Good-bye 2009

Sunset on December 31, 2009.

Views from Palmer Park, Colorado Springs.

The Digital Decade

As the first decade of the XXI Century ends it is time to reflect what it brought to my photography world. The most obvious is the rise of digital photography earlier in the decade; it is the most radical advance in the history of capturing images. This technical advance allowed for almost anyone to become and instant photographer. Being at the right place, at the right time can make anyone take a professional photograph. It has made me a worst photographer, now I indiscriminately shoot anything without paying close attention to composition, exposures or subject matters. I have Photoshop to crop, correct exposures and enhance the images when I get home...this was not that easy or cheap in the age of film. And what happened to all my film slides of the previous century? Earlier in the decade I used to scan a lot of them but soon I stopped. Now they just seat in boxes fading away but provide me an excuse to revisit old place to get digital images.

Birds is what brought me into photography originally and has taken me to various corners of the world. Travel expanded my horizons into other types of photography such as landscapes, buildings and people. No doubt birds are still my main focus as shown above photo of a cusinga in Costa Rica.

This image of a bald eagle was taken in Homer, Alaska in 2008. There was a wonderful lady there that used to feed the eagles in the winter and photographers from all over the world, congregated there in the winter to capture images of the wonderful birds. I was privileged to meet this lady, who allowed me into her private world by assisting her in the defrosting and cutting of the fish to feed the eagles. I had bought some booths that protected the feet to -32 F temperatures; they did not work for me. So to the local sports supply store I went and bought some knee high booths with 1 inch thick inner liners. These were supposed to protect my feet to -78 F temperatures...but I still had cold feet.

Birds are the most challenging to photograph, particularly white ones. The snowy egret was photographed in Huntington State Park in South Carolina. This is a not widely known place in the bird's lovers world. I had visited here since the early 70's and at that time the park was not well developed or often visited but wildlife seems more numerous and easily approachable now.

The quetzal above is a bird that I first started chasing in 1975 in Central America, and finally got

the opportunity one day in Costa Rica in 2007 to be see one morning. Unfortunately it was a foggy morning but the joy of seen 8 quetzals on a single tree was elating.

The Civil War is still going on the the Southern States and living in Virginia, photographing these events has become a late habit. The participants are really re-living those times and their clothes, weapons and camps are close reproductions of those of the past war. Even in their language they sound archaic. The expense of their outfits I am sure triple or quadruple the value of my photographic equipment.

During the last decade I visited more countries than my previous 3 decades of travel. Of these countries, Mongolia remains the most vivid in my mind. I had never been so cold and hungry in any of my previous travels, nor in such and adverse environment as it was in the Gobi desert. Even in Africa, all the amenities of life are available while camping in the bush. Here, electricity was randomly available, drinking water scarce and food was spartan. But it was worth it, the Mongolian people are the most hospitable and friendly as well as colorfully dressed. I never had interest in horses previous to my encounter with the Mongolian horses in the Gobi. On a freezing morning I was photographing a camel caravan with the sun behind my back. For whatever reason I turned back, and a stallion with his harem was coming down one of the sand dunes. A sight of a lifetime, not planned, I was there at the right place at the right time and happened to find myself with images and memories to cherish in the XXI century.

Russia was a new country to me the last decade. What a fabulous place with such a tumultuous history. My perception of history has changed several times as I visited countries such as Egypt, Italy, China Mexico and Peru due to their ancient civilizations. Imperial Russia was something unexpected, its wealth are so powerfully expressed in its churches and palaces; this is not matched by those in the empires western Europe. Previous to visiting here, I thought that Paris was the first City in the World, now I have conflict as to if it really Saint Petersburg, even thought I was assaulted and robbed there.

The highlands of Guatemala is one of those places in the world that are unique for me. The descendants of the Mayas that live there are very creative and have a way with colors in their clothing, potteries and jewelry. And this is enhanced by the mountains and forest in the area. And there is Lake Atitlan, there is no place in the world with such richness of contrasts among the clothing worn by the of the Indians living in the various villages around the Lake. You can tell where they are from by their outfits, unfortunately this habit is disappearing although still mostly preserved by the women, most men dress now Western style. I first visited Lake Atitlan in 1975 when it was still a very isolated area, not tourist hotels, no waterfront street full of restaurants and no water pollution. I was lucky to see then the Atitlan Grebe, now considered extinct as well as my first fresh water crabs; how did they get there?

Sarajevo was another of those shocking experiences of my photographic encounters of the last decade. Here for the first time I had seen a modern city destroyed by a recent civil war. Beautiful abandoned buildings just full of cannon and bullet holes, the scars of tribal wars. Some places seem to be cursed by history, the First World War started when the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated here. The spot where this happened is now a mandatory tourist spot with the proper museum nearby to remind us of the curses that the political struggles impose in their societies.

As the second decade of the XXI rises who knows what fish we will catch but as they say, the early bird catch the early worm, so I will be hitting the road again looking for whatever subject happens to catch my eye. As more photo equipment comes into the market, I will be debating

what to get and what to get rid off. One thing for sure, the more lasting value in the photo equipment are in the lenses, the camera bodies and computer hardware/software follows Moore's Law and becomes obsolete in 18 months. But it seems that for digital camera bodies, the obsoleteness is being compresses to about 12 months.

So come and visit sometimes and see what images are coming around the corner this second decade. Will enjoy hearing from you, so comments are welcomed. Happy new Decade!!!

Ute Valley Park IV

Ute Valley Park III

View of Pikes Peak from Ute Valley Park.

Ute Valley Park II

Ute Valley Park

Views of the front range from Ute Valley Park in Northwest Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This was my first visit to the park and I'm looking forward to more.  Most of the trail was snow covered with scattered icy patches, but with my new snow/ice cleats I stayed sure-footed.

Mt. Cutler Trail VI

View of Colorado Springs from Mt. Cutler Trail, North Cheyenne Canyon Park, Colorado Springs.  Center right in the image you will catch a glimpse of South Suburban Reservoir, Stratton Open Space.  (Nov. 21, 2009)

The Day After

Simba hopes you had a warm and cozy Christmas.

Frosty

Merry Christmas

2009

Merry Christmas!!!

Gran Via Lights, Madrid, Spain. 2009.

Las Ramblas Lights, Barcelona, Spain. 2009.

At a Secret Pond continued...

As mentioned in the previous blog, there are other birds at this location but no doubt, the Wood Duck is the most colorful. But the others that have their own charm and were also close-shots first for me as the American Widgeon above. This duck is widespread in the USA and one of its identifying marks is the emerald green eye mask and the light brown forehead.

Another first time close shots I got are those of the Hooded Merganser. This duck is usually common in the winter time and is also seen in the marsh areas in the Tidewater Area of Virginia where I live but not easily to approach. This is really another unique bird with a white crest that he can raise and lower when threatened or during courtship.

The Hooded Merganser dives and swims underwater looking for fish. At times after returning to the surface wobbles its head up and down, this behavior that I had never seen before the visit to the Secret Pond.

A surprising find at the pond, was a Black Crowned Night Heron, it is a fairly common. It patiently waits for small fishes swimming nearby and seldom misses the prey. These herons are more active at nighttime as the name implies, but this one may have been suffering from insomnia.

The ring-billed duck was another addition to my collection of close-up photograph of waders. I was fortunate to get images of both the sexes and I let you guess who is who.
This duck nest in the boreal areas and in winters in the south mostly in fresh bodies of water. Notice the difference in color of the eyes between the male and the female below

One duck that does not get much attention due to its abundance is the Mallard duck. But the male has wonderful iridescent green and blue feathers under the right lighting conditions.

The female mallard is not as colorful. In New Mexico, where these photographs were taken, there is also a subspecies of the mallard ducks (diazi) called Mexican ducks that are very similar. The female has a less contrasting plumage and a greener bill. This is definitely not Mexican as defined by the orange-yellow bill.

Palmer Park: Yucca Trail V

Palmer Park: Yucca Trail IV

FIFA World Player Awards

The first FIFA World Player awards were held in 1991

Here is a full list of the FIFA World Player awards:

1991 - Matthäus - Inter
1992 - Van Basten - Milan
1993 - Baggio - Juventus
1994 - Romário - FC Barcelona
1995 - Weah - Milan
1996 - Ronaldo - FC Barcelona
1997 - Ronaldo - Inter
1998 - Zidane - Juventus
1999 - Rivaldo - FC Barcelona
2000 - Zidane - Juventus
2001 - Figo - Madrid
2002 - Ronaldo - Madrid
2003 - Zidane - Madrid
2004 - Ronaldinho - FC Barcelona
2005 - Ronaldinho - FC Barcelona
2006 - Cannavaro - Madrid
2007 - Kaká - Milan
2008 - C. Ronaldo - Man. United
2009 - Messi - FC Barcelona





Related Site:
The world champions MOTOGP
The world champions Formula 1

Palmer Park: Yucca Trail III

Part of the trail was still ice and snow covered.

Palmer Park: Yucca Trail II

Looking Southwesterly.  There was a bit of haze Saturday morning.

Palmer Park: Yucca Trail

Christmas is almost upon us, are you ready?

Palmer Park sits right in the middle of Colorado Springs.

Pikes Peak in the background.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park III

February 2009

At a Secret Pond

There is a pond in New Mexico easily accessible and open to the public where common ducks lives year round and wild waterfowl visit in winter. I was sworn to secrecy by Virginia’s “non-plus-ultra” wildlife photographer, who took me there, not to reveal its location. The beauty of this place is that many species of ducks that I have chased for years, finally were accessible photograph. The Wood Duck was one of those ever eluding dreams but no longer.

As in most bird species, the males are usually the most colorful, this is to attract females. In turn these are dull in color due to their camouflage to blend with the surrounding when nesting and to protect the young. But in their own right, they are beautiful too as seen above.

We spent basically a whole day at the pond due the unusual photo opportunities
and to take advantages of light changes as the day advanced. Another advantage of spending time there was that various species of birds arrived and departed throughout the day, giving an opportunity to get different ones photographed.

One of the challenges of photographing any subject with white color is blowing away the highlights. And in the case of bird with white feathers or other parts, getting the right exposures becomes difficult, so exposing for the white areas may result in an overall darker picture.

There is a need to underexpose to get the highlights right. But digital cameras this is no longer an issue if one keeps and eye in the histogram by keeping the right end of the curve inside the chart. In the photo of the female Wood Duck, even though I reduced the exposure, the white around the does not show much detail in the image above. But additional exposure reduction would have resulted in the rest of the image looking a bit darker…all is a compromise.

Wood ducks are perhaps the most colorful ducks in North America and due to their lifestyles and habitat hard to photograph. They were there of their own desire and not captives, and enjoying the pond disregarding the presence of humans.

I am limiting this blog just to the Wood ducks but in upcoming ones, I will address other exotic waterfowl which I never had the opportunity to approach so close at this no so secret place.