Friday, January 30, 2009

Pennsylvania Grey Squirrels...


Today's photographs were taken this past weekend, I was out hoping to photograph whitetail deer and I did see numerous ones but they were camera shy. While out along the creek shooting ducks I spotted numerous grey squirrels, with the back lighting it almost seemed as if they were posing for me so I fired off a few photos. Maybe I will be lucky enough to catch the deer in the snow this weekend.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

What No One Wants To See In The Sky...


Today's sky watch Friday post comes from just North of Jackson Hole. I would like to tell you just where I was but since this was the first time I had ever been back this road I really don't know. We were in the Tetons for the rut last year and this prescribed burn had been going on for a couple of days, like all firemen it got the best of us and we had to take a drive to the area to check it out.

Prescribed burns are done for numerous reasons, sometimes to remove vegetation from areas in case a real fire breaks out. Other times to create a mosaic of burned fuels, resulting in a diverse wildlife habitat and vigorous plant regrowth. I do not know the reason for this one.

Don't forget to click the link to the left and visit the other sky watch Friday post from around the world.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

What A Beautiful Animal...

I don't know what else to say today except what a magnificent animal these Elks are. I took this photo last year in Yellowstone, this year I plan to shoot the rut right here in Pennsylvania. I am in no hurry for that time of year to get here but I am looking forward to the adventure.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Yelowstone Canyon Pack...


These two wolves are from the Yellowstone Canyon Pack. I had the pleasure of watching this small pack feed on an Elk in the park last September. At the time they were referred to as a group but before the week was out they were renamed a pack. This is the closest I have ever been to the wolves in Yellowstone and it was a very exciting time. If memory serves me correct the first wolf is the female of the group.

I was out again this weekend shooting wildlife in the area, I didn't get any big game shots but I did shoot some ducks and squirrels, if we get the snow they are calling for maybe I will get a few more photos to post in the future. I have some other trips planned for the near future including the battle of the Bulge at Fort Indiantown Gap and a trip to Florida where I hope to shoot a space shuttle going up, the Nascar race and some Florida birds. I sure hope they all pan out so I can take a break from the older stuff.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Are Your Monday's A Little Foggy?

I don't work like a normal person so my Monday's are not always Monday. Of course I have often been told that I am not a normal person. Working as a firefighter my work week changes every week, my Monday could be a Friday when everyone else is completing their week. The one thing I have noticed is that most people act and especially drive like they are in a fog on Mondays, anyone else ever notice that? I can't compare that to my fellow employees because it make no difference what day of the week it is many of them never leave the fog.

This bull Elk was photographed in Yellowstone during the rut of 2006, he did get pretty close to me that morning as I photographed him from a clump of trees providing me cover and safety.

Friday, January 23, 2009

A Couple More New Photographs...


I started the week with some new photographs so I thought I would finish the week with a few new shots. The whitetail deer was taken on Saturday January 17 when Linda took me to the area she observed the herd in. I feel pretty good about this place and hope to scout it out enough to be able to get photos in the spring with the young as well as the bucks in velvet this year. I shot the duck this past Sunday shortly after photographing the two deer laying down. Someone else help me out here on the type of duck it is, there was an American Black duck close by and Mallard, but this birds head just didn't fit in.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Warmer And More Colorful Times...


It is that time of the week again, Sky Watch Friday. Please take the time to click the link to the left to enjoy sky watch photographs from all over the world, the staff of sky watch are to be commended for the fantastic job they do each and every week.

First off please don't forget to click on the photograph it will get much larger. This was taken the beginning of November last year when my son and I took a road trip looking for things to shoot. This pretty spot was found along the Cumberland Highway between Pleasant Hall and Roxbury in Franklin County Pennsylvania. With the cold weather and grey skies I really miss the blue and white when I look up. Come on summer time.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What Are You Looking At...

Don't worry folks I still have a few newer photographs from the east that I will post, this photograph just happened to be ready and scheduled for Monday until I got out and released the shutter a few times this past weekend. This bull was captured in Yellowstone during the rut of 2006, maybe I should dig into my 2008 rut photos for something new soon from the west.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Our Front Yard Friends...


As with yesterdays whitetail photograph today's photos were taken just last week also. We feed the birds and have for many years. At out present house we have five feeder's out right now not including all the seed we put on the ground for the doves and other birds. This particular spot is in our front yard right up against our porch. Next to these birds is about a 20 foot hemlock tree, they love this tree as it gives them the security and safety they need to survive. With the hawks in our area I try to provide the birds a safe place to eat and not set them up as a hawk feeder.

My wildlife friends can set me straight if I miss identify the birds. The first one is a White-crowned Sparrow, a winter visitor to our parts. He is much like the White-Throated Sparrow but lacks the yellow above and in front of the eye. I believe the second bird to be a Dark-eyed Junco. These photos were actually shot from the warm comfort of my front room with the lens up against the window. In the last two week I have also watch a male and female cardinal, doves and many other different sparrows enjoy the meal along with a wood pecker (I don't know witch kind) eating at our back yard feeders.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Trying To Make Things Happen...

For the last few weeks I have been posting photographs taken over the last three plus years, the problem is none were just taken. There is three blogs I follow every day, Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer (Willard Hill), Country Captures (Salty Hill) and Ken Conger Photography all are wildlife blogs and more often than not they are newly recorded photographs. Now I am sure they all have had problems coming up with photos or something to say from time to time, but for the most part they are new images.

These guys don't get these images with luck, granted it is always nice to have a little luck. They get the photos by first being out in the wild and more importantly doing there homework and learning the animals and their habits. I understand the local wildlife but have never taken the time to learn the area I live in well enough to go out and get the shots. I said at the beginning of the year I was going to get out and stop procrastinating, well I have done just that being out each of the last two days.

My wife Linda was a big help giving me a jump start Saturday morning. On Friday I got a call from her at work about a herd of deer she had seen that afternoon. As she relayed it there may have been as many as 15-16 deer in this herd. Shortly after getting home from work Saturday morning we head out to the area she was telling me about and there they were close to the same area numbering at that time 7-10 whitetail. This did not include the four others we seen close by. I shoot a few photographs even though they are not in the best of settings but more importantly I head right back out the next morning. Sunday morning I only seen these two, a little further off but laying in the snow waiting to be photographed.

I also got out to one of the local waterways to shoot some birds and have been shooting my own birds that seem to be eating us out of house and home. I must be the only one feeding them as often as I have to fill the feeders. Needless to say it gives me a few days of new photographs to post and maybe the start of getting out and making things happen like those guys do.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Teton Bull Moose...

Hey it is moose Friday, not really I just didn't know what to say so I called it that. But it is Friday and that is a great thing. This bull was captured along with a few cows during the rut in the Tetons in 2006. Lets see if I can spell this correct, they were found on the Gross Ventre Highway in the camp grounds. If you have never been to the Tetons and you go this is one of the better places to find moose. That's all for know see you on Monday.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Teton Sunset...


Hello and welcome to another week of Sky Watch Friday, this is two weeks in a row for me so maybe I am getting back into the swing of things. This sunset photo was taken in the Grand Tetons in the fall of 2006. Every time I have been there I have had little to no luck with morning and evening colors. The cloud gods just never want to cooperate with me. Be sure and click the link for sky watch to view great photos from all over the world.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Rosie Crosses The Road...

Since I am posting wildlife in a different setting today I wanted to give you all a little history on me and photographing wildlife. I do not photograph caged animals, I do not like caged animals, I only photograph animals in the wild in their natural surroundings. Normally I try and take photographs without roads, street signs or anything else that is not natural. Sometimes I do not have a choice or choose to take the photo for a different reason.

This is Rosie, she is a well known Yellowstone black bear. I took this photograph in the fall of 2006 on Dunraven Pass. That particular year this was a hot spot for bear viewing, it was not this year. I took this photo because I wanted a shot of Rosie and because this is a part of Yellowstone. Animals crossing the road and traffic jams are a regular occurrence in the park. She was wasting no time getting down the mountain this day but I still manages to get seven or eight shots of her before she was gone. There was grizzly bears in the area and rumor has it she was being chased by one. If you look close you can see the tourist taking a photograph through the windshield of the SUV.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Small Bulls Want Photographed Also...

Many times I have noticed that people only want to photograph the large bulls or the whitetail bucks with large racks. Just last week Willard the Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer posted a photograph of a young spike buck, even with his broken antler I enjoyed looking at that deer as much as I do a large buck. This first year bull, yes he is a bull look closely and you will see the buttons in front of his ears, was with larger bulls and cows but he went off on his own and gave me what I felt was a nice back drop to photograph him. I also do not hesitate to photograph the cows and does, they to make good photographs. By the way this was a very cold morning much like we are about to have here in Pa.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Yep More Elk Photos...

I am glad many of the people that look at my site like Elk photographs because I have plenty more and I plan to get many more this year. This big guy was photographed in Yellowstone during the rut in 2006. He had a large herd of cows but no competition during the times we viewed him. There was one other bull hanging close by but he was a one or two year old and knew he could not compete so he kept his distance and didn't have much to say.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Jumping Into The Weekend...

This morning starts my weekend and like this Coyote jumping onto his dinner I am jumping for joy. It is a weekend with not allot planned, the Hershey Bears are home Friday and Saturday night, I will listen to them on Sunday when they face the baby Pens and I hope to watch some football. Of course I need to do some type of work to keep the boss lady happy, that will be determined later. Have a good weekend everyone.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

It's Sky Watch Friday Time...



Send up the fireworks it time for Sky Watch Friday. It has been over a month since I last participated in Sky Watch Friday, between work and the holidays I just didn't have time to look at other sites like I wanted to so I made other post on those days. Don't forget to click on the sky watch link to the left to enjoy many great sky watch sites from around the world, the staff does a great job bringing us all together. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Resting Elk...

This big six by six was taking a break until I disturbed him from his nap. I didn't pester him any more, a few quick shots and I was on my way to leave him alone. I hope you all like Yellowstone, until I get out to shoot more photos you will be seeing many more from there.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Yellowstone Bison...

I am still having that writers blank, so I will just leave you with this photograph of Bison grazing in Yellowstone. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't have the bad weather today making my commute home from work longer.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Monday Morning Blues...

I don't know about anyone else but my family is experiencing the Monday morning blues, Shane went back to school and Linda went back to work today after being off since before Christmas. For a change it is even a Monday for me starting my four day tour today.

Since it has been some time since I have gone out and shot anything new you will just have to keep seeing many more shots from Yellowstone past. This was taken during our family vacation in July 2005. This was right after I started shooting digital and after looking through the files for some photographs to post I must say I have gotten 100% better at photography. Now I don't really know what that means, it might be saying allot or very little about my capabilities.

Friday, January 2, 2009

New Things For A New Year...

With every new year brings new things in a persons life, for me I don't really know what new things the coming year has in store for me. I do not make new years resolutions because I have never kept them in the past, so why try and fool myself now. I know I will be getting a new fire chief at work after working for the same chief my whole career, new apparatus will be placed into service this year and I may even leave the truck for a different job. Outside of work we hope to vacation in Hawaii this year and my son will become a teenager. I would like to work out more and change my eating habits and I would really like to quit saying I want to get out and shoot more and just do it. I hope to meet fellow wildlife bloggers and cyber mentors Ken, Willard and Salty this year. Whatever happens new this year I am sure it will fly past in a blur.

I would like to thank everyone that stopped by my site this year and a bigger thanks to those of you that took the time to comment. I am hoping for more constructive criticism this year, it is the only thing I have to tell me if I am doing the right things with the camera and Photoshop. With that said I would like to share my site statistics for 2008.
14,909 visits
33,071 pages viewed
Average pages viewed per visit 2.22
Average time on the site per visit 2:32
August was the most viewed month of the year
67% of visits were referrals (most from my Shippensburg Fire site)
20% were direct visits
13% searched onto the site (most by typing Bradley Myers)
I had visitors from 74 countries and every state in the U.S.

Again a big thanks for stopping by, Brad

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year...

I had nothing ready for today so I sat in front of the computer the last day of the year to go through files and find a photo to post. One of the files I opened had photographs I had taken of my nephew Logan Robinson for his senior pictures. Some of them had been re sized for sending my sister for her approval. This particular photographed I used a number of blending options and layers mask on to get the end result. Now you can tell me what you think of it good or BAD. I can not get any better or learn that I stink at this and should quit without positive or negative feedback. With the new year I plan to make some changes in my photography, less procrastinating and more getting out and shooting. I also plan on trying more on photoshop and getting some classes in.

Logan will graduate this year from the Shippensburg Area Senior High School, he was recently inducted into the National Honor Society and plans to attend a trade school in Williamsport to be a gun smith.