Chehalis Wildlife Refuge

Ok, I've gone over the edge with waterfowl photography. With the abundance of Ducks, Geese, Wren, Herron, Loons, Etc. Etc. Etc. what better time to hone your skills at wildlife photography.
Practicing following a flying duck traveling at upwards of 65 MPH is challenging, frustrating and fun at the same time.  Patents and learning their habits is a definite plus.  I've made several trips out to the refuge at different times of the day to try and observe the different waterfowl habits. ie. which direction do they typically come from in the morning, evening? Do they spend most of the day sitting/swimming around on a pond or river? Or do they consistently fly from spot to spot?

Learning the habits of the different species is a definite plus. Otherwise you're just running from place to place hoping to find something.  Asking locals, hunters, fishermen, rangers is a great way to quickly find information. Most are more than willing to exchange information and talk with you.

Here are some shots from todays trip.  Approximately 4 hours at 2 different ponds in the refuge.
All photos were taken with a Canon 7D Mark II on a Manfoto travel tripod.

3 Ducks coming in for a landing

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/1000, f/7.1, iso 1600 

Same 3 ducks having landed at the end of the pond.

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, iso 1250 

 Hunters scared an owl out of it's resting spot. Caught it gliding above the brush.

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/1000, f/8.0, iso 6400 

Just as I was considering packing up 2 flocks of white swans came flying towards me.

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 400mm, 1/1000, f/8.0, iso 6400

 Flock of ducks heading for a new place to lay down.

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/1000, f/8.0, iso 2000

  Mud hen looking for some vitals

Canon EF 400mm, 1/2000, f/5.6, iso 2000 

This Alder Flycatcher spent about and hour hopping from limb to limb in 2 trees about 12 feet from me. 

Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/2000, f/5.6, iso 2000 

 Same Alder Flycatcher  Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/2000, f/5.6, iso 2000 

Him again Canon EF 400mm, 400mm, 1/1250, f/5.6, iso 1250 

 I have to say that to date I feel that this is the best sharp focus of any bird that I've taken since shooting birds in the refuge. Canon EF 400mm f5.6, 400mm, 1/1000, f/7.1, iso 500

Final look at him just before packing up for the evening.

Canon EF400mm f5.6, 400mm, 1/1000, f/7.1, iso 160

It's not all wildlife. Here are a couple of Landscape from my hike between the ponds. Water to the right is the pond that the 3 ducks were landing in. Shot from this location 160° to the right.

Canon EFS10-22mm, 14mm, 1/13, f/25, iso 100 

Stand of Birch trees across the pond from my setup.

Canon 400mm 5.6L, 400mm, 1/1000, f/7.1, iso 800

Lone cattail along the waters edge of pond 2. 

Canon 400mm F/5.6L, 400mm, 1/1000, f/8.0, iso 6400

  I took this as I am amazed that people can come and make use of a beautiful place and leave their trash laying around.  I picked up 5 shotgun shells and 2 beer cans along my walk, but noticed much more.  I will be going back out in the next couple of days with several trash bags to start cleaning up Mother Nature.  Please do your part and pick up your trash and maybe some extra as well. 

All in all a very productive, educational and fun 4 hours this afternoon.  Hope to be back out there again next week.

Have a enjoyable week and don't forget your camera. You never know what will pop up right in front of you.

Aloha,

Aaron

Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge

Checking out the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge in Hoquiam Washington on Wednesday, although it was 28°, was a productive trip.  With a walk along the Hoquiam Airport to the Sandpiper Trailhead I was able to get some shots of a Pacific Wren that followed me down the airport driveway to the entrance to the trailhead. I saw mostly ducks along my short walk with one Bald Eagle perched on a stump along the waters edge. Actually didn't see him until I was back in the office and was processing my photos. There he was in the corner of one of my shots of a flying Mallard, I only made it about 1/3 of the way to the trailhead on this walk, was getting to close to sun setting and to dark for handheld shooting. The walkway has several nice viewing areas, with benches along the way.

I set my Canon 6D to Auto ISO, 1/800 to 1/2000 at f/7.1 with EF 400mm USM lens for most of my shots on this trip. Most bird were 75-100 yards away. It was a very gray overcast day.

Here are some of the shots.

This is the Wren that followed me down the road

 Something was really interesting down there!

 Hen coming in for a landing.

 Drake & Hen hanging out together.

 Love the suns glow on the hens face.

 And they finally decided to take their leave.

 Since I had to walk past the airport, couldn't resist taking shot of plane taking off with the golden glow on the runway.

This was a very productive hour of time. Would highly recommend a trip out to see/photograph the waterfowl.  I know that I'll be back out there in the next couple of weeks, definitely with more than an hour to sped.

Have a wonderful weekend. Don't forget Martin Luther King day on Monday.

Don't forget the camera.

Mahalo,

Aaron

As Christmas drew close I decided to take a 3 day trip up to Leavenworth Washington to enjoy the snow and get some winter photography started.

As luck would have it Mother Nature had it start snowing on my arrival and thru the next day.  Here are some shots of the town Christmas Lights and the Wenatchee River. And of course a lot of snow.

Early Morning Frosted Bush Twig

Twilight off the deck of our lodge

Looking East as the sun rises over the Wenatchee River

Reflections of the Mountains in the Wenatchee River 

Oh, Did I mention it was a rustic lodge ;0)

Leavenworth Town Center Christmas Lights.

Twilight across the field adjacent to our lodge. 

Notice the 1st start of the evening

Early Morning Snow covering the trees along the Wenatchee River.

It was a fun (if you could ignore the cold) couple of days of shooting. Except for the night shoot every shot was set for exposure compensation of 1.5/2.0 stops.  This is done to offset the cameras tendency to overexpose due to the abundance of White Snow. 

Hope you enjoy these. Be sure to check out my Etsy Shop.  www.etsy.com/shop/eschossophotography if you're interested in purchasing some fine art photography. 

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Have a great week and Happy New Year.  Don't forget your camera.

Aaron

Sugar Cane Burning

On the way to work in late June I came up to the Honoapiilani Hwy Intersection heading to Lahaina, this is what I saw across the road.  I pulled over and retrieved my Canon 6D and tripod, only to find out that I had the attachment for my travel tripod that didn't fit the Manfrotto I had with me. Returning to the car to put everything away I noticed the flames reflection off the roof of my White (clean) Civic.  Laying the camera on the edge of the roof, I was able to get these shots.

Water Truck driving parallel to the burning field

As the flames intensity grow closer to the hwy vehicles continue along.

Tree & Flames reflection from Cars roof.

 Wider angle of the above shot

This is the last time that this field will ever be planted or burnt as HC&S discontinues sugar cane production on the island of Maui.

Have a great week and don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron

Water Drops

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Yesterday I broke out the camera's, yes 2 cameras, Canon 6D & 7D and setup a small light box of white 3/8" foam board.

I tried using my laser to trigger the camera, but didn't have any luck as it was too erratic. Sometimes not triggering at all other times doing continuous shots until I'd turn it off. So I reverted to the old fashion method of counting the drops and firing on the 4th drop as I estimated the time of the cone leaving the waters surface.  Probably had a 20% success rate. Thank the lord for digital technology.

I started with clear water to get distance and focus (I still think I can get the drops more defined as I practice) and then added blue coloring and then red.  Some of these are much more dramatic as the blue was mixed by the balls of red hitting the surface. 

I ended up having the best success with my 7D mark II as the 10-22 lens seemed to be easier to focus and reacted better to the available light.  

Blue/Clear drop suspended about a pool of blue water with rings radiating across the surface.

 

Raising water tower from a pool of red & clear water. 

 

Wildlife

As the clouds broke and the sunlight came out to play (i.e. It stopped raining for a couple of hours) I headed out to the Wildlife Refuge to see what waterfowl had arrived (if any) and scope out places to set up for future shoots.

Saw much more than I counted on, although not as many waterfowl as I thought there would be.  Right at the end as the sun was setting it started to sprinkle.

Reflections on the pond

Canadian Honker gliding across the water

Two Teal coming in for a landing

 

Bunnie trying not to be seen

 

All in all it was an enjoyable couple of hours walking the refuge and looking at the wildlife.  I laid along the short and watched/photographed the Canadian Honker for about an hour. She didn't seem to mind me at all, although she did stay at least halfway across the pond from me.  Teal were a surprise as I had just walked up to a new area and as I turned they came streaking by.  Got 3 shots off with only the first being in focus and panned to freeze their flight. Saw a large crane, but it was to far away for a decent shot.  I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months when the geese and ducks really start arriving. 

Heading to Mnt. Rainier on Tues.  Should be some good locations if it's not poring rain.  Have a wonderful week. Enjoy the fall colors and don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron

Mount Rainier

Aloha:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday were Mount Rainier exploration days. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative (it rained 95% of the time).  Still the fall colors were beautiful and should be even better over the next few weeks. Most are just starting to turn.

We were able to find an abundance of different mushrooms, a couple of nice waterfalls & mountainside landscapes.

Here are 6 different Mushroom types that we found.

 
2 Waterfalls:

Tree embracing Mountain Peak

Starting Fall Colors

Have a wonderful week, and don't forget the camera
Aloha
Aaron