Point of view and point of focus.

This image of a female House Finch illustrates what both pov and pof can mean to an image. Those two things are what make this a pretty good picture. The close proximity to the bird and shallow depth of field meant that my focus had to be right on.   The drop off in sharpness in front of and in back of the bird really does put highlights on that bird.  I personally don’t think that sharp foliage would have added anything to this picture.  What about point of view?  I had my camera and tripod down as far as possible in an effort to take us (the viewers) into the world of the bird. It is how an ordinary image can be made at least a little special

How much lack of sharpness is tolerable?  I have made a lot of bird pictures where the subject is shaking its head.  My shutter speeds were below their ability to capture the head movement clearly.  Sometimes by design and other times by luck, or lack of luck depending on your opinions.  In my opinion for this technique to work, a portion or all of the body has to be sharp, or the whole bird needs to be in motion blur.  I don’t think this image works because the body is slightly out of focus.  You can’t always win.

The number one thing you can do to become a great photographer is to shoot often.  The more you shoot the better you will become.  Practice, practice, practice.

I’ve long documented my love of bridges. I think it is likely that a psychoanalyst could tell me what that means, but I am not sure I want to hear it.  Bridges give photographers a great opportunity to make compelling images.  They can have a story to tell but most often I just enjoy the graphics of them.  If you look very closely at the railroad bridge (3^rd image) over the Mississippi, you will see a very tiny white speck in the flooded woodland, just above the fourth pillar of the bridge, going left to right.  That is a Great Egret fishing.  Funny what you find after you get home. It is an old film image while the other two are more current and originated in the digital format.

There are three very different compositions among these photos.  The red bridge over the pond is more of a color composition.   A shocking bit of red amongst all that green.

The dirty old car bridge is a visual relief from those barren trees.  The picture was made right after sunrise hence the warm feeling.

The old railroad bridge is really about making that trip across the Mississippi River.  The photo was made from Wyalusing State Park here in Wisconsin which means that the water could actually be either the Mississippi or the Wisconsin River as this is the confluence of both, but you get my point.

Wyalusing is a favorite Wisconsin park for me.  Its high cliffs and incredible migratory bird population make it a dual purpose park.  It is also a great place to photograph soaring Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles and hawks.  Last but not least every 17 years the emergence of the insect known as the 17 Year Periodical Cicada occurs.  It is spectacular in and of itself but those bugs also attract and huge number of hungry birds.  All that and a bridge too.

While we are on manmade objects we come to Scenic South Dakota.  That is not an opinion, it is the name of the town.  When I drove into Scenic in 2003 it was not by accident. Over 40 years earlier my parents and I drove into the same town.  Neither the city streets or the 80 miles of backcountry roads we traveled to get there, were paved.  I had no idea that a world like this still existed at that time.  There were a few old houses, a general store and a one room (cell) stone jail.  This was the America I wanted to see.  In 2003 things had changed, but only a little.  The roads were paved, the jail was gone (darn) and there were four businesses instead of two. Two of those were abandoned and the other two were close to that fate.  Memories of that trip with my parents and our tour of Scenic South Dakota filled my mind.  That vacation was life changing for me because the Badlands, Custer State Park, The Black Hills and Yellowstone and Teton National Parks were all visited, and the American West would be forever on my mind.  I am grateful to my parents, that trip, and a whole bunch of cowboy movies for my passion.

Let’s finish with two different compositions of the same area of Northwestern Colorado.  The canyon drive of Dinosaur National Monument is a very powerful and much ignored area of the American West.  I stopped at one of the many overlooks and was taken by this cream-colored rock form.  It distinguished itself from the rest of the valley and from the rest of the rock in this area.  A fairly short hike put me close to the edge of the canyon and gave me a better view of both canyon and rock.  These are two of the many comps that came from my hike.

Compositionally I guess I prefer the first image with the rock face taking precedence over the valley.  If I rid myself of the fact that I made these images I would choose the second one. The sun is peaking through openings in the clouds in a haphazard but artful way. This same scenario in a forest would be confusing. When the sun peaks around all of those hundreds of thousands of leaves, the contrast within the forest is overwhelming.  Confusion reigns. That same sun is peaking through the clouds and doing so in three or four places, not hundreds of thousands of places.  In addition to that, the sun light does penetrate through those clouds, not only between them.  The contrast range between one area and the next, is minimal.  You can however see that special light and it adds to the drama of the scene.

In my last post I did my share of complaining about the baiting of animals for the purpose of making action shots of owls.  For the record I am against it. How do all of those photographers find out about where those birds are?  Throughout the world there are places for birders to share their finds with others. You can find those lists on websites but many offer personal email delivery of the postings.  Wisbirdn is Wisconsin’s version of this list.

I came across Wisbirdn when it was brand new in the late 1990s.  I would go to the website where the postings were kept, and check for “good birds” that I might be able to go out and find.  I wasn’t the first photographer to do that, but I was among the first in this area.  Most of today’s baitor/photographers didn’t own a camera yet at that time. Maybe an Instamatic. It was and I am sure still is a great group.

In 2005 I informed another photographer of the group, and wisely she actually joined Wisbirdn so those posts would come straight to her computer.  I was in the full-time business of nature photography at the time, and I quickly realized there was a potential benefit to being able to post on the group.  You could not post unless you joined.  I joined.

Much of the baiting and crowds that I have complained about come from posts on list serve groups like Wisbirdn.  That does not mean that there is anything wrong with the group.  As time marches on and people in general become a bit more self-centered it is inevitable that it will affect what people (photographers) do with the information they find in groups like Wisbirdn.

I was involved in a few controversies during my time on Wisbirdn, and other similar groups.  I know….I can’t seem to help myself.   One of those controversies was about the subject of baiting.  It got nasty and devolved into a series of personal backchannel exchanges between myself and those who disagreed with me.  Eventually I even received a personal threat.

After my last (yesterday) blog post, I received a personal email from a Wisbirdn friend who commented how sorry she was that I left Wisbirdn after that issue. I felt compelled to set the record straight both to her and all who belong to Wisbirdn and read this blog.

Firstly, anyone who thinks I would leave an email group just because of a threat does not know me very well.  If there is anytime I would specifically remain in a group,  it would be after a threat.  In fact I not only remained in Wisbirdn for a time after the controversy, I posted several times about my bird findings. If memory serves me, one post was about a Northern Goshawk I found at Bong State Rec. Area.  I continued to read posts for quite a while.  I finally left Wisbirdn, for completely selfish reasons.

If you loved chocolate fudge but couldn’t eat it, would you stand in front of a fudge shop all day and watch them make it?   When I realized that I wasn’t going to chase after bird sightings anymore, I removed the temptation (or torture) from my email box.  That was a few years ago and it was a permanent decision.

My final act before I left was to post a question.  I had a friend who experienced a Screech Owl flying into her front window.  I asked the question, how can she avoid that happening again.  The owl was just fine and my purpose for asking a question after such a lengthy time without posting, was to give some of the electronic friends I made while I was there, the opportunity to contact me one last time.  It worked and I moved on.

I appreciate the opportunity to explain why I left Wisbirdn.

Keep your eyes on the road and see you soon,                                                                                Wayne