In January of this year, inspired by my kid brother and the many amazing photographers who post here, I bought myself a super-zoom point-and-shoot camera and decided to take up photography. Little did I know that just 6 months later my brother, a brilliant photographer, would leave us forever. This diary is dedicated to his memory and inspiration.
This fall I signed up for a Nature Photography class at the local community college and set out to capture the beauty of our world - from favorite National Parks and Wildlife Refuges to my own back yard. I've been sharing the results in my favorite community diary over the past few months - I trust frequenters of those threads will forgive the repeats, and that the rest of you will enjoy a few minutes of respite from the madness.
Great Blue Heron, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
About halfway through the semester my daughter and I made a trip to Chincoteague NWR, famous for its wild ponies. My favorites there, though, were the shore birds; amazing diversity just waiting to pose for my camera. At times I could capture 3 or 4 species in the same shot. As with humans, unfortunately, such close proximity can often result in ruffled feathers:
The egrets were my favorites, especially the Snowy Egrets (that's one above with the ruffled feathers). I saw three species at Chincoteague: Cattle Egrets (no good pictures of them), Great Egrets and the Snowy Egrets.
The slightly tattered looking guy in front is a Great Egret, the other two are Snowy Egrets
I decided that the Great Egrets had more personality...
...but the Snowy Egrets were far more photogenic:
We also met, among others, this immature Tricolored Heron...
...and this inquisitive little Greater Yellowlegs:
And on a cruise off to view the ponies, a few unexpected visitors cavorted around the boat:
And yes, for those of you who are wondering, we finally did get our ponies.
Nearby Blackwater NWR was another fun destination. Of course we got to see the resident Bald Eagles for which the refuge is famous.
The most exciting thing about our visit to Blackwater, though, was a glimpse of the very beginnings of the Monarch butterfly migration, something I'd never experienced before. We saw a group of perhaps 7 or 8 Monarchs gathered on one small patch of flowering bushes.
My favorite Monarch shots of the semester, though, came at Shenandoah National Park, at the Visitor Center near Big Meadows. It was a cold, rainy autumn day and a single Monarch butterfly sat perched on the asters in the garden sedately posing as I took a number of close-up shots:
Only later, as I processed my photos did I discover the reason why he stayed so resolutely in place:
Wet wings. Partly because of the story it tells, this is one of my favorite shots of the semester.
Those who've seen my other diaries know that Shenandoah National Park is my favorite sanctuary, almost magical in its beauty no matter what the season.
Those deer are a little too trusting, though (no hunting in the park). Believe it or not, the following shot is as it came off the camera - no cropping or processing at all.
Fittingly enough, my semester of photography ended as it began: in my own back yard. From the last dragonfly of summer...
...to the last rose of fall, sometimes beauty is hiding right under our noses.