Temporary Site Closure

Hello readers. There are so many things that I’ve had planned for updating this site, including a full review of the Canon EOS 7D and an updated article on using manual exposure for flight photography. Unfortunately they will have to wait. Likewise I’m sorry to announce that I will be cancelling my talk on bird photography at the Lifelong Learning Series in the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University that was to take place this coming Thursday January 28, 2010. I apologize for that, but rest assured that the great folks at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science are making arrangements for someone else to take my place.

Last year we were blessed by the birth of our second daughter. Our two children have kept us very busy parents for the past year, and I’ve had less and less time to spend out in the field photographing wildlife. I have a ton of pictures of the kids, and if you’re interested in seeing those, please send me a friend request on Facebook. The second half of 2009 saw our eldest begin pre-school, and with that came a host of colds that kept me indoors for much of the summer and fall.

A couple of weeks ago my mother suffered two small strokes, and I am now engaged in helping in whatever way I can to help her recover. Care giving takes a lot of time, but has its own rewards. As such I will be spending even less time in the field, until she has sufficiently recovered.

Because I have so little time these days, I will no longer be updating this web site; at least for the time being. I will leave it up “as is” so that it can still be used as a reference of sorts. If you’re interested in seeing my latest work, you’ll be able to find it on my flickr profile. Once life is back in balance and I can continue to pursue this hobby that I love so much, you can expect this site to reopen. Heck, I may just build a brand new site from scratch; and I promise it will be better than ever. Thanks.

Assiduous August

Hello everyone. I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates to this site recently. It’s been an incredibly busy couple of months. The searing heat, high humidity, and summer thunderstorms have kept me from photographing for most of August.

I’ve also been very busy with work relating to several initiatives that the Everglades Photographic Society (EPS) have undertaken. EPS will have a booth at this year’s birding festival in Titusville, Florida and I hope to have some additional great news in the very near future. If you haven’t been to the EPS site lately, please stop by. There are some terrific articles on the site and many more are on the way.

I have also been incredibly busy at work, preparing for the fall semester at FAU. August 23rd was the official day that classes started, but Monday, August 25th is when all of that hard work on the computer systems over the summer actually starts to pay off, or not.

I’ve also recently done a few more photo shoots of people; a couple of aspiring models and also an aspiring musician. Those images take much longer to process as they often involve hours of work in Photoshop. Not that the images are overly manipulated, but it’s about striking that balance between making the subject look their best, yet keeping the retouching as subtle as possible. It takes a lot of work to achieve that balance. Whereas in nature photography I’m usually trying to simply keep the images exactly as I saw it, with people you’re trying to make the image as close to how the client envisioned it. A lot of work, and so far I’ve been doing it for free, but probably not for too much longer.

Amy and I are also expecting our next child in February. Our daughter Arwen just recently turned 3 years old and she’s been a bundle of energy. From morning to midnight we get no rest from her and so coupled with the pregnancy we’re busier than ever at home too.

As you can see things are going well, so thank you to those that have written me with concerns about my well being. I’m still here, just busier than ever. In the computer industry there’s a saying that the personal web page of the best web designers are always in need of updating, because they’re too busy working on other people’s web sites. That’s not unlike many situations I always find myself in.

There is a disturbing trend that I am seeing regarding the feeding of juvenile Purple Gallinules at Wakodahatchee and Green Cay. Visitors are removing the flowering stalks of the Fire Flag and using them to try to lure the juvenile gallinules to feed from their hands. When you do this, you are destroying the Fire Flag blooms causing them to decay more rapidly and thus reducing the amount of available food for the gallinules that feed on them. Not only that, but you are endangering the health and well being of the gallinules by making them look towards humans as a food source. This type of behavior by visitors would not be tolerated at a National Park or Wildlife Refuge, and I’m pretty sure it’s not legal. So please do not feed the juvenile gallinules and if you see anyone doing so, please ask them to stop. Remember that these places are there to help protect wildlife populations in the area.

Since I’m such a glutton for creating more work for myself, please remember that you can always e-mail me your nature photography related questions, or better yet post those questions on the EPS flickr group. Thanks, and I’ll see you out there, whenever I get around to going out again…