Monthly Archives: September 2012
Christmas in September: Common Green Darner
I was chasing one of the mosaic darners round and round the little pond where I do a lot of dragon and damselfly hunting, without success as the critter would not settle long enough for me to get on it with the camera, when this pair of Common Green Darners popped up to the ornamental Blue Spruce right in front of me, and right at eye-level. The late September afternoon sun was almost horizontal, picking out every detail and bringing out all the color of the pair. The tree was also right on the close edge of a little bay in the pond, which, though it limited my angle of approach, also put the background, across the bay, well out of focus. Perfect. These are such big dragons that I could easily fill the frame at 840mm equivalent, full optical zoom, without resorting to the digital tel-converter. Even better!
It was one of the members of the Northeastern Odonata group who saw the Christmas ornament connection when I posted it over there. So. Christmas in September. And that is appropriated in more ways than one, as a perched pair of Common Green Darners at eye-level in good light has to be considered a gift by any dragon fancier!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
High Seas! Kennebunk ME. Happy Sunday!
My weather app was flashing red yesterday with high surf warnings. We are getting the last tired remnants of hurricane/tropical storm Leslie moving up the Maine coast, bringing strong onshore winds and high seas, followed by a night of thunder storms and a morning of showers. This being southern Maine, and there being actually no real threat to life or limb, such a warning brings out 3 types: surfers, tourists, and locals…so, actually…just about everyone left in Maine in September. 🙂
There were probably 100 surfers in the water off Gooches Beach in Kennebunk, a high number considering Maine waters are wet-suit waters, and a good run on the best of days lasts about 30 seconds. Still if you are a surfer in Maine, you make the best of any opportunity. There were also more tour buses along the beach than I have ever seen on a single afternoon. It is the start of the fall foliage tour season, so I expect to see the leaf-peeper buses begin to arrive, but I suspect this weekend some enterprising tour company in Boston put on a Maine surf special, or, at the least, more than your average number of buses left the interstate in Kennebunk to loop the beaches and see what the waves were up to. And finally, there were the locals like me…drawn to the beach to take a few photos of higher than average seas…hoping for some drama.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 235mm equivalent field of view. f5.6 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 125. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. The 4 frames per second burst rate on the SX40 is just the right speed to catch the waves at peak if you shoot through.
And for the Sunday Thought. It is beyond denying that there is something in the human spirit, or at least in the human soul, that enjoys bad weather…that wants to walk the edge of the storm…that that wants to face into the wind and feel the sting of flying water. As above, it is, at least in part, the drama, the excitement, the mild rush of adrenalin that a calculated risk, a considered threat to life and limb, brings. There is a tipping point of course, where the excitement of the storm tips over into terror, but when it is just a high surf warning there is little danger of that.
I would like to think too, that there is a real spiritual element to it…that in facing the awesome power of nature we affirm both our selves, in our most durable, and yet totally vulnerable, smallness, and our relationship to the awesome and the overwhelming. It is a taste, and only a taste, of the root of all religious experience. It gives us, whether we know it or not, whether we are ready to admit it or not, a hint of what it might be like to be overwhelmed by the awesome love of the creator God…to be caught up in the surf of grace and lifted in a glorious spray over the rock of our selves into brief beauty. It gives us a sense of how small we are in our own loves, and how great and all embracing is the love of God in which we are submerged, in which we are carried on toward glory. And yet we endure. We are safe. We are, when surrendered to the awesome, most certainly and most truly ourselves. Our durability is in our vulnerability, and we can actually delight in our relationship to the awesome and overwhelming.
I would like to think (and really there is no one to stop me) that that taste of the divine is what draws us all down to the beach when the high surf warnings are flashing.
Branch Brook, Kennebunk ME
I continue my search along the streams of York County Maine, for the American Redspot…an so far elusive broadwinged damselfly that might or might not be found in York County. I want to see one. I have not. Yet.
The search, however, has taken me some interesting places. I feel compelled, when the road crosses any stream or river, to, if at all possible, park the car and climb down to the water. I am often surprised by what I find.
This is Branch Brook, which forms part of the water supply for the Village of Kennebunk, a mile or two upstream from the Water Works. It runs in a fairly deep and steep cut through most of the last part of its course, but where Wells Branch Road crosses it, you can, if you are careful, climb down to the mossy banks and the peat brown water.
This is one of those scenes that is very difficult to capture. The range of light is well beyond the ability of even the best digital sensors. Even traditional HDR techniques, in this kind of scene, too often result in a flat imitation…something very different than what the eye sees.
I started by dialing down the exposure compensation by one and one third stops (which, visually, brought the highlights in the water just in range), and letting the exposure system do its worst for the rest of the scene.
Then, in Lightroom, I brought up the shadows, toned down the highlights, shifted the backpoint to add depth, and finally added clarity and vibrance to give some life to the moss. Finally I used the Auto Color Temperature tool to remove a bit of the shadow blue. The result is about as close as I hope to come to the impression the scene would make if you were standing there.
I did try an sudo HDR treatment using Dynamic Photo HDR…and the result was interesting…with brighter greens and more open shadows…but it produced a different impression than I remembered.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –4/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. f3.2 @ 1/30th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom as above.
Another Back Porch Geranium
On Monday I posted an image of this Geranium plant with rain drops from our back deck (here)…in a unique light that was a serendipitous mix of direct sun and bright reflected light from the sliding glass doors of our kitchen. Studio perfect lighting, but due to no effort of mine. I also posted the pic and text to Google+ as my Pic 4 Today over there. For whatever reason, it went, shall we say, relatively viral. It gathered, in 24 hours, 905 +s, 120 shares, and 230 comments. It was viewed (on Google+ that means it was clicked on and opened in the viewer) by over 183,000 people! For the rock stars of Google+ that might only be bacterial, but for me, when compared to my average 30 +s, 2 shares, and 5 comments, it is definitely viral 🙂
This is another blossom. And again, what makes the image special is that blend of direct sun and reflected light, and what it does for the drops and the texture of the petals. This is a complex blossom, with a second blossom attempting to grow out of the center of the first.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm macro, with 1.5x digital tel-converter for image scale and working distance. f4 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Frog and Toad at Old Falls Pond
Old Falls Pond is the only place near home where I have found Northern Leopard Frogs. I am certain they are other places in York County, but I have not seen them. On the other hand, I see at least one on every visit to Old Falls Pond…and generally right in the same area. This tiny fellow, the size of a quarter, was hopping toward the pond, across the trail, and paused only long enough for a few pics. While it is an interesting creature all around, I find it especially interesting that the dark stripe on the face runs through the eye. I think that might be unique.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160. One of the things I really like about the Canon SX40HS is the ability to fill the frame with will small stuff from 5 feet. It makes shots like this possible with minimal disturbance of the subject.
I found the frog on the way in to the pond. On the way out, I almost walked on this equally tiny Toad, which I am pretty sure is just a small American Toad. I used the same technique to photograph it, but by the time I found the Toad, the sun had gone behind clouds, and the this fellow was far less cooperative…it rarely sat more than a split second before the next hop…so I popped up the flash on the SX40 to give me enough light to catch the fidgety Toad in mid hop if necessary.
Even so, the exposure was f5.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 400.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Canada Darner, Old Falls Pond, W. Kennebunk ME
The other day I detailed the Black-shouldered Spinylegs I found when I went to Old Falls Pond on the Mousam River looking for American Ruby-spots. The BsSl was not the only interesting Dragonfly I found. This Canada Darner, one of the large Mosaic Darners, was hung up on a small tree on my second visit to the marsh where the trail down from the road meets the pond. As it happens, this is my second encounter with a Canada. The first was a female depositing eggs at Factory Pasture Pond in mid July.
These are big, bright Dragons…the kind that can make Odonata watchers of almost anyone.
The side shot here is for identification purposes. The Mosaic Darners can be, mostly, identified on the basis of the stripes along the side of a thorax.
And this is pretty much ideal Canada Darner habitat. Old Falls Pond.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view for the Dragons…840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter (except the female at 1680mm). The pond at 24mm. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Late Day Light on Lelystad, The Netherlands
I have been back from Holland a week now, but before the experience passes completely into memory, I will share at least one more shot of the Yacht Basin at Lelystad, across a narrow brick street from my hotel. Back from a stormy day at the Dutch Birdfair, with the weather finally beginning to break, I could not resist the the low angle of the sun picking out the foreground detail and the deep layers of massed clouds over the Markermeer.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 160. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Back Deck Geraniums
Sunday morning, when I went to the kitchen for tea, the sun was coming in over the deck rail at just the right angle to reflect back from the windows of the sliding doors and strongly illuminate the large pots of Geraniums my wife had placed on the deck. It was portrait quality lighting, with the mix of direct sun and reflected sun, and the Geraniums glowed with life. I could not resist. And when I got the camera and got out there, I found that the plants were still beaded with drops from the overnight rain. Could not have been better if I had created the whole thing in the studio (if I had a studio :).
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm macro mode, plus 1.5x digital tel-converter for scale and working distance. f4 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Black-shouldered Spinylegs at Old Falls Pond: Happy Sunday!
With my new interest in Odonata (dragon and damselflies), I am beginning to look at the landscape of Southern Maine in a different way. I know where most of the good “classic” photo ops are, and I know, pretty much, where to go for most of the birds that either live here or pass through. But I am only learning where to go for dragons and damsels.
This is the season when the American Red-spot flies…and I really want to see one. American Ruby-spot is a close relative of the Ebony Jewelwing, a broad-winged damselfly, which I featured recently, but it has clear wings with bright “ruby” spots close in to the body.
Unfortunately it is not listed on Odonata Central as occurring in York county, nor is it featured in range maps covering the county in the USGS data base of Odonata, and notes I have read elsewhere place American Ruby-spot in Maine but not on the coastal plain. I live on the coastal plain. Still, there are places in York county that have the kind of “clean” swift running rivers with lots of exposed rocks that the American Ruby-spot likes. (I am confident of all of the above but the “clean” part.) So it is worth looking.
The nearest likely spot is about 10 miles inland, on a little stretch of the Mousam between Estes Lake and Old Falls Pond. The Mousam tumbles down over rock ledges and through boulders for a quarter mile or so, all in a rush. It is one of my favorite places for fall foliage, with the overhanging maples and the white water of the falls and rapids.
But now, with my new Odonata eyes, I have to look at it as possible American Ruby-spot habitat as well! Like I say, a whole new layer to the landscape.
Unfortunately the American Ruby-spot does not seem to see this little stretch of the Mousam the same way I do. There were none.
Not that it was not a worthwhile trip. The view and the music of the falling waters would be enough, but I found Palm Warblers, a tiny Northern Leopard Frog, an even smaller Toad, and several new or seldom seen dragons and damsels. The lead image is, as you might have guessed from the title, a Black-shouldered Spinylegs. It is a member of a large family of dragons (Gomphidae) which all have more or less broad tips on their abdomens (tails)…clubtails, snaketails, spinylegs, etc. The Black-shouldered Spinyleg favors waters very similar to the American Ruby-spot, though it will tolerate slower moving “muddy” streams, and oxygen-rich ponds and lakes, where you would not find the damsel.
The full body shot shows off the broad tail.
I had a job identifying this dragon…made more difficult by the fact that Odonata Central does not list Black-shouldered Spinyleg for York County, Maine either, nor does the USGS data base. In fact I posted pics to the North-east Odonata Facebook group just to me sure of my id.
In researching for this piece this morning, however, I visited the Maine Dragon and Damselfly Survey site. Maine is one of only a few states to have such a comprehensive, scholarly survey of Odonata, conducted over several years by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. I have not used the site much, since it makes few (as in no) concessions to the amateur dragon and damselfly fancier. It uses only Scientific names, and cryptic codes for distribution. Still, with a bit of Googling Latin names and a bit of common sense on the codes, I found that the Black-shouldered Spinyleg is indeed recorded for York County Maine. It was not seen in the first round survey in the late 90s…but it was added a more recent 2006 follow-up. So there!
And for the Sunday thought: My own knowledge of dragon and damselflies is miniscule. I am humbled by every encounter with the folks who really know…which is most of the regular posters on the North-east Odonata Facebook group, the authors of the guides I use, and those who maintain the web-sites…to name a few. But I have to consider that even the experts admit to knowing very little, comparatively, about Odonata…compared, of course, to what there is to know…compared to what we have yet to learn. Odonata from an interesting, highly visible and certainly vital layer in the life-scape, and yet even the authorities are not sure if something as striking and identifiable as Black-shouldered Spinyleg lives in York County Maine (or at least not in agreement).
I love learning new stuff. I love discovering new bugs and new birds and new frogs and new ways of seeing the landscape in which I live. It makes me feel more alive to have found a Black-shouldered Spinyleg along the Mousam between Estes Lake and Old Falls Pond. And everything I learn brings me closer to the Creator of All Things. The love of learning, the love of discovery, is a vital aspect of the love the God. When we stop learning, when we stop discovering, then love is dead. This is a true of the love between people as it is of our love of creation. We have one eye…it is either open or closed. If I am not discovering a new way to look at the landscape around me, then it is likely I am not discovering new things to love about the people around me. That is death.
And that, this morning, hits me right in the face! That challenges me. That makes me wonder what I don’t know about the people around me…it makes me wonder if I am not seeing the Black-shouldered Spinylegs of their souls…of their spiritual landscapes?
One thing gives me hope. That same Maine Dragon and Damselfly Survey that lists the Black-shouldered Spinyleg for York County Maine, also lists the American Ruby-spot! That is enough to keep me checking likely spots in the landscape.
And this morning’s Sunday thought, is, I hope, a timely reminder to check the spiritual landscape of those around me to see what I am missing that I might love (and better love). That is what it means to be alive. And that is what it takes to keep love alive.
Found Art: Lelystad Centrum.
Whoever designed the train station in downtown Lelystad, in the Netherlands, had a lot of fun with color and shapes, and I, for one, really appreciate it. On my way back from the Dutch Birdfair I had to take the train from Lelystad to Schipohl Airport, and I was on the platform before 7am. The Lelystad Centrum is about as far from the darb and dirty rail station of our imaginings as it can get. It is, in fact, a functional work of art, highly designed, consciously whimsical and playful, colored like a brand new box of Crayolas, and really quite attractive. A good place to start a journey.
I tried a few shots to catch the angular real beauty of it. This is at 31mm equivalent field of view, to frame the various shapes effectively. Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f4 @ 1/50th @ ISO 320.
Of course, as I wandered through the terminal taking photos, I did wonder if the Dutch equivalent of Homeland Security was going to descend on me in force. But no. Good thing too. That would not have been a good way to start a journey. Perhaps I was just so obviously a tourist 🙂
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.