More Sika's...

Like I said yesterday more on the Sika Deer today. In order to get a full body photograph I used the point and shoot camera and since I had it in my hands I figured why not shoot a quick video of him grazing. With that said the quality will not be the same as yesterdays photos. I hope the video works, this is the first time I attempted to post one from this camera.

Sika's are an oriental species, they found there way to Blackwater when a local man by the name of Clement Henry purchased several to bring to his home in Cambridge Maryland in 1916. Sika's are smaller than whitetails only standing about two and a half feet tall, they have a rich chestnut red coat. Often the coat exhibits white spots much like the whitetail fawns during the summer months. Those spots fade away at other times of the year. A black dorsal stripe runs from the ears to the base of the tail and can be seen in the photos I posted. They normally range in herds of five to twelve although the three times I have seen them there has never been more than two together at a time. There racks rarely grow larger that six points. Since the Sika's lack natural predators and because they multiply at great rates the areas in Maryland have a hunt once a year.

Please visit Shane's blog today for a new post.

Blackwater Sika Deer..

I have just returned from another very short, too short of a visit to the beach. We decided to check out a few areas for me to photograph in the future on the way there and back. On the trip to Ocean City we stopped at Bombay Hook and on the way back we stopped at Blackwater. Neither trip was what it would have been had I gone there only to photograph birds and wildlife but both gave me a chance to check out the area and realize that I would make many return trips in the future.

For now I will leave you with just a little about today's photos and elaborate later on the subject. These critters are Sika Deer or Sika Elk. It depends on what you read some refer to them as deer and some as Elk. I posted a few a couple of years ago from Assateague Island, these come from Blackwater in Maryland. Shooting at both locations this trip was difficult as the sun was high and the temperatures were in the mid to high 90's. This one gave me some of the best chances because he was smart enough to remain in the shade for his afternoon feeding. The intentions were not to photograph just closeups but to get full body shots as well but because Shane had the 70-200 on his camera and I had the big lens on mine the second photo was the only full body shot I could get. More will follow on Thursday from the point and shoot along with the details of this animal.

More From Benezette...

Last week a posted a black squirrel from Benezette and mentioned that we photographed more than just Elk. Here is the proof, we also photographed insects and other things you will see in the future. The one lens we do not own is a macro so we shoot items like this by getting further away and using the big lens. The first photo is Shane using the D90 that he always uses with my newer lens and tripod that I got earlier in the year. I think he really likes using that set up.

Speaking of Shane today's is Tuesday and that means a new post on his blog so please stop by and visit it.

Pennsylvania Pump Primers...

These photographs were taken at the 35TH annual Pennsylvania Pump Primers along riverfront park in Harrisburg on Saturday July 11 of this year. Each year antique fire apparatus parade from the Pa. Farm Show arena to here and pump from the river for the day. It is always a good time and for me like old home week. I enjoy the rigs but the day is really a chance for me to see and talk with old friends, and talk I do. This year I had the privilege of meeting up with an old friend from Cincinnati, Bill Strite. I hope he had a good time and maybe we can do it again another year.

Okay I do not know what to expect from these. We had never calibrated our monitor and recently we had to get another one so we figured it was time to do so. At the end it gives you a chance to see the present and the way it was. I was amazed at the color cast it showed the system had. Is is right now? Beats me, I do know that when I look at photographs on my blog now I see the color cast. These are the first photographs I did since it has been calibrated, they may not be easy to tell because I applied an art filter to them. Unfortunately not all of my upcoming post are post calibration either, like tomorrows it was done before the calibration. You know the more I do this the less I seem to know and the worse I get.

Black Squirrel...

While in Benezette this summer we photographed more than just Elk, we also photographed this black squirrel. He was one of two that we seen, the other was much darker making very easy to tell it was a black squirrel. But he was so far away that the photos were not very good and we were able to get much closer to this guy. I remember as a kid traveling to Clearfield County to hunt turkey's and black squirrels with my grandfather and a friend Richard Davis. Richard got one and we never got a shot off on the ones we seen. These guys were the same way, not as approachable as grey squirrels, when they seen us they were gone.

More Gettysburg...

Yes I know I just posted from Gettysburg and I said I need to do some battle photos, but I made this post just minutes after that one. The first photo is of Custer and no I am not old enough to have taken the original photo of him that I used in making it. This was only my second effort in adding two photographs together so it is still a learning process. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted but the photo I took of Custer wasn't the best in the contrasty area. The second photo is of one of the horse drawn ambulance drivers. He was in a shaded area that made photography much easier and you could tell he has had his photograph taken many times.

Please stop by Shane's blog today for a new post.

Elk Video's...

Today I am taking the easy route and posting videos from our trip to Benezette in June. They are short and there is some audio, turn up your vlume and enjoy the sounds of birds and elk. That video was shot early one morning in the dense fog, still photography was pretty much non existent that morning so I took a few videos. The second video is of "Odie" eating breakfast one morning along Winslow Hill. I think he was proud to display his new necklace. I hope these videos work, since some of the changes to blogger they come up unavailable to me on the preview screen but they seem to work the day the scheduled post appears.

Confederates And Their Horses...

Today's post is a few more photographs from the anniversary event at Gettysburg over the 4TH of July weekend both are confederate soldiers and their horses. Maybe I will get some battle photos processed and posted soon. The best part of this busy schedule is I prepare these photos and make the post when I can, sometimes weeks in advance so when the post shows up they are almost new to me also.

Big Meadows And A Lens Test...

This post is about the whitetails in SNP Big Meadows and the 200-400 f4 lens test. The first photograph was shot with the 70-200 f2.8 lens at 300 mm with the conversion factor and then cropped in during post processing. The second photo was taken after I changed lens to the 200-400. It was shot at 600mm with the conversion factor and then cropped in much more than the first photo. If you look closely at the upper right of the first photograph you will see the doe and fawn. These photographs were taken at 7 p.m. while the sun was still high from a tripod with a remote shutter release. What do you think, it is fairly sharp for the focal length and cropping?

Don't forget to stop by Shane's blog for a new post today.

Back To Benezette...

After posting a few of these photographs from my wildlife trips I find it hard to come up with something to say. The two calf's were part of a larger herd that had nine calves in it and were from the same shoot as the calf photo posted here on June 29TH.

House Wren...

This is one of the many house wrens we have nesting around our house. This one had a nest of little ones in a gourd bird house in our red bud tree. These guys are fun to watch and listen to except for 4 in the morning when we are trying to sleep.

Please stop by Shane's blog today for a new post.

Stay Away From The Bird Seed...

This little fellow hangs out at my house often, I think he watches me fill the bird feeders then he goes to work filling his cheeks with seed. He was kind enough the other day to stop in a good location for me to photograph him. Take note to the front claws with the sun hitting them. They are small but they look like they could scratch you pretty good. Click on the photo to make it large. And yes this photo was taken trough as window of our house, I think it is time for more Windex.

Gettysburg 147TH Anniversary...

On Saturday July 3Rd my family and I traveled to Gettysburg for the 147TH anniversary reenactment. Growing up just over the mountain from Gettysburg I have always been a huge Civil War buff. Attending the reenactment was one thing I always wanted to do but because of vacations, work or something else this was my first chance. Yep you guessed it now I am hooked and my wife and son enjoyed it also. We pre orderd tickets and went the extra cash for the grandstand seating, am I glad we did. It was hot and dusty but hard to complain when we were only watching and these men were doing it in wool. Both photographs were processed differently the first one, confederate Calvary was made to look like a tin type and the second one, federal infantry was made to look more like a Don Trione painting. The sun was high and harsh making shooting difficult but then everyone else had the same problem. You can expect to see more photographs from this event.

Playful Bucks, Early Morning Sun...

These playful bucks enjoyed putting on a show for me in the early morning sun at Big Meadows in SNP last month. I recorded many images of these two most of them back lit. There lies the problem for me, I know back lit photographs can be good, I just do not know how to post process them. This is one attempt, tell me what you think good or bad. Do you have any suggestions for me when it comes to post processing this type of photograph? Don't forget if you click on the photo it will get larger.

It is Thursday already so please visit Shane's blog for a new post.

Could You Please Step Back A Little...

Text for the blog photographs have been hard to come by lately. But then again with only around 20 or so different people looking each day I have not really been into doing the blog much anymore. It is funny I just left a comment on another wildlife blog recently that if they keep posting I will keep looking, this person also has considered no longer blogging. I have decided to continue with the blog into the fall, if the numbers pick back up then I will continue, if not I will stop blogging or only do this once or twice a week.

Today's photo comes from my recent trip to SNP, it was taken in the Big Meadows at 8:14 p.m. This fawn really did me no favors as it walked right up to me within arms length. I enjoyed the close encounter but was unable to photograph him at that close distance. Mother came along and nudged the fawn into moving away from me. It was a special encounter for me, one I will never forget.

Please visit Shane's blog today for a new post.

Odie Eats Breakfast...

Willard Hill can correct me if I am wrong but I believe this is the bull named Odie. These were taken early in the morning as Odie ate his breakfast. Note the velvet on his antlers. This is one of the things I was looking to photograph on my recent trip to northern Pennsylvania.

Playful Fawns...

Back to the SNP trip today. During the time I was in SNP I encountered 40 to 50 deer each day. Some were bucks and as many as five or six fawns. While there I seen no turkeys this time but I did see a black bear. Sorry no photos of it, he was in the woods and they were to thick to photograph in, he also wanted no part of me and my camera. I was told that there was a sow and two cubs in the camp grounds and that they would let me in to take a few photos and then leave. I quickly headed in that direction only to be informed by a ranger that they just moved the bears out of the area so it would be safe for the campers. Like always I should have been there 10 minutes ago.

These two were captured in the Big Meadows, they were photographed at 600 mm and then cropped in to make the photograph. I shot almost exclusively with the 200-400 vr f4 lens and was pleased with the outcome. Willard Hill mentioned in the comments on my first post from here about the glow. This and other photos I will be posting from here have a warm glow to them, it is not a color cast that I would correct but the way thing look in the big meadows in the early morning or late evening sun. These playful fawns were so much fun to watch, they play like a puppy or kitten jumping and running and weaving in and out of mothers legs. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed seeing it in person.

Reading Air Show, Take 2...

Wow! it is hard to believe I only made two post from the Reading Air Show and WW 2 weekend, and they were not even what I normally post. And I guess these are not what you would expect either. I didn't get the photos I went there planning on getting, it was a hectic day, we got started late because of work and had to be back early because of boy scouts and in between we wanted to meet the real veterans of WW2 and talk with the 45TH Infantry Division about joining up. Had we just had more time we may have come home with our uniforms and other items. I do not know what attracted me to these two subjects, I guess the second one was a no brainer as the colors and subject just stood out. The other may have been the foot ware, or the tattoo but I tend to think it was the line running up the back of the stocking. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Hey it is Thursday again, so please visit Shane's blog for a new post.