Here’s another one from Saturday night, just outside our apartment in Brooklyn. This time I included some wildlife — the flock of gulls settling in for the night on top of the old pilings.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 180mm) ISO 400, f/18 at 13, 3, 6, 25 and 30 seconds

I was relaxing by a campfire at a friend’s cabin near Waterloo, Iowa back in 2008 when a couple of these gray tree frogs decided to stop by for a late night visit. I quickly grabbed my macro filter and a few flash units from my car and took a few quick shots.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm with Canon 500D close up filter attached) ISO 160, f/16 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

I very rarely take photos in my own backyard. And it just so happens to be the neighborhood that many consider the most picturesque in all of New York — Dumbo in Brooklyn. I vow to change that and get out a lot more when I’m not traveling around chasing down wildlife. This image was taken between Pier 1 and 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, where old pilings stick out of the East River. The recently completed Freedom Tower (One World Trade Center) can be seen to the right, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. I worked the location for about an hour, alternating between shots of the pilings and shots of the Statue of Liberty (which is just to the left of frame, cropped out of this particular composition). The light went from the fiery reds and yellows of sunset, to the cool blues of twilight. This 5-frame exposure was captured well into the blue period, just before I packed it in and walked the three minutes back home.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 19mm) ISO 400, f/14 at shutters speeds from 1 to 30 seconds

It’s been a while since I posted a landscape minus any creatures. This field of alpine wildflowers was taken at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state a few years ago at the end of the summer. Most wildflower blooms in the country are long gone by mid summer, but at higher elevations at Rainier, late August can be the peak time.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at .4 seconds

It just seemed like kind of a duck day today. This female mallard was coming in for an icy landing with a few of her friends walking below. I was in the town of Delta, British Columbia, just south of Vancouver. (Good luck today Dad).
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/1000th of a second

This black bear seemed a bit uncertain as to the stability of the tree it was about to climb. I took the photo at a place called the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary in Orr, Minnesota. The bears are wild, but are enticed to the area by the food that is left out for them in the forest.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second

On Monday I posted a photo of my cat and vowed that starting Tuesday I would get back to my routine of only posting wild animals. Then my favorite six-year-old friend requested a seahorse. I’ve never photographed seahorses in the wild, but I have photographed them at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. So I guess I lied. My apologies. Here are three photos, the first and third of a short-snouted seahorse, and the second of a weedy sea dragon.
First shot — Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 1600, f/3.2 at 1/60th of a second. Second shot — Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 35mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/320th of a second. Third shot — Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 22mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/200th of a second.

Nothing tricky here, just a straight on portrait of America’s fastest land animal, the pronghorn.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second

First, thanks everyone for the kind words on yesterday’s post. Today, it’s back to the wild for this mother bison and her calf. I recorded this shot back in June, early in the morning as the sun was rising over the Badlands.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/8000th of a second

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I don’t post pictures of captive or domesticated animals. But with the passing of our beloved Lola this weekend, it seemed appropriate to suspend those rules for a day. Lola was a true house cat — her only glimpses of the outside world coming from the windows of the five New York apartments that she called home during her seventeen plus years. That being said, I saw her often in the wild. In the playfulness of a cheetah in Kenya. The inquisitiveness of a leopard in Botswana. The hours spent lazing in a favorite spot of a jaguar in Brazil. The body language of a bobcat in southern California. And the sheer physical resemblance to the many wild cats that I’ve photographed from India to Costa Rica. There’s no doubt that they are all related in some way or another. Here’s to the felines. And especially the one that brought us so much joy over the years. Sleep well Lola.