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A playful polar bear cub from Churchill,
Manitoba, Canada
While looking back at some of the images I had taken during
2006, a thought occurred to me about how many of these images
were the result of some form of serendipity. I was out trying
to photograph one subject, but I ended up photographing something
completely different. This actually occurs fairly often in nature
photography. It was more noticeable now because I had some very
specific photographic plans for 2006.
Early in 2005 I had started to plan a visit Churchill, Manitoba
in November of 2006. I wanted to try to photograph the polar
bears that congregate around the Hudson Bay waiting for the
bay to freeze. The bears are only there for about three weeks.
Once the bay freezes, they head out onto the ice in search of
seal meat. Because the bears are only there for a short time,
the hotels and seats on the tundra buggies are sold out over
a year in advance. If I wanted to get some polar bear images
in 2006, I had to start planning (and laying out some money)
in 2005.
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Two young siblings in the McNeil River Brown
Bear Sanctuary in Alaska
In addition, Mark Hardgrave and I had started to plan a camping
trip to Katmai, Alaska for September of 2006. We wanted to try
to get some brown bear images as well as some Alaska landscapes.
Since I was headed to Churchill and Katmai, I expected to get
a lot of bear images during the year. However, I also ended
up with a lot of images I wasn’t expecting.
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| The osprey return
to Long Island around mid-March each year, and they can provide
some great photo ops while they build their nests. While taking
some photos at an osprey nest I turned and saw the scene in the
photo above behind me. I was able to get a few shots as the claming
boat drifted into the bright part of the water. I went out for
osprey photos, and came back with something very different.
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| If I had been shooting
film, I would not have even attempted to take a photo of the spider
web shown in the image above. There was a lot of wind this particular
morning. I would need to take many images of the web, just hopping
for the wind to subside during one of the exposures. This would
have wasted a lot of film (and money). However, since I had a
new digital toy, I gave it a try and I was able to get a decent
image. I would have never attempted this image if I did not have
a digital camera with me.
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Although Mark and I had planned on heading to Katmai, we were
informed that we hit the lottery and we had a permit to visit
the McNeil River Brown Bear sanctuary on the Alaska Pennisula.
WOW! Once again we had to change plans. Mark and I, along with
another friend Lucas, went to McNeil and got some great brown
bear images. The weather sucked, but we still had a great time.
The image to the left was taken on one of the few days the
sun came out, and it wasn't raining. That means MOSQUITOES by
the tens of thousands.
There is a bumble bee visable above the bear in the image
on the left.
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The two young bears above were play fighting and that
gave us a fantastic forty minute photo op.
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| A mother &
cubs came by and nursed just a few yards away providing us with
another great photo op.
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When we returned from McNeil, we stayed
in Homer, Alaska for a few days and got some nice images of the
famous eagles in Homer.
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Shortly after I returned from
Alaska, a park ranger I know told me that an immature bald eagle
had been appearing near a boat dock every morning for about a
week in eastern Long Island. I took a chance and went out their
hoping he would return. The eagle did appear the following morning,
and continued to return for a couple more weeks. The eagle became
a local celebrity as the town residents would line up and wait
for him each day. I was able to get several nice images of this
fellow during his brief visit. Finding a bald eagle on Long Island
was another nice, unexpected bonus this year. (This was just a
few days after I got back from Alaska.) |
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The photo above
was another image of the eagle that visited Long Island this summer. |
While hanging out waiting on the eagle, I was also able to get a
few sunset images at Orient Point. The image below is an example
of one of those images. |
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While photographing the eagle on eastern Long Island, I noticed
some fields of sunflowers that looked like they had photographic
possibilities. I contacted the property owner and they gave me
permission to photograph in the fields. I wanted to try to get
some close up images of fresh sunflowers. However, the summer
had a bad stretch of heat and this hurt the flowers and made them
less photogenic. Although I did not get the shot I wanted, I did
get a few shots that were ok. In addition, I also got some shots
of the goldfinch that were feeding in the fields.
The images below are some samples of the sunflower
and goldfinch photos from these fields. |
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One morning while photographing the goldfinch, I noticed a flock
of birds in the distance. I pointed my camera at them to get a
shot and then I saw a hawk head right into the flock. This “hawk
attack” was another unexpected bonus.
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At first I just saw a large
flock of birds. |
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Next, a hawk appeared and
dove into the pack. |
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This was the last image I was able to get
before they flew out of view behind some trees. |
While talking to the property owner about the sunflower fields,
they showed me an area where they are going to have a barn built.
This area overlooks the Long Island Sound so I made a mental note
that this could make for a very nice photo op. The Long Island
Sound can get great color at sunset. However, there are not many
places to set up a camera to capitalize on the color. I had thought
this particular area could make for a nice image if I could capture
the sunset color and the frame of the barn.
A few weeks later I was out on a vineyard trying
to get some images when I noticed the sunset colors were looking
good over the Long Island Sound. Unfortunately, the vineyard did
not have a good spot to try to capture the color. I then remembered
the area near the sunflower fields and I jumped in my car. I got
to the sunflower fields just in time to capture some images of
the color at dusk.
The image below was one of the images taken
by the sunflower field at dusk.
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I finally made it to Churchill, Manitoba toward the end of the
year. The images below are examples of the photos from that trip.
These are also the types of images I expected to get during 2006.
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| When I look back
at the sample of photographs I had taken during the year, I realize
that I have many that were the result of prior planning, and many
that were not. These images were the result of adapting to the
situation or subject that I encountered. It reminded me how important
it is in nature photography to be flexible and willing to change
with the situation. |
