Southwest Colorado in the Fall.
Come spend four exciting days on a total immersion photo safari in beautiful southwest Colorado. Colorado is magnificent in the fall as the aspen turn gold. The safari is September 27-30, 2019. Registration is limited and this photo safari is filling up. Details are here.
Are you ready to take your nature and wildlife photography to the next level? Are you ready to learn the professional secrets that make the difference between good images and great images? Are you ready for a high intensity, action packed, total immersion photography weekend? Come to Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix June 7-10, 2019.
Favorite Photos, February. Click for a larger version.
Here are my favorite photos for the month of February. The story behind this “favorite photos by date” project is here.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls in deservedly one of the most popular tourist locations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Another photographer and I mostly had the place to ourselves with only a few other people around. I am surprised more people don’t go in the winter.
There weren’t a lot of wildlife to be seen on this particular day in February. After the fall rut ends, most of the elk retreat into the forest. But I was lucky enough to find this group of young bulls on the edge of the forest in Horsehoe Park.
Sami Lynn and I were creating portraits for her model portfolio. With her on the floor, I arranged her hair to get as many curls as possible at the ends of the strands of hair. The rose petals were my idea. I knew the Valentine’s Day roses in a vase were about done so I plucked all the petals and dropped them on the floor and on Sami Lynn.
I’ve been to more art fairs, shows, galleries, and museums, than I would care to admit, and this exhibit is one of the most unique and remarkable I have experienced. Some people choose to make art their life, and then they pour their life into their art, sometimes quite literally. And that is exactly what Julia Franklin did with this exhibit.
This image was created on the same trip as my Snowy Owl trip. This is a young bald eagle. As it matures the head feathers will turn white and the wing feathers will get darker. This is my favorite photo for February 22.
This Snowy Owl is far and away my favorite photo for February 21, and it is one of my all time most favorite wild bird images.
Snowy Owl Update: February 22. Thanks to all the cold and snow this winter, this is a great year for Snowy Owls. They have been farther south than usual and they are staying longer than usual. It is not too late to go photograph snowy owls. Don’t wait too long. As the weather gets warmer they will start moving farther north.
Snowy Owl, Photo Location P1
When I am traveling with my highly trained and high paid photographic assistant it is his job to remove trash barrels when they are in the way, cut down trees that spoil my view, run out into the meadow and scare off the cow elk that are in front of the bull elk I want to photograph, rip boards off of old barns that don’t look quite distressed enough, pull on the whiskers of a sleeping cougar to wake it up, and cut down utility lines that are obstructing a clear view of my subject. But he wasn’t with me on this trip due to sitting in jail over a minor incident in Yosemite. So I had a challenge on my hands that I had to solve myself.
I am kidding, of course. The prior paragraph was inspired by really crazy things a few photographers do but shouldn’t be doing.
Snowy Owl, Photo Location P1
A simple change of background can turn a disappointing wildlife photo into a great one. Professional wildlife photographers think about backgrounds all the time and do everything they can to improve the background. Less experienced wildlife photographers are so excited to find an interesting creature that they give the background precious little thought.
Snowy Owl
What is a Snowy Owl expedition really like? This article is your chance to find out. Join me for a two day photo safari! I give you tips and photo suggestions along the way, and you get to see how I prepare, plan, and adapt on a photo trip. I tell you what went right and what went wrong so this is also about what to do when things don’t go according to plan.
Snowy Owl Sightings, January 2016
Winter is your opportunity to photograph Snowy Owls. When it is cold enough and there is enough snow cover, snowy owls move down into the northern U.S. The colder it is the farther south they move. If conditions are right, don’t delay. If the winter turns warmer the snowy owls will head back north.
Snowy Owl looking for prey.
If there are cold enough temperatures and plenty of snow cover on the ground, the northern United States has a winter invasion of Snowy Owls. These are magnificent creatures and well worth your photographic time and attention. This series is filled with tips on how to find and photograph snowy owls.
This iconic photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt is one of the most famous images ever published by LIFE magazine. Eisenstaedt was at Times Square on the day Japan’s surrender was announced. Joyful, exuberant people filled the streets, as did photographers. Eisenstaedt took four photos of this couple (as well as photos of other people celebrating). There is quite a story behind this image.
Ansel Adams in front of “Monolith: The Face of Half Dome, 1927”. Photographed in his home Dec. 2, 1980.
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902. He is “the” icon of American landscape photography. Trained as a concert pianist, his love of photography and time spent in Yosemite National Park led him to a career change.
Lyn Marie wanted to go out and shoot in the snow. So we did. This is one of my two most favorite photos for February 20 and one of my all time favorite winter “figure studies”.
Lyn Marie liked my portfolio so she made the trip from St. Louis Missouri to Ohio so we could work together. This is my favorite photo for February 18.
Don’t miss it. At noon today at Carol Hall in the Shaw Center (Graceland University), Julia Franklin will be talking about her remarkable art exhibit.
I have three favorite photos for today’s date. I have been photographing all these sisters since they were toddlers. If their faces look familiar, it is because they have been part of this series before.
A lot of Canada geese lived in our neighborhood in Columbus Ohio, thanks to several retention ponds. It was a regular thing for traffic to be stopped as geese crossed a neighborhood road. Sometimes it would be just a few geese and sometimes 15 or 20 or more.
At the time of this photo shoot, Ashley was an American model living in Italy. She was planning a short trip back to the states to visit family and we wanted to work together. So she squeezed a short trip to Columbus into her tight schedule. This is my favorite image for February 15.
Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday in 2016, so we had a Valentine themed meal after church. This collage of images for that day is my favorite image for February 14.
It was a cold February day in Ohio, and I was out in the yard playing games with our oldest grandson. I love the read cap so I grabbed a camera to take a few pictures. This is not only my favorite photo for February 13, it is one of my all time favorite photos of Andrew.
The Christmas tree came down today. As much as I love having the tree up, it has to come down sooner or later.
Our Christmas tree is still up so I did some images of a few of our favorite ornaments.
If you have been following along this month, you can tell February is not my favorite photography month. In my favorite photo folder there are some dates for which I have only one photo, and some of them aren’t very exciting.
What kid doesn’t like making and hanging out in a blanket fort? I was at “Picking Up the Pieces, an art exhibit at Graceland University by Julia Franklin (story here). I crawled inside the blanket fort to take pictures.
We were having lunch at our favorite sandwich place in Leon Iowa. Thanks to the cold weather the window was covered with condensation, obscuring the view of the outside and making the logo on the window stand out.