Weekly Fling

Yeah, it has been slow around here lately. We did go out to Converse College a few days ago. However, I didn't get any photographs that I particularly liked. That does happen occasionally. Sometimes the photography clicks, and sometimes it doesn't. Kind of like Life, I suppose. So long as you keep working at it, you are ahead of the game. It wasn't anything to do with Converse's campus, which is quite lovely. I simply didn't get the best images that I wanted. Of course, that just means that I'll have to go back and try again.

This weekend is Spartanburg's annual Spring Fling event. It is the city's spring street fair. Rides, street performances, stage performances, artists, musicians, vendors, etc. There is usually a lot going on and some fun for everyone. This year I'll be helping the Spartanburg Photography Guild hand out fliers for our "Meeting and Greet" kick-off next week. We'll be at the Spartan Photo Center tents on and off throughout the day tomorrow. Other times we will be wondering around to enjoy the festivities.

Spring Fling runs from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon.

Come on out if you are in the area.

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The Spartanburg Photograph Guild

A couple other local photographers and I are trying to start-up a local photography club. It is called The Spartanburg Photography Guild.

Our first gathering will be a "Meet and Greet" style affair. Here are the details.

When: Thursday, May 6, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm,
Where: Spartan Photo Center
197 East St. Johns Street
(directly across from the Chapman Cultural Center)
Spartanburg SC, 29306

We will have some refreshments, get to know each other, and discuss our love of photography.

If you are in the Greenville / Spartanburg, South Carolina area and have an interest in sharing your photography with others, then please come; we would love to meet you.

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Pretty Birds

African Grey Parrot

Some of the animals at Hollywild Animal Park have been rescued from owners that could no longer care for them or that needed to find the animal a better home. Tank, the rhino I showed a couple of days ago, is one of Hollywild's rescued animals. He has been at the park for about twenty years now.

The park also has a few parrots that local owners brought to the park because they couldn't care for them any more. Above is the Park's African Grey Parrot. African Greys are extremely intelligent birds. Some have learned not only how to mimic words, but how to use them in context as well as teach other parrots how to "speak" English. Case in point. When I finished photographing this parrot, I told it, "Thank you." The bird promptly replied with, "You're welcome." This got quite a few impressed chuckles from the other photographers.

More after the jump.

Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot

Above is Hollywild's Yellow-naped Amazon parrot. It has a yellow patch on the back of it's neck, i.e. the nape, hence the name. This bird was quite a talker and had a very clear voice. It mostly said "Hello" with various inflections, but it did use other words and phrases too. I believe it said "Goodbye" to a photographer that was leaving it. The bird also seemed to relish the attention as it always had this mischievous gleam in it's eyes.

Scarlet Macaw

Finally, I got to photograph this Scarlet Macaw. These are the birds that come to mind when most people think of parrots. They are large birds who need a lot of room. Their tail can be a couple of feet long for example. This particular macaw kept moving around the tree it was placed in which make getting good shots of it difficult. Still it was a beautiful bird.

The park also has a yellow-crested cockatoo which I only got to see briefly, and didn't get any particularly good photographs of it.

All of these photographs with the parrots were taken with the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII which I got to borrow from the Nikon representative. It is such a nice lens. I love how it makes the background blur out to such a smooth set of tones and colors. That blurring effect makes the subject stand out so nicely from the background.

Have a good weekend. Maybe stop by Hollywild if you are in the Greenville or Spartanburg area.

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Turs

Baby Caucasian Turs

One of the highlights of Hollywild's Photography Day event was getting to see these Caucasian Turs. Unfortunately, I don't recall if they are Western or Eastern Turs. Turs are from the Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia. The San Diego Zoo is the only other facility in the US with this same variety of Turs. The Turs at Hollywild are part of a breading program and are not on display to the general public. They are not very large animals, and they were quite shy with all of us sitting there photographing them. They spent a lot of time hiding from us and watching us as they didn't know if we were going to eat them or not. I'm sure the large cameras and lenses didn't help either.

More after the jump.

Female Caucasian Turs

There were a couple of babies in the herd already. The one in the top photograph was the oldest and most outgoing of the two. The other infant was completely black, quite cute, and very shy. It stayed in the shade so much I didn't get any really good shots of it. The two kids should have a few more playmates in a couple of weeks as several of the females are expecting calves. The female in the second photograph above was one of the more visible of the animals. She may have been the designated "lookout" for all I know about them. The thing that I find most interesting about the Turs are their eyes. Look closely at the female and you'll notice that her irises are rectangular and not round. Quite an unusual feature I believe.

Prior to the event, I didn't know that Hollywild participated in breeding programs like this, but I suppose I really shouldn't be that surprised. It is good to know that a place here near Spartanburg, South Carolina is helping preserve some of the world's wildlife.

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Proud Watusi

Proud Watusi

This is a Watusi. It is a type of African cattle. Hollywild Animal park in Spartanburg County has several of these in its' safari area. They have some of the most impressive horns that I've ever seen.

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Lunch Time

Zebra'a Lunch

During the Photography Day event at Hollywild Animal Park near Wellford, South Carolina, we were were able to drive around the "Safari" area in our cars at our own pace. The Safari area has a large herd of deer, llamas, emus, watusis (big African cattle), bison, and other cattle. This photograph is of one of the zebras nibbling on some hay near lunch time. I was starting to get hungry myself, although not for hay.

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Hollywild Photography Day

Tank

This past weekend, I went to Hollywild Animal Park for their Photography Day event. This was the second time that they have had the event. The first time was last month. It is held in conjunction with the Spartan Photo Center who arranged to have a Nikon representative present as well. The Nikon rep was there to answer questions about equipment as well as with a full stock of camera bodies and lenses that could be borrowed during the event. I borrowed one lens after lunch. The new 70-200mm, f/2.8 VRII zoom ... such a sweet lens. I want one!

More after the jump.

As part of the event, participants had access to some areas that are usually off-limits to the general public. First, we got to get close to Tank, the park's "working" white rhino. Tank was a tad camera shy at first, but he did eventually come over to pose for us. Today's photograph is one of the my favorites that I got of him while we were visiting with him.

It was quite a fun day. There were a lot of photographers at the event. I know that a group came down from Charlotte, North Carolina for it. My guess is somewhere around 40 or so photographers in all made it out to the park. The weather was simply perfect for it as well. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, and it was a nice partly cloudy day with plenty of sun and just enough clouds to keep the skies interesting.

Stay tuned. There is more to come from the day.

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Spring Reflections

Spring Reflections

I saw these trees reflected in one of the ponds at Swan Lake in Sumter and thought that the colors would make a good image. With reflections like this I always wonder how I should have the image oriented. The way it is in this shot is how it was when I saw the reflection. The trees are across the pond, so the tops of the trees are closest to me in the reflection. You can see some ripples in the water in the upper portion of the image which gives the clue that it is a reflection and not simply an upside down photograph of some colorful trees.

Would it be better this way, with the reflection "upside down" but correct for how I saw it? Or would it be better rotated so it looks like the trees are "right-side-up", but you wouldn't realize it was a reflection until you noticed the ripples at the base of the trees?

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Wood Duck

Wood Duck

This little fellow was quite a patient little model. My father had been photographing him for about five minutes before I caught up to him. A second male wood duck had been there earlier, but escaped to the pond as my father started to take pictures. After I had gotten my couple of snaps, we found out why this guy had been waiting. His wife came out from underneath a feeding station where we hadn't seen her. I guess she had be freshening up of a date or something. She and the male duck waddled off to the pod together to enjoy the Spring evening ... and get some privacy.

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The Singing Mockingbird

Singing Mockingbird

While walking around the pond at Sumter's Swan Lake and Iris Gardens, I heard a songbird up in a tree. It was hard to find at first as it was hiding deep inside the branches. I did eventually spot it and was surprised to see that it was a Mockingbird. Most of the time that I hear them, they are screeching at other birds or at people that are getting too close to their nests. This seemed to be one of the happier ones. Spring does that to people as well as birds, I suppose.

More after the jump.

I am quite happy with the picture. First I was able to find the little guy without spooking him away. Second, I was able to frame him and focus in on him. The red berries around him give a nice bit of color to the scene. Third, I was able to push a little extra light onto him because I was using my SB 900 flash. Since he was backlit and in the tree, I needed some extra light to even out and fill in the shadows around and on him. Quite happy with the results as this is not something I think to do all of the time. The SB 900 is nice for this because it has a longer zoom range than other flashes. It zooms to 200mm which will throw light out farther than my other flash which only zooms to around 100mm or so if I recall. This means that more light will get to the subject, an important thing when using a flash in the daylight like this. It is hard to compete with the Sun after all. Plus, it better matches the zoom on my telephoto lens which was zoomed out to 300mm for this shot.

Of course, serious birding photographers use longer lenses than I have right now. Plus, they may also add an attachment to their flashes that adds a plastic Freznel lens to further extend the distance the flash can reach. The most commonly used one is call a "Better Beamer". I don't have one of those, but I have read several good reviews of them. Someday, if I ever get some of the more exotic lenses ... big if, by the way, right Honey? ;-) ... I will look into picking up one of those flash attachments. They are not that expensive compared to most other photography equipment.

I will mention that you go get some strange looks from people when you have a flash attached to your DSLR in broad daylight. You can almost see the though bubble over their heads, "The Sun is out. Why does he need that flash?" Well, the Sun might be out, but it might not be in the right place for your image. An external flash can help out in those situations. It might not take much extra light at all to even the exposure out to get a more pleasing image. Which is a good thing, because as I mentioned it is hard to compete with the Sun.

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Swan Lake

Swan Lake

This is not about the ballet. Last week, while visiting my parents, we took a trip over to Sumter, South Carolina and the Swan Lake and Iris Gardens.

My parents discovered the gardens a couple of years ago, and we had been trying to arrange a visit together. This time the weather and seasons cooperated and we were able to spend an afternoon there walking around the ponds, watching the swans and other birds, and generally enjoying a pleasant afternoon out with the family. My mother thought that most of the swans must have been hiding, but I thought there were plenty to see. Of course there were quite a few Canadian geese as well. Plus, we saw a few anhingas/cormorants as well a beautiful little wood duck. The flowers were not quite in bloom yet though. We saw some dogwoods of course, but the azaleas and particularly the irises had not budded out yet.

As I said, it was a pleasant afternoon outing with the family.

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Cardinal

Cardinal

One evening at my parents', we were sitting outside watching the birds come and go around the bird-feeder. This cardinal was one of the more colorful visitors. Kinda happy with the way it turned out except for the pole he was standing on.

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Spooky Moon

Spooky Moon

I visited my parents for a few days and took some photographs around the area. Kind of like this one. It is sort of moody.

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