Before Pictures: A Photography Journey

July 4, 2022

Before I started taking pictures, there was so much I didn’t know about the world outside my own front door. I didn’t know that dragonflies came in a rainbow of colors, that turtles shed parts of their shells, or that we had cuckoos in Michigan! I didn’t know that cedar waxwings could get drunk eating fermented berries, or that great blue herons would stay here throughout our cold Michigan winters. My enlightenment all started with a Christmas wish.

Blue Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (male) and a Green Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (female)

A brown, white and yellow Widow Skimmer dragonfly

An orange and brown Halloween Pennant dragonfly (male) and a red and black Calico Pennant dragonfly (male)
Dragonflies come in a rainbow of colors!

In the Fall of 2013, my husband, Mel, started asking me what I wanted for Christmas. I gave his question a good deal of thought and came up with the idea that I’d like to have a better camera. All I had was a pocket-sized Canon PowerShot– a lightweight and easy to carry camera with very limited capabilities.

Northern Map Turtle shedding its scutes and a Cedar Waxwing gorging on berries

A Great Blue Heron that decided to stay in Michigan for the winter!

Once I told Mel what I wanted, he went to work doing the research and came up with a bigger, better version of the Canon PowerShot that he thought might work. I loved it– and ultimately, dubbed it my “gateway drug”.

Eastern Kingbird babies hoping for lunch!

A butterfly that landed on my hand while I was taking pictures of other butterflies!
(pictured: Comma Butterfly and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

A giant snapping turtle taking a break on a very hot day!

I happily used that camera on and off for the next three and a half years; taking the usual family photos and typical vacation shots. It wasn’t until we went to Florida in 2016 for our first extended stay that my addiction to nature photography really kicked in. There were so many rookeries, sanctuaries and preserves with new and unusual birds, mammals, and reptiles that I had absolutely no trouble feeding my ‘habit’!

Florida birds: Black-bellied Whistling Duck and a Reddish Egret

Florida birds: A Purple Gallinule and a Limpkin

Eventually though, I started wanting more. I wanted a camera with a faster response time so that the bird on the limb would still be there once I pressed down the shutter button. I wanted to get pictures of the birds and butterflies that were farther and farther away, and I wanted sharper images. Mel went back to work looking for a camera that would do all those things—without causing us to re-finance our home! By July of 2017, I had my new camera, a Nikon D3400 and a detachable 70-300mm zoom lens. I was back in business!

At some point along the way, Mel decided to take up his photography hobby again and assumed ownership of my D3400 after finding me a Nikon D5600 to take its place. We were both hooked!

Bell Peppers at the Farmer’s Market, and a Spiderwort flower

Female Red-winged Blackbird, and a Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly on daisies

I loved all the beautiful pictures I could get with my D5600 and the 70-300mm lens, but there were birds and butterflies still out of reach that I wanted to capture! After a bit of research, Mel thought that a Sigma 150-600mm lens might do the trick. I was well aware of the size and weight of this lens based on what I had read, but when it actually arrived, I thought “What on earth have I done??” It looked huge! It felt heavier than I expected and I had serious reservations about my ability to carry it around for hours on end. But, I really, really wanted to take ‘far away pictures’ so off I went, camera and lens in hand.

I used that set up for a year or so before my back started telling me that it might be better to add a monopod to my camera in order to support all that weight when I stood for hours taking pictures. Adding a monopod would mean I’d have a little more weight to carry as I walked along, but I wouldn’t have to hold the camera up to my eye unsupported as I patiently waited for the ‘perfect shot’ or tried to pan the movement of a bird in flight. My back has thanked me many, many times over.

Taking pictures using the camera mounted on a monopod– a good back-saver

I used the Nikon D5600 for two or three years along with the 150-600mm lens before totally exceeding the picture expectancy of my camera with over 100,000 shots!! I decided to trade it in for a Nikon D500, a camera that was highly rated for nature photography and has totally lived up to that assessment!

Before taking pictures, I had already loved going on nature walks– but there was so much I didn’t see! With my camera in hand the world suddenly opened up!! I paid more attention. I noticed things I had never noticed before– like the subtle movement of a blade of grass that might mean a dragonfly had landed, or the tiny ‘bump’ at the top of a long-dead tree that might mean a hummingbird was resting; or the infinitesimal speck of blue on a shiny green leaf that might mean a damselfly was nearby.

All of those creatures had been there all along, but I never saw them —until I started taking pictures!

A Common Denominator

April 2, 2020

We are nearly three weeks into isolating ourselves as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Mel and I have been staying at home (our Florida rental for two more weeks that is) except for our daily walks and our brief but infrequent trips to the grocery store. Our walks have mostly been to nature preserves and wildlife areas that are not commonly visited by others, and for most of those walks, we have taken our cameras– which is how we have amassed so many pictures in a relatively short period of time!

Juvenile Little Blue Heron and an adult Little Blue Heron

Fortunately, photography is a hobby that is serving us well during this time of forced isolation. Even if we become restricted to the parameters of our own backyard, we will still find things to photograph–especially Mel with his macro photography!

One of Florida’s many alligators sunning itself in the grass.

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Little Blue Heron coming in for a landing and a Glossy Ibis taking off

One of the many benefits of this nature photography hobby has been its therapeutic effects. No matter how anxious or worried I am about the overwhelming consequences of this pandemic that we are all suffering through, once I start focusing on the birds and bugs around me, I am almost immediately calmed. All my concentration is focused on the subject at hand and whether the settings on my camera will be correct. But, even before the COVID-19, my picture walks had proven to be quite the magical elixir for restoring a sense of balance, tranquility and joy to my world.

A very young Sandhill Crane ‘baby’, called a ‘colt’

Limpkin and a Great Blue Heron, both of whom fish along the edges of ponds

An added benefit of this nature photography hobby has come from sharing my pictures with others, By sharing the things I have seen, I am afforded the opportunity to stay connected to others. The natural world is our common denominator. It gives us a common language with which to converse and to find joy. Pictures are just another way to communicate that joy– particularly during these very uncertain and heart-wrenching times.

Stay safe out there!

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly and an Orange Spotted Flower Moth

Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly (minus the swallow tails!)

Eastern Amberwing and a female Four-spotted Pennant

Male Four-spotted Pennant and a Scarlet Skimmer Dragonfly

Maybe Tomorrow…

March 5, 2020

Mel and I have been to eight different nature preserves in as many days—both with cameras in hand.

Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Pileated Woodpecker

Great Blue Heron with the catch of the day!

One of my favorite new places that we visited was the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Florida, described as “a journey into the heart of the Everglades ecosystem… a 2.5-mile adventure through pine flatwoods, wet prairie, around a marsh, and finally into the largest old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America.” I had to go!

Female Cardinal, Indigo Bunting (male non-breeding plumage)

Mama Alligator and her babies (look below her for the babies)

I wasn’t particularly interested in finding the usual swamp creatures like alligators and turtles, I’d already seen plenty of them. What I really hoped to find was a painted bunting. They are such incredibly beautiful birds– and I had never seen one before!

White Peacock Butterfly and a Zebra Longwing

Ironically, Mel and I spent 5 hours taking pictures along the boardwalk, but I didn’t get my bunting picture until we were back at the visitor’s center and I saw one hanging out near the bird feeders! (I prefer to get my birdies out ‘in the wild’ rather than by a feeder, but I was not about to pass this one up over a technicality!)

Another new place we visited was the Babcock Ranch Preserve Footprints Trail in Punta Gorda. Unfortunately, the trail had just undergone a controlled burn and several areas near the trail were still smoldering. Even though we had a hard time finding much of anything to photograph, Mel spotted the one thing I had hoped to find the most—a Barred Owl. Everywhere we go, we look up in the trees hoping to spot an owl, but they are usually well camouflaged and hard to find. This one was high up in a tree, but otherwise visible. I zoomed in, took dozens of shots, and left happy. What a treat!

All the other places we visited this past week or so, Celery Fields in Sarasota, Ollie’s Pond in Port Charlotte, Lemon Bay Park in Englewood, and the State College of Florida in Venice were places we had visited before at one time or another. They are all dependable places for finding birds, butterflies, bugs or alligators– and we were not disappointed!

With all the preserves that Mel and I visited, we ended up with thousands of pictures. Not surprisingly, it takes hours and hours to go through them all. So sometimes, like today, we take a ‘picture holiday’ and just go for a walk without our cameras, but it’s really hard for me to do. I always see something that begs to be photographed! Today it was the iguanas and the dolphins that caught my eye. I didn’t get them today. Maybe tomorrow…

Scavenger Hunt

February 11, 2020

Going for a ‘picture walk’ is a lot like a scavenger hunt, I think. It’s not that I have a list of things to find, but every picture I take feels like a little treasure I’ve collected and put in my pocket. When I get home, I empty my pockets of all the things I’ve found and decide what to keep and what to throw away. The nice thing about this kind of treasure is that my pockets are always big enough! And that’s a good thing– because sometimes I have more than 500 treasures to sort through!

Here’s what I’ve collected this past week…

Anhinga: “The word *anhinga* comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird. It gets the snake bird label because it swims with just its head and very long neck above water.” (photos by Mel Church)

Alligator
Fun fact: Scientists have observed alligators luring waterbirds by placing sticks and twigs across their snouts while they remain submerged. When the birds go to pick up the twigs for nesting material, the gators chomp!

Florida butterflies: The Zebra Longwing (left) is the state butterfly of Florida.
The Gulf Fritillary (right) is another beautiful butterfly found in Florida

Roseate Spoonbill
Fun Fact: The collective noun for spoonbills is *bowl*. Have you ever seen a bowl of Roseate Spoonbills?

Little Blue Heron and a Tri-colored Heron
Fun fact: The Little Blue Heron (left) weighs only 12 oz! The Tri-colored heron (right) weighs slightly less, 11 oz!

Florida’s ‘jungle’! (Photo by Mel Church)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Fun fact: Unlike other ducks, black-bellied whistling ducks spend a lot of time on the ground and in the trees.

Muscovy Duck
Fun facts: The red fleshy parts around the face on muscovy ducks are called caruncles. They’re also called a face mask. Caruncles help muscovies keep their feathers clean when they dabble in mud.
They also have claws on their feet so that they can perch in trees, much like Wood Ducks.

White Ibis
Adult White Ibis (left), Immature White Ibis (right)

Osprey
Fun fact: The osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after the peregrine falcon, and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler (left) and the Eastern Phoebe (right)

Loggerhead Shrike
The Loggerhead Shrike is nicknamed “butcherbird” for its habit of skewering prey on thorns or barbed wire. The shrike grasps its prey by the neck with its pointed beak, pinches the spinal cord to induce paralysis, and then vigorously shakes its prey with enough force to break the neck.

Northern Mockingbird and a Spotted Sandpiper

Pileated Woodpecker and an American Kestrel

Brown Pelican: the quintessential Florida bird

Hello Sunshine!

February 5, 2020

After months and months of dreary Michigan skies, it was a welcome relief to finally arrive in Florida for 10-weeks of respite. It’s not that I don’t like winter, I actually love the snow; but in Michigan, it doesn’t come often and it doesn’t stay long. Most of the time it turns to slush. The straw that breaks the camel’s back, though, is the never-ending days of gray. I can live with the slush, but it’s hard to forego sunshine day after day.

I totally missed this alligator at first, thinking it was a rock!

So, for the last four years, we have loaded up our cameras, fishing gear, inflatable kayaks and our two very old dogs to head south, to sunnier skies, to warmer days and never ending picture opportunities.

We arrived at our rental destination late Monday afternoon and I could barely contain myself. I was so tired of sitting in the car for days on end that I could hardly wait until Tuesday morning to go for a picture walk! As soon as the sun was up, that’s exactly what I did.

Osprey makes a ‘one-handed’ catch in Ollie’s Pond!

My first picture walk on Tuesday morning was around the wonderful little Ollie’s Pond. Later in the day, I went to the Larry Taylor Kiwanis Park not far from our rental. Today, Mel and I went to two more parks. After months of relative blight in Michigan, I felt as if I had won the lottery: Cormorants, Anhingas, Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Mergansers, Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored herons, Blue-winged teals…the list was almost endless.

Female and Male Hooded Mergansers at Kiwanis Park

I was simultaneously overwhelmed and rejuvenated with all there was to see!