Photo Of The Day and Natural History Commentary

For a few years I have been interested in witnessing the famous fall colors of the Eastern Sierra, but never had the time to drive up Highway 395 and take a look. I finally managed to squeeze 36 hours out of my schedule recently and get up to Bishop, and I was not disappointed. The weather was pleasant, warm and sunny, and the aspen trees were superb. I was particularly happy with images I shot with a fisheye lens, since I was able to cram as much detail into the frame as possible and the resulting colors were deep and rich. This perspective is quite contrary to the conventional images one sees of autumn aspens and mountain landscapes, typically photographed with medium-wide rectilinear lenses, and not for everyone. The photo below was shot just below the dam at Lake Sabrina in the Bishop Creek Canyon, shortly after the sun rose over the peak and lit the lake and tops of the trees.

Aspen trees display Eastern Sierra fall colors, Lake Sabrina, Bishop Creek Canyon. Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Bishop, California, USA. Image: 17547   Species: Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

Eastern Sierra photos
Aspen photos (Populus tremuloides)

I received some excellent and up-to-the-minute advice from Steven Bourelle, a photographer living in Bishop, CA. I imagine Steven knows how the colors are developing and peaking in the Bishop area as well as anyone, and he certainly put me on some great spots. It is worth checking Steven’s webpage as fall evolves for news and great images of Bishop’s fall displays. Inge Fernau, a Bay Area photographer, generously reports to the Calphoto community what she finds in her searches for the Eastern Sierra color; the images she posts are inspiring. Carol Leigh, a photographer and photography instructor based in Oregon, produces Photo Explorations newsletter, the most recent issue of which describes in detail an array of places to see fall colors in the Eastern Sierra – highly recommended.

I met my friend Eric at Seaside Reef. It was overcast and illustrated why its called the “green room".

When I was a kid, my family would drive down from Newport Beach to spend a week or two each summer camping at South Carlsbad State Beach with two other families, the Hawes and the Fleetwoods. This was going on 30+ years ago. (Now you know how ancient I am; everyone looks like a grom to me.) Back then we just had fun and didn’t ruminate over things too much. Now I realize how excellent these trips were. For a boogie-boarding wanna-be grom, mornings in the surf here were heaven. Our parents gave us all the freedom we could want. The 10 of us kids, plus friends who we might bring along, had the run of the beach and surf while the old folks would kick back and keep half an eye on us from up on the bluffs. We would get up early, crawl out of our sand-filled sleeping bags, grab our boards and fins, double-time it down the wooden stairs and paddle out over glass. Sometimes it was clear, other times overcast. The north county bottlenose dolphins, the ones that inhabit the coastline and forage for fish in the rips, would often swim by just outside the break, same as they do today. We knew they were dolphins but also half-imagined that they were sharks; I was sort of nervous around them. We would have wave after wave all to ourselves with not another person in the water for hours as far up and down as we could see. I suppose everyone was at work. Most of Carlsbad was undeveloped, agricultural land or just empty, so there was no pressure on this break. I would spend so many hours catching waves my Churchills wore holes in my heels.

I have been catching some of that old vibe shooting photos in the water. I realize the shots I am trying to score are not those of surfers and other people but rather of sunlight, empty breaking waves, barrels closing out, blue-green water and the mist that hangs over the coast just before the sun is high enough to burn it all off – these are the images etched in my mind from our Carlsbad camping weeks. Nowadays I live 2 minutes from South Carlsbad State Beach, how is that for coming full circle? My fins are longer, hair is shorter, however I still like to be in the waves from the campground down to the Ponto jetties. A kid again.

Those are the south Ponto bluffs looking toward Leucadia in the background. Some damn developer is planning on building a hotel or something on that spot. Travesty.

Ponto jetties, the entrance to Batiquitos lagoon, are just visible if you squint real hard. I live on that hill back there.

More from the session.

My approach to photography is not particularly rigorous or diligent. In fact, it is random and haphazard. A good friend of mine has several times referred to my technique as “machine-gun-fire.” My thinking is that if I spray enough frames around during the course of a shoot, odds are one of them will be a keeper. I adhere to the ancient Zen saying that Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut. In keeping with this philosophy (of shooting as many frames as I can and worrying about it later) I replaced my 20D with a wildly fast 1DIIN (my other camera being a relatively slow 1DsII). This thing is a fire breathing dragon. It fires off 8.5 frames a second, continuously, and doesn’t even begin to slow until I have blazed 20-30 frames. Not only that but I got 500 shots this morning before the camera was full – that is a lot of photos. 8.5 frames a second is twice as fast as any of my other cameras, so I can shoot twice as many frames in a day which means, assuming averages hold, I will get twice as many keepers. Twice the keepers means I am now twice as good as I was before and I should expect twice as many photo sales. Sound reasoning.

I took the new camera out for a test drive this morning at Ponto, wrapped in the beautiful new Delmar camera housing that Erik Hjermstad just built for me last week. Conditions were nice, glassy, sunny, warm. It was fun. Here are a few shots.

The last light of the day caught the underside of this black skimmer (Rynchops niger):

This lone hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) was photographed at Darwin’s Arch, Darwin Island, Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador:

Scalloped hammerhead shark, black and white / grainy. Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Image: 16265   Species: Sphyrna lewini Location: Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Another happy morning at the Wedge. I have had a few people email me to ask me who he is – I don’t know yet. However, I sympathize with him as I have eaten more than my fair share of shorebreak sand too. It looks like the lip caught him in the back of the head just after this shot was taken. And this is only a small inside shorebreak, not a set wave. Some days Wedge waves are so mutant that, combined with crossed-up backwash, they have the potential to work you at any time.

Become one with the beach. Ooomph, guy is driven into the sand. Shorebreak, ouch. The Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA. Image: 14204   Location: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA

My guess is this guy shrugged it off and paddled out on the next backwash. Just one more reason to love a September southern hemi swell in southern Orange County…

This blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), was photographed offshore of the coast of Baja California, Mexico:

Keywords: blue whale photos, Balaenoptera musculus

This sea otter (Enhydra lutris), was photographed in Resurrection Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska:

Keywords: sea otter photos, Enhydra lutris

This brown bear knows why it’s called “fishing” and not “catching". On this overcast morning he waited nearly motionless atop the falls for an hour, watching the churning pools below the falls, before a school of salmon came up the river and gave him opportunities to catch a meal.

Keywords: Brown bear photos, Grizzly bear photos

Don Hill, the photographer behind the 2007 Coronado Calendar, recommended a few spots in San Diego for me to see fall seabirds. Inspired by Don’s great shots I drove down to take a look and was pleasantly surprised by all the bird life in the bay. This black skimmer (Rynchops niger) was photographed in the San Diego Bay. Very cool birds, the way they skim.

This black skimmer (Rynchops niger) was photographed in the San Diego Bay.

Two teleconverters (2x and 1.4x) stacked on a 500mm f/4, yielding an effective 1400mm f/11 megalens, with a Canon 1Ds Mark II body, and a moon just starting to wane:

A “nurse log” is a tree that has fallen and, in the process of decay and rotting away, provides nutrients and a substrate for other plants, including seedling trees, to root and grow. Eventually these plants overwhelm the nurse log which rots away and is completely replaced by the new growth. This photo of a nurse log in Olympic National Park, near Sol Duc Falls, was recently selected for use in a permanent exhibit at the Oregon Zoo to illustrate Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest natural history.

See our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.

This brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) is coming in for a landing on the cliffs of La Jolla, California, just after sunrise:

See more photos of brown pelicans.

Keywords: pelican, brown pelican, California brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus, pelican head throw, bill throw, La Jolla.

These two brown bears know why its called “fishing” and not “catching". On this overcast morning they waited nearly motionless atop the falls for an hour, watching the churning pools below the falls, before a school of salmon came up the river and gave them opportunities to catch a meal.

Keywords:

Brown bear photos, Grizzly bear photos

This spring brown bear cub had major Kung Fu attitude, adopting his best Bruce Lee stance when he stood up to see above the tall grass:

Keywords:

Brown bear photos, Grizzly bear photos, Brown bear cub photos, Katmai National Park

We have posted 382 photos from our 10-day trip to visit Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park and Katmai National Park, including sea otters (Enhydra lutris), Stellar sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), and most notably, brown bears (Ursus arctos, also known as grizzly bears). Here are a few:

Sea otter. Resurrection Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 16940   Species: Enhydra lutris	Steller sea lions (Northern sea lions) gather on rocks. Steller sea lions are the largest members of the Otariid (eared seal) family. Males can weigh up to 2400 lb., females up to 770 lb. Chiswell Islands, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 16977   Species: Eumetopias jubatus	Bald eagle. Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17376   Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Two mature brown bears fight to establish hierarchy and fishing rights. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17036   Species: Ursus arctos	A large, old brown bear (grizzly bear) wades across Brooks River. Coastal and near-coastal brown bears in Alaska can live to 25 years of age, weigh up to 1400 lbs and stand over 9 feet tall. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17039   Species: Ursus arctos	Alaskan brown bear catching a jumping salmon, Brooks Falls. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17032   Species: Ursus arctos

Brown bear spring cub, just a few months old. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17056   Species: Ursus arctos	Brown bear walks through the marshes that skirt the Brooks River. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17062   Species: Ursus arctos	Two brown bears wait for salmon at Brooks Falls. Blurring of the water is caused by a long shutter speed. Brooks River. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17048   Species: Ursus arctos

See also:

Photos of brown bears catching salmon
Photos of brown bears eating salmon
Photos of brown bears fighting
Photos of brown bear cubs
Sea otter photos
Grizzly bear photos
Brown bear photos
Stellar sea lion photos

All the photos including a few wack ones (on the last couple of pages) like seaplanes, my tent, and some lame photos of sea birds.