Josh Gahagan - Nature Photography Blog

Adult Red-tailed Hawk

2011-12-31T00:54:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend and I visited Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA on Monday afternoon. I want to thank Eric Smith for letting me know the location of the resident Great Horned Owls, which was a first time for me and there were three of them in a section of white pines! I was unable to get any images worth processing, and only one of them was in good view. It was a bit high and tough to focus on with my 400 and 1.4x, but it is great to know of a reliable GHO location within a 90 minute drive. I will sure be back for another chance soon enough, but this beautiful hawk was extremely approachable and encountered him in two different settings during the time visiting. I was able to walk up and great ridiculously close head shots of this bird with my 1.4x attached. Below are a few of my favorites.

Thanks for looking!

Sora!!!

2011-12-24T15:04:00.000-05:00

This morning I made a quick trip up to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. My goal was to photograph some of the hundreds of American Coot that have been frequenting the impoundments the past month. Unfortunately, they were all out in the middle of the pools too far out for decent photographs. I continued walking down the dike trail and about 100 feet past the observation deck I spotted a Sora within the cattails! I was so excited to just be able to view this bird, as it was my first time and I know they are very difficult to spot. It was very calm and approachable, and began working the edge of the vegetation along the path. I positioned myself down the trail in the direction it was heading, and setup in the very few open areas that were not completely obstructed with branches and reeds. The bird was incredibly cooperative and posed for a few moments out in the complete open a good distance out of the cattails. I still cannot believe my luck! Such a fantastic morning with a new species, despite striking out again on the coots. Hope you enjoy these two images. Both taken with the 400 f/5.6, small cropping and no cloning. :)

Cape Cod Birds

2011-12-17T16:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I made a day trip to the outer cape in hopes of photographing some wintering waterfowl and seabirds. It turned out to be a pretty good day, despite the extreme windy conditions. I was able to add four new species of birds to my collection, which is pretty good for one day. These include Red-throated Loon, Bonaparte's Gull, Razorbill, and a somewhat lame photo of a Thick-billed Murre. I stopped at Wellfleet Harbor and Provincetown Harbor, which had the most action by far. Many of the birds were extremely approachable, and I had very close encounters with both the loons and razorbills. At one point two Razorbills surfaced no more than 8 feet away, but the light was rather harsh and the focus was off. Below are a few of my favorites.

Bonaparte's Gull taking off, Wellfleet Harbor

This Razorbill was photographed just feet away from one of the floating docks off the Macmillan Wharf in Provincetown. Sure is awesome being so close to a bird I've never seen before!

Red-throated Loon, Wellfleet Harbor. These guys were also extremely close, sometimes so much that I couldn't even focus on them! This was on the top of my want list.

I will definitely need to get back out to the outer cape again this winter, hopefully early next month as I am off from school. Check back for more images from the trip. I've been going on bird hunts nearly once a week lately in hopes of expanding my bird variety. I've made two trips in the past month for Snowy Owl with no success. This winter in Massachusetts has several areas where these awesome birds are staying, and photographing a snowy would make my winter! Hopefully I will succeed soon.......

More from Indian Lake...

2011-11-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

I've been making quite a few stops at Indian Lake in Worcester, which is where I took the gull photos from my last post. It is a very reliable location for some instant action on Mallards, which always has a group of about a dozen hanging right in front of the parking lot near the boat launch. They are very willing subjects.

On Friday evening it was getting late, and I almost decided not to stop because the sun would be behind the treeline leaving the ducks in shade. I showed up anyway, and thankfully I didn't regret it! While shooting the ducks, they all looked up into the sky and when I did I was excited to see this Red-tailed Hawk circling overhead. It was an even greater surprise when I noticed it had a Red Squirrel for dinner. A very cool encounter, although I wish it had passed somewhat closer..

Ring-billed Gulls

2011-11-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

I've been itching lately to get out and take some new photographs, so stopped at a lake in the city of Worcester earlier today before I had to get to class. This particular lake is a good place for waterfowl and gulls, although today there was only the common species such as Mallard and these Ring-billed Gulls. It was nice to just give my camera a workout since it hasn't had much action the past few weeks. I usually tend to take these common species for granted, but during slow times they can be just what I need to get my photography "fix". I got quite a few decent keepers of the ducks, and these two images of gulls in flight which I decided to share.

This first image was originally a horizontal, and I cropped it to a vertical with an addition of canvas on the top and bottom.

I've always had an strong interest in up close flight images like the one below...This young individual passed by close and I decided to crop it a bit to make the composition stronger. I was really surprised by the focusing accuracy of the Canon 40D. It was doing a great job tracking the birds in flight even with surprisingly busy backgrounds. I was using the center auto focus point for the birds in flight as I do about 90% of the time.

Monarch on Clover

2011-10-01T20:10:00.001-04:00

This Monarch was photographed at Winimusett WMA in New Braintree yesterday afternoon. This area is easily one of my most productive bird photo location within a ten minute drive from my house, however the only cooperative subjects were these guys. There were quite a few of them slowly fluttering over the large fields on the property, which would frequently perch upon the various wildflowers. Out of around ten images, this one was the only one with the head in focus...

Image shot with the Canon 40D, ef 400 f5.6L, 25mm extension tube, and fill flash at -2.

Gunn Brook Falls

2011-09-25T23:45:00.000-04:00

Haven't been out shooting at all the past month due to starting classes and such, which explains the lack of recent posts. I did however make a quick drive to one of my favorite falls to photograph located in Sunderland, MA. Gunn's Falls was flowing surprisingly good due to the heavy rains we've been having over the past few weeks. My last visit in May resulted in quite a few images I really liked, however lost all of the RAW files from my computer accident. I will eventually retake all of them, but this time I tried different views and compositions. I was hoping for more fallen brightly colored leaves on the ground but was a few weeks too early. Below are a few of my favorites.

Mt Katahdin sunset

2011-08-10T13:05:00.000-04:00

Another one from my camping trip. This was taken a few moments before the other images, before the intense color set in. I really love the reflection of the mountain along with the cool hues of color.

Back from northern Maine

2011-08-01T19:01:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was my vacation for the summer, and I'm happy to say I had a great time. Our group of sixteen including me stayed at a campground on Pockwockamus Pond, just minutes from the entrance to Baxter State Park. I did some exploring on Saturday through the park while everyone else was rafting in hopes of photographing a moose but was unlucky. A trip at dawn or dusk would have been a better idea, but there just wasn't enough time to do it all. Saturday's sunset was very nice, and I took a few photos from the shores of the pond.

I also experimented with some outdoor recreation type shots like the one below. I had my friend Justin place the canoe in the frame and waited until he stopped, and this one was by far the best result. Each image is three images at -2, 0, and +2 exposure compensation combined in photomatix.

Lost photos

2011-07-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

My bad for the lack of updating this blog in the past month or so. The past few weeks haven't been going very well for me at all. First, about four weeks ago my laptop fell off my couch and the screen was shattered. I took it to Geek Squad to get it serviced since it was still under warranty and two weeks later I get it back and there's something wrong still. Turned out my hard drive was completely fried, and it was not able to get fixed. The worst part about this is that I never backed up my images from the months of May and June of this year, which means I lost almost a thousand images. I was able to get an impressive number of great bird and waterfall images during May, and I am extremely frustrated that I did not save them.

Then on June 27th while riding a bike and work, the chain came loose and locked up the tires and I fell hard and was told I received a scaphoid fracture in my right wrist. I was in a cast for three weeks, and they told me I could possibly be in one for up to three months! Thankfully, I went in yesterday to get my CAT scan results and apparently it is just a sprain and I need to wear a removable brace for three weeks. I am just glad that I no longer need a cast, especially during the middle of summer.

The only thing I really have to look forward to this summer is a weekend camping trip at the end of this month up to Baxter State Park with a bunch of my friends. We were going up there for white water rafting on the Penobscot River, but I cannot raft due to my hand. So hopefully during that time period I will have some new photographs. Stop by to see any updates!

Eastern Milk Snake

2011-06-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

Went out to visit Rutland State Park for a few hours this afternoon in search of reptiles and was not dissapointed. At one of my reliable snake locations just feet from the road, I found this gorgeous adult milk snake. I picked him up and placed the snake in an open area covered in pine needles for a few shots. The snake was pretty cooperative, sitting motionless in a defensive posture for a long time. I took a number of photos, but had a tough time getting sharp images and many of them came out overexposed for some unknown reason. I processed this one photo from about twenty images, which is by far the best from today.

Gray Treefrogs

2011-06-05T18:57:00.000-04:00

This year our above ground pool has not been cleaned due to a leak, and I was happy to discover two male Gray Treefrogs singing from the filter one night. I placed one of them on a nearby apple tree and photographed one at a time, both at night and during the day. I was able to get a number of good images, which I was happy about since these guys are one of the coolest frogs around in my opinion.

New bird species

2011-05-26T23:26:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before in my previous post, one of my goals this spring/summer is to work on my collection of breeding birds and add new species. I have slowly been adding new species over the last few weeks, and will continue of my quest. Here are a few of the new species I have been able to cross off the to do list....

American Redstart, one of my favorite species of warbler

Eastern Towhee, a species I have never had success with until about a week ago

And Warbling Vireo, which I photographed this afternoon near my house. Although not as sharp as I want, I am still pretty happy with the result.

Spring Warblers

2011-05-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

May is without a doubt one of my top favorite months for shooting. There are so many subjects around it can be difficult to choose what to shoot. Easily the most fun to shoot around at this time,atleast for me, are the various types of warblers that can be heard singing to defend their breeding grounds. I wanted to work on some species that I haven't photographed yet this spring, but I always seem to find cooperative individuals of species I already have good images of. Since you can never have too many good warbler images, there's no reason not to take the time and photograph them. Below is a Chestnut-sided Warbler from this morning, found along a power line trail. I beleive that is a spider in its mouth.

The next two are from two afternoons ago shot a favorite place of mine, Winimusett wildlife management area in New Braintree, MA. This is the place where I photographed the Yellow Warbler that got published in Massachusetts Wildlife. The first image is a Black-and-White Warbler, and the second is a Common Yellowthroat.

Goldmine Brook Falls, Chester, MA

2011-05-17T20:42:00.000-04:00

Located in the Chester-Blandford State Forest, and less then 100 yards from Rt 20, Goldmine Brook Falls is a beautiful waterfall which is very difficult to find if you do not know the area. I went with a friend a week ago to visit these falls, and we ended up wasting a good amount of time hiking up a different stream thinking it was the right area. We had to drive a little ways down the road, and once you see the stream, the waterfall is not far into the woods. The falls and the surroundings are gorgeous, which is located within a gorge. The falls themselves are somewhat difficult to photograph, as angles for good views are limited. Below are my two favorites, the first is a classic view of the falls, while the second is viewed from the base.

Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Concord, Massachusetts

2011-05-13T15:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I drove about an hour and fifteen minutes east to the town on Concord, which is where this intersting refuge is found. It was my first time at great meadows, and I was really impressed with the activity around and how cooperative many of the birds were. My goal for this trip was to capture images of the Marsh Wren, a small bird that can only be found in a few places in the state. Great Meadows NWR has an impressive number of breeding wrens which are much easier to hear than see. I lucked out on a section of the dike trail where one male would sing relatively up high and out in the open for a minute, then drop back down in the cattails. It would continue to do this, and I just sat in position for a while and shot when he popped up. I'm pretty pleased with the few first images I captured for this species.

Other than wrens, the red-winged blackbirds were everywhere and the most approachable I have ever photographed. Normally around my area I need to rely on a quick use of calls, but not for these birds. I was happy to add some better photos to my collection of this species.

There was also a Great Blue Heron hunting on and off the side of the trail, which also was extremely tame. The muskrats were also abundant and close, yet I could not get any quality photos of them.

House Wren

2011-05-10T12:08:00.000-04:00

Taken yesterday in my backyard. I was pleased to have gotten a few images of this species, since it is my first time getting decent shots of them. I used my iPod to bring him into photographing distance. This was taken around noon, and the result would have been much worse if I had not used fill flash. Taken with 40D, 400 f5.6, 1.4x TC, and 430EX II @ -1 1/3.

Gunn Brook Falls

2011-05-04T19:18:00.000-04:00

Today's weather was rainy and calm, a perfect day to photograph waterfalls! So I set out with my friend on about an hour drive from my house to visit Gunn Brook Falls, which is located in Sunderland, MA. I didn't write down the most complete directions, and almost couldn't find the area. Thankfully, a biker on the road was able to point me in the right direction. I have been wanting to visit these falls for a while now, and couldn't have asked for better conditions. The rain really helped in bringing out the gorgeous colors in the forest. There are three sections of falls, with the first two basically making up one. The upper falls is shown below. The old looking tree on the left makes for a great foreground object.

Right below the upper falls is the middle section, which is a beautiful waterfall. The pool below however was filled with debris, which next time I will probably clean out to make a cleaner looking image.

The lower falls was in my opinion the most attractive, which has some very interesting surroundings. I plan on coming back to this location very soon since I didn't have much time to shoot. The conditions are perfect right now with the budding trees and various wildflowers, and would like to scout out some more compositions. Hopefully I will be back here within a week, and will keep you all updated.

All images taken with Canon 40D, 17-40mm f4L lens, and a polarizer. I decided not to use the bracketing technique that I have been lately, as I feel a single image exposed properly yields more natural results.

Red Fox Kits

2011-05-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

I recently began a new job working at a nearby campground, which is less than half a mile from my house. While working earlier this morning on my boss's property, we noticed a fox den not far into the woods. This is the first time I've ever encountered an active fox den, and apparently they come back year after year. After I finished work and got home, I decided to head over to the den in hopes of capturing a few images. The setting is rather busy, and the lighting is terrible, but I am just pleased to have finally photographed fox kits at their den. If time allows I will most likely make another appearance next weekend when I come home again, since I need to make the most of this great opportunity. Below are two images, which are my best of today's shoot. Images taken with 400 f5.6 lens and 430EX II for fill flash, and the top image with a 1.4x TC.

Turkey Hill Brook, Moore State Park

2011-04-22T22:10:00.000-04:00

Here's one from late this afternoon. This is Turkey Hill Brook, which flows through peaceful Moore State Park. I have been to this location a number of times yet have never paid much attention to the brook. It begins at Eames Pond from under an old mill, which is now a deck for viewing purposes. The stream continues through another mill, and flows out of the park under a bridge. This view is down near the bridge, which was the most photogenic spot in my eyes. This is easily my favorite image I took at the park today.

Bear's Den in New Salem

2011-04-10T23:43:00.002-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I made a quick trip to check out Bear's Den, which is a reservation with a beautiful waterfall. I had been wanting to visit for awhile and was glad I finally went. It is a great spot, yet it's rather difficult to get a good angle. I only spent about fifteen minutes cause it was getting late and there was still a lot of snow/ice down in the gorge. I will definitely be making a trip to this spot in the future and hopefully will have better conditions.

Rutland State Park

2011-04-03T18:55:00.000-04:00

This weekend I was able to get out for a little bit at one of my favorite local spots, Rutland State Park. There wasn't much activity going on, and unfortunately Massachusetts is behind this spring. It's already April and I have not heard one spring peeper and there is still ice of the ponds. Thankfully, I only have four weeks left of school!!!

These two images below were taken about 45 minutes from each other. I was pleased to get a few sunset photos since it was my first time being out to photograph a decent sunset. Both images were shot with the 40D and 17-40 f4, and I used Photomatix to combine 6 images varying 1 stop of exposure. Thanks for looking.

Editor's Pick Award

2011-01-28T16:17:00.001-05:00

I just received news that one of my photos of a Yellow Warbler that I submitted to the Massachusett's Wildlife Magazine Photo Contest has been selected as the editors pick for the birds category. I am very pleased to have accomplished this, and it is a big leap forward into getting my name out there. If anyone in the area is interested, pick up one of the photo contest issues once it is available. I also included the selected image below.

Wintery Stream

2011-01-15T10:19:00.000-05:00

After a large snowstorm on Wednesday, I got out of the house the day after to do some shooting at the nearby stream I posted before. The deep snow really changed the area from before, and allowed for some cool shadows on the snow. For each image I processed 5 images through photomatix to get the nice exposure.

Barred Owl

2011-01-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

Here's one from today at the Quabbin Reservoir. Me and two of my friends were walking along a trail when I noticed this owl perched low on this branch a little ways off the trail. Walking slowly and quietly, I was able to get within photographing distance. I was very excited to get this image because I have been longing to photograph an owl for a very long time and finally I was successful.

New Lens!

2011-01-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

I recently received my new Canon 17-40 lens which I will be using to create landscape images. I'm really excited to have a whole new world or photography opened up for me, and will post new images as I make them. This is my first processed shot I have finished, that I created earlier today at a local creek. I used auto exposure bracketing to create three images at -1, 0, and +1 exposure compensation and combined them in Photomatix.

Female Northern Harrier, Sachuest Point NWR

2010-12-01T16:49:00.000-05:00

I finally was able to get out and do a little bit of shooting this past weekend. I headed down to Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, Rhode Island in hopes of photographing some harriers. Luckily there were a few in the area actively hunting, and I spotted one before even getting out of the car. These two images were taken right near the visitor center while waiting for one to pass by. Although not anything special, I was just pleased to photograph this species for the first time.

In College

2010-09-02T19:15:00.000-04:00

My bad for the lack of posts lately. I now am living on campus at Salem State University in Salem, MA, and have been here since Monday. I didn't bring my camera with me because I wouldn't have the time for photography, so there won't be any recent shots for a few weeks atleast. There is a really nice harbor which I plan on shooting at someday.

Anyways, thought I would post a random shot from my files and its of one my favorite species of songbird. These Cedar Waxwings were photographed last summer near Acadia National Park in Maine.

Black-bellied Plover - Chatham, Massachusetts

2010-08-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went down to Chatham at Cape Cod to visit South Beach. This month there's been many Great White Shark sightings right off the coast, and many people were there looking for them. I went there so I could work on my shorebird images, but they were not as cooperative as they have been in recent years. I was pretty happy with this one image however, as I have never photographed a Black-bellied Plover. Usually there are very skittish and I cannot get anywhere near them. I really love how the out of focus grasses help frame the photo, and would love to hear what you think.

Female American Bullfrog

2010-08-02T19:45:00.000-04:00

Here's one from today that I figured I would share. This female bullfrog was just sitting on this rock in the middle of a river and allowed me to move in for a few photos. This was taken with the 40D, 70-200 f4 with a 25mm extension tube, 430EX II set at -2&2/3 with a polarizer.

Female Bobolink

2010-07-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my 40D was returned from Canon after I had them repair the focussing issue. After a few test shots I am happy to say that it seems to be working much better. I haven't been able to shoot anything exciting with it yet, but hopefully I will be able to go to the beach one day next week to shoot some migrant shorebirds.

This image of a female Bobolink was created two summers ago at Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, MA. On this particular trip this species was on the top of my want list, and I was really pleased to have walked away with a few first time images. I also received my copy of APTATS (Advanced Photostop Techniques and Tips Simplified) 1 CD yesterday which was created by Robert O'toole. This CD has some really nice tips in it, particularly the quick mask object removal. Using this new technique, I reprocessed this image and removed a few distracting blades of grass in the photo.

More from AK, and problem with 40D

2010-07-23T12:55:00.000-04:00

To keep you all updated, I recently purchased a like new refurbished Canon 40D from eBay and received it two days later. I was really pumped to have upgraded from my 20D since I have had it for a while now and was excited to check out the new features. I tested it out the following day on a trip to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and the results were very dissapointing. Out of about the 250 images I shot, one image was sharp and in focus. The camera was quick to locate the subject, yet the resulting image was out of focus. Even using a tripod with a non moving subject and high shutter speeds, the results were the same. So yesterday I sent it off to the Canon Service Center in Jamesburg, NJ for repair. Thankfully it's still under warranty and it won't cost me a thing. Just hope Canon can correct the focussing issue, and I can get it back sooner than later! Anyways, here are three more images from my trip to AK last month.

Sea Otter, Seward

Arctic Ground Squirrel, Eielson Visitor Center, Denali NP..this guy was so tame, I even saw him walking over people's shoes hoping to get some food!

Grizzly Bear adolescent, Denali NP

Willets of Westerly, Rhode Island

2010-07-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

Made a small day trip down to Misquamicut State Beach with my mom yesterday for a few hours. The weather was mostly cloudy and got worse as the day went on, eventually I was forced to leave due to heavy rain and thunder. I spent a few hours working on my Willet photographs, and below are a few I've processed so far. All taken with the Canon 20D, 400 f5.6, and 430EX II.

Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park

2010-07-07T11:03:00.003-04:00

On Friday I returned from an eleven day trip to Alaska with my mom and my friend. It was such an amazing and beautiful place, and I will definitely be going back there again someday. On our second to last day, we flew out of Homer with Bald Mountain Air to visit Katmai National Park. I was thrilled to hear we would be going to the famous Brooks Falls area, as it was the first time this season they would be taking participants to this location. There were not as many bears as I thought there would be, but still they were there and I was able to get some images I'm pretty happy with. Below are some favorites.

Recent Bird Photos

2010-04-27T16:28:00.003-04:00

Thought I would post my favorite images from the past couple of weeks. There isn't much, and all of these were taken close to home. The first three of the Song Sparrows are the same bird who lives beside a lake nearby, and is very cooperative and fun to shoot.

Spring is Here

2010-03-30T19:40:00.002-04:00

It's been a while and I apologize. The past few months have been pretty slow photography wise and on top of that I no longer have a car which seriously limits my photo opportunities. Fortunately spring is finally here and many birds are returning and setting up breeding territories. The first image is of a Song Sparrow which I photographed at a nearby wildlife management area that is loaded with sparrows. The second image is an American Woodcock at night in my backyard. These neat looking birds perform their courtship displays at dusk and dawn, and I used a flashlight to focus on the bird.

Backyard Birds

2009-12-29T16:45:00.003-05:00

I've been spending the past few days focussing on getting images of backyard birds. They are very fun to work with and always provide some action. The first two Black-capped Chickadees were taken near a bird feeder, which the perches selected and then placed for the birds to land on. The first image is from this morning, with the temperature around 0 with the wind chill. It was so incredibly cold and windy that I could only stay outside for about 15 minutes before going back in.

I've been using these birds to practice with my new flash, a Canon 430EX 2, which I got for Christmas. It has allowed me to make pleasing images in dark and drabby light which I wouldn't even bother shooting in before. I love the look a little fill flash can give on cloudy or shady conditions, as in the chickadee shots.

The next two photos are of a resident Carolina Wren who lives in the edge of my woods. On nice mornings I can usually hear him singing in the backyard, and using a recording to this species can work great, even this time of year. I only have to play the song for a few seconds, and this bird will pop up hear and there and sing from his favorite perches. I've been able to add a good number of images for this species so far this month, and here are a few of my favorites.

Process Comparison

2009-12-02T21:19:00.002-05:00

Below are two images that are from the same RAW file but the top one was processed on my old computer monitor and the second one was just done on my laptop. Which one looks more realistic color wise? The second version that I just did on the laptop seems much more redder that the older one does. I'm not sure if it has something to do with how my laptop is calibrated, but I would like to hear someones opinion on the two images.

Fall Sparrows

2009-11-03T13:58:00.003-05:00

I thought I would share two images that I processed on my new laptop from last month. Both aren't anything great, but I haven't been doing any other shooting in a while and wanted something to share. Let me know if they look okay since they are the first images I have processed on my new laptop. The first image is a Swamp Sparrow and the second is a Savannah.

Long time, no post

2009-11-01T14:50:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since my last post. I've been caught up with mainly school, working, and just spending time with friends lately and haven't been doing much photography at all lately. I got out for a little bit a few days ago to try some macro photography with not much luck and haven't been doing any other shooting for about a month now. I did however receive an early graduation present from my grandma and grandpa which is a new HP laptop. It's really nice and have transferred all of my photos and am working on getting Breezebrowser and Downloader Pro fully installed. It's a really nice laptop, and is really nice for viewing images online which is what I've been doing lately. I'll try to get in the photography mood eventually, but for now I'm just making my last year of high school count.

Monitor Trouble

2009-09-24T06:56:00.003-04:00

Sorry everyone for me not posting in the longest time. The monitor I had before has something wrong with it, and I'm currently on one that my mom borrowed from one of her coworkers. It's really terrible and there's no way I would be able to process any photos with it. I haven't done any photography since my trip to South Beach earlier this month. I've been caught up with school and then spending my free time hanging out with friends and such. Monday night I actually went to see U2 at Gillette Stadium which was really fun, and will be going to the Red Sox this coming Tuesday. I'll keep the blog updated as much as I can. We should be purchasing a new monitor soon, which will be nice for editing any new photos that I will have.

Semipalmated Plover

2009-09-08T14:40:00.002-04:00

One species I was happy to add to my files from South Beach was the Semipalmated Plover. I saw a few adults but they were too skittish to get close to but two individual juvenile birds saved the day. Below are a few favorites from the day that I got of this species.

Day Trip to South Beach, Chatham

2009-09-06T09:15:00.008-04:00

Yesterday I went for a day trip to Chatham, Massachusetts, which is located on Cape Cod. This area is known as the shorebird capital of the state, with thousands of birds passing through on their southbound migration. The past few days there has even been five Great White Sharks sighted off the town waters which have moved in to feed on the numerous Gray Seals that hang around the area. I didn't get to see any sharks, but saw plenty of seals and also a good number of shorebirds.

The main area that I searched for birds is called South Beach, which is about a 6 mile long barrier beach which continues to get longer each year. This beach contains a few sections of Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge which is also located on two islands off the coast and can only be reached by boat. This was my second time here and I haven't had the time yet to hike down the whole beach on either occasions. There wasn't as many birds as I remembered from my last trip two years ago, but there was still a good number of interesting birds and I was able to get some nice shots. I added a few new species to my files, and even saw a Black Tern for the first time ever. I will be posting some images from this trip over the next few blog posts and will share a few images that I have processed so far.

Semipalmated Sandpiper in Flight

There was a small pool located on the back of the beach near the dunes which had some sandpipers feeding. They were pretty tame and I could get within 15 feet of them while standing. Sometimes the birds would get uncomfortable with how close I was getting and would take flight and swing around to the other side of me and land not too far away. I tried for a few minutes to get some flight shots and this one came out the best.

White-rumped Sandpiper

I took this image while laying on my stomach next to the edge of the water. If I layed motionless for a few minutes the birds would walk by just a few feet away. This White-rumped Sandpiper was getting in a fight with another sandpiper and I was able to get this portrait. Good thing I had my 25mm extension tube on!

Common Eiders, Kennebunk, Maine

2009-08-29T17:38:00.002-04:00

These two images of a female Common Eider were taken back on July 20 on a two day trip to Kennebunk, Maine. The weather wasn't the best for photography and I only had a small group of Common Eiders on the first day that I was able to photograph well. This was my third year in a row that I have gone to this same place and there's usually a group of these birds that hang out on a stretch of rocky shoreline next to the beach. They were pretty approachable and I was able to get close a few times. I wouldn't consider the images I got on this trip prize winners but they're good to add to my stock files for this cool species.

Eastern Kingbirds

2009-08-26T08:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I took my kayak out on the Quaboag River for a few hours to do some photography. The Quaboag River flows out of Quaboag Pond, which is a large, very weedy lake. The river is slow flowing and passes through some very nice marsh habitats. I was hoping on getting some photos of a Great Blue Heron, but they were not cooperative at all and would fly off well before I could get into photo distance. I ended up finding lots of kingbirds and this individual was very tame allowing me to get extremely close. I went home with some nice photos of this bird, and will be planning on getting out there again to get some more images.

Barn Swallow in Flight

2009-08-23T19:48:00.002-04:00

I haven't been shooting anything too spectacular recently so thought I would show a favorite of mine taken at Misquamicut last summer. It was a cloudy day and there were lots of these swallows flying low over the marsh grass catching insects on the wing. I realized that as I would walk through the grass, I would scare up lots of insects which would make the swallows dive closeby grabbing the bugs. I used this to my advantage and was able to walk away with two shots that I still have in my files, and this is the better of the two I think. It still is one of my favorite photos mainly because they are soooo hard to get in flight.

More from Misquamicut

2009-08-20T10:51:00.004-04:00

Tuesday's trip to Misquamicut wasn't very successful for photography since I only processed about 8 shots that I took. I thought I would make another post and show you two other photos I was happy with. The first one is the same Green Heron who I showed in my last post. This image is full frame. Which image do you like better?

This bird below is a Glossy Ibis and this was the only decent shot I was able to get of this species. It was taken at the same tiny marsh as the green heron was taken and where the sandpipers were. I saw an ibis fly in and then take off once it saw me, and he kept coming back and doing the same thing. I went to the back of the marsh where there were some reeds which I could use for hiding myself so the birds would come in. It worked and I took this as the bird was coming in for a landing. I wasn't able to get any shots of the bird on the ground, though.

Green Heron at Misquamicut, Rhode Island

2009-08-19T10:42:00.003-04:00

Yesterday's trip to the beach in Rhode Island was mainly a bust. I didn't get any decent photos of shorebirds which were my main goal. There weren't that many around and the ones that were around were pretty skittish. I was laying in the mud waiting to see if a Least Sandpiper would come close to me when I spotted a Green Heron land to the right of me in the marsh about 50 feet away. It was my first ever chance to photograph this species and was so happy when I was able to get closer to it. This bird was so tame, and I was able to get well within the minimum focussing distance of my 400 lens. However it didn't like to land in the prettiest settings but I did the best I could. This one below was after I tried stalking it the first time, which made him fly to the other side of the water, which was about 15 feet across. I like the pose and the inclusion of habitat it has.

Black and Yellow Argiope

2009-08-17T13:59:00.002-04:00

I will be going to Misquamicut, Rhode Island tomorrow for the day which is on the southwest coast. This is a great place for bird photography, and will hopefully come home with new images of shorebirds, egrets, and some marsh songbirds. I will definitely share some images from the trip when I get back, but for now here's an argiope spider taken this morning in my backyard. I have gotten many nice images of this individual, and was happy when I was able to get some nice underside views of this awesome spider.

Eastern Cottontail

2009-08-14T21:14:00.003-04:00

I photographed this cottontail early this morning in my backyard. I actually saw this guy out my bedroom window, and quickly grabbed my camera and went out to try and get some shots. I ended up getting pretty close, and was even able to get a close up of its head.

Savannah Sparrows

2009-08-10T09:53:00.007-04:00

Photography is pretty slow this time of year in central Massachusetts. These images of savannah sparrows were taken last fall as they were migrating south. A wildlife management area ten minutes from home had hundreds of these birds in the fields there. Hopefully this season will be just as good.

More Macro!

2009-08-04T19:28:00.004-04:00

Bird photography has been really slow where I live lately, so I'm still going strong with macro photography. Below are a few recent favorites.

I was surprised to find this young Gray Treefrog last night while out looking for bugs. It was perched on a milkweed leaf and sat still long enough in the late light for a few nice images, which were a first for me with this species.

Red Milkweed beetles mating, which was taken about a week or so ago in my backyard.

A Dun Skipper sitting on a gravel road in the afternoon.

This Black-and-yellow Argiope was an exciting find yesterday at the same location of the treefrog. He was low in the grass and I had to use a large aperture to soften the background. He was munching on some kind of insect, which is the thing below its head wrapped in silk.

Dogbane Beetle

2009-08-02T23:48:00.003-04:00

I've still been doing some macro photography lately and was happy to get this shot a few days ago. I visited a nearby meadow in the afternoon and found a lot of these cool beetles in the field. This one was cooperative and sat at the end of this piece of grass in the late light.

Honey Bees

2009-07-18T21:49:00.003-04:00

Thought I'd share a few more images from yesterday. I tried to work mainly on honey bees since they're everywhere and they look pretty cool. I found out that they are so difficult to shoot and I was lucky to walk away with a few keeper images.

New Bug Images

2009-07-17T18:18:00.003-04:00

My good friend just recently got interested into photography and he bought himself a Canon 100mm Macro. I have been using lately and am starting to get the hang of it. Below are my two favorites so far taken with this lens which was earlier today.

Unknown Beetle

Red Milkweed Beetle

White-throated Sparrow

2009-07-14T19:59:00.003-04:00

Here's another shot from my trip to Maine. This male and his mate were really cooperative, and I just watched them gather food for their young and wait for one of them to pop out in the open for a photo. This was taken on a cloudy afternoon, and I got several nice shots of this male as he searched for insects in this one pine tree.

Back from Maine

2009-07-11T20:43:00.005-04:00

I just got back from a week trip to Bar Harbor, Maine with my mom, her boyfriend, and my friend. Bar Harbor is located right next to Acadia National Park and we spent most of the time checking out the place. It was my first time there and definitely won't be my last. I didn't do much photography inside the park as I had hoped. Most of my photos were actually taken near my campsite that we were staying in at a local campground. I did really well with White-throated Sparrows and have only processed a few images so far. These are the first that I have worked up since getting home earlier.

Eastern Garter Snake Portrait

2009-06-30T15:43:00.004-04:00

Taken yesterday afternoon. I found this snake in my backyard and placed him in the grass of my lawn. Every now and then he would stick his head up to check me out, and I loved this look he gave me. I got really low to get the background out of focus with this shot.

Spotted Turtle Portrait

2009-06-25T09:25:00.004-04:00

This image was taken on the same day as my last post of the snake. I was driving home and saw this turtle crossing the road near my house. I grabbed it and drove the short distance to my house and then got the camera gear and walked back down to where I found him. The road it was crossing isn't the busiest road, but I try to save every turtle I possibly can that I find crossing roads. I placed the turtle on a dirt road and tried to get as low as possible for some close up portraits. My tripod doesn't allow me to shoot this low, so I had to set the camera on some sticks to elevate it enough so I can shoot the turtle while it was on the ground. Sharpness was a big issue, but I came away with atleast a few decent shots. This was taken in a dark forest on a cloudy day so the images came out of the camera looking more red than usual. I tried my best in photoshop to fix it but it still looks off to my eyes. Any ideas?

Fred the Snake

2009-06-19T18:07:00.003-04:00

A few days ago, I found a garter snake next to an old stone wall in my front yard. It's probably the most tame snake I've ever handled and in just 30 seconds is completely calm and will just sit in my hands. I have found and caught it three days in a row now, and have decided to name it Fred! I'm not sure if it's a male or a female, but it seemed like a pretty cool name for a snake. Today I finally took some photos of him by placing him on a small patch of dead grass in my yard. I was able to get him to stop moving only a few times and took a few portraits. Below are two of my favorites.

Common Loons

2009-06-17T19:26:00.005-04:00

I still haven't been doing any photography lately but that will change once I get out of school Friday. I'm going to do something a little different here and post some images of loons that I have in my files. They are definitely one of the coolest birds I've ever photographed and are pretty common on large lakes in New England.

The image below was taken a few summers ago in Scarborough, Maine. I found this young loon hanging out in a harbor at the end of the day, and it was extremely tame. For this photo I was kneeling in the water as it swam by to get this portrait.

The next photo was taken this past November at Quabbin Reservoir which is the largest body of water in Massachusetts. It was taken from the Goodnough Dike in the early morning just as the sun was coming over the trees. I love the shoreline in the background and the wing stretch.

Adult Broad-winged Hawk

2009-06-09T19:05:00.004-04:00

I haven't been doing much photography over the past few weeks, so thought I'd post one from April. I was driving back from a favorite bird spot of mine one evening with no luck when all of a sudden this hawk popped out from the woods and perched on this branch right next to the road in the late light. I slammed on the brakes, turned the car off, and quickly got my camera out of the bag. The hawk just sat there as it was looking for food, and I eventually was able to get out of my passenger side door and climb on top of my car to get eye level with the bird. However, the background in those shots weren't as good and this was taken from the driver's side window.

Great Blue Heron Adult and Immature

2009-05-30T20:29:00.004-04:00

This is one of the few images I was able to get from my kayak trip on Monday of the breeding herons. I wasn't really focussing to hard on getting good images so I just took a few grab shots mainly because the angle was so steep. I liked this image though with the young heron in the frame.

Kayaking and Kingbirds

2009-05-28T19:14:00.004-04:00

On Monday afternoon I got out for a few hours and took my kayak to a nearby pond. On one side of the road there is a very shallow and weedy bay where a few Great Blue Herons nest and there is also many other marsh birds and some good bass fishing. I planned on doing both fishing and photographing from my kayak and it ended up being a frustrating afternoon.

First off, there were these bugs that would land on my arms and neck and it drove me CRAZY! I don't know what kind they were, but they looked like termites of some sort and when they landed they would scurry around so quickly that it was impossible to concentrate on anything else. To top it off, my target species which were kingbirds weren't allowing me to get close enough with me handholding my straight 400 f5.6. I was forced to slap on my 1.4x teleconverter and try handholding a 560mm manual focus lens while bobbing around in a kayak. I actually managed to get a few decent images but they didn't end up too detailed because I had a tough time getting the focus perfect. Next time I think I should try and fit my tripod in the middle so I can focus better. Below are my best shots I managed of this species, which is a first for me by the way!

Veery

2009-05-22T18:20:00.004-04:00

This was taken on the same trip that I photographed the Least Flycatcher I posted a few days ago. I have always found Veery to be cooperative, and they are especially tame. They also have one of the coolest and strangest songs of any songbird in my opinion. Below is one of the better shots I was able to take.

Male Blue-winged Warbler

2009-05-18T17:58:00.005-04:00

I currently have a male blue-winged warbler who's been staying in my yard for the past week or so. This is probably my favorite image of him so far. I really love the pose, perch, and background. I'd have to say that Blue-winged Warblers are one of the most pretty species of warblers.

Least Flycatcher

2009-05-15T15:49:00.003-04:00

One of my main goals for this spring and summer is to add as many new species of songbirds as I can to my files. I was psyched to get this species a few days ago at a local wildlife management area. It was my first time photographing this species and he ended up being quite cooperative. I really loved the look back pose in this one.

Warblers

2009-05-10T10:19:00.005-04:00

The past few days I've been working on shooting warblers. I've had great luck with Yellow Warblers, and have also been able to get decent images of Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, and Ovenbird. Below are some of my favorites.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Ovenbird

Breeding Male Yellow Warbler

2009-05-06T19:56:00.004-04:00

Shooting warblers has to be one of the funnest things I personally can think of doing. It just never gets old, and you never know what you will walk away with. This image was taken a few hours ago along a power line cut that goes through a lake. I got a number of decent images but this was my favorite mainly because of the inclusion of the foliage.

I've noticed that when you click to view the image larger, the image is much more compressed and it kills the details. This photo is actually a lot more crisper.

Breeding Male Mallard

2009-05-04T19:29:00.005-04:00

This was taken earlier at a nice little area called Rutland State Park. It's one of my favorite local places and also is an excellent lake to fish which is why I went there in the first place. The light was pretty cloudy and dreary, but I couldn't pass up this lone Mallard.

I first spotted him before I even got out of the car so I grabbed the gear and headed down to the water. I usually don't see waterfowl on the lake so it was a good opportunity to try to get some images since I don't really have anything decent for waterfowl. He was about 100 feet from the shore and too far out for any reasonable photos. I picked up a few pieces of bark and threw them in the water which attracted him in thinking that it was some bread. The duck actually came so close that it was inside the minimum focussing distance of my 400 f5.6.

This is probably my favorite out of all of the images I made mainly because I really like the water color and the composition. I would love to hear your thoughts on this image.

Breeding Male Eastern Bluebird

2009-05-01T20:28:00.006-04:00

Here's an image from today. I currently have a pair of bluebirds nesting in a nestbox that I set up in my backyard. They have been using it for the past few weeks and only the male has allowed me to approach him atleast somewhat close. The female will not let me get anywhere near her. I was pretty happy with this one mainly because of the pose and the background.

Purple Trilliums

2009-04-29T21:10:00.013-04:00

Yesterday I decided to check out a section of forest closeby from my house which is usually loaded with trilliums this time of year. There were definitely plenty of flowers in bloom but many were in rough shape and were bent over and facing straight down which made photography very difficult. On top of that, the black flies were out and made the walk almost unbearable. I seriously think that bug spray is an attractant instead of a repellent.

Anyways, I did manage to find a few flowers that were in good shape and had a decent background. I ended up walking away with atleast a few images that I am happy with and will definitely have to get back out there to get some more photos of these awesome looking flowers.

Both of these images were taken with my Canon 20D and a Canon 400 f5.6L with two 25mm Extension Tubes. The two tubes on the 400 give it more than enough close focussing abilities for these flowers and also produce nice, out of focus backgrounds. I'm not sure why the images aren't linking to their actual sizes. I'll check it out and try to fix it once I get home later this afternoon.

My First Blog

2009-04-28T15:14:00.014-04:00

Hi everyone!

This is my first attempt at blogging. I will try to update it every few days with either recent photos or older images. I will also make posts now and then on photography techniques and share with you the stories behind the photos. I currently don't have a photo of myself but will get one up here as soon as possible.

For those that do not know me I am a 17 year old and have been interested in nature for my whole life. I started getting into photography when I was about 10 years old, but didn't get serious about it until a few years ago. I found a photography forum called Naturescapes.net, which improved my photography amazingly fast thanks to the helpful members who critiqued my images. My favorite subjects are birds, but I also shoot wildlife, flowers, and I do a little bit of macro as well. I currently do not have a website so I will share some of my work on this blog.

Yesterday I went to a nearby trail which leads through some nice mixed woods and then goes through a small swampy stream. In a shallow section of the swamp was a group of American Toads which were mainly males calling to attract a mate. They were pretty tame and allowed me to get very close for some images without disturbing their breeding activities. Below are a few images that I got of these awesome amphibians.