Category: Wildlife

Paradise Kingfisher 1

Paradise Kingfisher 1

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Update on 11/25-I figured out that this bird is a Kingfisher of Paradise.

Today started out very early. I am staying at the Waiwo Field Station of Conservation International. They are kindly putting me up for 2 nights before I start diving tomorrow with Papua Diving. I am trying to photograph the incredibly rare Wilson’s Bird of Paradise. I had to get up very early and hike a long way up hill through the jungle. I wore my sandals and was covered in mud by the time we got to where my guide had scouted the bird. I actually got a glimpse of it twice, but did not get off a single frame. I spent about 4 hours in my blind waiting with all manner of bugs crawling over me and biting the hell out of me. I am taking an anti-malarial drug, so I hope that it works because I’m gonna need it after that trek. Sitting on my knees in the mud in the jungle of Papua, what a treat! I am going to try again tomorrow. This bird is not a BOP, but rather something kinda cool that is not in the field guide that I have been looking through all evening. At least I took some pictures today that I can feel good about.

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California Sea Otter 16

California Sea Otter 16

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I’ve been back home working for over a week while getting ready for some extensive travel coming up to Indonesia, Panama, and Patagonia over the next few months. I just finished processing all of my new sea otter images. Apple came out with a RAW converter for Aperture this past week. I was not happy how the DNG files were looking, so I wanted to wait to do the processing once Aperture supported my new Canon 50D. Overall, I am very happy with the results of using the new camera. My friend Phil Colla and I have been emailing back and forth about the quality of the images from the new camera. I’ve been very pleased with what I am getting, and have to go back to some of my 35mm film scans to realize how picky we are getting these days. The detail is so good that I am down to counting nose hairs on the sea otters. Overall, I am very pleased with the new camera, except for the fact that the larger LCD screen ends up getting covered in nose smudge while holding it up to my face. I’ll try and have more of the images in the sea otter gallery before I leave November 19th. Please visit more of my Sea Otter Photography.

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California Sea Otter 31

California Sea Otter 31

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The past few days we have seen a few different sea otter moms and babies, but it is pretty hard to get them to come in close enough to get a shot. This image just cracks me up! I kept laughing after I took it. The baby has eel grass hanging off of its head and there is good eye contact with both of the otters. I am glad that I had my new Canon 50D firing 6fps so that I was able to capture this funny moment. Please visit more of my Sea Otter Photography.

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California Sea Otter 24

California Sea Otter 24

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We had a great second day out on the water photographing sea otters. It was very warm and sunny here today. I am pretty particular about the images I am after, and with the clear skies, I am very focused on shooting the otters in the latest most golden light that I can. The sun is going down behind some sand dunes about 20 minutes before sunset, but the light has been turning a nice orange before the otters go into the shade. Here is one of my favorite sea otter photos from today. The whole RAW to DNG conversion before importing the files into Aperture is very time consuming, so hopefully Apple comes out with an update soon. I am very pleased with the quality of the image files that I am getting out of my new Canon 50D. Please visit more of my Sea Otter Photography.

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California Sea Lion 2

California Sea Lion 2

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I went down to the Monterey Harbor breakwater again this morning for another sunrise shoot. I tried shooting more of the entire animal rather than the tight portraits that I shot yesterday. Fortunately, I found a sealion that was not sleeping on the rocks with his face the wrong direction. I spent about an hour observing this big male, even though the golden light was only good for about the first 15 minutes.

I am pretty impressed with the Canon 50D so far. The files seem to be more than enough for my needs. I am hand holding most of these images with my 400 f4 DO IS lens, so I think that my non-sharp images have to do with me and the image stabilizer moving around. It is too bad that I can not look at the RAW files yet in Aperture, but I am using the Adobe DNG converter as a work around for importing and viewing them.

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California Sea Otter 3

California Sea Otter 3

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This was my first day going out on the water with Elkhorn Slough Safaris. I will be going out for the next 3 days to shoot in the golden late afternoon light. A photographer friend from San Diego drove up and one of my workshop clients has flown in to join me. We had a pretty good first day on the water. This is my favorite image from this afternoon’s shoot. Please visit more of my Sea Otter Photography.

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California Sea Lion 6

California Sea Lion 6

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I do not often have access to the internet during my trips, so I thought that it would be kind of fun to post some images from my short adventure down to Monterey this week. The main purpose of my trip is to photograph sea otters at Elkhorn Slough the next few days, but I got up this morning to try and photograph the California sealions that rest on the breakwater at the entrance to the harbor. The sunrise light was pretty nice, but it was hard to find a sealion that was faced the right direction. It is pretty amazing to be able to watch these animals from only a few feet away. The sealions are always growling and barking and each other just like this image.

These are my first images taken with my new Canon 50D. The files look pretty good. I figured out that Aperture does not yet support the new files, though. I did some Google searches and discovered that I need to covert my RAW files into DNG files until Apple comes out with the update for the new camera. Hopefully, that will not be too far in the future.

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Guadalupe Great White Shark 12

Guadalupe Great White Shark 12

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This is another one of my favorite images from my recent trip to photograph great white sharks down in Mexico. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was a tough trip, but I did come away with a few new images that are worth sharing.

I have been working on updating my website and moving some of the galleries and pages around. The new layout is a work in progress, but it should be all straightened out by the end of the month. The major change that is coming to my site is the e-commerce update. Soon you will be able to order and purchase fine-art prints directly from my website. Please visit more of my Great White Shark Photography.

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Guadalupe Fur Seal 1

Guadalupe Fur Seal 1

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During one of the cloudy mornings that I experienced at Guadalupe Island we took a shore tour of the seal colonies. I had brought my telephoto lenses along just in case we got just such an opportunity to photograph the pinnipeds. The Guadalupe Fur Seal was almost hunted to extinction but a few survived and have now repopulated the island. This composition is actually my favorite from the entire trip. Please visit more of my Guadalupe Fur Seal Photography.

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