low in the sky, the trees around the lakeshore cast interesting shadows like these in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

You need to keep low as well. Sit or lay down on the shore if you can. Try not to keep the camera at normal eye level. That’s what everyone else sees and does. It will make a dramatic difference in your photographs

As the sun climbs in the sky, don’t just look at the scene in front of you, look how it reflects on the water and frame your picture accordingly.

Do you want a mirror image? Then put the far shoreline in the middle.

Nice, but kinda static. I like asymmetrical photos. Put a bit of foreground into your frame to break it up. Wouldn’t you like to be camping here?

Adding some foreground and using a tree for the right border gives the image some energy. Here is a question for you. Look at that photo for a minute. What do your eyes keep being drawn to? The screen house on the right? That is because our eyes search for a focal point, a main point of interest. It doesn’t have to be in the center of the frame. We see the sky, the mountains, the reflection, but our eyes like linear lines. A pathway. So they end up looking at the far shoreline and follow it left to right (the way most of us read). They bounce off the tree border and settle on the screen house. Then you notice the covered boat next to it and your eyes relax and you start thinking about your camp setup. Right? And how it would look there.

Leading lines are a big part of photography, painting, and art in general. You want to lead the viewer into, not out of, your image and it’s focal point. Unless it is some abstract art that is meant to be confusing and headache inducing.

But enough of my babbling. Oh, that is Stanley Inlet campground in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. Highly recommended!

Focus Underwater

I don’t mean for you to strip to your skivvies and pretend you are a fish, I mean don’t focus in the distance. Focus on the lakebed in front of you for your next lake picture. Here is an example. Alturas Lake in Idaho.

I focused on the rocks at my feet. Just aim at the lake bottom, hold your shutter button down halfway so your camera sets focus and exposure, then without letting go recompose your shot and press the shutter button.

My eyes move from the rocks underwater to the reflected clouds, the reflected mountain, the mountain, and finally the clouds. They end up back on the rocks. Like my love life.

I did this in the photo below as well. It allows you to see detail under the water.

Paulina Lake in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. If I had focused on the mountains in the background I would have lost all definition on the patterns of the sand in the foreground. Another example.

I don’t care if the background is a little blurry because the point of interest for me is the foreground. Indian Springs campground near Yuba Gap, CA.

Add Props

So your favorite reservoir has been drawn down and you want to “reflect” your feelings? Do something like this.

Little Grass Valley Reservoir near La Porte, California, was about 18 feet lower in 2008 than 2006. I dragged my canoe down to the muddy shoreline to create a shipwrecked look, waiting for the right time of day to have the reflection brighter than the shorelines.

I waited again on the sun for this next photograph.

The clouds in the sky are blown out but it doesn’t really matter. I just want to get in and paddle!

By incorporating the gear you have in an image, you can make the picture tell a story.

Like this final one.

North Cascades National Park in Washington. Mid-day, choppy water, nothing much going on. My office. Enough said.

Regards,

Greg