Kevin's Blog

Images from the Tetons

2008-09-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from this week in the Tetons. Most of my time was spent listening to technical talks at a conference, but I had a few opportunities to get out and about...

Climbing Disappointment Peak

Summit of Disappointment Peak. Teepe tower is in the background, the Grand Teton is hidden in clouds to the upper right. The saddle in the center is the saddle between middle and grand teton.

This was cool... the "Spectre of the Brocken" as seen from the summit of Disappointment
And a few landscapes...

2008-05-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Why I have been so tired lately....
this view, filmed while lying in bed, begins every morning about 5am

2008-04-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

We saw patricia win her 7th national championship yesterday!

2008-04-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Team Sweet:Cheeks 2.0 ran "The Relay" this last weekend. I believe we did far too good considering how much fun we had.

the 2pm elite shorts
Denise might need to give me a caption for this one?
running
finished

HelperSatisfied (or not...)

pacific giant salamander larvae

2008-03-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Found these in a creek up north of the russian river while looking for pictures to make with my new bellows lens - the "Lensbaby"

2008-01-26T09:57:00.001-08:00

Karaoke on the playstation... I never really thought this would be so much fun.

2008-01-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

Cosumnes river preserve

2007-12-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Owyhee and I spent yesterday evening and much of today at the Consumne River Preserve south of sacramento. I was lured there to see the sand hill cranes that winter in the area. The cranes were amazing - there were hundred, probably thousands, of them scattered throughout the fields. It also was an amazing location for bird photography for just about any type of bird you might expect to find wintering in central calilfornia. It was raining the past few days, but somehow we got lucky and never had a single drop fall on us while we were out and about. The overcast days made for more challenging photography in the low light, but in some ways, I almost often prefer this for birds due to the even, consist light. Here are a few frames...

Sandhill crane in field
Snow geese join the flock

Greater white fronted geese mix with snow geese

red tail hawk

coopers hawk

Owyhee found this green heron and we stalked it for quite a while but never got a clear view. This picture was made through tall grass. The bird almost wasn't visible to the eye, but the shallow depth of field sometimes has the ability to "see through" the brush. After some levels adjustments in photoshop to bring back contrast the result was this somewhat painterly image that some may not care much for, but I thought was fun enough to post here.

Owyhee used my other camera and made some nice images of her own including these...

This one is a little difficult to id, but I'm thinking its an american pipit
Sandhill cranes fly over snow geese

JTX

2007-11-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

A few images from thanksgiving in Joshua Tree

Pictures from My wedding!

2007-10-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here are a few great pictures from my wedding. So far, I've only seen a few - I can't wait to see the rest. The first three are from Joe and Ingrid who did a fantastic job! More of Ingrids photos are here http://www.ingridbarrentine.blogspot.com/
Owyhee made a truly stunning appearance just as the sun broke the horizon.

Here is our small gathering on the east ridge of Steens Mtn.
A fun portrait that will probably find its way to my wall...
This last image is from my dad who got a great moment with this picture...

2007-09-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

A little more super macro with the backwards lens...
This is the eye of an alligator lizard.

2007-09-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with some super-macro stuff this morning. An article in this months issue of Audubon about flies inspired me a bit, so I dug out a cheap old metal extension tube, taped a standard 50mm lens backwards, and headed to the backyard. Seems like a goofy set-up, but it works well. The images are id'ed as best I can based on the books I have...

Repetitive Tachinid fly

Circumpolar Bluet
Flesh Fly

Green Bottle Fly

2007-07-19T20:04:00.001-07:00

Owyhee and I went to the Sonora Pass area to explore the climbing areas up there. All in all the climbing was pretty good. You have to look a bit to find the high quality routes, but there were a couple that were very excellent. I'm sure there are more if you know where to look!

2007-07-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick tribute to Rev. Steve and his (and tamara's) blue eyed cat Neve

2007-07-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

My good friend Joe married last weekend. Congrats Joe!

2007-07-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Neve the Brilliant-Blue eyed cat!

2007-06-20T18:00:00.001-07:00

Coyote howling

2007-06-18T21:45:00.001-07:00

I returned to Brushy peak last night to find the coyote family. This is a ferocious water bug. That's not my description, but is the actual name of this bug.

2007-06-17T10:45:00.001-07:00

A stiff breeze and a downwind approach through the cover of some oak trees and thistles allowed Owyhee and I a wonderful opportunity to observe a family of coyotes without being noticed. We watched for prehaps five minutes before the father looked back and noticed us. Below is the mother at right, father on his back and the three pups in a pile between them at Brushy Peak regional park.The mother coyote invites to pups to nurse.
The following images are a fledgling great horned owl at Brushy Peak.

2007-05-19T21:38:00.001-07:00

I discovered a great horned owl this evening hanging around in an area where many black birds (and at least one oriole) are nesting. His tolerance of them was surprising considering there persistance.

2007-05-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Images from yesterday and the day before...

Nature can be cruel sometimes. This coyote was heavily favoring his front left paw. I hope the best for her...

2007-05-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't made nearly as many pictures lately as I would like to be, nonetheless, here are a few from the past several weeks from around the area...

2007-04-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm short on time but finally getting these images up. Owyhee and I skied for four day in the eastern sierra around Bear Creek Spire and in Rock Creek Canyon last month. It was a great trip - enjoy a few pics.

2007-03-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Most of my Kite photography predates this blog, and this morning I had no real intention of making images if Kites, but I heard the courtship calls and moved to investigate. The result was that I got to watch one of the more impressive displays of courtship I've seen that culminated in this long tumbling dive with talons locked. A northern flicker fluffs em up.

2007-03-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't found the bobcat again, yet. I ordered a couple used books to learn about bobcats and tracking them . Meanwhile, I collected this hodgepodge of images at Brushy Peak this evening.
This lizard is about to get dinner.
Cooper's hawk in a bloomin cherry tree
Red-winged blackbird defending his territory

2007-03-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was out for a jog yesterday evening looking for some spring photo project ideas when I found myself between a couple coyotes and a bobcat. My presence quickly diffused anything that might have been going on, but I enjoyed the chance to watch them for a few minutes. I returned before dawn this morning hoping maybe the bobcat would still be around. I arrived to find the bobcat treed by coyotes. The coyotes took off before I could get any frames of them, but I stuck around for a little bit to get these images of the bobcat before I moved on so it could come down.

2007-02-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a particular image last night which had me looking through some of my old slides and I found a couple fun ones so I'll share.

Classic crack, Leavenworth with Steve Toker and Tamara
Snow was falling

atop of Frogland in Red Rocks, savoring having blasted past "max and ian"

The super SUPER secret bivy site (aka "the Loveshack")
... from the inside out

2007-02-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Another morning spent at Sunol regional park yielded these images of a chesnut-backed chichadee

and a Nuttall's woodpeckerHummingbird feathers never cease to amaze me. Look at what a difference he make just by turning his head!

All of these images above were made with my new homemade flash bracket seen below.
The big advantage of this is that it gets the flash up high enough that it can be used for fill light without the evil "demon eye" (the animal equivalent of red eye - see the cow below for an extreme example of demon-eyes) that otherwise plagues flash users. It cost about $10 from the hardware store and a couple hours work versus several hundred to buy something that does the same!

2007-02-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here's finally a better image of a red-shouldered hawk

a warbler found its way into some artsy light where i was waiting

2007-01-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

Back to Sunol this morning (gotta get my money's worth from that annual East Bay parks pass). It was pretty foggy for a while. I hiked around till it started to clear.My new favorite spot makes good views of this woodpecker pretty much a given!

2007-01-27T15:09:00.000-08:00

Lots of new bird photos today. The lingering rain clouds made of several hours of good light for shooting birds this morning at Sunol Regional park.

This first photo appears to be a western scrub jay, but this plumage with lots of rufous on the back is new to me...?Yellow rump warbler in the wet grass
Rufous crowned sparrow
I'm always game to photograph kinglets
Do bluebirds dance?
Turkey vulture sunning her wings after the morning rain.
another bluebird
I found a great location for shooting these woodpeckers!

2007-01-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

I flew into Seattle on my 30th birthday. I chose a window seat on the right side of the plane hoping to catch an image of Rainier at sunset. Rainer was in fact a nice sight, but this view of the olympics, after we turned around to approach the airport from the north, was better.

2007-01-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

So here was my favorite image from the WSU vs Stanford game. It was a close game and this image was taken with 30 seconds left in overtime. Unfortunately the cougs didn't pull it off and this photo was relegated to uselessness and this blog...

2007-01-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to shoot Cougar basketball last nice as they played Cal in Berkeley. Great fun and good to be back in the action and shooting on a deadline. Sometimes I really miss the old times:) The cougs are nationally ranked by the way, #22 or 23 I think for the first time in over a quarter century. They handily defeated Cal. I'll shoot their game against stanfod on saturday afternoon and enjoy having more than 30 minutes to get images filed before deadline.

2007-01-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

Say's Phoebe in flight at Coyote Hills regional park

2006-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

Cedar waxwing trying to swallow a big bite.
Red shouldered hawk. I finally got an image. Better ones will follow eventually...

2006-12-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

Owyhee climbing at Sunol Regional Park and me having fun with my new pocket camera.

2006-12-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

I finally photographed my first accipiter. I believe this is a juvenille Cooper's Hawk (though I admit I may not be able to tell the difference between a Coopers and a sharp-shinned hawk, yet). Unlike any other hawk I have photographed, this one was surprisingly accepting of my presence and allowed me to approach quite close.
This junco was kind enough to perch in great light for me.

Not a great image, but I have been trying to get a decent image of a flicker for over a year now. This is probably one of the better ones so far...

2006-12-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! (Owyhee took this photo with my new camera!)Skiing the fresh snow

2006-12-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know what is spraying (or flying)from this nuthatch's mouth. If you know, please tell me. You can click the image for a bigger view if you can't see what I'm talking about...
I don't know why this nuthatch is rubbing on the tree. I suppose he's just scratching an itch (darn flees...)

True masculinity. In one species, one must only flash a bit of ruby, in other's one must raise their pickup three feet and put on huge tires.

2006-12-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Quick! catch this man before he falls over

2006-12-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

Big teeth.

Kinglet

2006-11-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

I spent Thanksgiving in Clovis with my family. Here's a kinglet pretending to be a clothes pin...

2006-11-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

What can I say, I enjoy photographing birds. Back again to Morgan Territories this evening. I hung out along the boundary between a large clearing and an oak forest hoping to get an image of the Red-shouldered hawk I hear almost every day, but has so far have only glimpsed once. Again, I heard it several times and I know it was close, but I never saw it. Instead, I made these images while waiting.
This first image is a white-breasted nuthatch. I was rightside up, so was my camera and so is this image.
This next one is an oak titmouse. Who comes up with these names?

2006-11-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

What does a mockingbird do when it eats a bad grape?...

2006-11-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today inspired me to start this blog. It was a good one... It started when I woke at 5am this morning, I didn't have to go to work, and there was fresh, strong coffee waiting for me. It was dark and foggy out which is just what I'd been hoping for as I threw my bike on the car and drove to Morgan Territories in hopes of capturing the sunrise from above the fog. After biking out to a favorite area of mine, I pulled out my camera and waited for the sunrise. A pack of coyotes yipped nearby, a red-shouldered hawk was squaking up a rucous somewhere in the oaks (I never did see it) and the fog rolled in and out. It was a great morning...

I returned to Morgan Territories this evening with my camera and my bird lens to look for that Red Shouldered hawk or anything else I might come upon. About a half mile before the parking area I saw a hawk out across the field that immediately stood out as "not a red-tail" I stopped the car and looked as it turned and I could see the white underside of a Ferruginous Hawk. I pulled to the shoulder (amazinginly I was at pretty much the only spot on that entire road where there is any shoulder at all) and started getting images out the window. Any bird photographer knows that the minute you step out of your car, the bird is gone, so I proceded to shoot out of every window of my little Honda while attempting to balance my 600mm lens on any surface I could find - seat backs, side mirrors, door, dashboard... There are much better images to be had of this beautiful and uncommon hawk, but here's a start. I really hope I'll have many more opportunities this winter to add some better images to this collection.

That was really the highlight of the evening as far as the photos go. The evening light wasn't too good. Here's a couple...