The next to last day of the first month of the year of the owl pellett

I think that I have started another winter cold, so bring on the Zicam and I'll stay indoors for a bit. Need to work on the site anyway, adding a big number of new images so stay tuned to that site. http://skipwillitsfineartphotography.ifp3.com/.

Last year we found a place called "The Center for Birds of Prey" just outside of Charleston, SC. We had a delightful day watching the birds in their cages and the few birds the staff flew for the tourists. They eventually had a photographer's day a couple of months later for about thirty of us. The birds were brought out into almost natural areas and most were flown so we could get some good flight shots. The Red Tail hawks on this page are two of the images I made. The key to scheduling something like this, or even an animal farm, is that you often get closer to wild critters than otherwise.

For the uninitiated photographers, a staged or set up shoot can often provide better images than hanging out in the wild waiting for the critter to magically appear. However, a day like we had takes planning. First, to find an event or farm where decent photos can be made. Then, if possible, consider the lighting/weather available on the day or time of year you choose to make your "Adventure". Often we just have to take what God gives us as far as weather is concerned. Then of course you must prepare all the equipment, luggage, and scheduling arrangements you need for the trip.

Some years ago, I photographed the lighthouses of Florida in 10 days, two of which were apent in airplanes. I was told by colleagues and friends that September was not the month to go because of the possiblities of bad weather. Namely hurricanes. September was the only time I could go because of a number of constraints, the major of which was a publication deadline. Well, no hurricanes but some really great afternoon thunderstorms made the images just plain dramatic. The rest of the time we had blue bird skies. Go figure. But planning under constraints is a very important part of an adventure.

We spent about a half day with the staff and colleagues at the center and got some pretty good images. We met and made friends with the staff, so that return trips now will be a gathering of friends as well as a working event. Their website is http://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/index.html, and is certainly worthwhile giving a look.

The 28th day of the year of the owl pellett

The Riverwalk was almost deserted this morning around eight and the temperature was in the mid fifties headed for seventy. Sorry, my Mid-Atlantic friends who are getting a big ice storm and my New Hampshire friends getting yet another snow storm. But, been there and done that and do enjoy this warmer clime. A great website to actually see what is going on in the lakes region of New Hampshire is http://www.rattlesnakecam.com/watch.htm. A bunch of webcams some of which work all winter and some don't.

I realize that I allude to the RW quite a bit in this blog and haven't shown many images of the place. It is a concrete and boardwalk running about five miles along the Congaree River in the towns of West Columbia, Columbia, and Cayce, SC. What a great way to spend tax dollars.......Hear that Washington?

Pondering the imponderables is something that we all do from time to time. Sorta like why do we keep banging our heads against the wall, always expecting a different result. It always hurts till we stop doing it. People walk along the RW for allot of reason. Joggers get their exercise as do the walkers, both categories endeavoring to better their health. Bikers, skaters, and skate boarders all doing the same thing. Some of us looking to make photographs too. Well, if this is the case then why do people cut corners in a effort to make their walk, run, or ride shorter? The top left image shows just such a short cut on the walk. Why? They're there to get exercise, so why make it shorter. Staying on the concrete is 30 feet and the cutoff to the left is 24 feet.....save six feet of effort. Whoopeeeeee! Lazy, well maybe, but that contradict as well. Just can't figure it out. It's similar to finding trash on the ground right next to a trash bin. Yes, some of it is from raccoons, but some of it is also from negligent people. I guess I will never understand some folk's motivation to do that they do.

The 26th day of the year of the owl pellett

A wise man once said that "I'd rather be ignorant than dumb, because I would be able to tell the difference". Another wise man added "I'd rather be smart than ignorant because I would have enough information to process it." And the wisest of all said "I'd always want to be lucky rather than smart, because a higher power was looking out for me."

Well, today I got a little bit of all three. Smart, not ignorant, and dumb lucky! Yesterday on the Riverwalk I thought I saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings perched in the tree tops. They were impossible to identify by color because of the back lighting of the sky. But today, I looked for the kind of stuff they love to feed upon, found a Buckthorn tree loaded with fruit, and low and behold 75 to a 100 migrating waxwings. These guys are a temporary lot here in South Carolina because this is part of their winter range. Eventually they will reach as far North as the Canadian Provence's. The coloration is wild with a bright red band on the wings and equally bright yellow band on the tip of the tail. The body itself is a golden brown to brownish yellow. The deep black and bright white mask around the bill and eyes gives the bird the ability to look very threatening when looking directly at you. It is always a treat for me to find something which is somewhat out of the ordinary and even more of a treat to be able to photograph it. Enjoy what I saw.

25TH DAY OF THE YEAR OF THE OP

If you need a definition of the "OP" in the title, go to the first posting to find the meaning of the abbreviation. Walked about five miles today on the RW (River Walk) in about fifty degrees of cloudy damp sky. Not a good day for photography with such bad light........all grey. I did manage to pop a few that did invoke some thought. The first image is of the Congaree River with Columbia, SC in the background. Not a good image, but does contain about 185 sea gulls (yes I counted them) sitting on the rocks. First congregation of this sort this year, but it did bring to mind the fact that there seem to be an awful lot of seagulls in our world. There are over 350 million people in the US, but who counts the seagulls? Of course all the seagulls breed and only fifty percent of the human lot should be allowed to procreate, but that's another story or argument depending your point of view. But I digress. Someone counted the Ring Billed Gulls in Chicago around 1975 and came up with 3-4 million of that species and in that area alone. Talk about needing a life! Lots more species and a few more towns not counting all the coastal beaches. Oh and let us not forget those gulls in the parking lots of the malls feeding on some kid's happy meal remains that an ignorant parent left out of the garbage can. All told, I bet there are at least three gulls for every man, woman, and child in the country. Reminds one of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie about "Birds". For the young among you, just Google it. All that brings up the second picture taken on the beach on Assateague Island in Virginia a few years back. The boy's sister buried him up to his neck and scattered bait (crackers) around his head for the gulls. Some acute sense of humor she had and I understand she is now auditioning for '"Saturday Night Live".

Finally, meet Britania. She is an 11 month old English Bulldog belonging to a couple I met on the walk today. She was a first wedding anniversary gift to the lady from the husband. This is a face only a mother could love. Or a first year bride!

24th day of the year of the owl pellett

Saturday morning and raining lightly at 8:30 AM. The temperature around fifty five. A pretty good day to walk the RW and I will probably do that later. I'm a little whacked by not stupid enough to actually go out in the rain. Funny how people react to different things. One person said they loved the Blog while another asked who had the time to read such BS. I take both in stride and too bad, you all are still going to have to read this stuff, cause I'm driving this bus.

It took me a few years to join the digital photography world. At first the cameras were just too expensive to do what I needed to do and the computer software was also out of reach to mortal man. I over-stayed with the SLRs and bought slide film until it was no longer easily available, paying somewhere around $18 a roll for film and development. The old yard stick was if you got one printable image from a roll of 36, you were doing just peachy! I cannot tell you how many rolls of film I shot over the years, suffice to say I have over 20,000 slides in the files.

My first digital was a little point and shoot at six something megs. I actually used it for a couple of years and made some pretty good pictures from that little Nikon. I just had to get closer to wildlife than before. No more 300 mm lenses with doubler's bringing them up to 460 mm or more. I just had to get closer using what hunting skills I had perfected at my father's tutelage. God bless him, he taught me well and we had such great times in the woods huntin and on boats fishing. Since I took up the cameras I have put down the guns but still use the fishing rods.

I did succumb to the digital last year before a trip to the Alligator Farm in Saint Augustine, Florida. Trading in all of my old equipment in a market which wanted only digital, meant that over $8,000 worth of original equipment brought only ten percent of the original cost. Well, it did got me a Nikon 40DX (10. something megs) with a little zoom lens 18mm to 135mm. I love it. I can put 250 eight by ten photos on something that is no larger than your thumb nail. That trip to Florida, I shot 500 images and culled about as many mistakes off the camera.

Now I have gone nuts. Spending as much time on the puter as behind the camera. The attached image is a digitally merged photo of two of the old slides I made of the Barnegat Lighthouse in NJ and a cloud shot made elsewhere. The resulting image is dramatic, probably to the extreme, but has sold quite readily. This is old Barny as no one has seen. It is original, creative, and unique. The key however, is to make sure that my buyers know that it is digitally enhanced. Digital art is a different art form which should not compete on any level with pure photography. Please enjoy!

23 rd day of the year of the owl pellett

OK, my brain is about to explode. See the top picture! While it is actually a sumac tree in fall colors taken with a moving zoom lens, it's like my brain on political steroids. Congress is about to approve a proven tax dodger who has behaved in a dishonest manner to head the IRS! Only in America. What is wrong with people to allow their government to do something as boneheaded as this. Or do we just not care? Probably! No wonder congress (with a small c) has an approval rating under 10%. That means that 90% DO NOT APPROVE. But what are we doing about it? End of Rant.

Cold this morning, around 29 degrees but sunny and will probably get to somewhere near sixty. Been stuck working on the files, the pages, the photos and not able to get out and walk/and or photograph. Perhaps this afternoon. I have also been baby sitting my neighbor's new pet. Her name is Gracie Belle. Now is that southern or what! Fun dog that will eat them out of house and home within a year. She is just a puppy with big feet, and you know what that means. Eats two cups of dry dog food and a can of cat food (she's as screwed up as we are) every day. She's going to be huge but is fun to play with now, and will probably have me for lunch within a year.

Year of the owl pellett, 20th edition

We did get some snow this morning. Dribs and drabs all day long with no accumulation. So, no great photos of the RW in snow but I did do a couple of miles in what turned out to be a bit of a cold morning of solitude. Nothing like Washington, DC though, those poor people certainly had no solitude and way too much adrenlin for normal folks.

My annual fishing trip to New Hampshire will be somewhere around the end of April and of course is one of the highlights of my year. The accompanying image was made one morning two years ago as I fished for landlock salmon. Lake Winnepasaukee is like this, early on most mornings, if the wind hasn't blown all night. If it blows all night, you can bet it will be a windy day. But in the flat and calm and you can even see the fish feeding on smelt, which is their forage fish of choice. Quite a wonderful place to be on a calm morning without pressures from the rest of life. I can also get that same feeling of solitude on the RW when the rest of the world is not there. Such was the walk this morning. No photos, no people, and lots of introspection. Gotta love it.