This fox has been all over our neighborhood, and doesn’t seem fazed by nearby humans:


This fox has been all over our neighborhood, and doesn’t seem fazed by nearby humans:
This is Tally, who already is enjoying her new home:
a
We spent the last few days driving across the plains from Denver to Virginia with our new dog, Tally. There wasn’t much to photograph while driving:
iPhone, edited in Snapseed
Captured these while driving toward Guanella Pass in Colorado. I was most excited about the moose sighting. 🙂
… is easy when you’re not the one having to rake them…
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
iPhone, edited with Snapseed
Taking a break with Mario during a morning walk through the Vermont woods:
iPhone, edited with Snapseed
While cows are easily spotted on Bangalore’s streets, the only elephants I saw were Ganesh figures on taxis’ dashboards.
Saw the quintessential California highway stereotype last week in San Diego: a blonde in a convertible with her lapdog on her lap. Priceless.
Caught this pug in a pensive mood as it meandered through the house.
Caught this duck enjoying the moonlight over the salt marsh behind our house.
This gaggle of geese was enjoying the morning calm of sunrise over the Hammock River (until I came along).
Here are later pictures of the two squabs that were raised this Spring in our backyard, on top of our outdoor speaker. Based on the hair on their heads, I called them Scruffy and Baldy.
This is Scruffy after having left the nest, finding its bearings in our backyard:
Baldy had already claimed the top of the fence as his perch:
While mom was supervising their progress from the top of a nearby shed:
Canon 5d Mark II, 100mm EFL macro lens
This dove decided that our outdoor speakers would make a great nesting place and she proceeded, over the course of 2 months, to raise 2 squabs (the true name for baby doves, or chicks) there. Here is the first of two posts chronicling that journey. Click on any image to see them in slideshow format:
Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm EFL macro lens
That’s how our dog Mario must have felt when looking out of our kitchen window:
iPhone, HDR conversion in Lightroom
Saw this hawk looking for prey at sunrise behind our house. Here are two different takes on that scene, both shot with my iPhone, but one with the Hipstamatic app.
Here is our black lab Mario enjoying the empty (and icy) beach in the winter time:
Iphone, B&W conversion in Lightroom
Our dog Mario enjoyed the first snow of the year, especially on the beach at low tide:
iPhone, Hipstamatic app
Captured this Red-tailed Hawk as he was surveying the field behind our house for his breakfast during sunrise. The other images were shot after I followed him to a tree that allowed me to get closer.
And this is the one when he finally had enough:
Mario, our black lab, enjoying a fall afternoon with a new friend.
Canon 5D Mark II, EF 85mm/1.8USM
ISO 100
f/1.8
1/320 sec
Captured this seagull as it took off from its perch on a pier, while kayaking in Clinton Harbor and looking straight at the sunset:
Canon 7D, 200mm lens
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/5000 sec
Came across this poem by Julie Bruck in a recent edition of the New Yorker, which matched the photos I took just the day before:
Not one of Mr. Balanchine’s soloists had feet this articulate,
the long bones explicitly spread, then retracted,
even more finely detailed than Leonardo’s plans for his flying machines.
And all this for a stroll, a secondary function,
not the greatdramatic spread and shadow of those pterodactyl wings.
This walking seems determined less by bird volition or
calculations of the small yellow eye
than by an accident of breeze, pushing the bird on a diagonal,
the great feet executing their tendus and lifts in the slowest of increments,
hesitation made exquisitely dimensional,
as if the feet thought themselves through each minute contribution to propulsion,
these outsized apprehenders of grasses and stone, snatchers of mouse and vole,
these mindless magnificents that any time now
will trail their risen bird like useless bits of leather.
Don’t show me your soul, Balanchine used to say, I want to see your foot.
Spotted a few herons that, uncharacteristically, sat in a tree (do you see them in the first picture?) rather than stalking their prey in the muddy marsh below.
Fortunately they stayed there until I got close enough to take these shots:
Canon 7D, 200mm w/2x converter
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/500 sec
Took our dog Mario out for a walk during low tide about an hour after sunset – and we had the entire beach to ourselves!
Canon 5d Mark II, 40mm 2.8 lens
ISO 3200
f/2.8
1/20 sec
Actually I found this one in a barn in an abandoned mining town in Montana.
Canon 7D, 15-85mm
ISO 2500
f/5.6
1/10 sec
Yesterday our dear little Sprucie, a 9-year-old German Shepherd and retired guide dog who was with us only 15 months, passed away rather suddenly. I will miss her tail thumping against furniture to express her happiness, the sound of her trotting to the door to see who’s there, the long walks we took together along the beach, and her dopey smile. Here are the last pictures of her. I love you, Spruce!
On a recent trip to Yellowstone, my son and I saw just about every major animal except moose: Bison, elk, coyote, bear (with bear cub), wolves. Here are a few shots I liked:
Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8
ISO 640
f/10
1/100 sec
This 13-point elk buck was watching over a herd of elk in Yellowstone National Park. I was fortunate enough to sneak up for 2 close-ups without being noticed (well, the second picture he’s looking right at me, so who am I kidding?).
Canon 7D, EF70-200mm f/2.8 with 2x converter
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/400 sec
On a recent trip to Yellowstone, I saw this bison and took these photos while I followed it for an hour as it crossed Lamar valley, chomping on grass while generally ignoring me. He must have known he had nothing to fear from me. Figures, since he’s the largest land animal in North America, weighing roughly a ton.
Canon 7D, 70-200mm EF 2.8
ISO 640
f/10
1/20 sec
I loved how this lizard was perched upside down, looking around for danger (or is it food?). Captured in Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park.
I encountered these Monarch butterflies during their migration southward. They had stopped at a tree that was covered with hundreds of them.
Found on Sanibel Island.
Canon PowerShot G12
ISO 320
f/4.5
1/80 sec
slight adjustments in Silver Efex 2
Enjoyed watching this pelican cruise through the evening air in Sanibel, FL.
Playing around with the double exposure setting of the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone, I composed this picture of our dog and the fall trees:
Marc Cooper just became my 1,000th follower on WordPress! Thank you, my fellow bloggers, for appreciating my images sufficiently to follow my photographic flights of fancy on a regular basis. Here is the photo that started it all, the one that has turned out the be the most popular, and my personal favorite: