Bearded Dragon, eating an insect (Steve Greer)
On a recent photo assignment a client wanted an action shot of a reptile catching an insect. The concept was to illustrate the speed and accuracy of an animal that dates back to the age of dinosaurs. Talk about great design.
This lizard, with it’s beautiful arrow-shaped head and spiny points, and scales along the skin of the throat made it an ideal subject to photograph. The “beard” in the dragon’s name comes from it’s ability to flare out it’s throat to scare off potential predators.
The tongue of a lizard is covered in a thick mucus, which sticks to the prey, and allows the dragon to draw the tongue, with prey attached, back into their mouths for eating.
Because the reptile flicks it’s sticky tongue out to snare their prey faster than the human eye can see, high speed strobes were needed.
Setting my flashes to high speed sync, and my camera to it’s maximum flash sync speed of 1/250 of a second, my settings were ISO 100, 84mm, f16, 1/1000sec.
My three 550EX flashes had no problem keeping up with my settings and the lightening fast tongue strikes. It was my reflexes on the shutter that made the photo shoot go into overtime. Thank goodness this cooperative lizard had a healthy appetite.
Bearded Dragon, eating an insect (Steve Greer)
This cricket didn’t stand a chance.
Monarch Butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis
I had a chance to photograph this caterpillar spin it’s chrysalis and then 10 days later, watch it emerge as a monarch butterfly.
During the 10 days it looked like nothing was happening inside the shell. But it was a time of rapid change. For within the protective covering, the old body parts of the caterpillar underwent a remarkable transformation, called metamorphosis, to become the beautiful parts that made up the butterfly.
From the time when the butterfly breaks free of it’s sleeping bag to when the wings are inflated and begin to dry, takes approximately 12 minutes. So without a crystal ball, on the ninth day, I set up my own sleeping bag next to the caterpillars’ and wait. I don’t dare sleep. I’ve watched paint dry and grass grow, but not being able to examine the inside of my eyelids was not fun. But then it happened. Miraculous!
This is a time lapse photo over those 10 days. Each individual image was then stitched together in PhotoShop, and put together as a montage.
To learn more about these amazing flying flowers and what you can do to help ensure their survival, visit the good folks at Pollination Station.
And to see more photos of monarch butterflies, visit my website.
Brown Bear and her cubs looking for food
Of all the bedtime stories I’ve read to my kids where cute little bears play the main roles, nothing prepared me for the up-close and personal views of the Alaskan brown bear.
Katmai National Park is located at the head of the Alaska Peninsula approximately 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage, encompassing over 4 million acres of land and water. The park is famous for its brown bears and fish populations. Bristol Bay streams, including the Naknek River, are the source of some of the world’s largest salmon runs and have been for approximately the last 4000 years.
As a result, the brown bear of the Alaska Peninsula are big, really big. That size is a direct result of the abundance of spawning salmon, a nutritious and plentiful food source that contributes to rapid growth for feeding bears. The salmon make the bears what they are; without the profuse run of salmon, the bears would not come together in such high concentrations or attain such massive size.
Fishing in Katmai is defined by anglers as “combat fishing.” In peak bear viewing times, July to September, anglers spend much more time out of the water than in. The park has a rule, to stay a minimum of 50 yards away from a male bear and 100 yards from a sow with cubs. Of course, it can be challenging to fish in the Oxbow River and predict when a bear might play peek-a-boo as it emerges from the tall grasses that border each side of the river. It is good scary fun.
From my safe vantage point I was happy to see these 2 anglers taking turns to fish. It’s important to always have someone “spot” bears for you. Often anglers become so involved in fishing that they forget to watch for bears.
Even though the bears have become habituated with humans and there is such an abundance of salmon for the bears to feed on, it’s wise to keep your spider senses on full alert. Bears approach anglers because they have learned to recognize them as a source of food. Especially the splashing of a fish on line will often catch the attention of a bear. To fish here you have to know how to break your line quickly and move out of the water until the bear passes.
Carrying a camera instead of a fly pole, I was walking down a path from the beach to the Brooks Falls, when a curious juvenile male unexpectedly reared up in the tall grass just 12 yards ahead. This guy looked more like a dirigible in a fur coat and far less cuddly than anything I’ve seen at ‘Build a Bear’. I instinctively pointed the lens in his general direction, squeezed off a few frames, before bidding a methodical and slow retreat. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I remember hearing him doing the math: one 150-pound photographer equals 25 sockeye salmon averaging six pounds apiece. Hmmmm.
In a place where you are no longer on the top of the food chain, a little fear of these fabulous bears is a good idea. But you can’t let it from keeping you home. I hope someday to return to Katmai to wander carefully among these fabulous bears. They really are what make Katmai so very special.
For more images of the Katmai bears and their home visit my website
Great Horned Owls at the nest
Recently I had the good fortune to photography a family of great horned owls at the nest. Over a 26 day period, from when the chicks were tiny little balls of fluff until the young fledged from the nest, I witnessed some amazing intimate behavior one can only experience if you put in the time.
I used a permanent camouflaged blind that I crawled into everyday. And even though I used a long Lens, these owls knew I was there – there eyesight is 30x more sensitive than humans.
I would come to the blind everyday at 1-2pm. Because they’re nocturnal, they were still deep in the cavity, mostly sleeping. They would eye me suspiciously when I came, but once I was in the blind, they would tolerate me, and within an hour I was accepted and perceived as not a threat. I would only leave the blind until it was completely dark – of course that was based on what my own optical nerve could perceive. The consistency of this routine, regardless of weather, I was totally accepted.
This photo was taken using a 600mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. It’s about 6:30pm when the owlets would generally start to wake up, preen, and stretch, in anticipation of their evening dinner. There is a third owlet tucked away behind it’s siblings. At this point the young are about four and a half weeks old.
Ken Kaufman’s book “Lives of North American Birds” has the Great Horned Owls first year mortality rate high; adult annual survival 45-90% Considering the abundant food source the parents came home with every night, mostly rabbits, all the owlets fledged successfully and I’m hopeful they will improve this statistic a little.
For more images of my time with the owls visit my website
Horeshoe crabs breeding on the Atlantic Coast, Delaware Bay, New Jersey
For many years I’ve been attempting to create an image of the horseshoe crabs ancient migration, a mating ritual that predates dinosaurs. Closely related to the spider family, these crabs crawl out of the frigid waters of the Delaware Bay and onto New Jersey beaches once a year to lay their eggs. This event only happens at a very specific location on the planet, at a very specific time. Anticipating the correct moon cycle, high tides, time of sunrise, and cooperative weather, are important elements in making this photo-op possible. The challenges of combining intriguing light, movement, and a sense of rhythm and pattern have led to many failed attempts in the past.
For more on my field notes and information on horse crabs, visit my website
Exploring the meaning of the sea in our lives, where time is marked by the ebbing and flowing of tides, I’m very proud to participate in the project “The Sea Around You”; the companion book to the “Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World” by scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initative, Deborah Cramer.