After three and a half weeks wandering the northeast wilderness with the Camp Dudley Boys Camping Society, it seems strange to be blogging.  In the past month, I’ve probably showered  fewer times than I can count on one hand, been out of cell phone reception more than I’ve been in it, and gone for days without seeing more people than the six boys I’ve been leading through the backcountry, my co-instructors, and guides.  It’s been a long and sometimes frustrating journey, but like all challenges, particularly those spent outdoors with good natured people, its been well worth it.

Today, my BCS boys will see their parents for the first time in nearly a month and tomorrow they will be heading home.  I always find these endings to be somewhat bittersweet.  After spending every one of the past 24 days with them, its almost odd to hand them back to their parents, as if I am letting go of my own child and not returning someone else’s.  Together we’ve been through so much, overcoming many challenges, sharing countless laughs, and creating our own stories, traditions, cheers, jokes, and songs.  Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week may seem crazy to some, but for me all the time put in makes it that much more rewarding and the ending that much more strange to see come.  I find comfort in knowing they will tell others about their fond memories experiences with the BCS, sharing a newly found love for nature and adventure, appreciation for hard work, and respect for themselves and others.

I’ve tossed together a quick Lightroom generated Flash photo gallery of my first session out.  I managed to capture a lot of the fun moments and beautiful scenes we shared on our three and a half week long journey together, and hope you enjoy looking through the photographs.  Most have not been processed beyond formatting for the slideshow, and those that have have only been processed on my laptop, so please forgive any color casts, tilted horizons, poor contrast, etc, as I will fix them in the future.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the reception and opening day because I moved up to Westport, New York this week to start a new job, working as a trip leader for the Boys’ Camping Society at Camp Dudley on Lake Champlain.  I can’t complain though, because even though its only been a few days (I moved in on Thursday) I’ve been having an awesome time.  The location and facilities are beautiful, the staff and leaders are amazing, and my upcoming trips should be a lot of fun.  After two days of ropes course training, campfires, watching cabin leaders perform songs and skits, kayaking on Lake Champlain, listening to loons call, running in the woods, and watching the sun rise over Lake Champlain and set in the Adirondack Mountains, I’m tired but loving life.  At this rate, I think I might stay at summer camp forever.

Sometimes humankind seems on a crash course to kill the planet.  Just a couple of weeks ago an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana exploded, releasing hundreds of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  The well is still leaking, at a rate of 200,000 gallons a day, according to most recent estimates.  Officials say that the Gulf oil spill may surpass the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989.  According to an article by the Associated Press, the spill is “five times larger than first estimated, with the leading edge just three miles from the Louisiana shore.  Authorities said it could reach the Mississippi River delta by Thursday night… The oil slick could become the nation’s worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.”

I’m planning to help with the recovery efforts for the spill in any way I can and encourage you to do the same.  In conjunction with NatureScapes.Net, I’m trying to organize individuals willing to head down to Louisiana and volunteer to help rescue wildlife and clean up the spill when it reaches shore.  To volunteer, sign up with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, then email me with the dates you would be available to volunteer.  I will do my best to help arrange lodging and transportation for those who want to go down to help, although I do have a few inflexible commitments later this month that might make it difficult for me to be as actively involved in the recovery efforts as I would like.  You can also chime in on the thread on NatureScapes, and Greg and I will keep you posted with what opportunities exist to help out.

Note: I did speak with a girl from the Coalition today and as of right now, they are still waiting on clearance from BP to get volunteers out in the field, and currently do not know when or how volunteers will be needed.  As soon as they get permission from BP to go ahead and dispatch volunteers, those on the list will be contacted.  The Coalition is particularly in need of volunteers with HAZWOPER certification, as well as those with experience operating boats and/or handling wildlife.

Well, part of the problem is that nearly every day has been warm and sunny.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Which makes for nice hanging outside and getting a tan, but actually not the best for photography.  It’s been so nice out that it’s been a struggle to do anything on the computer.  I just want to play outside.

So that’s kind of what I have been doing.  Hanging out.  Bike rides.  Volleyball.  Soccer.  Frisbee.  Long walks.  Basketball.  Runs.  More bike rides.  Some work here and there (outside of course).  Saturday I trekked around the woods with some kids from Harlem.  Wednesday I’ll be doing some trail clean up with my college students.  Thursday is stream studies with 7th graders…

In between work and play, there have been a number of exciting updates in the world of Kari Post Photography.  Perhaps the most exciting is the news that my “Snowy at Sunset” photograph was selected as honorable mention for the Art Wolfe Award in the International Conservation Photography Awards contest.  That’s a huge deal!  My winning photo will be on display at the Burke Museum in Seattle this summer.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to see it, as I’ll be moving to and working in upstate New York for the summer, then moving straight to New Hampshire for grad school when the summer season is over.  I would be more bummed about missing the opening and gallery exhibit, but I managed to lock in some sweet work gigs leading trips in West Virginia, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada from May-August, so I’m not going to complain.

Next Tuesday (a week from tomorrow), I will be presenting at the Pocono Photo Club.  My presentation “Inspired by Nature” is a portfolio of my favorite images, and I will discuss the photographic techniques and stories behind them.  My last presentation, at the Stony Brook Camera Club in Massachusetts was a blast, so I’m very much looking forward to this one.

Then I head down to Florida, where I’ll be manning the NatureScapes booth at Florida’s First Coast Birding & Fotofest in St. Augustine, Thursday through Sunday.  I had a great time last year, and look forward to meeting some old and new faces, as well as getting in some shooting of my own.  I just recently got a Canon 7D, so I’m looking forward to testing out the new camera in Florida.

Speaking of traveling, I currently have a friend biking across the country, from California to New York, and when I spoke to him last Wednesday, he was in Las Vegas.  Stetson and his friend, Chris, are riding to benefit a Self Help Community Center in Cambodia, which provides educational resources for Cambodian children.  As I mentioned earlier this year, I’ve decided to donate 20% of all print sales to charity, and their charity, Cruisin’ for a Cause, is right up my alley.  Therefore, 20% of all prints sold while Stetson and Chris are on their journey will go towards the Cruisin’ for a Cause.  They still have a good 3500 miles ahead of them, so consider purchasing a print in support of them and their mission.

You can provide feedback on the new design by filling out the survey I have created online.  If you have a few minutes, your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

To make this day even better, it’s my official last day at the frame shop.  I’m really not a retail person, and I can’t bear the thought of being stuck inside, doing work I don’t find particularly engaging, rewarding, challenging, or meaningful when its so beautiful out.  Well, I really don’t ever like doing things that seem pointless, but when the air smells as good as it does in spring and the warm sun just sends happiness right into your veins, being inside all day is even worse than usual.

Spring is a great time to explore and photograph.  Subjects are nearly infinite during the season, with birds migrating, flowers blooming, and rivers flowing.  I got a head start on the photo season yesterday, when I met up with fellow photographer Ed Kaar to photograph Ring-necked Ducks.  They are one of my favorite species, and I didn’t have any shots of them, so I was quite excited to get an email from Ed earlier this week saying that a flock of them were within photographing distance at a park just a half hour from my house.  We met at sunrise and, hidden behind blinds, photographed the birds all morning.

I managed to get a couple nice shots of the ducks, plus a few shots of some other waterfowl species common to the area.  It’s been at least a couple of months since I last picked up my telephoto lens, and it was nice to get out and do some bird photography.  I’m hoping to go back to this pond and try for some more shots of the ducks before they continue their migration north to their breeding ponds.

Female Ring-necked Duck

Male Ring-necked Duck

Canada Goose Takeoff

In preparation for today’s visit, I decided to go through my photos from my own bike trip and see what salvageable images I could come up with.  As with most of my coolest adventures, I didn’t shoot nearly as much as I should have.  I also took a lot of my earlier shots in JPEG only, as I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough space on my SD card for the entire trip if I shot everything in RAW.  So, in hindsight, I was pretty foolish, but I did still manage to capture some shots that capture maybe a tiny fraction of all the amazing things I saw while riding across the United States.

The Wetmore Steakhouse, Colorado.

Split Rock, Wyoming.

Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Evergreens, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Here are just a handful of the images I have from this trip, all of these processed for the first time last night.  I hope to get to a few more today and throughout the rest of the week.  To see some of my earlier processed photos, as well as a brief review of the G10 point-and-shoot camera I used on the trip, please see my article “Little Camera, Big Pictures: A Road Trip with the G10″ on NatureScapes.Net.

Between now and March 20th (the first day of spring), prints are 10% off. Also, I’m offering my 1D Mark II N kit for sale (see earlier blog post) for $1200 plus shipping (that’s $100 off my reduced asking price) if purchased by March 20th, plus I’ll throw in a free 8×12 print as well!

To purchase sale prints and/or my camera (accessories included), please email me at sales@karipost.com.

Each year the style of winning photographs tends to change, and I find it impossible to predict which photographs the judges will or won’t like.  This year, I was struggling with deciding which photographs to enter in the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition (formerly the BBC/Shell competition where I had my Eric Hosking portfolio entry make it to the finals in 2007), when I noticed a pretty significant rule change: “File size requirements for all entries: For the initial submission, images must be 1400 pixels on the longest dimension. Digital images must have been taken on a sufficiently high resolution camera – at least ten (10) million pixels, on the highest setting.”

All of the most recent crop of digital SLRs meet that requirement, but what about photographers who don’t have the latest and greatest camera bodies?  My first DSLR was a Nikon D70 (6MP), which I purchased back in late 2004, only six years ago.  I upgraded to a 10MP D200 for a bit before switching to Canon in early 2007, when my first body was the then current professional model, an 8MP 1D Mark II N.  I’ve had that camera ever since, and only last year did I purchase any camera with higher resolution, first a 5D Mark II (22MP) and then a Canon G10 point-and-shoot (15MP).  The majority of my shots are still with the 1D2N, and therefore ineligible for entry in this year’s competition.

I think its a stupid move by the contest organizers to be honest.  8MP is more than enough resolution to yield good quality enlargements, and in the past photographs taken with the 4MP Canon D1 have been blown up and displayed and looked fine!  Last year, images that won categories within the Veolia contest were photographed with 8MP cameras.  So why the rule change this year?

Fellow photographer Jan Wegener emailed the competition for an explanation and received the following response:

“”We require images to have been taken on a camera with a resolution of at least 10 million pixels so that we can reproduce them to a high standard in the exhibition, book etc. We have been advised that setting this level will ensure that the files produced meet our needs. Unfortunately we would not be able to progress any images taken on a camera with a lower resolution. We hope this is not too disappointing for you – we understand that there was limited notice given of this rule change and will endeavour to notify potential entrants of any similar changes at an earlier date for future competitions.”

I find it entertaining and disappointing when the organizers of a well respected and highly competitive contest fail to realize that a high quality 8MP file will enlarge much better than a poor quality 10MP file.  Or that just because an image came from a 10MP camera doesn’t mean that photographers won’t crop their photos and enter 8MP files from a 10MP camera.  Or that a higher resolution camera will begin to pick up the flaws of a lens or a photographers technique, and may yield a poorer quality image than a smaller resolution, technically superior photograph.  Or… you get the picture.

The winner of last year’s Veolia competition was recently disqualified for using a captive, trained wolf for his winning image “Storybook Wolf.”  Immediately after the selection was publicized, internet rumors began to circle about the origins of the wolf, location of the photo, and behavior exhibited.  Eventually, it was concluded that the photo was a set-up, using a captive trained wolf from a zoo, and the winner was disqualified.  This year, I predict the Veolia awards will do a good job of irritating photographers yet again, either by sticking to this seemingly poorly thought out rule change and disqualifying worthy images based entirely on a number, or by realizing that a 10MP camera resolution requirement has nothing to do with how good a photograph is and letting images from 8MP cameras squeeze by into the winning images causing an uproar among those who didn’t bother to enter due to the new rule.

I just hope I get my money back.

Last weekend, I spent Thursday through Sunday in New England visiting a grad school in New Hampshire and then hanging out with my friends Taylor Yeager and Tabitha Hobbs, also photographers, at their home in Massachusetts.  While up in Mass, I presented a photography program called “A Voice in the Wilderness” to the Stony Brook Camera Club and had a blast.  What a great group of folks!  My current next camera club talk is set for April, when I will be presenting a collection of my favorite images (along with a bit of inspiration) to the Pocono Photo Club in Pennsylvania.

This weekend, I’m heading up to the Adirondacks in upstate New York to do some ice climbing with a group of college students from UPenn and catch up with a couple of former co-workers I haven’t seen in a while.  Then, its back to the usual for a bit, and hopefully I’ll have the time to add some new photos and posts.

What a noble thought.  But it brings up a good point.  How often do photographers head out into the field with the sole purpose of creating a photograph, and as a result, return home with hundreds of photographs that don’t really mean anything?  Even when visiting a beautiful and fantastic location, I think photographers too stuck in the mindset of capturing an image often end up with photographs that are uninspired and forced.

I believe that unique, creative photographs are the product of love.  That’s why I photograph predominantly nature subjects. I love the natural world, and landscapes, wildlife, and the colors and patterns of nature are what inspire and motivate me.

Lately, I’ve been spending more time outdoors, more time alone with nature, and less time with a camera in hand.  I think that’s important.  It’s valuable to be able to see and experience beautiful things, and not have to capture them in an image.  If you happen to have a camera and time to compose a beautiful image, great, but if not, does it make the experience any less?  It shouldn’t.  I think a lot of times photographers get too caught up in photographing and forget to experience what exactly it is they are trying to share with others.

That was exactly what Jasper was trying to get at.  He’s been doing fewer workshops and focusing more on his own photography and experiences.  He believes that when you actually explore the natural world around and shoot a bit less, that the shots you do take matter more and end up being better than if you spent your entire time stuck behind a lens.  I think he’s right.

I know one thing, I’m happier when I spend more time outside.  I like snow and rain and sunshine and cloudy days.  I was never a huge fan of wind, but lately, I even like that too.  I love being outside, I love fresh air, and I love nature.  For me, being able to enjoy nature, camera in hand or not, makes me a happier, healthier person, and sometimes I enjoy it more when I’m not lugging 30lbs of gear around or worrying about slipping and smashing up a lens.  If I go out on a hike just to hike, not with the goal of photographing, I’m never disappointed.  It’s only when I get hung up on taking a picture and forget to be where I am, that I begin to get frustrated by the process.

Yesterday, the area where I live in northern New Jersey got 10-12 inches of thick, wet snow.  It was our first real good snow this season, as last weekend, when south Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and other areas more south got dumped on, we didn’t get a single flake.  I wanted to go out and photograph the snow, but the roads were a bit too sketchy to drive on, at least with my little Saturn that hates the snow, so I went for a walk.  There is a county park that passes through my town with 13.7 miles of paved paths that I can access by walking about half a mile down my street and the main road, then hopping down a bank or crossing the road and jumping onto a wooded trail that connects to the main path.  I go there almost every day, usually to run or bike, sometimes just to explore.  It’s my tiny sanctuary in the busy, crowded suburb I grew up in, and I’m pretty sure I’d be entirely miserable without it to escape to.

I tossed my landscape gear into a pack on my back, dodged the plows, and headed for my little bit of woods.  It was snowing pretty heavily, but I just wanted to get outside and enjoy it.  If I was able to get some good photographs in the meantime, even better.

I’m happy to say I wasn’t the only one with that idea, because when I reached the dirt trail that winds through the woods next to the main path, there was a set of tracks ahead of me.  Sometimes, I really like having a place to myself, but yesterday, I was glad to see that not everyone who lives in my area are complete cowards.  I followed the trail, enjoying the beauty of the trees drenched in snow, snapping many photos.  The wooded area of the park is not particularly photogenic, but its pretty in its own way.  Snow of course, makes everything seem even more beautiful.

I came to this tree that had fallen across the trail and liked the way it looked.  The person ahead of me had walked around it.  In the past, I often would have avoided elements of a photo that spoke of human presence, but these days, I’m taking much more of an interest to scenes that show the connection between people and nature.  Here, the log provided a beautiful diagonal line to lead into the photo, and the trees on either side of the path framed the tracks in the snow, which, I felt, added some texture to the scene.

Of course, photography involves thinking about the shot, about having a vision and making it come to life.  The skills we develop as photographers are necessary to execute our vision.  But its not just skills and practice and planning and thought that make photos work.  It’s something else too.  It’s feeling.  It’s about being there.  It’s about the experience behind the photograph as much as the photograph itself.

I see hundreds and thousands of good photographs online every day, but only a handful really speak to me and stand out as being something special.  Anyone with enough knowledge and practice can take a technically excellent photograph.  But the best photographs have soul, have a voice, and that doesn’t come from books or workshops or online forums.  It comes from the heart and from experience.   When we become too focused on the technical aspects of a photograph, we as photographers often lose sight of the very thing that makes photographs so powerful, the soul behind them.  It’s only when we get back to our roots, to our passion, to nature, that we can really capture all of the beauty this planet has to offer.

I think this photo works.  Why?  Because I took it with a smile on my face, and when I came home from my trek in the park, I felt alive and rejuvenated and happy.  It says something.  It shows a relationship, a connection between people and the planet.  Its not just a mathematical balance of light and dark, lines and shapes.  It’s dynamic.  It has a story and an experience behind it.

I believe its important to experience the world we live in in order to accurately capture the world we live in.  So do yourself a favor.  Get outside.  Go for a walk and leave your camera at home.  Dare to miss the shot.  Dare to experience a place before you photograph it.  Explore with more that just your camera.  Open up your mind and your heart.  Begin to see and feel what it is that makes something special.  Take it all in before trying to share it with someone else.  And then, when you finally take out your camera, you might find that you actually have something to say.

Admittedly, I did head over the border and into New York state for yesterday’s morning snow, but Harriman is only about 1/2 hour from my house, and I love this creek that runs through the park.  The weather forecast predicted that the snow would turn to rain by noon in my area, but north and west of where I am it was just supposed to stop snowing, so I decided to head out a bit farther in hopes of having more time to photograph.  As it turns out, nearly all of the snow had melted by 2PM and this morning, it is impossible to tell that it had ever snowed at all.

I’m hoping we get more fresh snow soon, and I can take advantage of some of my other local hiking trails, but I’m pretty happy with being able to grab some wintery shots in the short time frame I had.

I DID get to test out my new Gitzo GT1541T tripod for the first time yesterday.  I purchased this tripod specifically for landscapes, as I wanted something lighter and more compact for hiking and backpacking, and I’m quite impressed.  It packs up nice and small and fits into the side pocket of my Osprey Talon 44 pack, where I don’t even notice it while hiking.  Set-up is a breeze with the rotating leg locks, and the closures that spread the legs out from the base plate are different from the heavier duty Gitzo’s I’ve used and I think an improvement.  Of course I’ll have to put it through a few more trials before I can really offer a thorough review, but so far my impressions are extremely positive.

If you are interested, please send me an email.  Thanks!

I fell into that trap too, but not very long ago I realized how wasteful it was to carry around a lot of gear only to use maybe half of it. I had surgery back in January 2005 to repair two torn ligaments and torn cartilage in my knee, but my knee has never been the same since, and every so often it acts up.  A few years ago, after lugging 22 lbs of poorly balanced gear up and down the Barnegat lighthouse and jetty only to not be able to walk for a day and a half later that week, I decided I needed to clean up my act and went on a selling/buying spree to get rid of the gear I rarely used and buy gear I would feel more comfortable with and want to use more.

So how do you go about deciding what you do and don’t need?  There are actually two parts to this question: 1) the gear you should own and therefore what you need to buy and 2) the gear you should pack with you for a given outing.  What gear you need is largely dependent on what you shoot.  Because I photograph nature and wildlife, the equipment I will use is much different from the equipment a wedding or fashion photographer might invest in.  My camera equipment is specific to my needs, which is specific to the subjects I photograph and the conditions in which I photograph them.  Get the gear that fits your requirements best.

My equipment can be divided into three basic kits, depending on the subject and style of shooting I am doing.  For each kit, I carefully consider the camera, lenses, lighting, and support.

For landscapes, I require a high resolution camera with mirror lock-up capability and the ability to use either a self-timer or remote.  I like to have the option of shooting from wide angle to short telephoto, depending on the scene.  Because I am aiming for sharpness and high depth of field when shooting landscapes, it is not important to me to have fast lenses with wide apertures.  I shoot all my landscapes with natural light, and I require steady support to hold the camera still during longer exposures.  Sometimes, I find a circular polarizing filter or neutral density filter invaluable to me. One camera, one to two lenses covering wide-angle to short-tele, a good tripod and head, and a couple filters.  That’s it.  That’s all you really need.  My current landscape set-up consists of a 5D Mark II, 17-40mm f/4L, and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens with a Really Right Stuff ballhead and Gitzo tripod, plus a polarizer and single solid ND filter.  Sure I could have a super-wide lens, or a mid range zoom to fill the gap from 40mm to 70mm, but really, I don’t need them.  I don’t need f/2.8 lenses, because I shoot all my landscapes at f/8 or smaller apertures.  If I’m creative in the field, I can get an endless variety of shots with my setup.  Why should I burden myself with more gear if I don’t need it?

For birds and wildlife, my needs are different.  My subjects are smaller and farther away, plus they move, so I need longer lenses and fast, reliable autofocus.  A sturdy tripod is again necessary because my equipment for shooting birds and wildlife is much heavier, and the longer telephoto lenses magnify any movement I make when the shutter is pressed.  With the exception of wider angle environmental portraits when I can get close to wildlife, I do all my shooting with a single, very sharp, very fast lens and teleconverters.  My primary setup is a 1D Mark II N and a 300mm f/2.8L IS lens, with a combination of 1.4x and 2x teleconverters.  My setup weighs less and is easier to handle than a 500mm or 600mm lens, and it has the added versitility of allowing me to shoot 300mm at f/2.8, 420mm at f/4, or 600mm at f/5.6.  The Canon 300mm f/2.8 is so sharp that it produces excellent results with the 2x converter, even wide open.  My camera of choice, the 1D Mark II N has excellent autofocus and a fast frame rate to capture moving subjects.  I also have a flash and better beamer for adding fill light to subjects, but I’ll admit I’m not much of a flash person and tend to use natural light whenever possible.

For close-ups of small subjects, I used to have a dedicated macro lens, but I used it so rarely that I have sold it and now use my 70-200 in combination with extension tubes and teleconverters.  This works well for me because it enables me to have less gear, but still get the results I’m looking for.  I plan to get a 500D close-up filter by spring for times when I need to get even closer.  Because I have been careful about my gear selection, I require no specialty equipment, save for a few small, lightweight tubes, to do my close-up work.

All of my gear can fit into a single backpack, which makes packing easy when I travel.  I use the Gura Gear Kiboko Bag because it is lightweight, small enough to fit into the overhead compartment of a plane, and has a harness that collapses into the bag itself, making storage easy.  However, I also have a backpacking pack that I use when splitting up my gear for different trips.  If I’m going backpacking, I only bring my landscape gear and extension tubes so I can do landscape and macro work.  If I’m going to an area to shoot songbirds, I leave my wide-angle lenses and filters in the car.  It just doesn’t make sense to carry around what I don’t need.  Carrying extra gear will make you tire more quickly, even if only going a short distance, and it also puts your gear at risk.  Any time your gear is outside it runs the risk of being dropped, stolen, weathered, etc.  Why subject your gear to added stresses when you aren’t even planning to use it?

If you carefully select gear that meets your needs and is versatile, you’ll be able to get more shooting done with less equipment.  If you pack wisely, you’ll be able to travel longer and farther on foot, and you’ll have a better time shooting.  With my two cameras, three lenses, tripod, ballhead, and some accessories, I’ve been able to photograph everything from mountains to flowers and sparrows to seals.  I’m not limited to paved roads or tourist traps, and I get out, see more, and shoot more.  Sure there are times when I wish I had specialty items to get a shot, but 99% of the time I can get along just fine with what I have.  Having less gear forces you to think about your shooting more, to be more creative, and to try harder, but overall that will make you a better photographer, and really, isn’t that the point?

To be eligible, all you need to do is become a fan of Kari Post Photography on Facebook.  Once a fan, you can increase your odds by recruiting more fans.  Remember, I will do a drawing every time the counter rolls past 100, so the more fans, the more free print giveaways, and the sooner you join, the more times you’ll be entered to win!

This photograph of a male Long-tailed Duck touching down on the surface of the water is one example.  I like the pose, I just wish the original was closer to full frame!

In addition to Long-tailed Ducks, I also photographed Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Common Loon, Brant, and even Harbor Seal!  I also spotted Eider, Black Scoter, Double-crested Cormorant, and Red-throated Loon from a distance, but none were close enough for any good photo ops.  The shorebirds were pretty much vacant from the jetty, although I spotted Ruddy Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, and Black-bellied Plover, and Herring Gulls were present as well.