Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens Summer 2016

Over the last 8 years I've been to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens a bunch of times, mostly looking for the Yellow Crowned Night Herons. But also other birds and the great Lotus flowers and water lilies.

This year there weren't any YCNH's that I spotted, so I photographed the Lotus a *lot*.

Sometimes the petals would fall off quickly, in a sort of chain reaction once the first one broke free. I'd never seen that before, it was cool.



The YCNH's were great in 2008. I went multiple times and got some close ups and some feeding photos...







The second to last time I went this year I shot the water lilies in the back, and the light was pretty good. I used a 600mm lens, which I would normally use for birds, and I shot the flowers...



Just prior to this visit I had gone to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens I think 5 times, and the first few times I took a normal approach and shot the flowers with a long lens, and had hoped to see birds, but still shot the flowers. The images I got were "normal" and looked ok. I was happy with them at the time. But they were like many other images I've taken and seen others take. This one with the Red-Winged Black Bird was a highlight. The birds were in the flowers and I could shoot them for just a few minutes before they flew off.

#rwbb #redwingedblackbird #lotus #flower #feeding #feasting #eating #kenilworthaquaticgardens #kag #bird #birds #birdsofinstagram #birdstagram #nikographer #red #green

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Aug 11, 2016 at 5:37am PDT

So this year on visits 4 and 5, I brought some macro gear and shot much closer images of the flowers and got much different and I think better results.

#lotus #flowers #flower #KAG #kenilworthaquaticgardens #naturephotography #naturelovers #natureshots #flowerstagram #macro #closeup #nikographer #nikon #highkey #crunchy #waterdrops #garden

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Aug 8, 2016 at 10:22am PDT

#lotus #flower #KAG #nikographer #nature #flowers #flower #closeup #flowerstagram #naturephotography #summer #macro #bee #petal

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Aug 9, 2016 at 5:55pm PDT

#lotus #dof #flower #kag #kenilworthaquaticgardens #nikographer #nature #naturephotography #naturelovers #naturelover #flowers

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Aug 8, 2016 at 10:19am PDT

As I reflect on the half a dozen-ish visit I've made to KAG before this year, and then the 6 or 7 visits I made this year I noticed how it took a few visits to shoot through the shots and approach I had in my head already. It took that long to then be able to try to think differently, to see the gardens and flowers differently and to get different images.

#KAG #kenilworthaquaticgardens #lotus #flower #macro #nikographer

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Aug 17, 2016 at 7:10am PDT

On the last few visits I still brought a long lens (600mm) but I also brought a 70-200mm f/2.8 and a 24-120mm f/4 lens, along with the Canon 500D closeup filter for a 77mm lens ring. By using that filter I was able to turn both lenses in to very close focusing lenses that gave drastically different shooting distances and super narrow depth of field.

I'm happy with the results I got this year. It took a bunch of visits to get lucky with the RWBB and then to start to see and shoot the flowers in a new way. In the future I guess I hope to be able to push past what I had planned and the way I was seeing things initially, and start to see in a fresher/different way like I did on visits 4 and 5 with the macro shots.

I've been meditating and practicing mindfulness this year and last year, and as I read what I just wrote above, I think that is a result of this new approach to life. It's all too easy to have a plan, work towards a plan, and then either execute on the plan and be happy, or not execute on the plan and be disappointed. But with a fresh approach and fewer expectations, and a more flexible nature new and unexpected things can happen.

-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Wildlife Photography Doing it Right and Doing it Wrong @ Nickerson Beach in NY

I should start by saying I grew up literally just down the beach from Nickerson beach, and back then it was called Nassau Beach, and they would spell out that in flowers along Lido Boulevard at the park entrance. I visit regularly, and I have numerous friends that still live there. Many people I know were directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Nickerson Beach is a great place to see nesting birds along the shore, including common terns, black skimmers, plovers, and oystercatchers. There are a couple of areas that are restricted and this allows the birds some space to nest in.

The string that ropes off the area can be pretty close to where the birds have chosen to nest. So if you want to, you can get very close to them. I have sat along the string a handful of times and gotten shots of the birds, sometimes on eggs from dozens of feet away. I found this interesting at first, but now I prefer to spend more time shooting around the edges, along the surf, or when the birds are flying around.

I think you can shoot from close up respectfully and without bothering the birds. That said, as you approach to get that close, the birds will fly right at you and can attack you. I've heard of people getting cut up, or pooped on.

When I shoot wildlife I also very much like to get as close as possible. But over the last few (or more) years something changed in myself and partially from seeing others pursue their shots. Now I like to enjoy my outing, get photos, but not at the cost of the animal or doing something others might frown on. Basically, I am not shooting for a magazine, or for an award or even really in search of praise anymore. I just shoot to enjoy the time out, and to have images for myself. Sure I share my images as well, but I am not primarily motivated by the sharing / social aspect of photography any more. I've been burned by it personally, and realize that being a go-getter isn't all it's cracked up to be.

And then there's seeing how other people behave, and that's just too much for me to be associated with or to contribute to. A few years ago we had the eruption of Snowy Owls and people were jerks all over. Some of the jerks were birders. Other jerks were photographers. And still more jerks were those with a cell phone camera who would walk in the dunes (restricted/not allowed) to try to get close to the owls - and of course the owl would fly away and they'd still have a cell phone. So - for what? Not everyone knew or knows better, but people should know better.

I shot this owl in New Jersey for 4 hours and felt very lucky. It was my first owl, and a friend shared the location with me. I made the bird fly a couple times in that period, but it didn't fly off until 2 birders approached me and the snoozing owl, causing the owl to fly away. They tried to blame me, but no - the bird was actually sleeping a little and they flushed it.

So back to Nickerson Beach New York.

In July I got there a little after sunrise, and saw a bunch of other photographers there, all east of the nesting area shooting with the sun at their back. So I went to the south side of the nesting area and sat for a while and there was an oystercatcher family there, with an adult hunting for stuff and feeding a small chick. I shot them like this for 20 minutes maybe. Then three of the photographers that were on the east side came back, and they setup a little ways behind me closer to the ocean. After a few minutes one of the oystercatchers ran out from the protected area, towards the other people, grabbed something from the sand and ran back to the chick and started feeding on something. Then it happened again and I realized that these people were throwing food, open clams as it turned out, to the birds!

So, how many ways to describe how this is wrong are there?!

• The birds were already eating/feeding
• Baiting birds is cheating, unless it is your backyard and it is with seed or such
• I was shooting the birds and these folks not only disturbed the birds but they disturbed me.
• The bait was huge, and could have potentially either been spoiled or been bad for the chick.  Let mother nature do its thing, no need to stop them from feeding on their native food...
• It's against the law there
• There's no benefit I could see for doing this, the birds were already just feet away and it just made them do un-natural things.

These people were on the east side, and in the dunes which you should not be doing.  The dunes are off limits.





 
This is the guy with the clams and 2 women he was with.  What bugged me more was the hat he was wearing is from a "professional" photographer he probably went on a paid photo trip with and for all I know learned that this behavior is ok and that's how you get bird photos...



So when I realize what he was doing i got up, and cursed him out.  I told him he was disrespectful and that basically he was a jerk.  As I walked away I saw a park ranger in a motorized cart and let him know the guy was feeding the birds and had a bag of clams in his backpack.  He stopped and talked to them, but so briefly it had to be a quick warning and nothing more.

A month later I was back and got these images along the edge of the ocean.  No birds were harmed when I took my images ;)







 -Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Black Skimmers at Cape May New Jersey 2016

Skimmers landing on the beach at Cape May New Jersey. This time of year there are a few hundred there, roughly by the Arcade. In years past they tended to be near the Second Ave Jetty, but a few years ago they changed their preferred spot.

While I was at Cape May this trip I also did a little bit of night/star photography - it's pretty dark there...



(f/8+1/1250+ISO1100++1/3EV - D500 / 600mm / RRS tripod / Wimberley Head / Manual Exposure w/ Auto-ISO)

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Cape May NJ 2016 - Juv. Osprey Fishing

During the Fall I love to go to Cape May New Jersey. The raptor/bird migration is great. My friend Wayne turned me on to the location a while back, and I've gone every year since.

This year I have been once so far on September 24-25 (2016). It was a little early for big numbers of hawks, and the weather was not great for it either.

The best setup for hawk migration is when a cold front moves through, pushing birds east, and the prevailing winds are out of the Northwest. This pattern pushes birds towards the east coast and the way Cape May and the Delaware Bay are the birds run out of land to fly over, since there's water everywhere else and they tend to stop over on the cape.

But it's Fall and it's Cape May so not great here still has the potential to be good.

On this morning there were a few young osprey flying around over The Meadows and along the shore, over the Atlantic Ocean just at the edge of the beach.

The young osprey aren't very skilled at hunting yet and it takes them a lot of effort to catch fish. Here the osprey has caught 2 small fish, after trying numerous times to get something. I also saw dolphins in this same area and they were hunting as well. I probably saw more than a dozen of the dolphins over the course of a couple of hours.





(updated - 10/11/2016 with another image)

The ideal time to see hawks migrating is when the weather is right, and during the first couple of weeks in October based on my experience...

To see more of my Cape May photos click on this image to see my flickr set.



-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Ready for Fall and Ready for Good Luck

For a bunch of years I have made it to Shenandoah National Park during the fall foliage season.  I tend to go and have had some of my best luck on October 20th.

In general I get there an hour before sunrise, and then drive south along Skyland Drive, and check various overlooks and then shoot sunrise from one of them.  As the day progresses I will drive further south and continue to check out the overlooks and shoot photos from them.

I've not explored the trails at SNP at all really, just a tiny bit of walking here and there but nothing that would be considered a hike.  I know I am missing out on a lot of great areas and things to see, but that's not how I have shot there and I don't know the area well enough to go looking without doing with the potential for nothing coming of it if it isn't a good spot to explore or to shoot from.  In the future I may change that, but for now not so much.


But there are great views from the overlooks.  Here is one from 2012 that I like a bunch.  The sky was great and the foliage was pretty good too.
Oct 20 2012


This is from 2007, my first visit to SNP. 
Oct 20 2007


This photo is from the second year I've been to SNP, and I like this since it has the "blue ridge mountains" in it!  
Oct 26 2008 


Finally, in 2012 I got really lucky! 

I was driving along Skyline Drive and had my 200-400mm lens on the front seat next to me.  As I drove down the road, I had the though that I'd like to find a little foliage detail and shoot it with the longer lens.  So I slowed down, and was looking for interesting and colorful patches of leaves.  After just a few minutes of this mindset, I saw directly out my driver side window, this Barred Owl!  It was sitting along the side of the road and wow.  I was so lucky to be going slowly, to have the window down, and to be planning to shoot with a long lens.  Normally I would have a couple of wide angle lenses at the ready to capture a landscape scene...  But I was ready and I was very lucky.

The owl stayed there for just a few moments, and then flew away.  My shutter speed was only 1/250th, but it worked even though the car was running, I was hand holding and there was an unexpected owl there.

Oct 20 2012


I'm planning another visit next month and I hope to get lucky and I hope to make some nice images.

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Night Photography / Stars and Sunflowers [in Maine/Maryland/NewJersey]

I've started to do a little night/star photography this month, September 2016.  I shot a couple nights in Maine while on vacation, and then again when I got back to Maryland.  In Maryland I shot sunset and then some more at a Sunflower field north of Baltimore.  And then finally last weekend I shot some stars in Cape May New Jersey.

The most unexpected thing I immediately discovered is that after an hour or so the lens on my camera would start to fog up.  This appears to be a result of the lens getting colder than the outside air and can be combated with a handwarmer placed on the lens to keep it warm - I will try this next time, now that I have handwarmers.

Another obvious challenge is getting the lens focused properly while it is nearly pitch black out.  I basically winged it, and then checked my focus on a test shot or two or three and then figured it was as good as I could get at that time.  I was considering marking my gear for infinity focus, or using gaffers tape (now I own some), but I haven't done this yet while out shooting or before hand to prep.

Here are a couple of images I took this month.

This was a shot of my setup, done with my D810.  I was shooting with 2 cameras and cable releases, and then decided to shoot my D4 setup.  The focus isn't that great, but it was good enough for a setup shot.  Notice I have duct tape covering where my little jog dial used to be before it popped out!  I had it fixed once before and then it happened again and i lost the rubber button, so now that.

I kinda #work #hard at #photography. I woke up at 3:30am, drove 200+ miles, shot sunrise, shot all day, shot sunset, and then shot some stars! (And then shot the following sunrise.) #capemay #fall #nikographer #nikond4 #milkyway #nightsky #d810 #2cameras #reallyrightstuff

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Sep 26, 2016 at 8:02am PDT

My critique of the sunflower and images in general that I got is that I underexposed everything by a stop or so.  I wish the sunflowers were brighter.  And I should have know it would be that way.  In reading a lot of folks recommended ISO 1600, 30 seconds at f/2.8.  I stopped down, and shot a shorter duration of about 20-25 seconds.  But it was a good learning experience, and after 4 nights of night shooting/star shooting I think I'm ready to try again, and hopefully do better.

#stars and #sunflowers #startrailsphotography #startrails #nightphotography #longexposure #longexpo #multiplephotos #nikographer #nikon #nikonphotography #nikographer #space #flowers #flowerpix #flower #yellow #jarrettsville #md #maryland #startrails #summer #september #ourlonelyplanet #optoutside #nightsky #astrophotography

A photo posted by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Sep 6, 2016 at 6:06pm PDT

-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Staying Wild

Lingering in a forest against an increasingly darkening night, listening to the paranormal churring of nightjars, watching their angular silhouettes carve through the dusky sky. This is how I spent one evening in June, part of ’30 Days Wild’. An incredible experience and a life ‘tick’ for me, it was a wildlife spectacle I’d been longing to see. But that’s not all I discovered when making the most of those 30 days.

I’m a high school science teacher and I escape from the trials and tribulations of term time by venturing to nature reserves and wild places at the weekends. It’s something I’ve come to see as essential for my wellbeing and to keep myself human. However, what ’30 Days Wild’ made me realise, by attempting to record what I’d done, is that I actually do something wild every day without realising it. It’s something that generates conversations with colleagues and pupils too, even if it is just to check that I’m OK because I’m rescuing earthworms from the playground.

I tried to publicise ’30 Days Wild’ at work, to other members of staff and pupils. I got permission to show ‘Project Wild Thing’ to my two PSHE classes. The message didn’t get through to all of them, but one girl saw me after a lesson to tell me she had downloaded the ‘Wild Time’ App and she was spending more time outside as a result. A colleague found me to tell me an orchid was growing outside one of the offices, so we banded together to make sure the contractors didn’t mow the lawn. I took out our STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) Club to scatter more wildflower seeds in our wildlife area / meadow. We made bee hotels and found suitable locations for them, which the girls who attended the club really enjoyed. The trouble is, most pupils are already so distanced and disengaged from the natural world, despite living in a rural community, that it can be difficult to reignite the spark of curiosity and interest in their young minds; especially when there are so many other things to compete with.

In Norfolk, it felt like it rained every single day in June, which meant there were some days where I had to get a little more creative. We had recently moved house, so as well as watching wildlife at work, I was spending my spare time turning our garden into a wildlife haven. I researched and bought bee friendly flowers – sedum, polemonium, honeysuckle, scabious, geranium (cranesbill, not the plants that most call ‘geraniums’ but are actually pelargoniums) – then tried to photograph and identify the bees that visited them. We installed an insect hotel, which, at the time of writing in early August, is slowly being populated by leaf cutter bees. I planted and harvested pollinator friendly herbs in hanging baskets and we watched the birds and their fledglings march around our little garden. The fast favourites were the fledgling pied wagtails who would feed, then patrol along the washing, occasionally cleaning their bills on our clothes. Of course, we visited nature reserves too, including one of our usual haunts, RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, where we were lucky enough to spot a particularly obliging swallowtail butterfly, a Norfolk hawker dragonfly, as well as a scarce chaser and an otter all in one visit.

Nature reserves have their place and there is no way I’d ever want to be without them, but what ’30 Days Wild’ has made me realise is that it’s the little everyday encounters with and interactions about nature that matter. It’s the ‘drip, drip, drip’ rather than one big experience that will make more people care about the things we already love, how it is a part of and an enhancement to our lives. Not just limited to a few areas, but all around us, wherever we are.