MooseNewsBlog

The Violet-green Swallows at Mono Lake for the most part were all on eggs. This time of year, you can always count on some being late, having a nest failure and renesting, something making them think about sex and not photographers. I had that 600VR over my shoulder, I had to make it earn its keep for the morning. This male had just brought its mate a fresh feather and was feeling quite pleased with himself. Can you tell?

The main reason I took the 600VR with me was because on our last visit, I had seen a Sage Thrasher working the shrubs. I was hoping it was still around and with all the summer tourist that head to South Tufa, would be a little more habituated. Well, we found the little guy and he was pretty cooperative. The problem was time, we were out for landscapes and not wildlife so Jake and I made clicks while we could and then off we went on to other great light up the hill.

It was a good morning!

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

PT= Private Tutoring, it’s not a place

I’m in the office for the week, pounding the keys to get writing projects done. While I’m not “outside” shooting, the activity out the window is picking up. Nesting is at its height and the adults are taking full advantage of the free food. They pay by posing like this female Cassin’s Finch. The lighting on the finch is from a single SB-900 through a Micro Apollo.

We’ve had an incredible number of stormy and rainy days already this summer. Normally they don’t come until August but I don’t mind, they bring great light. When we don’t have the clouds, we have this kind of light. While it’s cool for a moment, it soon becomes just too heavy a light for the Band-tailed Pigeons.

It’s the massive flock of Evening Grosbeaks that now dominant our feeders which are the funniest to photograph. The color of the males is killer even on a cloudy day. Their very loud whistle tells of their presense long before you see them. It makes being “stuck” behind the desk almost pleasurable!

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Wildlife Photographers Base Camp is very excited to announce a very special Texas Bird Base Camp in June, 2010. We’re going to where this photograph of a Crested Caracara was taken, on the border in Texas. This very special event is like no other Base Camp we’ve offered before. For full details, head here. Or, if you’re up to the challenge you’ll call and grab one of the six openings now!

I was pulling images for a book project on mammals and rummaging through my Columbian Ground Squirrel files and came across this oldie but goodie. Looking through the list of speices I was pulling for the book, they were all “common” species that you would find at a picnic area or pullout along the road. Nothing exoctic, nothing hard to photograph, no technical challenge or requiring long glass. Basic dirt common species that for whatever reason, other photographers chose to just not shoot. Why is that?

This little guy had his home right outside a condo we were staying at in Canada a number of years back. All I did for the photo is open the window and shoot out, didn’t even have to leave the condo to make the click. And for all that effort, I’ll have a nice pay day when it’s added to all the other “common” species I’m sending. And while it’s a common species, the photo isn’t. Being a picket, mouth open and calling with the light nicely bouncing around takes the common and make it shine. So while getting the common critter in the viewfinder might be simple, the challenge for you the photographer is making something out of nothing you could say. Because when you get paid for shooting the common, there is nothing common about common.

Photo captured by D1, 600f4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

The deadline is nearing, entries are coming in. Where’s yours?

MooseNewsBlog has a little photo contest we want to run. The subject is nesting birds, deadline is 30 June, 2009. The rules are pretty darn simple.

• Gotta have a really nice photo of a nesting bird with young. Just sitting on the nest or adult with eggs will not qualify.
• Gotta have a second photo, nothing special other than it has to demonstrate the nest successfully fledge its young.
• Photos have to be taken in 2009
• Can be from anywhere on this planet
• taken with any brand, format or medium (no crayons)

The submission rules are simple as well. Those submissions that don’t adhere to them will be automatically deleted, no notification of deletion will be made.

• You MUST submit both photographs at the same time, no exceptions
• image size must be 72dpi, longest side of the image 7″ (as in like ah 5×7″ but with digital, the 5 is an odd ball number)
• no name or copyright notice on the image itself (photographer retains all copyright)
• send your submission as an email with the two images attached to photocontest@moosepeterson.com
• email to contain name, address (shipping) and location where photographs were taken (winner will be asked to provide camera info)
• All entries to be received no later than midnight, the 30 June, 2009 (winner announced by 15 July, 2009)
• entries must be sent to photocontest@moosepeterson.com, anywhere else and they will be deleted

All gallery of all the entries is going to be created. And remember, we have a prize for the winner. Nikon Sport Optics is awarding a great pair of bins, the Monarch 8×42 ATB.

Looking forward to seeing all the images!

Wildlife Photographers Base Camp is heading to Bosque del Apache Dec 07-11, 2009. The great news is our dear friend and killer photographer Kevin Dobler (also part of our DLWS staff) is joining us as co-leader.  Kevin has been to Bosque and shot with me there many times. Hot dang, we’re going to have fun now! Our very rewarding, hard hitting, tiring and incredibly educational wildlife photographer business course is going to one of my favorite places and using it as the backdrop for launching the photographic careers of others.

Bosque is an amazing place, filled with thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. Birds is by far the main photographic target of our week. We will limit this Base Camp to just six campers, a 400mm lens or longer required. Look forward to shooting with you and sharing with you what I think is the greatest profession on the planet! We have two openings left, give us a call, now’s the time!

If you look to the north, you have the Osprey nest, look to the south and you have Yellow-headed Blackbirds. MT has always been a YHB producer for me and today was no different. During the nesting season before the nests are filled with eggs, the males just go nuts trying to attract a mate. Until you here their crazy call and see them perform, you just ain’t livin.

Their show includes all sorts of body contortions when a female even gives them the slightest hint of attention (males just never learn). So on top of the thinnest, playable reeds in the marsh where the wind whips them around, they show off their moves all in the hopes of love.

Keep in mind these are dirt common birds, there is nothing unique or special about them. No matter, we spent hours with them and in between ducking for cover from the thunderstorms, Jake & I made a couple thousand clicks in the darkish light. We think they just look cool! I ended up with lots of images I really like and didn’t have in the files previously so I’m a happy camper.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

One of my great rewards is to have our son Jake get involved in the the “family” business. Shooting with him is great fun, even more fun is sharing some of my old haunts with him. While he lives in MT now, there are still some portions of the state I know a trick or two.

Dodging the thunderstorm showers, we went out to work the many bird species right out the door. On a section of the Bitterroot River that has always produced in the spring, we photographed a Osprey nest. There is a “rule” in bird photography, don’t shoot against a gray sky. In the upper image, you can see why. The exposure just don’t fly, pun intended. The problem is the solid slat gray sky with no change in the tone. The bottom photo is a little better because there is a slight variance in the gray. Of course, when you’re working a bird in flight and you get a sharp image, you tend to ignore such details. In the game of making the image, background is everything, even the sky.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

Time, it is just so bloody important to the wildlife photographer.

Putting in your time on every aspect of your photography is a must and when done, it pays back big dividends, guaranteed. This is probably no truer than when trying to get a photograph of elusive subjects. This is a Mountain Goat photographed today in Glacier Nat’l Park. For six days we kept going to the slope they haunt only to see them way in the hell up the hill where, only goats go. I knew that if we put in the time, we would eventually get a shot at the goats.

Sitting, waiting, watching, getting “skunked” in that all we garnished for our time was information and no pics, it is so hard for wildlife photographers to just sit and watch, put in the time. Well, we put in the time one more time today and wam, their they came down the hill and into our viewfinders. No, it’s not the best photo. No, it’s not the greatest light. No, it’s not the best background. But it does show that time is still the most important aspect to photography. And that kid looking from behind mom is damn cute!

Photo captured by D3x, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Wildlife Photographers Base Camp is heading to Bosque del Apache Dec 07-11, 2009. Our very rewarding, hard hitting, tiring and incredibly educational wildlife photographer business course is going to one of my favorite places and using it as the backdrop for launching the photographic careers of others.

“What is Base Camp” is a common question. It is like nothing else out there. The guys who just finished Base Camp Glacier I think would all tell you there eyes are opened, the minds full and hearts pounding just waiting to get out and put all they’ve learned about being behind the camera, computer and desk to work.

Bosque is an amazing place, filled with thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. Birds is by far the main photographic target of our week. We will limit this Base Camp to just six campers, a 400mm lens or longer required. Look forward to shooting with you and sharing with you what I think is the greatest profession on the planet!

Wildlife photography requires a huge skill set that goes beyond f/stop and shutter speed. At Base Camp we go over and practice and many of these as there are opportunities to do so. There is nothing more cooperative than small ground mammals like this Columbian Ground Squirrel. We found a large colony that was great to photograph. Jake found a great family group that the campers could all work for hours producing some great images.

We had been hearing the American Tree Sparrow singing and singing but with their small size, they were hard to pick up. While photographing a squirrel, one walked up to me through the grass like a mouse. A heartbeat later it T’d up perfectly in front of me and I was able to get glass on it. It is the first time I’ve photographed them, look forward to doing it more, they are a great little bird.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

The weather finally gave us a break today, no rain, snow or black skies so out we were to see where the Mtn Goats and Bighorn Sheep were spending their time. We arrived to find that they too were enjoying the great warmth of the day, high up the slope. So while we waited to see what they were going to do, we photographed the gorgeous Swiftcurrent Lake.

While scanning the slope, Jake picked up this Grizzly Bear mother & cub crossing the talus. They were on a mission, booking across the cliff face is breakneck speed. In the process, we watched the goats and sheep and their response to this king of predators. It was a great show for an hour and incredibly educational to me. The ewe group bristled at the site of the griz and moved up slope. In this photo, you can see two big rams who other to turn their head, didn’t give the mom & cub a second thought. Even if I could, there was no way to get up to where the action was happening with the speed the griz were crossing the slope, so I just took some handheld 600mm shots to remind me that there are so many rewards to wildlife photography.

Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS/600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film