Here are a few more images - taken at various points on my photographic learning curve - of the creatures that fascinate me. All were shot on film and then scanned. Above, seagulls atop the Sunview Motel in Rehoboth Beach, DE in 1985. I was too comfortable to get up from my beach towel, so this was shot using every millimeter of my zoom.
Still unwilling to move, I shot this beggar at a range of about 12 feet. Rehoboth - 1985.
Who can resist a kitten? Not me. Especially not little Tarzan, captured here with his "Dad" in Damascus, MD in the first few days of 1995.
Butterfly and roadside flowers along Route 3 in Virginia's Northern Neck - 1999.
With slow film, inadequate light and no flash, I wasn't quite able to freeze this peacock as sharply as I'd have liked (didn't quite nail the manual focus, either), but I find his colors and downright hostile expression to be irresistible. St. Augustine, FL - 1999.
I've always loved sandpipers, but they are really tough to photograph. The rascals in this shot were scampering along the surf at dawn (DAWN! I was up at dawn, once!) in Naples, FL in 1999. I caught them just as one bird decided to go rogue and reverse direction.
Odd Bird Out - near Pier 39 in San Francisco, CA - 1987. On the other side of the railing is a 25-foot drop to a busy highway, so I don't know what this web-footed little guy was thinking. Also not sure what kind of bird this is. Anyone?
Speaking of animals that are hard to photograph...
Hummingbird Pit Stop - Lancaster, VA - 2001.
Squirrels, on the other hand, are more than happy to sit up and strike (and hold!) a pose for the camera. This is one of my mother's overfed little rodents in Rockville, MD in 1991.
I have hundreds of better shots of DC's current giant pandas, but this 1996 image of a pensive old Hsing-Hsing alone in his yard conveys more about the species - and about this bear in particular - than I can put into words here.
THANKS FOR VISITING. Coming soon - the cruising years: mountains and barns and churches and all sorts of oddball discoveries from the mid-Atlantic states...
Let's snap back to real time for a moment. Yes, I'm still scanning. There's a pretty good pile of decent 35mm material still to come. But for now, here are some shots I took last weekend at our own private Bed & Breakfast (and Dinner!) - [Maris]'s parents' house, on Virginia's Northern Neck. Above: Bumblebee, doing some serious bumbling.
Same Bumblebee, loading up on the pollen.
Flowers. Specifically, purple ones.
White ones! With red dots in the middle!
Some kind of woodpecker-y, flicker-y little bird.
Hummingbirds. These little dudes are an incredible challenge, and I will return to get some better photos when it's not 95 humid degrees.
Dragonfly. Electric blue. So cool.
Osprey. Almost fell off the deck to get this hasty shot as he zoomed overhead.
Blue Crab - scuttling. Not sure how he lost his other claw - he was by far the biggest one I saw out there.
