Immature herring gull dropping crab for lunch.

On Saturday, February 4, 2012, I went on my first hosted birdwalk. This birdwalk was led by Derrick of the Freeport Wild Bird Suppy – http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/default.asp .

Birdwatching is distinctly different than bird photography. There are obvious overlaps. Birdwatching is all about the count, number of species, then number of birds. Lists are kept – life, day, month, location, year, and every other distinction that can be created.

There was only one true photo opportunity, a shore side flock of Dunlin sandpipers – Caldris alpina – with favorable side lighting. The first sighting of this flock was on an offshore ledge with backlighting.

Bird sighting and souundings may be brief and require rapid identification. Derrick was spot on and led the group with an ongoing descriptive dialogue.

There is much more to birding. The equipment is all binoculars and/or spotting scopes on tripods. No cameras. A notebook to create the day list, (which later is added to the week, month, year, site, life, et al, lists) Habitat knowledge. Tree identifictation – “beyond the popular, higher in the oak tree…” Weather factors and effects. Tide status – high/low, coming/going.

Then there is the bird itself. Markings, size, shape, location, behavior patterns, et al, lead to affirmative identification. I have much to learn and experience to gain.

Bird watchers are friendly without being chatting or gregarious during the birdwalk. Listening for birds leads to seeing birds. Listening is the practiced deliberate art of not talking.

Spotting highlights for me included the Eagle nest on a nearby island, the immature Eagle soaring, and the mature Eagle perched. And the Dunlin sandpipers. To see Derrick’s trip list, see http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bird_news.asp?id=1556#1556

After the walk, we returned to store for chatting, coffee, and the warmth of comraderie. Some took the opportunity to buy needed bird seed and other supplies. Conveniently incidental and not an expectation.

After the walk, I went down to Freeport harbor with my D300 & 150/500mm zoom attached. First to the yacht club to look for the Barrows Goldeneye that had been spotted from afar. They were gone. I did snap off some shots of a small group of Common Eiders before going over to the Town Landing for other opportunities. There I scored picture and lesson of the day.

An immature herring gull was in hopping flight with a small crab. It would hop fly up about ten feed and drop the crab onto the dock with hopes of cracking the shell open for lunch. At the top of the hop, I snapped and was rewarded with the photo above.

Lesson of the day, when taking photos of motion, take the camera off of manual and use the shutter priority mode to freeze the frame,

I will be back next week, hopefully a wee bit better prepared to learn more from a birding master.

Derrick, Thank you.

Via Flickr:
Seagull lunch.

Sunrise at Portland’s eastern promenade.

Sunset at Portland’s western promenade.

Moved through shutter speeds to best capture the rays bursting up.

F-Stop held steady at 5.6.

Shutter speed @ 1/2500.

Focalength 170 mm.

ISO: 400

What else?

Next time? F-stop to F8 or 16. Manual focus on the water vapors.

This Iron Ranger is a test of personal integrity.

When no one is watching, will you stop and pay the access fee anyways? Certainly , they could make it easier by charging whole, not half dollar amounts. But then again, a fifty-cent tip for self service is a wee bit excessive. Perhaps, I was unintentionally paying it forward for a next car through.

I double folded my Lincoln and pulled forward into the park with a clear conscience.

After having a thoroughly enjoyable walk down and back across the uniquely famous one-mile beach. I exited the park, stopping at the entrance to use my iPhone maps app to get my bearings towards the next destination. While there, a micro SUV zipped by, scarcely braking for the posted speed limit, certainly not stopping to honor the Iron Ranger.

Integrity is doing the right thing. Whether or not any one else is watching.

Should I have gone back, to at least take a photo of the offensive violator? Would it have made any difference if I had? What would you have done?

Maine has a blue collar governor in a now red state. Govenor LePage’s glib remark, after being constantly nitpicked at by the press about his not going to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s annual dinner in Portland with a follow-on breakfast meeting in Bangor, was unfortunately authentic.

Who has not become exasperated while being repetitively and repeatedly questioned about the same subject? The press uses this immature interrogative technique to get the juicy sound bite. Asked and answered is sufficient. Any repetitive persistent asking is needless needling and carping. IF you have kids, and taken them to the grocery story, you know what I’m talking about.

Govenor LePage’s rationale was practical – he did not want to establish the precedence of becoming beholden to the political agendas of special interest groups. Not to mention, as he states, there are only so many hours in the day and many demands on his limited time to tend to professional, personal and private matters.

Rachel Talbot Ross’s – President of the Maine NAACP Chapter - tone, as quoted in the Portland Press Herald is callous, telling and inconsistent starting with, “I don’t care who he’s got in his family”, and ending with “His son deserves better.” Rachel, you don’t care or do you care about Lepage’s family or son? Really? I doubt that to be true to who you really are. See how the selective sound bite is damaging?

Governor Lepage is not willing to join in the NAACP’s agenda of exclusive inclusiveness. The Maine NAACP wanted him to meet with the black prisoners in Maine’s prison – a race exclusive event. Governor Lepage declined unless the meeting was open to all prisoners – an inclusive event. The meeting was not held because of the NAACP’s inflexible commitment and blind allegiance to its dogmatic agenda.

As with any newly elected executive political leader, verbal gaffe’s are going to occur and be learned from. President Obama’s glib special bowling remark “It’s like the Special Olympics or something,” (168,000 Google Hits) on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is one example, but not an excuse. President Reagan’s “We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes”, (98,400 Google hits). I’m not going to go down the profane path of VP Biden.

Govenor LePage – the microphone was on. Consider all microphones to be on, live and recorded. Pause to temper your response by five seconds to mentally bleep the glibness while continuing to hold true to your values & beliefs of total inclusiveness.

After a time of reflection, thinking, scheming and dreaming, I was ready to start the photo selection process. Knowing what was ahead of me, I posted this on FB. “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” This cryptic entry was a hint at the scope of the task. The deciphered content meant that just because I can keep every digital picture I’ve ever taken (which I have done…) doesn’t mean I should. Clearly, I need to become not only better organized but also more willing to discard photos that are not worthy of keeping.

I reached deep into my backup external hard drive and began the journey down digital photography lane. All the way back and through my five or six digital cameras. Early file sizes of 500k’sh were telling of the journey. Current files are ten times larger.

At the same time, my wife’s hard drive giving imminent failure messages. Further investigation revealed the same messages were buried in my computer’s log file. She quickly called the vendor, our computers, bought at the same time, were still under warranty. Parts were shipped, a service technician dispatched, and the onerous task of program and data transfer was started.

I stubbornly insisted that laplink’s PCMover utility software be used to migrate my application software and data files. Poor mistake. It revealed that my flawed intuitive sense of reality. What seemed so conceptually simple turned into a digital slog. I should have listened to my wife. She is the IT goddess with talent, skill and competency forever beyond my own. Day One turned into overnight and ended in the failure that creates lessons learned. Lesson learned include: to back up the data; use PCMover to transfer the OS and application software; and quit keeping so much junk. Day Two, as I type this, has become evening. (But I do have a new 2TB backup drive and a new UPS.)

Along the way, beyond this soft disk fender-bender and recovery, I have been thinking about upgrading my photo light room application software suite towards the accepted gold star standard – Photoshop CS5. Well, that cost more money than I need to invest in this fledgling adventure. For now, I will be getting and using Adobe Lightroom 3. With .aL3, I get organization and post processing capabilities. To ensure this meets my needs before dropping the ca$h into the solution.

Yes, cash. I intend to fund this initiative with today’s dollars. This one guiding principle is to remain constant. No Debt Is To Be Incurred. Some funds will be generated by selling off stuff no longer needed. Like the van top Thule kayak carrier stowed in the basement. The trailer hitch I found last year after running over it in the road. Maybe even some early photos from my online printing service – see next paragraph.

Future expenses include registering an available domain name, picking an online printing service, 4×6 test photos, mileage, frames, real printing, matting and framing. Will I need a Great State of Maine business license? Or will I fly under the table, under the radar – hardly doubtful. PhotARTgraphy is a hobby that may generate revenue, expenses, profit or loss.

The real question remains…What Is My Purpose?

Progress can only be made.

This week’s task was to implement the local printing of candidate pictures. I bought 4×6 photo paper for my HP Photosmart printer. There is a huge difference between printing on photopaper and printing on plain general purpose paper. Not only that, the is even a larger difference between looking a photograph on the monitor and printing out that same photograph on real photo paper. The difference is simply stunning and I’m now wondering why I spent too many years not printing out my better and best work.

There are four shots in front of me for pondering. Three will probably make it – the National Mall Squirrel, Washington Monument with American Flag, and a Sunrise over England. The Edinburgh Castle night shot is a maybe.

At the same time, this is Maine gallery. The real theme needs to be centered on Maine, not just my travel world beyond. It’s time to start.

The inkjet printing will only be used for photo selection – not for show printing. I have researched and identified several on-line options that use a photo process and quality archive paper.

December will be spent planning 2011. Today, I will finish developing the proposed 2011 HRASMaine budget for review at this week’s Board of Directors Meeting. At work, very busy with the final throes of merging two affiliate companies into one. And the published Phippsburg 2011 business plan and budget.

Progress can only be made by focusing on tasks, not the overwhelming everything.

Andrea’s predominant medium of artistic expression is painting. Although she also utilizes other available mediums as the situation allows. As an artist, she has the freedom to create the moment. As a photographer, I have the freedom to capture the moment.

The Barn

The purpose of today’s visit was to see the gallery and wall/door where my work will be displayed. I have always received compliments on much of my photography with polite encouragement about selling my work. So I am now taking that step, ready or not, I will be ready.

Somewhere along the way, and I do know where, photography transitioned from being a print medium to more of a cybereality. BUT good photography should be printed and displayed. Huddling over a computer monitor, while efficient, does become more of something else, something at the tips of my finger. Something to be overcome.

My transition point was in eight years ago, when I got my first digital camera. The Minolta Dimage 7. Since then, I have followed the development of digital photography through 4 maybe 5 other cameras before settling in with my Nikon D300 2-1/2 years ago.

But I digress. I am developing my business plan. So far, only have about 13 questions and only one firm answer. The one answered question – what is my purpose statement: Exhibit for sale meaningful and appealing photography.

Come back often. I will share discovered and revealed answers as I walk down my path.

A puddle of feathers beneath the birdfeeder.

I do like feeding and watching birds.

I do not like feeding cats.

I will watch for this cat.

Then what?

There will not be a deserved puddle.

Only SCAT CAT.

Here at Thor’s Hill, we experienced gusting winds with 2.72inches of rain. Most of the rain was in the morning. The gusty winds lasted the day and into the next.

Of course, being inland and sheltered by the pine forest to the north and east, the gusty winds, while persistent throughout the day, were not to the same level of severity as the coast got clobbered with. In fact, the highest gust of 10 MPH was at 1956 in the evening. 24 hours later, at nearly the same time, there was a gust from the WNW @ 24 MPH. The day after was windier than than the day of the rain portion of the nor’east’ah.

Nor’east’ahs, being a significant weather event, deserve to be named along the same theme, concept and philosophy as summer tropical depressions and hurricanes. So, until I can came up with an annual fancified naming convention, the standard phonetic alphabet will be used. The next storm of significance will be named Bravo.

I’m still undecided as to whether or not to include all winter storms in this naming project.

What do you think?

There was a delicate odor of essence of skunk in the air. I picked up the pace while contingency planning the day.

I heard gentle crashing in the woods off to the deep the right. Deer?

As I turned the corner of the tote road, I saw Zeus and a fawn nearly nose to nose. When the fawn saw me, it turned and ran off into the woods. Zeus trotted after, not charging, and stopped at the woods.

No skunks.