Telling A Story - The Prehistoric Birds

Art is more enjoyable if it tells a story and photography is no different.  If we can tell a story with our photos then people will be more interested and may find the photo(s) more compelling.

Sometimes the story is best told using a sequence of photos to show action or behavior of the subject.  I recently caught a family of Double-crested Cormorants in South Florida and was able to capture them doing what all families do - eat together.

A Cormorant is a common bird in Florida with some birds staying year long. The gangly Double-crested Cormorant is a prehistoric-looking black bird with green eyes and yellow-orange on its beak and face. They have been described as a strange combination of a goose and a loon.  The Cormorants are related to the exotic frigatebirds and boobies found in the Galapagos Islands. You have probably spotted one with its wings spread out to dry in the sun. They dive underwater and are excellent swimmers, using their feet and wings to propel themselves after fish.

This pair of adults had gotten an early start on the rest of the birds and already had two juveniles in the nest.  The parents seemed to be holding their heads high signaling they were proud of their little ones.

The Happy Family At Home

Like any home, repairs are required to be performed constantly.  They were adding nesting material to their nest.

There is always work to be done to maintain a home

Just like human youth, these juveniles were constantly hungry.

Mom! Dad! We're Hungry! 

No fast food for these kids.  The parents had to catch and prepare the meals.  This involved eating, partially digesting and regurgitating fish for the young'uns.

Yum Yum Yum

Wait, I know there is more fish down there.

Finished!

This adult may be leaving the nest in search of more food or may have had enough of junior climbing down his throat.

I hope you found this little photographic sequence educational, entertaining, or at least funny.  My intent was to tell more of the story than what can be conveyed in just one photo.

All the photos were taken at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida.  They were shot with a Fuji X-T2 mirrorless camera and a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm.  The photos were cropped by about 1/3.

Make It Simple

Carrying on with my Simplicity theme I have recently tried to simplify some of my macros.   In this case, I was making photos of a plant growing in my parents yard.

Click any photo to zoom in

In this first photo, I tried to simplify by getting close and eliminating everything except the subject, which is this cool leaf with buds popping out around the edge.  Not much else here to distract the viewer's attention from the buds.

In the second photo, I simplified by eliminating color.   Everything is pretty much green but converting to a black and white removes the color element making is simpler.

Here I cropped down to just the buds with water drops.  Cropping eliminated everything I didn't want and left only the things I did.

Finally, I used a shallow depth of field to blur out the background and drawing attention to the water drops on the end of the leaf.   This is a pretty simple photo.

Four different techniques to simplify a photo.  These can be used alone or in combination to creatively remove complexity and create simplicity.

I'm going to continue to try and simplify where I can.


"How many undervalue the power of simplicity!  But it is the real key to the heart."

William Wordsworth.

The Early Bird

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."

Rabindranath Tagore

Indian Poet

The best time to take photos outdoors is the hour around sunrise or sunset.   If you want to avoid other people in your photo, dawn is the perfect time.  Few people will be up and about at sunrise.   It's my favorite time to make photos.

The problem with taking photos at dawn is I have to head for my destination long before I know what the conditions will be like.  Will the sun paint the clouds with brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows or will the sky be overcast and gray?  I have found that weather forecasts will give a general idea what to expect, but often the moment the sun breaks the horizon will be very different from the forecast.   I have to get up when it's still dark and see what is in store when I get there.

Blue Heron in Morning Light

On a recent trip to visit my family in South Florida June and I got up early and left the house while everyone was still comfortably asleep.   Our destination was Wakodahatchee Wetlands.  This is a favorite place to photograph birds in a natural setting.  Boardwalks snake throughout the wetlands, making it easy to get close to birds, gators and other wildlife.  On this morning, there were fewer birds than what we had seen in the wetlands before.  Mid-December is a few weeks early for nesting activities and brilliant mating colors that present many photographic opportunities.  However, there were still enough birds to fill all our available time and the rising sun bathed the scenes in a warm soft light, like the photo above.

We don't always have the gift of sunrise colors on every outing but if we didn't get up while it is still dark we would never get to experience the beauty of a sunrise and the beautiful colors of dawn. 

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” 

Corrie ten Boom

Calendar Chronicles - Footprints In The Sand

We have made it through February and started into March.  Spring will arrive soon in East Tennessee.  It can't come soon enough for me and never lasts long enough.   There is beauty in the winter season, but after a few months of cold, gray, brown, and bare trees it is time for some color and new growth.   Next month's photo is all about spring but the March photo is all about warmth.

Nothing says warmth like a sunrise or sunset at the beach.   While visiting my family in West Palm Beach Florida June and I got up early and drove down to the beach to see what the sunrise had in store.   We started out at Lake Worth Beach hoping to get some pictures of the sunrise behind the pier.  The parking lot was closed and we couldn't get down to the beach.   We headed north up the coast stopping at a public beach access, which was also closed due to beach erosion.  After driving past the classic mansions of Palm Beach we finally stopped at the public beach in Palm Beach.  It's always a good idea to allow plenty of time for sunrise photography because you never know what obstacles you'll run into and time, tide and sunrises wait for no man.

Click on any image to see larger versions.

There is a story behind this photo.   When we arrived there was a young lady paddle boarding by.  I wanted to get a photo of her on her board with the sunrise behind her and took off running down the beach to catch up with her.   She probably wondered about the old guy on the beach chasing her.  I wasn't able to get the shot but my run did create footprints in the sand.   It's these footprints that make this photo.  They lead the viewer down the beach.

The paddle boarder did return later and I was able to take the shot I tried to get earlier.   I wasn't thinking clearly and didn't set my camera up for a fast enough shutter speed.  The 1/15 of a second exposure was way too slow and she is blurred in this photo.   This is why practice is so important.  You have to be able to quickly adjust your camera to rapidly changing conditions.   I can't go back and try this shot again but hopefully I'll remember my mistake and not make it again.

 

There is one other person in this photo that I didn't see until I got home and was editing the photo.  There was a snorkeler swimming by her when I took the photo.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise and interesting clouds.  It was a great way to start the day.

Let Heaven and Earth Praise Him!