EVERYTHING
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SITTING PRETTY
WET PAINT
PHOTO FINISH
LAST LOOK
CHOMP
FOX
FROZEN
FIRST ALERT
GOT YOU ON MY WAVELENTGH
Flapanatomy
“There are no new ideas – only new ways of making them felt.” Audre Lorde
A male trumpeter swan and his mate were migrating north in late winter and chose to wait out a snowstorm on our pond. It was the first time we’d ever had swans.
I spent the entire day shooting and got some keeper images including this sequence of the male fanning his wings. At first, I was trying to decide which one to frame and then it dawned on me that I had a beautiful motion study. It reminded me of Muybridge’s studies from the late 1800s which I had often referenced in my work as an animator. But these swan shots were also stand alone, great images.
At first I arranged them side by side and had as many as six frames. Then the light bulb went off and I melded them into one.
Ever since then I’ve kept an eye out for “Muybridge moments.”
FIRST DAY OUT
MOOSE-A-LICIOUS
PIGEONS
SAILING ON GOSSAMER WAVES OF LIGHT
Wading the Willows
TANGLED
SNOWDRIFT
BERRY DELIGHTFUL
SWIRLY GIRLY
It’s become an annual meeting.
I’ve encountered this same female snapping turtle in the exact same place the last three springs. I’m excited to see her – she’s big and beautiful, probably a 16” diameter shell - but I also feel badly. Each time we meet, it’s just as she’s working her way up the steep bank below the dam of the pond that she’s trying to reach. As soon as she sees me, she turns around and slides back into the stream, giving up all the ground she’s gained. Then she lies perfectly still in the water thinking I can no longer see her and waiting for me to leave.
I look forward to next year’s meeting – with guilty pleasure.ron pittssnapping turtlesnapperrapidscreekstreamlong exposurenaturewildlifeanimalsreptiles
GOING DEEP
Sperm whale off the coast of Newfoundland diving for a long stay below the surface.
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DAYBREAK
A great blue heron caught in the morning light in search of breakfast. The forest behind him were still in dark shadow and reflecting in the pond, surrounded the bird in a deep black pool.
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The Frosty Edge
BullsEyes
FUZZ
FUZZ Ever since a pair of trumpeter swans first appeared on our pond in Tottenham and I learned that they were from the Wye Marsh in Midland, Ontario, I’d been meaning to go there and photograph the cygnets. Finally, some four summers later, when I heard a resident trumpeter pair had a clutch of four babies, I raced to the marsh to try and capture them at the crack of dawn.
I could’ve slept in. They were nowhere to be found until their mid-afternoon feeding time. Then the family would come cruising into the feeding area and chow down for about half an hour. They were comfortable with onlookers so there was no trouble moving around them to get close and down low for a better angle. The parents kept a watchful eye but it was more for trouble from below in the form of snapping turtles than from a photographer. When they left, I followed along as far as I could, snapping photos of them in procession until they swam away down one of the channels.
I headed home but returned two more days that week – still driving up in the dark, still hoping to find them in the morning golden hour of light. But each time I ended up hiking around the marsh – cygnet-less until midday.
This summer I’m sleeping in.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
A pair of wood ducks spending some quiet morning time together on the pond. This woodpeckered log is a favourite resting place for the couple.
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No End in Sight
SNOWDRIFT
Scarlet
