October 22, 2014 by Mike Powell
A female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) lives at a small lake not far from where I live and periodically I try to photograph, but she continues to remain elusive.
Generally I try to photograph the kingfisher at one of her normal perches in a grove of trees across a narrow portion of the lake from where I am standing. It’s tough to isolate her against the backdrop of the trees, especially at this time of the year when the leaves are still on the trees, and often I only catch sight of her when she starts to fly.
Most of the shots in this posting are my attempts to capture her in flight. I am getting better at tracking the bird in the air and keeping her in focus, but it’s not easy to do as she flies in and out of the shadows and against varying backgrounds and she is somewhat hidden in these shots.
This past weekend, I decided to try to approach the grove of trees from the other side of the lake, where there is often a group of fishermen. I was fortunate that I was alone and I was able to make it relatively close to the grove of trees. I was surprised to see that the kingfisher was on a low perch rather than high in the trees where I usually find her and I managed to squeeze off a few shots before she flew away. The first shot in this posting was from this new shooting position.
I plan to try this new approach again in the future and with a bit of luck, I may finally be able to get the kind of shot of this bird that I have been visualizing in my mind.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, female Belted Kingfisher, kingfisher, Lake Cook, Megaceryle alcyon | 5 Comments »
October 21, 2014 by Mike Powell
As I slowly made my way through the tall grass on the lake shore, my eyes were focused on the low-hanging branches where I had seen a Belted Kingfisher earlier in the day. Suddenly the water exploded at my feet.
I was startled and so was the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) that scrambled into action and started moving across the surface of the water. The cormorant had apparently been resting or feeding at the water’s edge and had not heard me approach. It was interesting to see the cormorant move—it rose up a bit and seemed to walk across the water and then settled back into the water once it was a good distance away from me.
The action happened so quickly and in an unexpected location that I initially had trouble framing my shots. This is my favorite of the ones in which I managed to get the entire cormorant in the frame. I especially like the details that you can see on the wings. As I was working on the image, it was interesting to note that there are almost no colors in the shot, except for the bird’s bill. When I adjusted the hue and saturation, for example, almost nothing changed.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus | 5 Comments »
October 20, 2014 by Mike Powell
This past Friday I spotted one of my favorite spiders, the Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax), in the reeds adjacent to the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park. The spider was pretty active and jumped a couple of times, but I managed to get a shot that highlights its multiple eyes and colorful “fangs.”
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bold Jumping spider, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, jumping spider, Phidippus audax, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 15 Comments »
October 20, 2014 by Mike Powell
As their name suggests, Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) appear later in the year than most other dragonflies. This past weekend I spotted quite a number of mating pairs, including this couple that I captured in an acrobatic position worthy of the Cirque du Soleil. The dramatic lighting and colorful background added to the theatrical feel of the image, as all the elements worked together to focus our attention on the performance.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, Portraits | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Cirque du Soleil, Huntley Meadows Park, mating dragonflies, Sympetrum vicinum | 6 Comments »
October 19, 2014 by Mike Powell
It has often been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I’m not sure what I can say about the soul of this Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon), but I recently had a chance to take a long, close look into one of its eyes.
As I was walking in my local marshland park last week, one of my fellow photographers pointed out the snake to me in the low vegetation. Most of the time that I see this species, it is in the water, where it is almost impossible for me to get a close-up shot. The snake started to move several times as I got closer and closer to it, but then it would stop, thinking perhaps that it would be invisible if it remained motionless.
Most of the time, my view to the snake was obscured by the vegetation, so I waited and tried to anticipate where it would move next, hoping that it would move to a more open area. Finally, I was able to get a relatively clear shot of its eye in a head-and-shoulders portrait, though, of course, snakes don’t really have shoulders.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Nerodia sipedon, Northern Water Snake, Northern Watersnake, snake eye, snake eyes, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 12 Comments »
October 18, 2014 by Mike Powell
When I am trying to take a close-up shot of a dragonfly, I know that I have succeeded when I manage to capture some of the details of the ommatidia. What are ommatidia? Ommatidia are the up to 30,000 hexagonal facets that make up the incredible compound eyes of a dragonfly. For more information and a more scientific explanation, check out a posting entitled “Super-predators” that Sue did in June 2013 in her Backyard Biology blog.
Rather than think about science, today I would prefer to simply bask in the beauty of the blue-eyed Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I photographed yesterday as it perched on a fallen leaf at my favorite marshland park. The color of the dragonfly’s eyes completely captivate me.
As for the ommatidia, I’ve cropped a portion of the image and added it to the posting as a second image to make it even clearer what they look like. I chuckled a little when I examined the cropped image, because this dragonfly, like some others that I have photographed, has the sparsely distributed mustache and chin hairs that never fail to remind me of human teenagers who refuse to shave in a vain attempt to look older.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits | Tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, dragonfly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, ommatidia, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 22 Comments »
October 17, 2014 by Mike Powell
Earlier this month, I was really happy to spot this Northern Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus) on the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park. These snakes spend most of the time in the trees and in heavy brush, so I rarely get to see one, despite their very distinctive color and overall appearance. The Virginia Herpetological Society claims that this is a docile species that will not bite, but just to be safe, I took the close-up shot from a good distance away, shooting at 300mm on my telephoto zoom lens.
Generally I like to photograph my wildlife subjects in a natural environment and the “wood” on this boardwalk isn’t even natural—it’s some kind of synthetic material. In this case, however, the neutral color of the background helps to focus viewers’ attention on the colors and textures and shape of the snake. In the final two images, in particular, I really like the contrast between the sinuous curves of the snake’s body and the hard, straight lines of the man-made objects.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Rough Greensnake, Opheodrys aestivus, Rough Green Snake, Rough Greensnake | 9 Comments »
October 16, 2014 by Mike Powell
Do you post photos of only one particular genre or type of subject? Do you feel that you have to be specialized as a photographer? Are you afraid to post a photo that might be viewed as a cliché or hackneyed image?
This past weekend I was catsitting for a photographer friend, Cindy Dyer, who has two male cats named Pixel and Lobo. As she tells the story, she wanted to name them Pixel and JPEG, but her husband refused to let her name the cat JPEG, so she settled on Lobo.
Since I was going to be spending some quality time with the cats, I decided to take along my camera and see if I could capture a few shots of them. I quickly learned that cats are not very cooperative subjects—you can’t get them to pose when and where and how you want. I suspect that most of the best shots of cats are taken when someone catches them doing something they were doing anyways.
It was gray and overcast the day that I tried to photograph the cats, so natural light was pretty limited in the townhouse where they live. The pop-up flash was not really an option, because it produced the animal equivalent of red-eye in the one shot I attempted. I cranked up the ISO to 1600 and shot almost wide open, but even so the shutter speeds were below 1/30 of a second and many shots were blurred. In retrospect, I probably should have chosen a different lens for the task. I used my 180mm macro lens and often couldn’t get enough distance to capture even the entire head. Needless to say, I had no trouble filling the frame with my subjects.
Eventually I got some images I liked of Pixel, the striped cat, and Lobo, the gray one. I posted these images to Facebook so that Cindy and her husband could view them from Texas, where they were attending a photo workshop. In doing so, I added to the deluge of cat photos on the internet.
One of my fellow nature photographers, Walter Sanford, responded to the images with the comment, “If you persist in posting cat photos, then I’ll have to recommend the Society of Amateur Wildlife Photographers revoke your membership and ban you for life!” I’m pretty sure he was kidding, but it prompted me to think about the questions with which I opened this posting.
For me, I am on a journey into photography and I want to be free to explore and to share the results of my exploration. I don’t want to overspecialize and I don’t want to feel constrained to posting only “perfect’ images. I have no fear in posting imperfect images and have to come to appreciate the creative power of what others might view as inferior images.
So here, at last, are my shots of Lobo and Pixel—embrace the cliché and feel free to post pictures of your cats.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Cat, Humor, Macro Photography, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cats, cliche, Lobo, Pixel, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 6 Comments »
October 15, 2014 by Mike Powell
It’s migration time for Common Green Darner dragonflies (Anax junius) and last week one of my fellow photographers, Walter Sanford, reported a small swarm of Green Darners at my local marshland park.
I was walking in an entirely different area of the park from Walter and was surprised to see Green Darners, which are easily recognized thanks to their coloration and distinctive bullseye on their heads, flying up from the ground as I approached them. Rather than fly off into the distance, which is most often the case when I happen to disturb a dragonfly, these dragonflies moved only a short distance and came to rest again on the ground.
I don’t yet have the ability to interpret the movements of dragonflies, but it seemed to me that these Green Darners were conserving energy, as though they were resting in the midst of a long journey. I tried to be as quiet and stealthy as I could and moved closer and closer to one Green Darner perched near some green moss that was almost a perfect match for the color of the forward portion of her body. Judging from her overall coloration, I think this is probably a female.
My subject was amazingly cooperative and I was able to get shots of this beautiful dragonfly from a number of different angles. Although I normally try to have backgrounds that are must less cluttered than those in these images, I don’t find them to be too distracting here and they do help to show how well this colorful dragonfly blended in with her environment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anax junius, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, migrating dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 12 Comments »
October 14, 2014 by Mike Powell
In between rain showers yesterday, I spotted this Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland. Unlike this photographer, most of the wildlife seemed to be taking shelter from the rain, so I was particularly excited when I caught sight of this caterpillar as I was trudging through the wet, calf-high vegetation.
Folklore says that the width of the brown band is an indicator of the severity of the upcoming winter. I can never remember whether a narrow band means a severe winter or the opposite, but Google came to the rescue again and indicated sources that say a narrow band means a colder winter. If that’s right, we may be in for a mild winter, given the size of the broad brown area on this caterpillar. Of course, there is no real scientific basis for this folklore, but it’s probably about as reliable as the weather forecasters in this area, who are notoriously bad in predicting the weather. They claim that we live in a complicated meteorological area.
When I was photographing this caterpillar, I noticed that it had a number of water drops on its “fur” and I was happy to see that I was able to capture them. There is something magical about those little globes of water and light.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, caterpillar, Huntley Meadows Park, Isabella Tiger Moth, Pyrrharctia isabella, Woolly Bear, Woolly Bear caterpillar | 8 Comments »
October 13, 2014 by Mike Powell
Yesterday was a beautiful day to cheer on the rowers of the DC Strokes Rowing Club as they competed at the 3.1 mile Occoquan Chase. The weather was pleasant and the leaves were starting to change colors, adding to the natural beauty of the Occoquan River, a tributary of the Potomac River just south of the District of Columbia.
The river was pretty wide and unfamiliar to me, so I hadn’t figured out a good vantage point for capturing the action. Eventually I ended up perching on a rock outcropping near the water’s edge. I was probably about six feet above the level of the river and I had to be careful not to lean too far forward, given that it was a straight drop down into the water.
One of my main goals was to capture some action shots in which each of DC Strokes rowers was recognizable. I am happy that I was able to accomplish that goal and got some shots of the four 8+ boats in action (eight rowers and a coxswain in each boat), although I was not able to capture the action of the boats with four rowers.
DC Strokes Mens Novice 8+
DC Strokes Womens 8+
DC Strokes Mens 8+, Boat #349 (Pride)
DC Strokes Mens 8+, Boat #350 (Oscar)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Crew, Nature, Photography, Rowing | Tagged DC Strokes, DC Strokes Rowing Club, Occoquan Chase, Occoquan Chase 2014, Occoquan River, Sandy Run, Washington DC | 8 Comments »
October 12, 2014 by Mike Powell
When I think of mushrooms, I usually imagine tiny, pale specimens growing in dark places close to the ground. I was startled, therefore, when I encountered this big, bold bright orange mushroom in plain view. The color was so vivid that I spotted it from a long way off and couldn’t help thinking at first that it looked like a smashed pumpkin.
It didn’t take too much searching on the internet to find this mushroom—its scientific name is Laetiporus sulphureus, but it is commonly known as the Chicken of the Woods mushroom. There are lots of recipes available for this edible mushroom, which can be sautéed, deep fried, baked, and may be used in soups.
I’m a chicken, though; when it comes to eating questionable things and don’t think I’d ever eat a mushroom that I encountered in the wild. The beautiful colors of this mushroom include the shades that I associate with autumn, which lets me enjoy it with my eyes, even if I won’t be putting it in my mouth.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Chicken of the Woods, Huntley Meadows Park, Laetiporus sulphureus, mushroom, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 10 Comments »
October 11, 2014 by Mike Powell
Flowers and bees have a mutualistic relationship—the flower provides the nectar and the bee assists in pollination. Sometimes, though, bees will circumvent the process by drilling a hole in the side of the flower and gaining access to the nectar without touching the reproductive parts of the flower, a process sometimes called “nectar robbing.”
Last weekend, I encountered this bee, which looks to be a honeybee, repeatedly taking nectar from the side of a Salvia flower. In an earlier posting, I showed that it was a tight fit for a bumblebee to enter the flower from the front, but it nonetheless did its part in pollination. The honeybee apparently decided it was easier to take a shortcut and go directly to the nectar.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, honey bee, honeybee, nectar robber, nectar robbing, salvia, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 9 Comments »
October 10, 2014 by Mike Powell
It’s a gray and gloomy day with intermittent rain—I feed the need for some color. This little skipper butterfly was busily at work last week on some very colorful flowers and I was able to catch him in action with his proboscis extended.
I am not sure what kind of skipper this is (there are more than 3500 species of skippers worldwide), but it looks a little like one that a reader identified for me as a Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius). I must confess, though, that many skippers look very similar to me, so my identification is very tentative.
Capturing the butterfly with my macro lens was not too much of a problem, but I had a real problem in processing these shots because of some super bright highlights coming of the yellow flowers. I ended up darkening the highlights and desaturating the color in order to restore some detail to those flowers. I am not sure if I am happy with the results and might choose to process them differently another time. (The RAW images are still intact.)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, Peck's Skipper, Polites peckius, skipper, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 9 Comments »
October 9, 2014 by Mike Powell
The Wandering Glider dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) may look ordinary, but it has extraordinary flying abilities that fully justify its name. It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet and is found on all continents except for Europe and Antarctica and one was even recorded at over 20 thousand feet (6200 meters) in the Himalayas, according to Wikipedia. It is also the only dragonfly to be found on Easter Island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.
These dragonflies are in almost constant motion, so I was thrilled when I stumbled across a male Wandering Glider perched on a plant at my local marshland last weekend. There were a lot of Green Darners buzzing around too and this Wandering Glider may have been part of a migrating group that had stopped for a rest. According to an article at Odonata Central, Wandering Gliders drift with the wind for long distances (even over water) and are often encountered by ocean freighters. They mate in flight and feed on aerial plankton when flying long distances. (I never knew that there was such a thing as ‘aerial plankton.”)
I wondered why there are no Wondering Gliders in Europe and found one answer in Wikipedia. These dragonflies like to fly in moist winds and the extremely dry winds coming off of the Sahara Desert may have a barrier effect.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Pantala flavescens, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Wandering Glider, Wandering Glider dragonfly | 4 Comments »
October 8, 2014 by Mike Powell
After I have set my camera bag down to take some wildlife shots, I’ve learned from experience that I need to check it carefully for “hitchhikers,” like this little spider that climbed aboard last week while I was focusing on dragonflies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, hitchhiker, Huntley Meadows Park, spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 9 Comments »
October 8, 2014 by Mike Powell
The more I watch spiders, the more I am fascinated by them. I used to think that spiders extruded only a single kind of silk, but I have learned that many spiders have multiple spinneret glands that are used for producing different kinds of silk.
One of the most amazing kinds of silk is known as aciniform silk, according to Wikipedia, which is used to wrap up and immobilize prey. This silk looks like a long gauze bandage as it is extruded by the spider.
Last month, I watched as a large Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider(Argiope aurantia) wrapped up a recently captured bee. I was amazed at how quickly it accomplished the mission, spinning the prey as it wound multiple layers of silk around it. Here are a couple of shot I took that show the spinnerets in action.
I loved the reaction of one of my friend to the first photo. He imagined the bee protesting being wrapped in bandages saying, “Hey, you’re not my doctor!”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged aciniform silk, Alexandria VA, Argiope aurantia, Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, spider silk, spinneret, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 13 Comments »
October 7, 2014 by Mike Powell
It’s always great to spot a little Green Treefrog (Hyla cinera) in the reeds at my local marshland park, though they are often obscured by the vegetation and are tough to photograph.
I initially spotted this one on a large leaf, as shown in the second shot, shortly after I had mentioned to a fellow photographer how much I wanted to see one on one of these leaves. My wish came true.
As I was taking some shots, someone walked toward me on the boardwalk. I had to stop shooting, because of the vibrations of the approaching footsteps. As I anticipated, the passerby wanted to know what I was photographing and my efforts to point out the frog caused it to move.
Although I was initially a little irritated that the frog had jumped away, I quickly realized that it had not moved far and was in a more precarious and photogenic position. I had to work to shoot through the reeds, but ended up with a nice shot of this really cute frog.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, frog, Green Treefrog, Huntley Meadows Park, Hyla cinerea, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 10 Comments »
October 6, 2014 by Mike Powell
Although it is already October and the weather is getting cooler, the local bees have not yet called it quits for the season. I am not sure what kind of purple flower this is, but the bumblebee was busily burrowing its head into its open blossoms.
I was happy to be able to catch the bee in action, capturing an “artsy” image of the moment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, bee, bumblebee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, purple flower, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 8 Comments »
October 5, 2014 by Mike Powell
One of the main reasons why I love having a macro lens is that it that it lets me capture photos like this extreme close-up image of a male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) that I took yesterday at Green Spring Gardens, a historical, county-run garden in Alexandria, Virginia.
I have always been fascinated by the multi-faceted compound eyes of dragonflies and the blue-green eyes of the Eastern Pondhawk are particularly stunning. When I first caught sight of this dragonfly, he was sunning himself on a rock near the edge of a small pond. I kept low to the ground and approached him slowly. He didn’t fly away and seemed more curious about my presence than afraid.
For these shots, I rested the lens hood of the camera on the edge of the rock ledge to get this low, eye-to-eye perspective. This technique served to steady my camera, so I was able to capture a good deal of detail of the dragonfly’s face. In the initial photo, for example,which is a cropped version of the second image, you can see that the dragonfly has stubble on his chin. The third shot is a cropped version of the last photo, again to show greater detail and to draw the attention of viewers more directly to the eyes.
Do you think the shots are more effective when cropped or do you prefer the larger perspective images?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly eyes, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 15 Comments »
October 5, 2014 by Mike Powell
Yesterday afternoon I had a little photo shoot with Freckles, a two year old Cocker Spaniel who is one of my favorite subjects. Freckles belongs to a friend who has been staying with me and I have the pleasure of spending a lot of time with this beautiful little dog.
Freckles was more cooperative than usual, though I still had to chase her around a lot to try to get some shots. The small size of the backyard of my townhouse and the 180mm focal length of my lens guaranteed that all the shots would be close-ups, which means you can easily see her beautiful coloration and expressive eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Dog, Photography, Portraits | Tagged Alexandria, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cocker Spaniel, Freckles, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 3 Comments »
October 4, 2014 by Mike Powell
Many dragonflies species have disappeared by now as we move deeper into autumn, but some especially beautiful ones have taken their place, like these male Blue-faced Meadowhawks (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I photographed yesterday at my local marshland park.
According to the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, this species peaks in September to October and is the rarest and hardest to find meadowhawk in our area. I was walking through a meadow at the park with one of my fellow photographers when she spotted the Blue-faced Meadowhawk in the second photo perched on a log. At that moment, I happened to have a 70-300mm telephoto lens on my camera and I was happy to be able to get a shot that shows the spectacular colors of this dragonfly. Little did I know that I would have an even better opportunity a few minutes later.
As we continued into an area with thigh-high growth, my friend stopped for a moment and said she had spotted a spreadwing damselfly. I looked in the direction that she was pointing and didn’t see the damselfly, but I did spot another Blue-faced Meadowhawk perched atop one of the plants.
In a whispered voice, I asked my friend to freeze and I quickly changed lenses to my 180mm macro lens. Amazingly, the dragonfly stayed in place and I was able to get a number of shots, including the first one below. Given that these dragonflies are less than two inches in size (50mm), I am thrilled with the results. There is something almost magical about the combination of red, blue, and turquoise on this dragonfly.
.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 6 Comments »
October 3, 2014 by Mike Powell
This morning I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a tree a my local marshland park, not far from where I had previously seen one. Once again, the eagle reacted more quickly than I did and took off before I was completely ready. This time, however, I was able to more quickly track the flying eagle and got a better shot than last time. I’m still not fully satisfied with the sharpness of this image, but I continue to believe that any day that I see an eagle is a great day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park | 11 Comments »
October 3, 2014 by Mike Powell
Two weeks ago, during the waning days of summer, I captured this image of a beautiful Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland where I do a lot of my shooting. The vivid red of its body made it really stand out—camouflage did not seem to be a viable option.
Although this dragonfly species is pretty common, I only saw a couple of them this season and this was the only one that I managed to photograph. The dragonfly was perched on a dried stalk in a field and it was tough to try to get any kind of clear background, particularly because I did not want to move too much and risk scaring away the dragonfly.
In these two images, you can see two slightly different approaches that I used. In the first one, I was not worried that there were some horizontal stalks in the background. In fact, I actually like the repetition of the horizontal line and don’t find them distracting, given how blurred they are. In the second image, I tried to get as uncluttered a background as I could, which isolates the dragonfly a little better. I tend to like the first image a little more, but I welcome any thoughts about which image you prefer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula needhami, Needham's Skimmer, Needham's Skimmer dragonfly, red dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 11 Comments »
October 2, 2014 by Mike Powell
I’ve seen lots of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) over the past couple of years, but until recently I had never seen a juvenile one and had no idea that they were so small compared to the adults.
I caught this little interaction between what I assume is a mother and a young egret at Cameron Run, a tributary of the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The birds were standing on one of a number of concrete slabs that cross the entire width of the stream, presumably to slow down the flow of the water.
UPDATE: A number of more experienced birders have weighed in and pointed out that the smaller egret is not a juvenile Great Egret as I thought, but is instead a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), a species that I had never seen before. As a result, the scenario below that I imagined is no longer valid—I’ll have to think a bit more about what herons of two different species might have been discussing.
The mother seemed to be giving instructions to the young one to stay put while she flies off to fish a short distance away.
Mom gets a bit excited as she warns the little one to stay put
The little one finally agrees
The mother eventually is reassured and takes off for the rocky edge of the water, hoping for a quick catch, so that she can feed the hungry youngster.
Flying away for a little while
Searching for the perfect spot for fishing
The young egret is left all alone to wait for the return of his Mom, hopefully with a tasty snack.
Waiting for Mom
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, baby egret, birds in flight, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Egretta thula, Great Egret, Great White Egret, juvenile egret, Snowy Egret | 11 Comments »
October 1, 2014 by Mike Powell
With rain and gray skies that started today, I feel the need to compensate with some bright colors, so I thought I’d post an image from this past weekend. I love the way that it looks like this bumblebee is clinging to a rolling red ball, which, of course, is merely the center of a flower in the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, bumblebee, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 4 Comments »
October 1, 2014 by Mike Powell
Here’s an awesome image of a pair of mating dragonflies by a photographer with whom I often go shooting at my local marshland park. Be sure to check out the rest of his blog for some more amazing shots.
walter sanford's photoblog
Lately I’ve been working harder at “making art” rather than just getting a shot. How am I doing?
The preceding photo shows a mating pair of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) spotted during a photowalk at Huntley Meadows Park on Sunday, 28 September 2014. The pair is shown “in wheel.”
The copulatory, or wheel, position is unique to the Odonata, as is the distant separation of the male’s genital opening and copulatory organs. Source Credit: Paulson, Dennis (2011-12-19). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (Princeton Field Guides) (Kindle Locations 377-378). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
All dragonflies and damselflies have a 10-segmented abdomen: male dragonfly secondary genitalia are located in segments two and three (2 and 3); female genitalia in segment eight (8). Therefore, the male dragonfly is on top; the female is on the bottom.
Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
View original post
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum | 2 Comments »
October 1, 2014 by Mike Powell
This past weekend I traveled to Washington D.C. to cheer on a friend and her team, the DC Strokes Rowing Club, in the 3.1 mile Head of the Anacostia Regatta. I don’t have a lot of experience photographing sports or even people, so it was a challenge for me to capture some images of the event.
The last time that I watched my friend row, she was part of a four-woman boat, but this time she was in a mixed boat, with four female and four male rowers (plus a coxswain). I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to synchronize your efforts with such a large number of others of such varied sizes and strengths. It was fascinating, for example, to see how they carried the boat down the ramp to the water, with the rowers arranged in ascending order by height.
I learned from the last time that I watched a race at this location that the best way to get action shots of the entire boat was to place myself on a bridge that overlooks the finish line. So after I watched the rowers launch their boat, the Stonewall, and head slowly for the start line, I walked quickly to the bridge to await their arrival. As I looked upriver to see when the boats would be coming, it was tough see across several railings and four lanes of traffic.
Eventually their boat arrived and I was happy that I was able to get some action shots from above as they headed for the finish line. Congratulations to all of them!
(Click on any of the photos in the tiled mosaic to see the photos in a larger size.)
The rowers in action
Lifting the boat
Down the ramp
Anacostia Community Boathouse
Heading for the start
Close-up of the bow
Heading for the finish
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Photography, Sports, Urban | Tagged Anacostia River, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, crew, DC Strokes, DC Strokes Rowing Club, rowing, Washington DC | 6 Comments »
September 30, 2014 by Mike Powell
As I reached the boardwalk, I glanced to my right and realized that I was eye-to-eye with a snake that was loosely coiled on top of a bush. This Common Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus) seemed to have appointed himself as the official greeter of the day at the marsh, though I suspect that not all visitors welcomed his presence so close to them as they walked by.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Common Ribbonsnake, Huntley Meadows Park, snake, Thamnophis sauritus sauritus | 9 Comments »
September 29, 2014 by Mike Powell
Do you photograph some subjects over and over again, hoping to get better (or at least different) images? I never grow tired of observing herons and egrets at my local marshland park. Most of the time, they (and I) are standing still, waiting for a brief moment of action, generally when they are fishing or when they take off into the air. These birds look gangly and awkward when on the ground or in the water, but when they are flying, it’s like watching an aerial ballet.
I took this shot last Friday as a Great Egret (Ardea alba) was just taking off from the muddy waters of one of the small ponds at the park. I was thrilled to be able to capture both a shadow and reflection of the graceful bird. Although I often have trouble getting a good exposure and frequently blow out the highlights, in this case I as able to capture some of the details of the wing feathers.
The egrets will be migrating out of this area soon, but I will continue to have the herons to keep me occupied in the upcoming months (and I’ll be trying to get more shots like this one).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Great Egret, Great White Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, takeoff | 15 Comments »
September 28, 2014 by Mike Powell
When the urge to take some photos strikes me and I don’t want to travel very far, I can usually depend on Cindy Dyer, my neighbor and photography mentor, to have something interesting to shot in her garden. About five o’clock today, I photographed what looks to be a tiny metallic green bee on one of the colorful flowers still in bloom at the side of her townhouse.
I like my fall colors to be bright and vivid, not muted and faded.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, fall colors, green metallic bee, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 7 Comments »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
Mike Powell 