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What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 31st 05, 04:57 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

This newsgroup seems a bit dead at the moment so I thought I'd pass
along this URL and maybe prod some others into posting images from
their areas ... in June 2004 my wife and I got new digital cameras a
couple of weeks before a trip to Alaska's Pribilof Islands, where we
were planning on photographing puffins and other sea birds. Since one
of the best ways to screw up a trip is to take a new camera you are
unfamiliar with we decided to practice a bit on the local fauna before
heading north.

By becoming members of a local Botanical Garden we could get dawn
access twice a week so we joined and lugged our new cameras and 500 mm
lenses down there to get some practice ... by then it was pretty much
the end of the nesting season and AM temps were rapidly approaching 105
F but we managed to get some decent bird images and decided to do it
again in 2005, starting much earlier in the spring. By the time we
were finished (when it was 110F by 8 AM and few creatures stirred) I
think we actually got better images from our extended "backyard" than
we did in Alaska (though no puffins .

The web site link below has some images from those early AM trips,
which usually lasted from 6-8 AM ... we didn't shoot at zoos or
aviaries or over feeders, just walked carefully around desert gardens
and took pot-luck on whatever wild critters came along, mainly birds
but also snakes and tortoises and balls of fur ... we also found
another spot about 20 minutes from home, where we shot the burrowing
owls frames ... so all of these images were taken a few minutes drive
from home, with the exception of the 'hummingbird-in-flight' shots
taken in Santa Fe, NM in July 2005 over the course of one afternoon and
one morning.

Hope you like these shots ... and what's in YOUR backyard that you
would care to share?

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/desert/

Bill

  #2  
Old December 31st 05, 04:27 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Bill Hilton wrote:

Hope you like these shots ... and what's in YOUR backyard that you
would care to share?

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/desert/


Bill,
GREAT images! I also really like the presentation.

OK, so how far away does one consider "your back yard?"
Day trip? If you can be there for sunrise?

If so, here are a few links to my backyard, all within a 2-hour
drive from my home in the Denver metro area:

Foxes, about 15 minutes away:
http://clarkvision.com/galleries/gal...xes/index.html

Mt Evans, 1.5 hour drive:
http://clarkvision.com/galleries/gal...oat/index.html

Rocky Mountain National Park, ~1.5 hours away:
http://clarkvision.com/galleries/gal...MNP/index.html

Indian Peaks Wilderness, 1.5 hours drive to trail head:
http://clarkvision.com/galleries/gal...4.07c-600.html

Hummingbirds on Mount Evans:
http://clarkvision.com/galleries/gal...126.b-700.html
(click next a couple of time to see more).

I'm working on a set of bighorn sheep images now.

Bill, although not in your back yard, I can't wait to see
your Africa trip images.

Happy New Year, and great Photography to all.
Roger
  #3  
Old December 31st 05, 07:34 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Great photos as always, Bill. Two questions: Where are you that you have
110F by 8 a.m.? What do you do with your great pictures other than show them
like this to us less capable souls? A google search for info about you was
unproductive.

Also, thanks for the great advice you and Roger give so freely. You helped
me prepare for a Brooks River bear watching trip a few years back. (It was
great. I want to go back.) Any advice you might offer with regards to a
cruise to Hawaii in February would be appreciated now.

Lewie (in Austin)

"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
ups.com...
This newsgroup seems a bit dead at the moment so I thought I'd pass
along this URL and maybe prod some others into posting images from
their areas ...
The web site link below has some images from those early AM trips,
which usually lasted from 6-8 AM ...
Hope you like these shots ... and what's in YOUR backyard that you
would care to share?

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/desert/

Bill



  #4  
Old December 31st 05, 10:45 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Roger N. Clark wrote ...

Bill,
GREAT images!


Thanks Roger ... I thought I sent you this URL when you were at Bosque
but come to think of it I guess I didn't after all

OK, so how far away does one consider "your back
yard?" Day trip? If you can be there for sunrise?


No rules ... anything you can easily drive to and back on a day trip I
guess?

If so, here are a few links to my backyard, all within a 2-hour
drive from my home in the Denver metro area:


I like your backyard better Mine is great for birds for 3-4 months
but then it's too hot for much of anything.

Foxes


That first fox in the good light is really really good!

Mt Evans, 1.5 hour drive
Rocky Mountain National Park, ~1.5 hours away:
Indian Peaks Wilderness, 1.5 hours drive to trail head:
Hummingbirds on Mount Evans


As I said, I like your backyard better

Bill, although not in your back yard, I can't wait to
see your Africa trip images.


Hopefully we can do as well as Art and Todd and also figure out how to
do a trip with the best guides on our own (ie, much cheaper) for a
repeat trip next year, in which case I expect to see you and Richard in
a near-by jeep and at dinner Just got a new lens for that trip, a
24-105 f/4 L IS ... can't wait to use it.

Bill

  #5  
Old December 31st 05, 11:08 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Lew wrote ...

Great photos as always, Bill.


Thanks Lew, I always enjoyed reading your 'travelogues' as well ...
still envious about the polar bears ...

Two questions: Where are you that you have
110F by 8 a.m.?


Phoenix ... most days in May 2005 it was pleasant enough, in the high
80's when we quit, but in June we had a record heat wave (I think 16
people died on the street in 5 days, mostly homeless people, and
another 115-120 or so died in the deserts trying to cross illegally
from Mexico) and because of all the asphalt we get the 'urban heat
effect' where the night time temps don't drop much, unfortunately we
have nights where the 'low' is 95 F ... so we had a couple of days last
June and July where the early morn temps were very high ... I wouldn't
swear to 110F at 8 AM but we were usually in the car by 9 AM to return
home and there were a few days over 105 F on the readout in the car.
This was when I was shooting the nighthawk, I probably sat there 9
hours over 4 days to get a few shots of the chicks in the open since
the mother typically just sat there shading them ... if not for that
rare opportunity I wouldn't have gone out those days.

What do you do with your great pictures other than show them
like this to us less capable souls?


We are basically just hobbyists who got out of control ... we sell
prints occasionally (big score last year was 32 prints sold to a
hospital, several from the desert page linked to in this thread) and
have been published in several magazines, but don't actively market
stuff ... I had a full-time job once, it was a LOT of work Not
looking for another one so we keep it low-key. A recent example (last
week) was someone seeing some of our bear and wolf photos hanging at an
auto dealer's office and contacting us out of the blue to buy two
matted 11x14" prints and passing our names on to the editor of a
magazine that publishes big game animal images. Maybe we'll get in
that magazine, maybe not ...

A google search for info about you was unproductive.


One of these days I'll do a formal web page but I'm basically lazy ...

Also, thanks for the great advice you and Roger give so freely. You
helped me prepare for a Brooks River bear watching trip a few years
back.


I was there again in Sept 05 and when I first walked to the point where
the trail meets the river a bear popped up and, believe it or not, I
remembered your article where the bear walked toward you when you
backed up at the same spot, and fled when you shooed him away Also
remembered your wife not wanting to cross the bridge because you might
get stuck on the platform and there's no bathroom ... well, good news
.... now they finally have a toilet on the 'far side' near where the
trail to the falls branches off

(It was great. I want to go back.)


You can make reservations starting Jan 5 ... I'll be there (hopefully,
if I get a campsite) in early July and maybe early Sept so if you go
let me know.

Any advice you might offer with regards to a
cruise to Hawaii in February would be appreciated now.


I think Roger gets to go to Hawaii with his government job fairly often
so he can probably give you good advice. He probably has some good
Hawaii images on his site. I've been to Kona fishing for blue marlin
several times and can point you toward the best boats if you like to
fish, but that's best in the summer.

Thanks for the comments ... I'm sure people would enjoy it if you
posted links to your photo travelogues more often too.

Bill

  #6  
Old December 31st 05, 11:18 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

In message .com
"Bill Hilton" wrote:


Hopefully we can do as well as Art and Todd and also figure out how to
do a trip with the best guides on our own (ie, much cheaper) for a
repeat trip next year,

It's no problem.
Lots of companies do tailor-mades, so you can specify your own
itinerary and travel yourself, with your wife or whoever you like.

Getting he best guides can be more problematic, many factors of
African life can mean that the guide you asked for may not be
available on your trip: for example, one time we asked for the guide
we'd had the previous year, but his wife had just died of a specific
strain of meningitis which we'd been warned about and innoculated
against for only 10ukp each: a sobering reminder of the difference
between third world and first world realities, where a lens such as
the one you name would cost at least two *years* of your guide's
salary.

However, it's far easier on a private trip: your guide has his eye on
his tip, so he wants to please you. If you're on a general trip, it's
majority rule, but if you're on a private trip, you can specify
clearly what you want, you should be OK: state it (politely but
firmly) in your initial written communications with your chosen
company too. E.g. lots of people on 'general' tours want only to see
'big cats', so there are big circles of vehicles around lions,
leopards and cheetahs. You can easily ask not to join these circles!
A useful phrase to remember is 'driver and vehicle at our disposal',
which means you can go out as much or as little as circumstances
dictate, though you're still not able to go many miles off your
planned itinerary without paying a supplement.

Safari njema

Liz
--
  #7  
Old January 1st 06, 12:09 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Lew wrote:

Also, thanks for the great advice you and Roger give so freely. You helped
me prepare for a Brooks River bear watching trip a few years back. (It was
great. I want to go back.) Any advice you might offer with regards to a
cruise to Hawaii in February would be appreciated now.

Lewie (in Austin)


Lewie,
Thanks. I agree with Bill on the 'travelogues.'

Regarding a "cruise to Hawaii", I assume you mean a cruise between
islands after you fly there, correct? While I do know the
islands fairly (I lived there for 7 years). I have never done
a Hawaiian cruise, but I can answer other questions about
Hawaii.

Roger
  #8  
Old January 1st 06, 12:11 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

Bill Hilton wrote:

Hopefully we can do as well as Art and Todd and also figure out how to
do a trip with the best guides on our own (ie, much cheaper) for a
repeat trip next year, in which case I expect to see you and Richard in
a near-by jeep and at dinner


Sounds like a great plan.
Roger
  #9  
Old January 1st 06, 12:20 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)

In message
Liz wrote:

a lens such as the one you name would cost at least two *years* of
your driver/guide's salary.


Sorry: I looked up the wrong lens!
Make that "4-5 years salary".

Slainte

Liz

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  #10  
Old January 1st 06, 07:39 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
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Default What's in YOUR backyard? (photos from the desert)


"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
ups.com...

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/desert/

Bill


Beautiful images Bill. Fabulous stuff and something to inspire us all.


 




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