Tomorrow marks the beginning of my triathlon season. I will be competing in the Lone Star Sprint Triathlon in Galveston, Texas. I entered this event last year, but the swim segment was cancelled at the last minute due to extreme wind, so it ended up being a duathlon. I’m hoping this year it will turn out to include all three events: swim, bike, and run. The distances are fairly short: .3 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. OK, I admit that short is a relative term. Compared to the 1/2 ironman I am training for in October, these distances are short. I promise, however, that the swim buoy will look plenty far away on saturday morning as the bell goes off. I wish everyone a great weekend and success in whatever endeavor you undertake.
I hate getting up early. Staying up late, no problem. Heck, I studied owls in graduate school for a reason. My work day started at 10 pm and I never had to work mornings! Yet sunrise is one of the best times to photograph wildlife. Oftentimes sacrifices must be made to photograph the subjects we love. Not only is wildlife more active in the early morning hours, but the light is beautiful. Photographers go so far as to call the hour after sunrise “magic hour” due to the light’s low angle and warm colors. If you want your images to look like the pros, you need to greet the dawn with a camera in your hand. It is not easy (I have learned to place my alarm on the other side of the room if I want to win my battle with the snooze button), but if you want to be a wildlife photographer, you need to do it.
The image of the sandhill crane was taken shortly after sunrise at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The image was captured using a Canon 10D, 300mm IS lens, at 100 ISO. The camera was handheld.
When I lived in Utah I had great fun each spring photographing the Yellowheaded Blackbirds of the Great Salt Lake. There were several areas where I could drive close to reeds and photograph the birds as they displayed. On rare occasions I was fortunate enough to find an orange morph displaying in the middle of the others.
The image of the yellowheaded blackbird displaying was captured using a Canon 1D mark 2, 500mm IS lens with a 1.4 teleconverter, at 100 ISO. This image was shot from a vehicle and a beanbag was used to stabilize the lens. The clean blue background is the Great Salt Lake in the distance.
Looking through the archives you will notice that I spend most of my time on this blog talking about photography. Today I would like to talk about something a little bit different. Earlier this month my wife, Noemi, started a blog: Healthy Mama MD. Her goal is to help individuals who are interested in living a healthy lifestyle with an emphasis on exercise and eating right. I assure you Noemi knows what she is talking about. Not only does she walk the talk (she went from being a reluctant runner to having completed two half-marathons) but she brings a great combination of personal and professional experience to the discussion (did I mention that she is a pediatrician?).
I invite you to check out Noemi’s new site and hear her story. Blogging can be lonely in the early days and I know Noemi would appreciate a bit of encouragement as she gets going on her new project. Better yet, keep coming back and you just might learn something.