Sinoquipe Scout Reservation...

I started my 37 day break from hell, oh I mean work last month by attended summer camp with Boy Scout troop 180. This year the troop went to Sinoquipe in Fort Littleton. This was my first trip to this camp and it was very nice. We had 17 boys and four leaders at camp and I think all had a great time despite the heat and two storms. I enjoyed scouting as a youth but I think it is more fun now getting to do it with my son. I think all of you that view this site know me but if you do not that is me and Shane in the second photo. The first photos is the troop at the color grounds awaiting the flag ceremony so we may get to the mess hall. The last photograph was home for my time their, regardless of the high temperatures I slept very well in this tent. Our next scouting adventure was attending the National Scout Jamboree at Fort AP Hill Virginia, maybe some photos from it later. By the way this is for my old scout friends Dale and David, are you guys missing this yet? These were also taken with the point and shoot camera. Can you tell that we try not to let any grass grow under feet in the Myers house, we are always on the go.

Purple Martin...

Yes I know another not so good photo taken in harsh sun but it was the first Purple Martin I ever photographed. This is another bird that can be found here in Pa. but I have never seen them here. This one was photographed at Bombay Hook, Delaware. Maybe after I get a few more years under my belt photographing birds I will see some of these and other birds more often. I just started photographing birds a little over a year and a half ago. Klaus got my appetite wet in Florida and I have enjoyed it ever since. In that time period I have learned allot and can name many more birds that I could before.

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

And People Think I am Not Right...

Okay for those of you who think I am not right watch this video and you will see that I am the normal one in the family. I hope the video works, when I upload them they always say an error occurred please try again later but once the post shows up they always seem to be there. This is the sort of thing I have to put up with all the time. This was at the condo we stayed at in Ocean City the other week, Shane finds a luggage cart and Linda acts like a kid with him. By the way the were shot with the point and shoot camera also. I know I sound like a broken record and I am not looking for pity but I have not been happy with the quality of photographs I have been getting lately. I have good equipment and I should be getting better but I seem to be digressing. The post processing skills are not improving either. Since I am doing this for fun I have decided not to worry about what I post anymore, besides on a good day my numbers only around 25 to 30 hits a day anyways.

Thats All He Gave Me...

The one thing that attracted me to Bombay Hook was the foxes in January, February and March. A trip was planned for that time earlier in the year but because of work, snow and other things it never happened. The red fox population is to be very good and at that time of the year it is the breading season. I never expected to see a fox on the day we drove through because of the warm temperatures and the high sun but one never knows. Just as we were exiting the refuge we spotted this fellow up ahead of us and this is all he provided me with photos. For anyone that photographs wildlife the rear end shot is pretty common, they normally find the delete button pretty quick. Hopefully this winter will be a different story for me as I plan to make the trip in search of good fox photos.

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

Landing Osprey...

I was really angry at myself after shooting these photographs. I had the camera set for shooting still birds when I noticed this Osprey coming in for a landing. I quickly changed my focus point to a nine pin area but failed to change the focusing to continuous and left it on single so it did not track the birds the way I wanted it to. This ended up being the best of the ones I shot but I should have had many more. Regardless I was still happy to see Osprey as I have only ever seen a few and they were always far away. These were still a good distance away and shot with the 200-400 and cropped in. By the way these were taken at Black water in Maryland.

First Clicks At Blackwater...

These were my first shutter releases at Black water Wildlife Refuge on the way home from the beach. I am not sure I got the effect I was looking for and I think I would have liked the depth of field better with the 70-200 2.8 on the camera but Shane was using it so I was relegated to the 200-400 f4. It looks like the larger bird is a Ring-billed Gull. I can't wait to get back to these two new places when I am only there for photographing and have plenty of time. Any body up for a road trip?

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

A Mid Day Orioles Game With Friends...

On Wednesday July 21ST we attended a noon Baltimore Orioles game with our friends the Quigley's that live across the street from us. Not unlike most Orioles games the Birds came out losers to the Rays 5-4 but is was still fun to watch a game. Not wanting to lug around a bigger camera and down on my camera skills lately I decided to take the point and shoot. By looking at the sharpness of the last photograph I guess I am not very good with it either. That is Shane on the left of both photos and John on the right. Go ahead guys grab them for your face book pages if you want them. Don't forget to click the photos for larger versions especially the first photo.

Speaking of Shane check out his blog today for a new post.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Barn Swallows...

I mentioned last week that we took a short trip to the beach with a couple of stops mixed in to scout out some areas. These Barn Swallows come from our visit to Bombay Hook, Delaware. After taking the photographs a couple of people pointed out that we have barn swallows in Pa. also and that is true. But seeing them and photographing them in Pa. is something that I have never done. I guess I just have not been at the right place at the right time or I am not searching hard enough. Like everything photographed at mid day this time of year the sun was high creating bad lighting and not the best of times for shooting. But then again I am no professional and at this stage of my life just consider myself a picture taker or fun.

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.

Life Begins In Elk Country...

Yesterday I made a post about my recent trip to SNP to photograph whitetail deer two weeks ago, last week Shane and I made the trip to Benezette for three days to photograph Elk. In particular we were looking for bulls in velvet and calves. We had a great time, wildlife was only out a few hours each day because of the summer heat and photographing was not easy but we found what we were looking for and bring back many good memories if not photographs.

Many good photographs were missed by me for one reason or another. Some because I was allowing Shane to use the tripod for his shots. A 200-400 lens just doesn't work well in low light hand held. Others were missed because of my own decisions, right or wrong I made them and as usual I got angry with myself. One morning we had 21 elk, six were calves, one was a small spike and the rest were cows in a field. It was foggy that morning so I had the ISO set high, the photos show considerable noise. On this occasion it was late evening after s thunderstorm and the light was bad. Not wanting to turn up the ISO I shot at a shutter speed that was so slow if the elk moved at all the images were blurry. Yes I was angry at myself again, maybe I should have turned up the ISO a little more. Those are decisions I need to make to get the shots. The more I do this the more I learn. One of these years maybe I will get it.

To give you an idea of how this shot was captured it was taken at 8:22 p.m. after the storm so it was darker than usual at this time. The camera setting were ISO 400, 1/25 at f4 at 600 mm and then cropped in some. The photo is not as sharp as I would have liked and hind sight had I bumped the ISO up to say 640 I could have gotten the shutter speed up more and had little noise. Live and learn I guess. I hope these turned out okay, I have been having computer problems and by the time you see this post I should have a new monitor and have it calibrated. More from this trip and the SNP trip in the future.

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

The Beauty Of June In SNP...

I mentioned last week on a post that I took a two day trip to SNP. It is a great time of year for whitetail photography as the bucks have antler growth and are in velvet and the does have dropped their fawns. The downside is that the shooting is only good for about two or three hours a day just after sunrise and right before sunset. That leaves allot of time in between with nothing to do. I tried shooting at other times but the lighting is very harsh and the contrast in sun and shade is just terrible. Most animals are not out at that time either.

Some of the other problems encountered at SNP compared to the rut and winter is that there is many more people and traffic at the park. When you mix tourist with point and shoot cameras to wildlife experience is means missed opportunities and wandering why on earth they would try to pet a wild animal or allow there children to do it. The other difference I noticed it the deer are spooky compared to winter. The does keep the fawns hidden and the bucks do not want their photographs taken. I still made the best of the trip and enjoyed it very much. How could I not after seeing such beautiful wildlife like this. I will do it again this summer and can't wait for the rut. More on the actual trip in a later post, I have to save something to say or I will be left speechless.

The Bears And Fans Celebrate...

Last week I made a post about the Hershey Bears and I mentioned that they were having a celebration the day after their Calder Cup clinching win at the Giant Center. Well like last year we attended and like last year we did not wait in line to purchase shirts or hats. We also got out early because we already had every ones autograph and didn't need to wait in lines to get them. My guess is the team will change drastically before next season so I do not expect to be doing this again next year. Maybe it will be the Caps turn to hoist a Cup. I love summer but it will be a long time before I get to watch hockey again, I miss it already. I would take the time to tell you who these players are but I know if you are a HB hockey fan you already know and if you are not then your probably do not care.

Please visit Shane's blog today for a new post. Hey a week without birds, who would have guessed that, maybe next week I can post some new big game photos.

Shane And Our New Toys...

I mentioned last week that Shane celebrated a birthday on June 13TH (he turned 14). One of his gifts was a World War 2 Russian sniper rifle the Mosin Nagant. The day after we took a trip to Cabela's to look at handguns and I purchased a gift for myself the Walther's P22. It was a hard decision as a couple other pistols were in the running. Not wanting to see the guns grow old and dusty we headed to the range for some target practice. The P22 was allot of fun to shoot, we do need to adjust the laser site and the Mosin was just as much fun. I will admit the Mosin has one heck of a kick to it. I think we will be spending many more days at the range with these and some of our other weapons.

A Mid-Week Visit To SNP...

Last week I went to Shenandoah National Park for the first time in the summer. In fact I had never been to SNP before the rut last year but since then I have been to the park four times. I went to the park in hopes of photographing antler growth on the bucks and fawns. Of course I would have been more than pleased with some black bear, turkeys and bobcats. The plan called for three days and two nights but that changes to two days and one night. It was a successful trip and I probably should have stayed the extra day and night. More on this trip in the future. I will leave you with these two young bucks playing in big meadows last Thursday morning.

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

Reading WWII and Air Show...

The weekend of the 4,5 and 6 was a busy weekend for Shane and I. We attended to Reading World War 2 and Air Show at the Reading airport before heading to Hidden Valley Scout Camp for the Order of the Arrow ordeal. One of these years we will not have multiple events on the weekend of the Reading show and we will be able to spend all three days there. If you like WW2 history this is a must attend event. There is over 1,000 re-enactors along with vintage aircraft and veterans from the war including the real men from the "Pacific" and "Band of Brothers". With a little luck Shane and I will be participating in the event with the 45Th Infantry Division next year.

The Fight For Food Continued...

Well you can see I did something right this time. The settings were correct and the Egret set off after the Bittern again causing it to fly. I got the Egret and swung the camera to get the Bittern as he took off. I manages five or six of the Bittern in the seven or eight feet he traveled before heading back into the tall grass. The Egret gave up and the Bittern staid hidden, rest assured I left a happy man after looking at the LCD.

Next week will be some new photos, maybe not as much wildlife but some Hershey Bears and Shane with his new toy. But then who knows maybe there will be some new big game photos to post also.