A rare shot with no animal present, but make no mistake, there were pumas hidden in the grass down by that lake. We got to this location at first light to search for a mother and her three cubs that had been spotted in the area the day before. It started to rain, and our tracker wasn’t quite sure of the pumas’ exact location so we had to stay put in our van until he came up with a plan of action. I couldn’t let all that great light go to waste, so I got out and took a bunch of landscape shots. In front of me was Lake Sarmiento and the typical scrub brush of Torres Del Paine called mata negra (black bush) and behind was a spectacular rainbow, pictured below. Top shot: Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at 1/3rd of a second. Bottom shot: Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at .5 seconds
2018 saw a lot of everyday life circumstances getting in the way of my photography. Hopefully things will get back on track in 2019 and I can return to where I enjoy being most — in the wild. That said, the year did start strong. Karen and I took a “non-wildlife” trip to Belize, which ended up yielding a surprising amount of incidental wildlife, especially of the under water variety. Shortly after that, I travelled to the southern tip of South America for a week of puma tracking. Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile clearly ranks toward the top of the most spectacular wild places that I have ever visited. Unfortunately, the remainder of the year consisted of the birds in my backyard and a single trip with my father to view seals off the coast of Cape Cod. I was busy with photos from other locations around the world, however, as I had quite a backlog of processing to do on all the images I’ve captured over the past 15 years. Lots of home time enabled me to tackle this ongoing challenge. That said, the following ten photos are the highlights captured this year.
10. One of the aforementioned grey seals photographed off the coast of Cape Cod in June.
9. A black howler monkey spotted while visiting the Mayan ruins at Caracol in Belize.
8. I used a slow shutter to capture this blurred image of a guanaco running up a hill in Torres Del Paine, Chile.
7. A southern stingray photographed at Shark Ray Alley in Belize.
6. Patagonian Hog-Nosed Skunk photographed on my final night in Torres Del Paine.
5. Puma in her habitat, Torres Del Paine, Chile.
4. Guanaco at sunset, Torres Del Paine.
3. Puma in shaft of light, Torres Del Paine.
2. Nurse Shark, Shark Ray Alley, Belize.
1. Puma in black bushes. Just a simple portrait of a young female, but this was the first puma I was able to photograph in Chile and the best moment for me this year — when she popped up at close range, with just enough light left in the day to capture the image.
It’s hard to capture the rugged beauty of Torres Del Paine in a photo. I tried my best in this shot and was at least able to capture a few of the elements that make it such a spectacular location — the ubiquitous guanaco on a hillside, the massive peaks in the backdrop, and the mist along with the occasional rainbow that seem to appear out of nowhere before vanishing yet again. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second
This grand massif of mountains in Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia provides a nice backdrop for a puma out surveying her territory late in the afternoon. Nikon 500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second
A Patagonian grey fox looks up to survey the situation, making sure that a puma isn’t about to come back and lay claim to a guanaco carcass, Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second
I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous when this Patagonian hog-nosed skunk got up on its hind legs to sniff the air. It was bothered no doubt, by a particular camera-carrying American. I remained as still as possible (snapping away of course) until the skunk regained its confidence and resumed the serious task of eating grass. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/3200th of a second
When flamingos take off from the water it can look like they’re running across the surface. This guy decided it was time for a new location and allowed me a series of images as he/she took to the air. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5 at 1/800th of a second
A puma makes her way to a watering hole for a quick drink before continuing on to a kill she had hidden in the grass. Torres Del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
My guide and I had to climb pretty high up a steep slope to capture images of this puma surveying her territory. She eventually spotted a small group of guanacos and made an unsuccessful run down the hill. I was hoping to get her positioned on the ridge line, but that wasn’t to be. Fortunately, however, my high vantage point did enable me to capture the distant snow capped mountains in the backdrop, giving a sense of the Patagonian landscape in which these amazing cats thrive. Being springtime for us, it was fall for the southern hemisphere and you can see all the rust-colored leaves dotting the mountainsides. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second
As I mentioned recently, guanacos can be great subjects, especially when framed within the landscape of Torres Del Paine in Patagonian Chile. The early morning light was hitting these two with direct light while the massive face of that mountain in the background was in shadow, and partially obscured by fog and clouds. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second
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