Saw these two ladies strolling along the side of the road recently. Seemed an appropriate post for today (well, technically tomorrow). Have a great holiday everyone and see you back here next week. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 6400, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.
I photographed this garter snake in my backyard a few summers ago. The snake had just swallowed a toad and was moving very slowly, allowing me a close approach with my macro lens. Snakes use their forked tongues to collect chemical information from two different locations at once. This helps with navigation — in sort of a 3D kind of way — when looking for food, a mate and whatever else snakes are into these days. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 800, f/7.1 at 1/640th of a second.
This was our first lion encounter in the Masai Mara on our recent trip. We got close up and I took many frame-filling photos, but I liked this approach shot where I was able to use the environment to frame the lion as he sat atop a small hill. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm lens, ISO 5600, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.
It’s that time of year again when great grey owls start getting active in northern Minnesota. I’ve visited the last few years and am thinking about another trip out soon. This was taken in December of 2021 after the tamarack trees had turned a bright orange. Great greys become most active at dawn and dusk, hunting in clearings in the northern forests. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600 of a second.
I met this Parson’s chameleon at what was billed as a “reptile farm” while traveling through central Madagascar. It allowed me to get some macro shots of these colorful creatures I’d been seeing on night walks in the forest. Back then I was using a close-up filter screwed to the end of my 80-200mm lens. It worked well in a pinch when not carrying a dedicated macro lens. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm with Canon 500D close up filter attached) ISO 100, f/6.3 at 1/8th of a second.
One of the specialties of Samburu National Reserve in the north of Kenya is the gerenuk. They are always fun to see, especially when they rear back on those hind legs to get at higher vegetation. They are sometimes called giraffe-necked antelopes, and you can see why. I thought this female looked like she was playing the flute. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 360, f/5.6 at 1/1250th of a second.
It’s been a few months since a bear strolled past one of my camera traps. This beauty, either a female or young male, stopped by Sunday afternoon. Nice to get the blue sky and last remaining leaves still clinging to the trees. Most of the action this year has been at night so the diurnal setting was a pleasant surprise. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 19mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/200th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and three remote flash units.
I do love environmental wildlife shots like my last few posts, but simple headshots help to tell the story too. In this case, a Bennett’s Wallaby photographed on Bruny Island in Tasmania. A small percentage of the Bennett’s Wallabies on Bruny exhibit a genetic variance and are completely white, but the vast majority look like this handsome guy who was posing in the ferns just outside the lodge I was staying at. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/160th of a second.
I got up early for this image of king penguins marching along the shoreline at Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/2500th of a second.
This was a classic Kenyan scene we stumbled upon in the Masai Mara — elephants, acacia trees, blue hills and a stormy afternoon sky. Nothing like it. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 180, f/2.8 at 1/1000th of a second.