Cygnet

On arriving at this morning's location, I was told the Black-necked Swans has hatched an egg but after a brief sight, it disappeared though the two adults were present.  Where was it?  Hours later, I found the answer.

The cygnet was hiding under the wing to escape the nearly constant rain.

How beautiful.

Paul

CM Ducks!

It's CM Ducks as in "See them ducks!"  A great way to break free of winter's sparse wildlife is to find a wintering spot for waterfowl. They get concentrated and sometimes pretty ornery when food is involved.  So, with a good friend, I made a trip to get some practice on ducks. 

The majority of the ducks were Canvasbacks with their rich red heads and Scaup with their dazzling yellow eyes. Both are diving ducks and they can really stir up the water when they all begin to dive.

The Scaup also has a fine pattern on its back that is striking.

There is a subtle green cast on the head when the sun hits it at an angle. The black stripe on the tip of the blue beak is a good feature to remember when comparing with other ducks.

There are two ducks that have the rusty red head, and that can be a source of confusion.  The Canvasback has a distinctive wedge shaped beak that is helpful when the bird is a female or a molting male. The duck in the left foreground is one such Canvasback.  (You can see from the splashing water what a melee ensues when there is food available.)

The other red-headed duck I observed is, appropriately, the Redhead.  It's another elegant duck with a brilliant eye and a black tip on the beak.  They were a little fewer in number.

One of my favorite ducks is the American Widgeon.  Only the Wood Duck rates more beautiful and interesting for me. In both of these, the soft little whimpers they make to communicate are part of what charms me. They are also very shy and hard to approach.

This male in the foreground seemed to be speaking to nearby males as he protected his female. Beyond the photography, I find the interactions very entertaining. Male Widgeons seem to get carried away to the degree that they will attack Canvasbacks and Scaup that drift near their female.  Sort of funny to see this little duck taking on the much larger Canvasback.  They all yield to the attack and retreat.

Between two males, there is often no retreat as was the case with these two male Mallards. The conflict consists mainly of one grabbing the other by the nape of the neck and attempting to hold it  under water. The second phase often becomes an unceremonious retreat with the victor latching on to the opponent's tail feathers.

Each year, I try to make a trip in late winter to photograph ducks. It gets me charged up for spring when the bird migration erupts. If I can function efficiently when it is around 10 to 20°F and breezy, then spring will be a snap. On the plus side, there are no mosquitoes to contend with.

Winter Foray

Escaped the house yesterday to explore some icy waterfalls for material to use in my next video.  Along the way, I saw a few late winter scenes to capture with my smartphone. On the path up Havana Glen towards Eagle Cliff Falls, I found the record of an earlier walker and his dog.  One footprint for each.

        
The huge sycamore trees along the creek often hold on to their leaves until late winter when snow and ice build up on them. Then, a strong wind finally pulls them free to litter the snowy field.  These leaves were virtually the only colorful objects to be found on this late February morning. 













The leaves along the way were only a diversion from my goal to see what the lower part of Eagle Cliff Falls looked like after a cold winter's season. It was running muddy brown-- after all, February is the beginning of the fifth season - mud season.  There were huge mountains of ice on the drops.

The main falls is up around the bend and the trail up there is closed for obvious reasons.  It must be a wonderful scene that I can only guess about.

Note:  All of the above images were made by iPhone 5S (handheld) and processed on my iPad using Laminar Pro editing app.

Best,

Paul Schmitt

Passing the Wintertime

There are those winter days when getting outdoors is just too much work.  The winter of 2013-2014 has been a tough one, and given me plenty of those bitterly cold days. I've learned to fill those days with a bucket list- great books to read and new skills to learn for my photography.  Another entertainment for those cold days was the activity at our bird feeder just outside the kitchen window. There is a nice sheltering Weigela bush nearby where the small birds take their sunflower seeds to safely open.  (We've lost no birds to the hawks this year.)  January went quickly as a result of these three subjects.

Learning to shoot and edit video is on my list.  It has proven to be a complex subject. The camera must be rock steady and setting the aperture and shutter speed for a smooth flow of moving animals is often difficult. Further, you need a plan before you shoot so that the final product seems to have continuity. I learned that those are actually the easy part when I stepped into the editing.  Fades and picture within a picture seemed unfathomable for days.  

So, I now have my first attempt at a short video that shows a cold snowy day from the perspective of my kitchen window.   I hope you enjoy it.

Here it is:

I noted January went quickly.  February seems a little slower as I build up plans for an active spring of bird photography and hopefully some added videography.  (Did you know that "videography" is not in all spell checkers?  Seems an oversight.)  I hope to have some more videos to share in the coming months and hope to gain added finish as I progress. Your interest is appreciated.

Kind regards,

Paul Schmitt

Two Views of Seneca Harbor

I visited one of the iconic scenes of the Finger Lakes this winter.  The cold wind driving straight down Seneca Lake made my eyes water, even though there was barely a breeze. I only had my little Canon G9 point and shoot camera with me and was struggling with the controls.  Glove liners really change the tactile feel of a small button. I rushed to finish this and retreat to the warm car.  With modest editing, the image does capture the feeling of cold. Doesn't the blue seem cold when in the context of ice?  I do make different associations with blue in a summer setting.


Looking at the image a few days later, I thought there was another way to work this image and make more of it.  A little voice kept saying to go monochromatic.  Off I went into editing wonderland.  At some point,  however, I longed to recover the lake house and it's simple red, and I did.

What moved me to go to this?  Well, the red lake house seemed the only thing remaining warm -- red is warm, right? -- and I wanted it to be holding out against the bleak cold.

I welcome your reactions to the two renderings of the scene.

The eighteen day forecast for the region says below average cold and average precipitation, so I guess this image will be timely for a while.

Paul Schmitt

Avoiding the Cliche

Some themes in the arts become so common as to become a cliche. Photos of the Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone Falls, and cute kittens are good examples. It is so easy to fall into that trap where you images are mere repetitions of others. It has been argued that it is easier to avoid a written cliche than a visual one.  After all,  a good thesaurus can rescue the writer, but there is no equivalent reference book for the musical or the visual arts. 

So, today when I went to Taughannock Falls, I hoped to escape repeating past images and ending up with trite results.  Earlier this winter I published a view of Taughannock Falls. I had done something new in that I was able to position the camera to capture a reflection of the falls in a pool of water near to the camera. No need to duplicate that; many reasons not to duplicate it, too. 

Once home today, I downloaded images and began to edit them.  Then I saw the truth.  Oh,  the  horror!  I recognized that the image (above right) was a cliche!  And, it was not as good as what I've done before.This was nothing more than a good exercise in editing. While possible, I had not found anything new in this image.

So, I went back to my computer to look for fresh vision.  At the lower part of the gorge was a pile of huge ice chunks washed down during a brief warm spell. They were scattered about below a smaller drop.  There was something new there.  I explored the compositions and found something that I found fresh.

Taughannock Falls will pretty much be available as a recognizable landmark in any season with a few changes in color and surrounding foilage or ice. In spring, this massive block of ice will be gone and not likely return in the same form. That large chunk of ice in the foreground is unique.

Could I find something new at the big falls?  A companion pointed out some maple trees near the trail at the falls. They still held onto a few rusty red leaves. The texture of the tree trunk and the skeleton of branches are in contrast to the smooth appearance of the snow and distant falls.  I found  a fresh way to present the big drop. 

I feel better presenting this image, but in looking at it I now realize it would be stronger if I had been able to put a person in the middle ground to create interest and a sense of scale.  So, today was a learning experience.

Try to learn something new each day. It keeps life interesting.

Paul Schmitt

Unexpected

When I teach workshops,  I encourage people to be ready for the unexpected.  This means studying your camera's many features and carrying a range of lenses. Both are key to quickly responding to some situation that is different than was planned.  Such was my experience yesterday.

I met a friend, and after some coffee and conversation, we headed to a nearby waterfall with the anticipation that we would do some landscape photography of the frozen ice shapes that this bitter cold spell has created. I had envisioned simple studies like the image at right. Nothing really special, but better than another day inside.

Well, we found something  unexpected and much more interesting.

Ice climbing! I don't claim to understand the fine points, but it is fascinating to watch them methodically test the ice as they work upwards using crampons on their boots and a pair of ice axes.

As the climbers alternated belaying and climbing, I noted that they worked a new route each time, facing different challenges.

Expecting the unexpected for us was having ice cleats to avoid slipping on the very slick ice, having a couple of lenses so we could get more than a wide angle view, and being aware that the massive buildup of ice still has running water beneath the exterior.  The running water  can undermine seemingly solid footing; I did get a slight wet boot when the crust gave way on me. During shooting, we had to keep aware of any falling ice since the climbers at times had to dislodge unstable bits before proceeding.

Thanks to Rob and Jeff for upgrading our outing from mundane to interesting.

You cannot find good photo subjects sitting inside and waiting for milder weather.

Paul Schmitt