Eagle River Redux - Until Next Time

Over the last couple of weeks we've been reliving our extended weekend in Eagle River along the banks of the Wisconsin River (See Part I and Part II).  While the first two days and most of the third could not be categorized as "ideal weather", toward the end of the third day there were hints of blue sky and the thermometer started to creep up just a little bit.

In last week's post I recounted the excitement of finally having the opportunity to have a bald eagle dive down to the river for lunch while I was right there in the action AND had the camera in my hand.  While exhilarating, the one word I would use to sum up the experience would be "almost" and the one image that most represents that feeling is this one.

Day 4

Coming at ya!

Our last day at River Escape came way too soon and was a short one to boot.  Having to repack and reload left little time to park my butt on the dock, but I did get up early and spent a few hours on the river with my wild friends.

A king fisher does a fly by

It was pretty foggy that morning and things were pretty quiet to match the atmosphere. Eventually though, the sun rose high enough into the sky to burn off the fog and the river once again began to come alive.  The ducks made their normal ruckus, a few other birds, such as the king fisher, made their presence known and I even had a mink run past so close that I never got a photo.  He came down the hill behind me and scooted under the dock before I was able to turn the camera its direction.  He then got in the river and swam around the corner along the bank so fast that all I could do was sit and watch.

Sitting in the fog that morning you could hear the eagles calling from above in the trees.  Very cool.  As the fog lifted, opportunity came knocking again when the second of the eagle pair perched in the trees across the river from me.  Could this be a repeat of yesterday?

Sure enough! Down she came from the tree tops at a nice easy glide looking for breakfast to resurface....

No fish today either, but what a way to end the trip.  Thank you!

Until Next Time

I started out the "Eagle River Redux" series of posts by painting a picture of my ideal venue for recharging the ol' batteries and boy did this trip deliver. Again.  It was a real treat to have my wife let me shoot with her longer Sigma 150-500 f/6.3 lens (thank you again) and what I could only describe as a spiritual experience to share this incredibly tranquil section of the Wisconsin River with its wild residents.  Relaxing with my wife in the outdoor hot tub in the evenings, walking our dog down this wooded, rustic stretch of territory during the day and enjoying our feathered children (the parrots) in this beautiful rental in between resulted in a vacation we won't soon forget.  Thank you too to Adventure Rentals for allowing us to share this amazing location.

Until next time, keep on click'n.
-Ken

"NO!!! Focus on the Bird! Not the foreground! THE BIRD!"

Last week I shared the story of the shot I "Almost" had for our wall as well as a series of images taken during the "Second Chance Round" when the other eagle of the pair took pity on me.  Today I thought it would be fun to show the entire series of images from that second attempt mingled with a little color commentary.  Here we go...

Dateline: Monday, April 2, 2012
Eagle River, WI

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1100 @ 500mm

Time: 8:35:42 AM
"Ah, FINALLY some sunshine after 4 days of gloom.  To bad we go home today.  There you are pretty girl.  How are you doing this fine morning?  What do you think about maybe helping me out a little here? Throw me a bone and give me something to shoot at before we have to leave..."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:08 AM
"Oh, crap! There she goes!  Ha, Ha! I'm ready this time.  Center of the frame? Check. Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Keep panning... Come on auto focus, wake up...."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1800 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:09 AM
"I've still got you! Keep coming... keep coming. Pan. Click. Pan. Click.  Camera's drifting down a little. You know what, this thing is pretty heavy.  If I shot this lens with any regularity, I'd really need to invest in a good monopod. Hey! Wake up! Day dream later!..... Ok...Get her back in the center.  Give yourself some buffer.  Why is she all blurry?  That pine tree behind her looks awesome though.  Can never have enough shots of pine trees.  Come on auto focus, come on ...."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 220 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:11 AM
"Ok. Ok. Ok. Going up above the tree line.  Stay on her. Stay on her. Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Take it easy on the shutter, buddy.  Save that precious buffer for when you need it. Ha, Ha. seven frames per second... how lucky am I? Do people really spend hundreds of dollars for faster memory cards?.... Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Come back this way, girl. Don't be taking off down river on me.  Oh man! Look at that light. Sweet GLORIOUS light!  Now we're talkin!  I've got you right where I want you now!  And way to go auto focus!  I knew you could do it..."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 220 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:12 AM
"Hey! That's a pretty good shot!  Nice cinematic crop will look good.. show off that impressive wingspan. And those eyes. How beaut.... Wait! She sees something! I think she sees som......"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 400 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:13 AM
"HERE WE GO! HOLY CRAP! IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!  Don't lose her now..... ah man, PAN! CLICK! PAN! CLICK! PAN!  STAY ON THE BIRD! Where'd that light go! Come on AF! Come on!"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 400 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:13 AM
"I am NOT going to lose you now! Keep panning! CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.  PAN. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK. Dude, you're laying on the shutter release! Save some! How far are we from the water anyway? STAY ON THE BIRD!"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:14 AM
"Who in the hell put a house right in the middle of this photo?  Man! Look at the drumsticks on that bird! I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those talons. Whew! What a great pose.  Too bad about the house though.  Did you know peregrine falcons can reach speeds in excess of 200 mph when in a dive? I wonder if there's any of those sausage patties left for breakfast? Sure am glad she isn't going that fast or I'd never keep up... FOCUS!"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 500 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:14 AM
"I can see the river bank now and, hey, whatta know, that's almost in focus. Nasty shadow from her wing though. I wonder if I'll be able to lighten that up in Lightroom? PAY ATTENTION! PAN. CLICK. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK... Is this really going to happen?"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 900 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:14 AM
"TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!! NOW! LAY ON THAT SHUTTER RELEASE! CLICK. CLICK.CLICK. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. PAN.....Wait. Where's the focus? WHERE IN THE 'H' 'E' DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS THE FOCUS?!?!?!"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 900 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:14 AM
"NOT THE GRASS YOU PIECE OF #@!#$! THE BIRD! THE BIRD! THE #@!$%'n BIRD! FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!"

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 720 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:14 AM
"Alright. Deep breath. Let's just take a 1/1000 of a second for myself here. Regroup. What am I doing wrong?  Well, you're drifting down a little bit.  Yeah, I know, but this thing really is sort of heavy with this monster 150-500mm you know. Quit your whining you big baby. I'm not whining. I'm just saying... Is you a man or is you a mouse? This really isn't helping.  Let's run down the checklist quick. Shutter speed? Check. Aperture? Well, if you opened it all the way up.... Hmm. What do you mean open it up all the way? The light's decent.  Auto ISO is still only at 720. What's wrong with that? Well, you know. I'm just saying... By the way, did you notice those two ducks in the upper right a few frames back? I think they're laughing at you. You know, the one where your horizon line is all kittywampus? And another thing... TIME'S UP!  Oh yeah, right! CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 720 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:15 AM
"There we go! Now things are coming into focus. Another beautiful, sharp shot of marsh grass.  That's going to look great hanging on the wall next to that shot of that pine tree from earlier.  Too bad there's that distracting blurry eagle in the background."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:15 AM
"Another awesome shot of the grass.  I'm thinking maybe a nice triptych... grass, tree, grass? And what if we converted them to black and white? Maybe apply some cool filters or something? Oooooo... artsy! Hate to say I told you so, but if you'd just lift the camera up a little...  Ah, leave me alone. I'm admiring the grass."

1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm

Time: 8:36:18 AM
"PAN. CLICK. There! I've lifted the camera back up. You happy? Well, if you'd have focused on her head...and of course there's no fish... Oh, shut up!

Well, THAT was exciting!  I wonder how many of these are going to turn out? Think we got any keepers? Do you really think there are a few of those breakfast sausages left? Those were really good."

And there you have it. The full seven seconds in all its glory. ;-)

Until next time, keep click'n.
-Ken

Eagle River Redux - Part II

Last week we started a photo journey through our recent getaway in "Eagle River Redux - Part I" and left off with a pair of curious river otters checking out that strange camera wielding thing sitting on the dock - me.  They were so curious in fact that, while shooting with my wife's Sigma 150-500mm lens, they came in so close that I was no longer able to focus!  I thought this one was going to climb right up on the dock with me!  Eventually they decided there were probably more exciting things up river and continued on their way.

Day 2 Continued...

Life on the river is a paradox.  On the one hand, the absence of human "noise pollution" instills a deep sense of calm and relaxation.  On the other hand, the river is constantly teaming with activity in the wildlife that it helps to sustain.  The wake caused by the swimming river otters barely had time to subside when I spotted one of the bald eagles appear from down river on its way back to the nest.

As you can see the weather was still serving up "the blahs".  The overcast skies raised a few photographic challenges with high ISOs and indecision on my part over picking the right metering mode on my camera.  Generally I set my camera to matrix metering and forget it. Things just didn't seem to be working out for me, however, when trying to get the detail of these large, dark colored birds against a flat white/gray sky.  I tried switching over to center-weighted mode to put more emphasis on the bird and less on the sky.  Better, but the problem is these large, dark colored birds don't just stay in one spot.  No sooner did I flip the metering mode than the eagle would descend to the point that the background became the wooded banks or the dark river.  Back to matrix mode.  It would be so much simpler if the sun would just come out :).

The eagles weren't the only large birds cruising the river.  This great blue heron treated me with a fly by and one of my better bird shots of the day.  Thanks Mr. Heron.

Day 3

More clouds with sprinkles in between.  The ducks and eagles didn't seem to mind and I was inclined to still share some time on the dock in between the rain drops.  At one point, both of the adult eagles landed on what I referred to as "the staging tree". This is the tree immediately next door to their nest where they liked to trade off sitting responsibilities.  On this occasion it appeared there was a disagreement over either someone forgetting to bring home a fish or remembering who's turn it was to watch the nest.  In the end, my leg banded friend (for some reason I want to think this is the male, don't ask my why) flew off to the top of a nearby pine to keep an eye out for lunch.

I've taken probably hundreds of shots of the eagles sitting in the tops of the trees while waiting for something to happen.  Just when you think you know the pattern and drop your guard, nature happens.  With the camera in my lap, I saw the eagle spring off its perch and dive toward the river!  The shot that I've been longing to add to my collection forever is about to take place right in front of me and I'm asleep at the wheel!  Throwing the camera to my eye, it took just fractions of those precious seconds to find the bird in the viewfinder when I start firing off rapid bursts of the shutter release hoping for the best.  I'll share more on this specific event in a future post, but for now let's just say the eagle and I both came up empty on this attempt.

Well, almost empty.  The eagle grabbed a fist full of weeds and I captured one of my best in flight shots of my magnificent friend.

As a consolation prize of sorts, the eagle completed the cross-river trip and came to light on a nearby branch to pose for a nice portrait shot as we both contemplated where we went wrong. 

You win some and you lose some my friend.  In this case it would be difficult for me to say I lost. Beautiful! Thanks for the prize.

Stay tuned as there's still more to come from the Eagle River experience.

Until next time, keep click'n.

-Ken

 

The Eagle River Adventure

My wife and I recently took a 3 day weekend in the Great Northwoods for some well deserved downtime.  We rented a newly remodeled vacation property from Adventure Rentals in Eagle River and the location couldn't have been more perfect!  Our criteria for the weekend was to find someplace remote with a hot tub, sauna and of course, wildlife to enjoy and photograph.  This property advertised the first three criteria and mother nature provided the rest. 

Located on a secluded lot right on the Wisconsin River, my wife and I were treated with a pair of nesting bald eagles right across the still frozen river.   The fact that we were so near their home meant that we got to enjoy watching them take turns flying off the nest as they went off in search of food.  When they weren't off hunting, one of the pair was usually spotted sitting close by waiting for the call to relieve its mate from nesting duties.

March weather in Wisconsin is always a crap shoot.  The first day we had overcast skies, occasional flurries and below freezing temps with a howling wind racing up the river.  It didn't stop us from spending some quality time overlooking the river and watching the eagles and other wildlife though. 

We were located about 25 feet above the river with a pretty steep embankment leading down to the mostly frozen water.  The only visible open water was right at the bottom of that embankment.  My wife and I happened to spot a bald eagle circling over the river from inside the house so I decided to grab the camera and sneak on out for some more photos.  With as much stealth as my 2 left feet can carry my inconspicuous 6'1 frame, I made my way out to the edge of the embankment trying to locate where our feathered friend came to rest.  As it happened, the eagle was taking a bath in the open water at the bottom of the hill less than 30 feet away!   The following image is a testament to my stalking abilities and my lightning fast reflexes when compared to that of these magnificent birds.

Nice tail feathers, huh? :o).  He/she made a lap around the river and came to rest in one of the preferred perches a few trees down from the nest to dry off from the quick, icy bath that I so rudely interrupted.

That evening, my wife and I beat the cold by enjoying both the outdoor sauna and hot tub on the deck overlooking the river while the eagles watched on from the trees above.  It wouldn't take much to get used to that!

Day two brought a little nicer weather.  The temp eventually broke 40 degrees and the sun made an appearance to brighten things up some as well.  Our feathered friends and a few relatives where enjoying the nicer weather as well.

I shot this one between a few branches as the eagle came in to land on a tree on our side of the river.  Notice the leg bands shining in the sun.  What I wouldn't give to know the story behind those bands!  Was this a formerly injured and released bird? It's mate wore no such bands.

Here's a shot of a juvenile bald eagle soaring high overhead.  Just as big as the nesting pair, this guy/gal is still working on the white plumage which won't appear until sexual maturity at approximately 4 or 5 years of age.

If you are a bald eagle of sexually mature age, you build a little love nest for you and the little lady.  These "little" love nests can be up to 9 feet across, 13 feet deep and weigh up to 1 TON!  You can see part of one of the eagles on the back left corner of the nest about to trade places with its mate.

Of course there was other wildlife on the scene as well.  This red squirrel kept yelling at me to take his picture until finally I caved in.  Or maybe I was too close to his "secret stash".  Who knows?

This fisher appeared out of nowhere skirting the open edge of the river.

He didn't seem to mind me in the least as he stopped and gave me the once over a few times.  He did appear to be a little apprehensive of the bald eagle sitting in the top of a pine on the other side of the river though.  After this glance over the shoulder, he picked up the pace and disappeared just as quickly as he had come on to the scene.

On our third and final morning we awoke to several inches of fresh snow and slush to drive home in.  Good ol' Wisconsin weather for you.  All in all, it was an amazing weekend.  The location was incredible, the amenities of the rental outstanding and the photo opportunities memorable to say the least. 

My wife and I both agree that we will be back for another helping.  If this sounds like something you would enjoy, I STRONGLY encourage you to contact Adventure Rentals.  We've had the pleasure of enjoying two of their properties and they've gone out of their way to make our stay as enjoyable as possible both times.

Eagle River Redux - Part I

If you've been a reader of the blog for awhile, you may remember a post from last March titled "The Eagle River Adventure".  Even then we knew we'd go back and we recently kept our promise with a return trip to Adventure Rental's "River Escape" vacation rental property.  The trip proved even more magical the second time around.

First, picture your dream getaway.  I know for many of you your thoughts may immediately turn to the island vacation for fun in the sun or the European trip to journey back through history.  While I certainly wouldn't turn down either opportunity, if I'm looking to relax, I mean really relax and recharge, put a camera in my hand and drop me someplace off the grid where it's just us and the wildlife.  Sitting on the end of the dock overlooking the Wisconsin River at River Escape was exactly what the doctor ordered.

This year we scheduled the trip a week later in the year in hopes that the ice would be off the river.  As it turned out, the unseasonal weather we'd experienced through most of March resulted in the ice being long gone.  We'd even considered taking our kayaks, but as luck would have it the "seasonal" weather returned just in time for our trip.  Less than a week before the temperature had been consistently flirting with the 80 degree mark.  On the first morning of our stay we awoke to a fresh layer of snow blanketing the ground.

Day 1

As mentioned in last year's post, one of the many reasons this is a great location to have a camera in hand is the fact that there is a bald eagle nest high in a pine right across the river.  If you can hold still long enough you're nearly guaranteed a view of these magnificent raptors.

Shooting with the Nikon D300s and a Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 gave me some additional reach to interact with our wildlife buddies, but the lighting was horrible all day.  I had my camera set to 1/1000th of a second and auto-ISO topping out at 3200 whenever I took my seat on the dock.  Pretty much all of the photos I took that day ended up being at 3200 ISO.  As they say, a grainy photo is better than a blurry one or no photo at all.

Two mallard ducks express their opinions on property rights.

Day 2

While it had warmed up enough to dispense with the snow, the thermometer was still struggling to break the 40 degree mark.  The temperature being what it was, my wife was resigned to do her relaxing indoors and offered me the use of her Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 lens for the first time ever (and I say thank you)!  The challenge for the day was not only to hold up 5 pounds of lens (someone needs a monopod), but to find the subject in the viewfinder to focus on.  The longer reach also came at the price of a slower shutter speed, but at least it was a tad brighter than the day before.

Mr. and Mrs. H. Merganser (nice doo Mrs :-)

In between waiting for one of the eagles to return to or depart from the nest, the mallards and hooded mergansers kept me entertained.  Then from the corner of my eye I saw two newcomers to the scene.  A pair of river otters!  Did I mention that I simply parked my butt on the dock bench and all of these photo opportunities came right to me?  Truly unbelievable.  At first I only saw one otter poking it's head up and looking around before slipping back beneath the surface all the while continuing to close the distance between us.  And then....

...wait for it ........

Perch anyone?

Up comes an otter with a face full of fish looking right at me seeming to say, "So are you getting this? Nice catch, huh?".  After he was sure I had realized the photo op, he turned has back and began working on his prize.  He was still going at it as he start up the river once again.

These two still weren't done with me, but we'll save that for another post. :-).

Before I wrap up for today, I wanted to provide just a little more feedback on the experience with the Sigma 150-500.  Of course I've seen many, many images that my wife has taken with this lens and heard a lot of feedback from her on its performance (or sometimes the lack thereof).  It probably also comes as no surprise that I secretly covet a nice long reaching, fast piece of glass, what photographer doesn't. Those day dreams usually surface after looking at some of the wildlife images of Moose Peterson or others with their $10K Nikon 600mm lenses (Nikon, if you're reading, I'm now accepting sponsors ;-).  Even the most "practical" option I've pondered, a Nikon 300mm f/2.8 with a teleconverter would put you back in excess of $6,500.  More than likely that one's going to be contained to "dream land" for quite some time. 

That being said, if your options are shooting with a considerably less expensive 500mm lens or not shooting with a 500mm lens, then I'd pick the first option.  It's probably not going to be the fastest lens in your bag at f/6.3, but with my camera focus mode set to continuous servo and my shutter-release set to "Release + Focus" priority, I was reasonably happy with the results.   Most definitely there were some shots where I wished the focus had caught up with me a little faster, but I'm also reasonably confident that additional practice at getting and keeping the lens pointed in the right direction would improve the percentage of keepers.  Overall, it was a real treat to shoot at 500mm even if the light was less than desirable.

Keep your eyes on the blog as I'll continue to share more images taken with this lens as well as the stories behind them.  If you've read enough to be intrigued by the possibilities of the River Escape property, give Cassandra at Adventure Rentals a call.  River Escape is just one of the options they have available to you and we HIGHLY recommend them.

Until next time, keep click'n.
-Ken

Almost. It's Not ALWAYS About the Camera Gear

"Almost"

The above photo was included in Tuesday's final post in the "Eagle River Redux" series and I wanted to talk a little more about the emotion behind the image.

I've titled the image "Almost" in my catalog.  As in, I "almost" got the whole bird in the frame.  The photo was "almost" in focus.  The eagle "almost" caught a fish.  I "almost" had a photo worthy of hanging on the wall.  As a life event, it was a very exciting, memorable experience.  As a photography event, it was incredibly frustrating.  Frustrating because it was an opportunity that went unrealized.  

Photography is my form of "collecting".  A wall worthy shot of an eagle or osprey snagging a fish is something I'd really like to add to that collection.  Turning that wish into reality is all about making the opportunity happen and then executing when it presents itself.  Now the ideal opportunity would be to be sitting on the shores of the eagle's winter fishing grounds in Homer, Alaska with 300 or so of these magnificent creatures to photograph using the best equipment money could buy.  Right.  Well, that may be a while.

While this situation may not have been the ideal, its was a pretty good opportunity none the less.  I have an excellent camera in my Nikon D300s, I was lucky enough to be able to borrow my wife's Sigma 150-500mm lens, I'm sitting along the beautiful, peaceful Wisconsin River with not 300 eagles, but 2 - all of the pieces I needed to make it happen.  So what went wrong? In a word - me.  I wasn't well enough prepared when the time came to put it all together. 

"Well, maybe if you had the new $3K Nikon Dxxx or a $10K Nikon 600mm f/4?".  How many of you know THAT photographer?  The photography forums are FULL of them.  These are the people who pre-order the instant the "new model" is announced and can recite the spec sheet verbatim.  They'll cut you down because you're shooting with an "old" camera and tell you how great they are because of what's in their gear bag.  And then you look at their photos.  You think to yourself, "They could have just as easily taken those shots with the camera in their cell phone.", and then you feel sorry for all that gear going to waste.

Instead of blaming the gear, the lighting or the eagle for moving too fast, I'm going to go on record as saying I wasn't prepared enough when the opportunity presented itself.  I don't need a new camera (although a faster, longer lens would be nice ;-), but instead I need to continue to get myself in front of more opportunities.  I need to continue to study and understand those thousands of camera options and the conditions in which I will benefit from using them.  I need to focus on my technique and most of all I need to keep putting the camera to my eye and pressing the shutter release.

Maybe someday I'll find myself at the winter feeding grounds in Homer, Alaska with hundreds of eagle shots to choose from.  Or maybe, and more likely, someday I'll find myself looking through the viewfinder at that single bird on the river.  Both scenarios provide the opportunity.  It's up to me to provide the preparation.

Think about it.

Adventure Rentals

If you've been following the posts on our recent Eagle River trip and the idea of a Northwoods getaway is starting to sound appealing, we highly recommend Adventure Rentals in Eagle River.  I think they are up to 8 different properties now so there's sure to be something that meets your needs.  We've had the privilege of 3 different dealings with them and they've always gone our of our way to make sure our stay has been a good one.

Another Year in the Books

It seems impossible that we were just saying "Goodbye 2010" and now Father Time is about to hand over the reigns to Baby New Year once again.  For the second year in a row, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a trip down memory lane and recap the major events in the 2011 leg of our photography journey.  So grab your camera, pull on your walking shoes and lets go!

January 2011

Speaking of New Year's babies, I started the new year off with one of my own.  My new Nikon D300s. After getting acquainted, we spent a few of our January weekends driving around the frigid Wisconsin countryside looking for photo ops.

When we weren't Horsin' Around with the local "wildlife" we were looking for landscape shots worth stepping outside of the heated car interior.  In the search we found ourselves at a "Dead End".

February 2011

February in Wisconsin is, well, February.  My camera and I still took the "scenic route" to the grocery store now and then, but most of the month's photo journey was spent in the warmth of the office both learning and blogging about our favorite dark room application - Lightroom.  One of the more ironic posts of the year occurred in February too when I proclaimed "Back from Yellowstone..." with this image of a bison which was actually taken around the corner just a few miles from our home.  Little did I know that later in the year we would actually find ourselves in the REAL Yellowstone National Park!

March 2011

March, as it often does, brought new opportunities to the photo journey.  First, I had the chance to attend a Wisconsin Badger hockey game at the Kohl Center.  This was my first attempt at shooting a sporting event.  It was while shooting in this fast paced, low light action that I began to truly appreciate the excellent noise processing of the D300s.

Later that month, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by renting a property in Eagle River for an extended weekend.  Being the "birding nuts" that we are, we were even more delighted when we met our neighbors.  A pair of bald eagles nesting in a tree just across the river from the rental!

We spent hours standing along the river bank in the cold March wind waiting for opportunities to capture these magnificent birds as they took turns sitting on the nest.  We weren't the only ones out and about though as witnessed by this capture of the elusive fisher.

April 2011

In Wisconsin, the March weather can go either way.  When April arrives, we start to take the melting icicles more as a sign of things to come rather than the taunt before the next big blizzard.

It was around this time last year that I captured two red-tailed hawks performing the "spring ritual" and thinking I'd just witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event.  Well, when you start to pay more attention to the things around you, you find that "acts of nature" may not be as rare as you think - especially in the bird world.  These two Kestrels repeatedly enjoyed the romantic ambiance of our yard shed to the point that we dubbed it "The Love Shack".  These same two also took up residence in a nest box we erected in one of the trees and continued to educate us all summer long while they raised their new family.

May 2011

The snow is nearly gone and the spring rains bring life back to the sleeping greenery.  With deadlines bearing down on me at my "day job", it's starting to become obvious that this is NOT going to be a typical summer.  In between meetings and project tasks I made a quick day trip to our beloved Door County to open up the camper for the summer season.  It was on my return trip that I captured this Broad-winged hawk hunting from a power line.

June 2011

Yep, definitely not going to be a typical summer this year.  Under a heavy workload, the front porch becomes "the getaway" as we shoot the crazy antics of the hummingbirds under the shadow of our Buckeye tree.  How is it possible to pack so much personality into such a tiny package?

July 2011

Work, work, work and more work!  Drastic times call for drastic measures and in an attempt to salvage something of our summer, my wife and I convince one another to add a new, rather unconventional, tool to our respective photography toolboxes.  A pair of 2011 Hobie Outback Kayaks!

Selected specifically for their stability and hands free operation, these kayaks allow us not just to enjoy some much deserved downtime on the local waters, but also to move us and our cameras closer to the local wildlife.

August 2011

Hey!  Remember that campsite you pay lot rent on for the whole summer up in Door County?  You know, the one you haven't seen since you opened it up in MAY!  With mind and body on the brink of collapse and the project work starting to taper off, it's time to pack the gear and head "up the thumb" for a week. FINALLY!  With the flexibility of defining your own schedule comes the opportunity to take some long overdue landscape shots.

September 2011

Toward the end of August, we received an invitation to attend my wife's sister's wedding in Idaho.  It definitely wasn't a planned trip, but at the same time it was LONG overdue.  Throwing caution to the wind, we loaded up the back of the SUV, packed the parrots in the back seat and headed west.  It was an incredible trip with incredible photo opportunities...

...the Sawtooth Mountain range in Idaho...

...Mormon Row in the Grand Tetons ...

...and the incredible beauty of Yellowstone!

While we weren't able to invest even of a fraction of the time we'd have liked, the experience opened up a whole new realization as to how spectacular locations can make such a profound impact on your photography outlook.  We will definitely be going back.

October 2011

Looking through my Lightroom library I was surprised to find not a single image was captured in the month of October.  Catching up on project work after my two week hiatus and continuing to process vacation photos kept me from even taking the camera out of the bag.  We also started exploring the world of printing on the blog. 

November 2011

November was a HUGE improvement over October on the picture taking front.  Instead of no photos, I took 3!  All 3 were of our feathered children at their birthday celebration which was featured in the blog post on creating triptychs in Lightroom.

December 2011

It really is difficult to believe that another year has come and gone.  On the one hand I feel somewhat guilty for neglecting my camera in what was an incredibly busy year.  On the other, I look back at the things we've accomplished in our education together on the blog, the additions made to the photography toolbox and the amazing opportunities realized in a nearly 4,000 mile round trip across the country.

 

To put things in perspective, the image to the right was taken on December 26, 2008 with the Nikon D40x my wife presented me that Christmas.  Slow, blurry, and noisy as all get out, it was the 11th photo I had EVER taken with a DSLR. 

Some 3 years, 360 blog posts, and roughly 24,000 shutter clicks later, I can't even begin to express how much my life has been enriched by the addition of that magical whirligig called a "camera". 

So, with this last post of 2011, I'd like to once again thank my beautiful wife for her love and support as well as that incredible gift that started this journey those 3 short years ago.  I'd also like to thank all of you for your continued readership and contributions to the blog.  Without a doubt, I look forward to the coming year and continuing on this journey together.

See you in 2012!

Happy New Year

-Ken