Ten Photos
When putting this website together, I decided to select ten photos for the home page that would tell something about my evolution as an amateur photographer. This is the story about these photos and why they were selected.
Smiling Buddhas at Angkor Thom, Cambodia.
This site is just down the road from Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend in Siem Reap, Cambodia, while on a business trip to Thailand in early 2001. I had just recently made the switch from film to digital and my first digital camera was a Sony that used a 1 3/4 inch floppy disk (1.4Meg!) for image storage. The zoom capabilities were limited, but being able to quickly observe your images was a big advantage for me relative to film. If I took a bad shot, I just deleted it!
Machu Picchu, Peru
In December 2009, I did a lodge trek to Machu Picchu. By this time, I had acquired a Nikon D50 and a couple of lenses. I also owned a Casio Exilim for quick snapshots and as a backup camera.
[After a cycling accident with a dog in rural Costa Rica a couple of years earlier wiped out the only camera I had brought along, I vowed that that would never happen again.]
I've always liked looking at architecture, as well as architectural ruins. The strong angles are pleasing to the eye and the few humans give a sense of scale to the site.
Reflections in the water - kayaking near Pleneau Island, Antarctic Peninsula
By the time I traveled to Antarctica in late 2014, I had picked up a waterproof Nikon Coolpix AW120 for taking photos when in or near water. I took this shot while in a sea kayak on a beautiful "spring" day in Antarctica. I've always been fascinated by reflections in water and it is one of my favorite things to try to capture. In this shot, the symmetry between air and water is amazing. I also got to highlight the blue ice of the stranded iceberg, another thing I like to try to capture when I am in such an environment.
Two Polar Bears Feeding on a Narwhal - Near the Seven Sisters, north of Spitzbergen Island, June 2015.
Sometimes, you have a rare encounter with nature that just boggles the mind. This event occurred during an adventure cruise in Svalbard Archipelago, above the Arctic Circle. Early that morning, as we were close to the most northerly point in our trip (~ 81deg N), one of the staff spotted a polar bear on the ice with a possible kill. As we approached closer, someone spotted a second polar bear heading towards the same spot. We all watched as the two bears met and with little fanfare, began to feed on what turned out to be a narwhal! Periodically, they would wrestle with one another, but in general, there was little violence. I particularly like this shot, as it shows the two bears trying to move the kill, but each is pulling in the opposite direction. You can also see some of the bird life attracted by the bears, looking for some scraps, from glacous gulls, to the rare ivory gull, and a northern fulmar, in flight at the right.
Baobab Alley in Western Madagascar, at Sunset
In July 2016, I spent two weeks in Madagascar. I was fortunate enough to see a number of the endemic plants and animals that reside in Madagascar, but I share this photo because it represents another type of photo I like taking: sunrises and sunsets. When the sky is just right and the clouds are just right, the vivid colors are quite beautiful. Though there weren't any clouds that day, the local farmers had been burning their fields, which put a lot of smoke in the air, which in turn gave the vivid reds you see here. Having some baobab trees in the foreground didn't hurt,either.
Monarch Butterfly on Lavender - Sonoma County, California
I love the challenge of trying to photograph both birds and flying insects. It is also highly rewarding when I actually get a decent shot, like this one! I've learned a lot about patience in the last few years and trying to be more observant of the world around me.
Lilac-breasted Roller in Okavango Delta, Botswana
In November 2016, I traveled to Botswana to go on a nature safari. We toured the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta, Linyanti River, and finished up at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. This quickly became my favorite bird, due to the brilliant colors. I also used this trip as my excuse to pick up a 200 - 500 mm zoom lens, instead of continuing to rely on my 70 - 300 mm zoom. I also acquired a new Nikon D500 body that year, which upgraded the image size and quality over my D50. I still use the D50, typically with a 18 - 70 mm zoom lens for landscape shots, while I mate the D500 with the larger zoom lens.
Greenlandic kayaker completing a barrel roll - Sept. 2017
This is another example of being at the right place at the right time. In fact, we shouldn't have been here at all. I was on an expedition cruise around Greenland and the original plan was to leave from Nuuk (the capital city) on the west coast and cross the Davis Strait to visit Baffin Island for a few days before ending the journey there. However, a massive storm was forecast, so instead we headed into the shelter of the fjord system east of Nuuk and our first stop was Qooqqut, where they were having an end of summer festival. During the morning, three kayaks were built, using some bits of lumber, saran wrap, and duct tape. In the afternoon, some of the local youth demonstrated the sea-worthiness of the kayaks by doing a number of demonstrations, including this impressive barrel roll. He's using a traditional kayak pullover and a traditional paddle (much thinner than a western paddle). I was lucky enough to catch him just as he came back up, along with his look of triumph. This photo is somewhat unusual for me in that I normally do not take photographs of people, especially strangers,
Anna's Hummingbird and Mexican Sage - San Jose, CA
For the last two years, I've been bringing my camera to work. I'm fortunate that there is a nature trail very close to where I work and it is easy to spend lunch hour walking a three mile round-trip circuit. I see a lot of wildlife there (including a bobcat a couple of times). Behind our facility is open ranch land and wildlife is visible there, as well. Even the landscaping around the building can be a good place to photograph. In late fall and early winter, the Mexican sage blooms and it brings bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are challenging to photograph, due to their small size and quick movements and this shot was particularly rewarding. The Mexican sage flower color complements the iridescence of the male hummingbird's neck feathers. I've also become more comfortable shooting in shutter priority to freeze the action.
Tropical Kingbird at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary - Belize
I went to Belize in January 2018 for a week. I took some amazing photos of the wildlife, both in the air and underwater, but I am most proud of this shot. While walking on a trail near our lodging at a wildlife sanctuary, I kept seeing these birds landing and taking off from nearby bushes. (They were going after small insects.) I probably spent at least fifteen minutes trying to get a shot of one of them taking off or landing. I finally got the focus and timing right on this shot. It was worth the wait! The whole time I thought back on a time when I used film and that I would never had either the patience or fortitude to waste as many shots to just get one good one.
