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!

The Peace of Wild Things

September 19, 2020

This poem by Wendell Berry was posted recently by a friend and it really resonated with me, especially during these very stressful and troubling times. It speaks volumes about the peace we can find in nature and of the comfort it can provide.

There’s nothing more that I can add to this beautiful poem, so here are a few of my wild things to enjoy vicariously…

Virginia Ctenucha Moth and Male Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

Cabbage White and Common Buckeye Butterflies

House Sparrow and Black-capped Chickadee

Eastern Phoebe and White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-legged Grasshopper, White-faced Meadowhawk Dragonfly, Familiar Bluet Damselfly and a Halloween Pennant Dragonfly

Painted Lady Butterfly and Spotted Spreadwing Damselfly

A Photography Journey

August 4, 2020

As I pondered what to write today, I was thinking back on my short but immensely gratifying photography journey.

**Barn Swallow and a Belted Kingfisher**

**Eastern Kingbird and Willow Flycatcher**

It started innocently enough in the fall of 2016, when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I had no idea! But, he likes finding things that surprise me, so I gave it some thought. What I came up with was “a better camera”. For many, many years, all I had was a very small, pocket-sized, Canon Powershot.

**Brown Thrasher and Female Red-winged Blackbird**

Once I told Mel about my ‘better camera’ idea, he went to work researching it. What he came up with was another model of the Canon Powershot –but a bigger, better version with a built-in zoom lens. I now refer to this camera as my ‘gateway drug’! As soon as I realized what was possible with a better camera, I was hooked!

**Eastern Giant Swallowtail on Bull Thistle and a Great Spangled Fritillary** **on Coneflower**

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail** **on Butterfly Bush**

**Monarch on Butterfly Weed and a Red-spotted Admiral on Queen Anne’s Lace**

It wasn’t long before I was outdoors nearly every day taking pictures of birds, butterflies, frogs, turtles– anything I could find that grabbed my attention. Eventually, though, I started musing about what I might be able to do with an even better camera—one that could capture the birds that were even farther away, and would also have a faster response time.

**Blue Dasher and a Twelve-spotted Skimmer**

Since Mel enjoys doing the research and I do not, he’s the one who went to work looking for another camera, one that would take a detachable telephoto lens. What he came up with was a Nikon D3400 and a 75-300mm lens. Once it arrived, I was out the door!

Snowberry Clearwing Moth **(aka hummingbird moth)** **on Spotted Knapweed and Bee** **Balm**

I think another year went by, maybe less, and I found myself wanting to capture creatures that were even farther away. Mel took off on another search and came up with a 150-600mm lens from Sigma that would probably do the trick. But it was much longer and much heavier than the one I currently had and I was hesitant. When it arrived, I was still hesitant. It just seemed too big and too heavy for me to handle comfortably. But I was eager to take close-ups and quickly overcame my reluctance. I have not put it down since!

**Spicebush Swallowtail on Butterfly Weed and a Viceroy** **on Button Bush**

Eventually, the constant lifting and focusing with a lens that size made my back ache and I reluctantly added a monopod to my set up. It’s a bit of a bother sometimes to have the monopod attached, but I can now focus on a subject for an indefinite amount of time without having to give my back a break.

**This insect was a huge surprise! It’s a female BOTFLY laying an egg on a blade of grass. I’ve never seen one before and didn’t know we even had them in the U.S.!**

After the Nikon D3400, came a Nikon D5600, which is what I have been using for the last couple of years. This camera and I have gone on a picture walk together nearly every day and I have taken hundreds of pictures with it on each of those walks. Periodically, I have checked to see how much ‘shutter life’ it had left.

**Juvenile Great Blue Heron and Halloween Pennant Dragonflies mating**

My D5600 had been given a shutter life of 100,000 shots. When I last checked, I had taken well over 151,000 pictures! I felt as if we were on borrowed time and decided to start looking for a new one.

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (dark morph) and a Pearl Crescent Butterfly**

Once again, Mel returned to the drawing board to find a camera that was well suited for wildlife photography. What he found was a Nikon D500. It arrived a just a few days ago and we have already become fast friends!

**Red-spotted Admiral and a Silver-spotted Skipper**

With a shutter life of 200,000 shots, I’m looking forward to many years and many pleasant journeys with my newest walking companion!

Who Knew?

July 2, 2020

Every time I’m out on a Picture Walk I learn something new– sometimes it’s a new bug or a new plant; sometimes it’s a new animal behavior; and sometimes it’s just a matter of looking at familiar things in a new and different way.

**White Tail Deer looking as curious about me as I was about him!**

Let’s start with the dragonflies. Before my picture taking hobby began a few years ago, I didn’t know that there were over 5,000 different species in the world or that they have been around for over 300 million years! Back in the ‘old days’, dragonflies were enormous– with wingspans of nearly 30 inches! By comparison, the largest dragonfly in the world today has a wingspan of less than 8 inches, and most of the dragonflies that I have found have wingspans of 3 inches or less.

**Blue Dasher Male and Blue Dasher Female Dragonfly**

**Common Whitetail Male and Common Whitetail female Dragonflies**

The other thing I didn’t know about dragonflies, beside the fact that there are so many of them, is that male and female dragonflies often look distinctly different—they can even be different colors! Dragonflies, in fact, come in a wide variety of colors including blue, green, red, yellow, orange, black, pink, and brown. I never knew that before taking my picture walks!

**Ruby Meadowhawk and Slaty Skimmer Dragonflies**

Twelve-spotted Skimmer male and Twelve-spotted Skimmer female Dragonflies

I’ve also had lots of bird surprises—the biggest one coming just a couple of days ago when a Common Grackle landed right in front of me with a very large tadpole in its beak. The tadpole was so big that I thought, at first, it was a fully grown frog–and then I noticed the long tail! I had no idea that Grackles were meat eaters! This prompted me to do a little research…

“The Common Grackle eats mostly insects, berries, seeds, fruit, and bird eggs, although it is also known to eat frogs, fish and snakes. You could say it will eat whatever food it can find!”

**Common Grackle with giant tadpole for breakfast!**

Then there’s the Robins. Even though I have seen Robins around me all my life, I really didn’t know much about them. For starters, I had no idea they liked grape jelly! The other day, though, I caught one gulping it down at our Oriole feeder! What was going on? When I looked for answers, I was surprised to find out that Robins not only like jelly, some of them have even been known to bring worms to the feeder and dunk them in the jelly before swallowing them!! Who knew?

Speaking of worms, I also learned that even with a beak-ful of them, a Robin can dig for more and not lose the ones he already has! Like this!

Another bird I’m familiar with, and have photographed often, is the Green Heron– but I knew little about them! The most amazing thing I found out along the way is that this bird is a tool user!! While I have not observed this behavior myself, I hope someday to have that opportunity!

“The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, and feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish.”

Last but not least, one of my favorite creatures of the pond, is the very large and very noisy, American Bullfrog. I love hearing them ‘croak’ (which has been described as a “deep, booming, Jug-o’-rummm!” sound), and I love seeing their goofy, expressive faces. What I didn’t know about them, though, is that they have teeth! Really! It’s not a full set of teeth like we have but “North American bullfrogs have teeth in the roof of their mouth and a muscular tongue capable of flipping prey into their mouth.”

Who knew??