Do your mix humor with your photography? I enjoy playing with words (and especially puns) and love looking for opportunities to inject humor into my blog postings. One of my favorite bloggers, Lyle Krahn at Krahnpix, is a real master at mixing his incredible wildlife shots with a kindred kind of humor (or perhaps he might say “humour.)
This past Monday was my blog’s second anniversary and I am taking a brief pause from posting new photos to think about the blog and my photographic journey over the last two years. During this period I am re-posting some of my favorite postings.
The re-posting today of an encounter between a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) and a frog was one of my earliest attempts to add humor, from the title all the way down to the last line of the posting, and is one of my favorites over the past two years. Here’s a link to the original posting or you can read it in its entirety below.
Full text of blog posting on 24 July 2012 that I entitled “Not Seeing Eye to Eye”:
One can only imagine what is going through the frog’s mind as he looks into the crazed eyes of the green heron who has just speared him. Is he looking for mercy? Is he resigned to his fate?
I watched the prelude to this moment unfold this afternoon at Huntley Meadows Park, a marshland park here in Virginia. The green heron was intently scanning the water from the edge of a boardwalk that runs through the march. Periodically he would extend his neck down toward the water.
Several times we heard an excited “eeep” sound followed by a splash, indicating another frog had escaped. After a few more minutes, however, the heron dived into the water and reappeared on the boardwalk with the speared frog you see in the first photo.
When you look at the comparative size of the heron’s mouth and the frog, it hardly seems possible that the green heron could swallow the entire frog. The heron took his time shifting the position of the frog and then all at once he turned his head, bent his neck back a little, and down went the frog. It happened so quickly that I was able to snap only a single photo that shows the frog’s webbed feet as the only remaining parts that have not yet been swallowed.
In this final photo the heron no longer has a slim neck. I have no idea how long it will take for the frog to reach the heron’s stomach but I am pretty sure he was not yet there when I took this photo.
And don’t try to talk with the heron during this period. Why not? Read the caption of the last photo!
I can’t talk now. I have a frog in my throat.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Sometimes the photos themselves seem to provoke humor, as these do. What a tame green heron!
Indeed. This green heron was fishing off of a pretty well-trodden boardwalk and seemed almost oblivious (or accustomed) to the human presence.
I enjoy Lyle’s blog too for both the wonderful images and his sense of humor. Sometimes a photo just has its caption written for you, especially those critters that are just having a really bad day. Your heron/frog photos are wonderful.
Thank, Donna. I definitely agree that some photos are so funny that I sometimes want to have a caption contest just to see what other quirky minds will come up with.
Good one 🙂
This is a great series, and I love the caption on the last photo.
That last one is particularly funny.
The photo series is amazing. I find for myself the journey from what it looked like when I started and the measurable growth to where I am now is always interesting. It has to be hard when you start out that good with an expectation to improve.
Hi Mike,
I, too, love using humor and puns, both in my titles and in my text. And that’s a big part of why you and Lyle are two of my favorite photo bloggers…besides the great images you guys post. 🙂
So that’s why I have to ask the following question: What was the last thing to go through the frog’s mind before it was eaten?
Answer: The heron’s bill! 😉
Keep up the great work! 🙂
RPRT Photo
Congratulations on your two year anniversary! Love the frog and the heron. What a priceless shot
Congrats on the anniversary, but even after two years these remain some of your best moments. The first photo in particular is incredible.
Thanks, Jeremy. It’s nice to look back occasionally and remember the special moments that I have been able to capture with my camera. Some of the blog readers may have seen the images before, but few of them were with me two years ago when I started.
Excellent sequence of shots Mike, Herons will eat just about anything.
I have found that humour is best shared and it has been a joy to exchange humour and each others’ blogs. Frog in the throat – yes that definitely works especially for a great series of photos. You have had some wonderful experiences over the last two years.
Thanks, Lyle. As I thought about my favorite moments and looked again at the respective postings, I realized that you had already commented on many of them. Although we approach our photography in somewhat different ways, we both are self-aware about what we are doing and why and like to talk about it. Being willing and able to laugh at ourselves and our efforts makes our postings more interesting to others and keeps our diligent efforts to get shots from becoming too serious.
That’s so true. So many days it’s hard to take myself seriously when life happens on the way to a good photograph. Laughing is great medicine.
Well it is a smashing success with this post, the combining of humor and photography 🙂