Photography fun on a Saturday

On this past Saturday I set up my studio and coaxed my beautiful gal to pose for me. It was a fun filled day of wardrobe changes and photography experimentation. Here are a few from that day....

Thanks again Hunny!

Feel free to contact me and set up your photo shoot soon!

Sometimes you need to rely on other skills

As a photographer in this digital age we use Cs5 ( or photoshop if you will) as a means of enhancing our photography for the consumers interest. It's a little more advanced than the old dark room days but is basically the same thing only in a digital world. Today I was asked to render a Flyer for a local company here in Barrie. Using my skill set obtained from photography I was happy to present them with what they wanted. It's more of a graphic arts thing , but hey, something has to fill the time!

Photographing the senior Innisdale Invaders

It's been a while once again since I have posted anything on here. i've been busy with day to day activities of living in a city once again , And, photgraphing highschool football games whenever the chance arises.

I have had fun as you can see with CS5 as you can tell.

Little red riding hood

Well not exactly but close. My interpretation is that the wolf is me...
I was just having fun with photoshop today.

Change is good

Well it comes to a point in one's life when you need to switch gears so to speak. When I started this blog It was purely a hobby to show my pics about the area in which I resided and the natural surroundings. Now I have moved back to Barrie. The love of my life lives here. She is a fountain of encouragement and I now have my own studio in which to work. I am now in the photography business! Thanks Lori!

The Beautiful Lori Logan

It's been a while since I have posted any pics as I was in the middle of a move to Barrie , Ont.

I have the most awesome woman in my life who actually let's me take pics of her. How amazing is that. Anyways here she is......

Jungle cats

Here are two pics in a series of black & white stills that were just taken recently. I love the look as it takes on a whole new feel with that "classic" look. Taken at a zoo I feel bad that these animals are caged to a confined space. On the other hand I think it might be good that we go to a zoo as not to trample and desicrate the wilds of africa and other jungles in the world. Lets presserve what is left. Hopefully this zoo is making a conservation effort.

Honey I brought dinner!

I actually saw the male osprey bring a fish back to the nest today. It was an awsome sight! the chick is growing fast and needs more food than ever. Unfortunately I couldn't get a group shot of the feeding. but In the coming days I will try to go back as I don't want to disturb this nest too much.

There is one less tiger in the world

Today I got a heartwrenching email from Greenpeace. In this email I was told about a tiger that was caught in a steel trap and died from it's injuries. Please note these are not my photos. I only use these to show what I saw in the email.
 There are only 400 of these tigers left on earth and they are facing extiction!
The person responsable for this beautiful animals death is Sinar Mas. He owns a plantation that produces pulp for paper mills. The company he owns is called Asia pulp & Paper which is a subsiduary of his plantaion that he owns. Greenpeace has said that that the tigers habitat is down by 93%..They also have noted that in the 1930's there were three subspecies of this Tiger, two of which are extinct now.

 Here is a picture of a snared Tiger who later died because of the trap set.

 This really pisses me off!

Portrait of an Osprey

It's very rare that I can get close enough to this raptor let alone get some detailed shots of one when this close.

Osprey's rule the skies

Well they do around here for some months of the year. My canoe jaunt was about three hours today. each day I dare to get closer and closer and Momma lets me know when I get too close. In this region there is an Osprey Society. This group of volunteers assists the MNR to study and tag this magnificent raptor. Osprey's in this region that have been tagged have been known to fly as far away as the amazon in south amearica and return each year to the same place. Osprey's mate for life. If anyone is interested in viewing these amazing birds first hand let me know and we can get together.

Heroes in the Air!

In memory of Donald Kerr who served not only in the air force for Canada but also served as a Paramedic on countless endeavors. Ambulance Don as he was known to my family ( too many Don's we know) continued to serve even after cutting his fingers off after helping someone build their home. Don served his community with spirit, was always happy to see you and would go out of his way to help each and everyone he knew! Donald passed away this last month and in recognition of his life I dedicate this picture to Donald Kerr......

You will be sadly missed my friend!

Bird on a wire

The Robin is a very common bird found almost everywhere there are tree's and shrubs. Their song is beautiful. I captured this moment just before heading out last night.It is estimated that there are more than 320 million robins in the wild. Robins are also a host to the west nile virus.

Got To Love The Kawartha's!

Or anywhere there is a lake for that matter. I went out after dinner tonight in the old coleeman canoe. I knew i had about 2 hours of light left in the day to hopefully catch what I was looking for. The mama didn't like the fact that I was getting a little close and I talked to her  and took my time to get that extra special shot. I could have climbed into the nest, but decided not to as I didn't want the chick abandoned. God , what a beautifull raptor! You can see more of my outing on facebook!

In Flight

In the past few weeks I have gotten closer and closer still to the nests of the Osprey. However this day the Mother didn't want me that close and started to fly overhead swooping down to fend me off. I talked to her ( yes I talk to the animals LOL!) and advised her that all I wanted was her picture and that I would not get any closer to her baby. This shot was on approach towards my vantage point in a tippy canoe in the middle of a swampy area.

The Feeding

It wasn't that long ago that the Osprey was at a decline due to toxins introduced into our watershed. But, over the last few years we have learned that what we put down the drain and what we put on our lawns effects the food chain. Now the Osprey's have not only become healthy once again but their offspring has a chance. Today I visited a nest close by in a canoe. I was thrilled to see the  Some interesting facts to menton are that the Osprey is one of only  two birds that have an opposable outer toe to better grip its prey( the other being an owl). The Osprey can alsoo dive from heights of 130ft  above and dive straight down at a great speed and just before it plunges into the water will reverse itself plunging in feet first. the Osprey also has a unique feature wherein it can close it's nostrils so water dosn't get in.

I got Published

Last year for kicks I enetered a few contests with various photos that I am proud to have done. I never thought for a second I would be picked but thought You never know until you try. Today I received an email from the Kawartha Heritage Conservancy letting me know that One of my pics was chosen for their poster. Way Cool! Mine is shown on the bottom left hand corner.

Happy Canada day 2011

So I decided to bring out the old canoe and look for the osprey at a different vantage point. With all the traffic on the lake it was hard to hold still with all the waves and such.

I got my eye set on you

It never ceases to amaze me how wonderfull nature is. I had my gear set up to take shots of people fishing. This female came onto shore just feet away with her youngin's. They didn't stay too long , but I managed to focus a couple of shots of her.

Is nature not beautiful enough as it is?

I have an island out back where I live. There are tall trees that have flourished and deadfall that line the shores of it. Many people say that it looks ugly and would like to see it "cleaned up". As in everything in life nature has done this for a reason. Without the deadfall, there would be no shade for the frogs and the fish that swim by. If there was no fish to swim by , the Heron would not come there to hunt for food. There is a chain here. If you break the chain then you are breaking the laws of nature. Look past the scrub of fallen trees and see the beauty in it. Not everything is perfect in life, but it is beautifull! let's protect what we have to show our childrens children, not just show pictures of what used to be.

Today was a very productive day for photography

Just as the storms had passed through this region I had looked briefly outside and what do I see?

High priced ticket items

These shots are from the laast few days. I live on the Trent -Severn Waterway and anyone on the lake has some sort of transportation on the water or the air. On weekends the boating traffic is sometimes scary. Then you also have to watch out for flying objects as well

Feed Me!

We have one helluva thunder boomer raging here right now. But before it rolled in I had noticed that the robins eggs had hatched. I stood on a ladder with my zoom lens to get the shot. All the time the mother was not far away and she was squaking like you wouldn't believe. I only took a few shots as not to disturb them too much.

The Green Heron

At first I had thought that this was a juvenile Great Blue but I noticed the dark bill and different behavior.  The Green heron is much smaller than the Great Blue Heron. Bothe Herons feed on basically the same food ( Fish , bugs and frogs). However the Green heron uses tools to catch it's prey. It will stand motionless as the Great Blue does, but it uses lures to attract small fish like bread crumbs, worms, twigs and even feathers. Usually found in North, Central and northern parts of Sout America this bird has occasionally found it's way to the shores of England and France in search of food.

Tiger Swallowtail.

Only the male of this butterfly is coloured like this. The female is all brown on the wings.

It's a bug! No, It's a Hummingbird ! No wait.....

I have never seen one of these before today. There was no birds in the sky to photograph and little else of interest. I decided to try and capture a bee out at the lilac bushes out front. Was I surprised to see this. It is called a hummingbird moth ( Hemaris thysbe ). This particular one is also called a Snowberry clearwing Moth (Hemaris deffinis).. Most people at first glance mistake it for a hummingbird as it flies in the same way a hummingbird does sucking the nectar from flowering plants.In the spring it will deposit green eggs on the underside of leaves.

Turkey Vulture

It was a rare sight to see these so close by. Usually the skies around here are dominated by herons and Ospreys. The turkey Vulture is a scavenger and what I mean by that it is an opportunistic bird. It usually waits for something to be killed by some other animal or means. They have a chariacteristic bald head void of any feathers as this keeps its head clean from any disease it might encounteras they ofetn feed on putrid flesh. It is also thought that the bald head also helps in their thermorugualtion of the body.

Distraction

There are many different nests on this property. June is the month when eggs are being hatched and the young ones learn to fly. I have noticed many chicks on the ground making a run for it when I happen to come by. I don't pick then up as the parents are close by watching from their vantage point. This is very common for birds. This robin flies from its nest everytime I turn the corner of the house as if to distract me away from the chicks in the nest.

The Squaking Heron

I'm having a lazy sunday and decided to revisit some shots from last week. Here again is a Great Blue Heron. I don't think he wanted me around when it was trying to catch dinner having to keep one eye out for a swimming fish and the other on me. Yesterday I had three herons within "shooting" distance but was not fast enough for any of them as they flew away.I have a really good feeling that there might be at least one nest on the island out back. However I will not invesigate this as I do not want to disturb it if in facct there is one. The chance that the heron will abandon it leaving it's young is too great a risk. I will seek it out in late fall after they have gone south for the winter season.