FEATURED PHOTOS OF THE MONTH #7 (November 2003) |
For November 2003 I have chosen the following three images. All three of them
I have envisioned on my mind before I made them but it took years to realize.
The first one is a photo of a Blue-spotted Salamander.
Photographing salamanders is challenging. They often live in dense forests with
not enough natural light, so you have to use flash. They are glossy and in order
to avoid reflections, a polarizer is necessary. Polarizers reduce available light
by approximately one stops = even less light. Salamanders live on the forest floor,
hidden under logs, leaves and rocks. When you are lucky to find one, it is often
full of soil dirt, which doesn't look very attractive in the picture. In the spring
and summer, dense woods are full of mosquitoes and no one can work there for more
than 10-15 minutes, even with tons of insect repelent applied.
On one, relatively warm November day in the remains of Nuns' Island woods, I was
fortunate to find a beautiful adult specimen of Blue-spotted Salamander. I found
it under a big rotten log. Most of the leaves were off and the forest floor was
full of colorful leaves. There were no mosquitoes, so what else would you wish for?
I always envisioned a photo of a nicely spotted salamander on a fall color leaf.
I tried several colors but found red color to be the most complimentary to the
blue. I made sure not to touch the salamander for long and when I finished the
shooting, which didn't take longer than 15 minutes, I placed the salamander exactly
on the same spot where I found it. I have always on my mind: "live and let live".
Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale)
November 1, 2003; Nuns' Island, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The second photo, which I hoped to get for a long time, is a photo of an American Robin feeding on berries.
The tree I have chosen for this photo is one the most colorful trees in the Botanical Garden in fall.
It is also the most favorite tree of the local Robins' population. For this reason the berries don't stay on the
tree for a long time. They must be very good, since they are eaten always first. Finally, this year I
was in the right place at the right time. I spent the whole day waiting for the birds to
get accustomed to me, and it paid off. At the end of the day one of them jumped on this branch full of berries,
with a clear background, and quickly grabbed and ate a few of them. I concentrated on capturing the Robin
with a berry in his beak.
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
November 15, 2003; Botanical Garden, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The third photo was taken in the Botanical Garden the same day as the previous
one. It was a snapshot while I was walking around and searching for birds to photograph.
It was made hand holding my EOS 10D with EF400/5.6L lens and I was quite suprised with the result.
I like how the squirrel is holding the berry in its hand.
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