This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as we fly to Quito and then on to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow. We’ll also be making a stop on the way back in the cloud forest of Ecuador. I haven’t photographed one of my favorite subjects in a while — frogs — and am looking forward to searching for some new species when I get there. This photo of a green and black poison dart frog was taken in Costa Rica back in 2007.
Another abstract shot of nature today. I panned the camera vertically to achieve the blur effect on this one of fall colors at their peak in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.
This polar bear was just kind of hanging out, checking out his territory, watching the day go by. As with all my polar bear shots, this was taken way up in northern Manitoba, Canada at a place called Seal River.
Seemed appropriate for today. The top photo of the donkeys, or wild burros, was taken in Moreno Valley, California. The elephant was in Lewa, Kenya.
First off, sorry for no posts last week. We just got our power back yesterday after Sandy dumped five feet of water into the lobby of our apartment building. It’s good to be back online. For today, just a simple portrait of a black-backed jackal. I was on the ground for this one, shooting at eye level, when the curious jackal approached to within twelve or so feet. The shallow depth of field and backlit lighting provided by the setting sun created a nice soft feel to the image.
This male lion had a belly full of oryx when he arrived at the water hole to quench his thirst. The light was pretty nice that morning and the water hole was so still, providing a mirror-like reflection.
The cedar waxwing is one of those birds that for whatever reason, has eluded me up to this point. While visiting the Cuyahoga National Park last weekend, however, I saw a whole flock of them. This guy grabbed a few quick berries before flying away. Note the red and yellow markings on the bird’s tail feathers.
This newborn topi was all awkward enthusiasm as it romped through its new home in the Masai Mara of Kenya. Topis are a very common sight in the Masai Mara in November and it seemed as if every mother was with a calf.
Besides deer, the only other mammals that I saw in Cuyahoga Valley National Park last weekend were a couple of beavers. Beavers are always difficult to photograph because not only are they skittish, they’re also crepuscular. What does crepuscular mean, you ask? Simply that they are active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. It was about 6:30 AM when I took this shot and the sun was still below the horizon. Due to the low light I had to crank the ISO up to 3200. There was just enough light, however, to record the reflected colors of the changing leaves on the surface of the water.
The Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio is an interesting national park given the human presence that exists within its borders — not exactly what you’d expect if your vision of a national park is Yosemite or Yellowstone. The purpose of the park, however, is to preserve and reclaim the rural landscape surrounding the Cuyahoga River. It does this beautifully with gently rolling hills, waterfalls, caves, lush farmlands and a twisting floodplain that mix seamlessly with the quaint residential patches that evoke a more Rockwellian America. The leaves were peaking this past weekend in many areas of the park, including these hills behind Kendall Lake.