I am pleased to announce the release of the first Nature Profiles film in the “phenomena” category, “Feeding Frenzy.” Take a look at the chaos of a feeding frenzy dominated by a wide variety of herons, egrets, spoonbills, storks, and more. If you enjoy the film, please share it with others!
Sunfish Celebration
This montage shows five different species of Sunfish, all found in the same lake in downtown Orlando. (Click to view Larger)
For most of my childhood I lived on a small lake in downtown Orlando, and I spent a decent chunk of my free time in a canoe catching small fish. As a kid, I called them all bream or bluegill, not knowing that there was actually a huge diversity of species in the sunfish family. A couple weeks ago, I returned to those same fishing spots and caught a bunch of those same fish and started to identify the actual species with the help of charts from baitcasting reel. Turns out, I had about 5 different species of sunfish in the lake and almost all of them were in a single location. One of the great things about the Daily Species component of this project is that I am rediscovering the places I knew as a childhood and learning so many new things about the species I interacted with when I was growing up here.
Feeding Frenzy!
Still from Time Lapse of Feeding Frenzy of Egrets, Herons, Spoonbills, Storks, and Ibis. Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas.
Earlier this week I visited Orlando Wetlands Park, east of Orlando. This is one of my favorite local wetlands and always enjoy visiting it. This was my first visit this year as they just reopened to the public after being closed for duck hunting season. Upon arrival, I found it to be a very foggy morning and hoped it would creating some cool moody lighting. In the very first cell, I found an incredible feeding frenzy of wading birds including several species of egrets and herons as well as lots of Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, and both Glossy and White Ibises. I shot a lot of video but wanted to share this still that was pulled from a time lapse I did of the entire feeding frenzy. Stay tuned next week to see the whole video on the next Nature Profiles!
Dealing with Bad Days
https://vimeo.com/85983596
So when I am working on a project day in and day out for three years, I’m bound to have some bad days. It’s life and learning how to deal with those frustrating moments when equipment fails, subjects don’t cooperate, bad weather rolls in, and the world conspires to make you fail is a major challenge for a long term project like this. Take a quick look at this week’s episode of Behind the Lens, Dealing with Bad Days, to learn just how I try and deal with that frustration.
Behind the Lens – The Evolution of a Photograph
https://vimeo.com/85405584
In this week’s episode of Behind the Lens, I take a look at the “Evolution of a Photograph.” I walk you through my process when I am working in the field and use photography to discover what I am seeing and let my image evolve. In this particular case, I show you the evolution of the photography “Ducks, Cranes, and Pelicans.” Enjoy!
Ducks, Cranes, and Pelicans at Dusk
Hundreds of Sandhill Cranes join a small flock of White Pelicans and thousands of ducks to roost in the Click Ponds at Viera Wetlands. (click on the image to view larger)
Last week while I was shooting the Great Blue Heron Courtship film, I spent an evening at the Click Ponds, just adjacent to Viera Wetlands at sunset. Each evening, several hundred Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) are coming in to roost in the ponds and it is a pretty spectacular show. A few days earlier, I had spent some time photographing and filming from the west side of the pond with the light at my back and gotten a few decent images but nothing spectacular. To try for something different, I decided to shoot on the east side of the pond, shooting back into the setting sun.
By the time I made it to the ponds, the sun had already set but the sky was ablaze. It was a chaotic scene with a large flock of White Pelicans, close to a thousand or more ducks, and a growing flock of cranes. To tell the story, I really wanted to isolate a few of the cranes in flight as they came into the pond at dusk. After taking a bunch of images, I finally found a group of birds that walked away from the dense flock just as a couple more cranes entered my frame. So far, this one of my favorite experiences and photographs from the project.
To learn more about the evolution of this image, watch this week’s episode of Behind the Lens, “The Evolution of a Photography.”
Great Blue Heron Courtship
Today, I’d like to announce the latest short film in the Nature Profiles series, Great Blue Heron Courtship. Take a moment to learn about the beautiful displays that Great Blue Herons perform during their courtship and nest building. I had a blast filming this at Viera Wetlands (officially the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera). It was great to see a few old friends and make some new ones while working on this piece. A little bit later in the season, I’ll do another film about parental care once the chicks hatch and the action picks up again! Enjoy!
Behind the Lens – Stills vs Video: Handling the Camera
https://vimeo.com/84927855
I have just released the latest episode of Behind the Lens, “Stills vs Video: Handling the Camera“. This is the first in many episodes where I talk about how shooting stills and video is different and the different things I have to think about. For this first installment, I start with the basics–how I handle the camera and some of the major differences I found when I first started shooting video with a DSLR. Enjoy!
Behind the Lens – Filming in the Spatterdock
https://vimeo.com/84283271
This morning I am happy to release this week’s episode of Behind the Lens, “Filming in the Spatterdock.” This is meant to be a companion piece to Tuesday’s “Dawn in the Spatterdock” providing a behind the scenes look at the filming of that episode of Nature Profiles. Join me as I sit on the edge of Lake Jackson in the Prairie Lakes Unit of Three Lakes Prairie Wildlife Management Area south of Orlando. I hope this gives you a small taste of what it is like to sit behind the camera waiting on birds to come near and what is going through my head while I am waiting. Hope you enjoy!
Dawn in the Spatterdock
This morning I have released the first real episode in the Nature Profiles series, Dawn in the Spatterdock. Take three minutes to learn about Spatterdock (Nuphar advena), a common native aquatic plant found in many local lakes. It really is amazing how many different species of birds and other animals use the Spatterdock as hunting grounds. Enjoy!
