2009 is here and I figured I'd review some images from 2008.
Here's my 2008 Scout poster of Explore'd images on flickr.com.
(see below for links to the images in the above poster)
While Explorer isn't a perfect judge of quality or meaning in an image it is a decent starting point. Explorer represents images that stand out in someone's stream and on flickr.
Read on for some specific images and things that stand out to me from 2008.
January 2008
This wild Red Tailed Hawk was a great start to the year. Shortly after this I sent my D300 back to Nikon to fix a major focus problem with my 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6.
Late January brought this magical encounter with a pair of Red Foxes at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.
February 2008
This is probably my favorite photo of Tai Shan. It's a 1 shot HDR from my Fuji S5 pro.
One of the wild Red-Shouldered Hawks from the US National Zoo. I was hopeful that they'd have some chicks a couple months later, but this year wasn't a good one either for them. The construction on Asia Trail may have contributed to them not succeeding this year. Right when they started to sit on eggs, they began ripping up the area and using large construction vehicles...
March 2008
The Hawks mated a few times in March, but it wasn't meant to be.
After seeing the Foxes mate in Delaware, I was hoping to see kits there but knew it wasn't time yet. So I went to Blackwater NWR in Maryland instead and got lucky and saw these 5 kits!
April 2008
This Great Blue Heron was working a school of fish and caught these two fish, just like it had done earlier according to another photographer that was excited and told me about it at the time...
Also from Blackwater, this eagle just finished stealing a fish from an Osprey. It was cool to see.
May 2008
May brought the air show at Andrew's Air Force Base. It was good, but rained on the Sunday. I tried to make the best of it, and as I left took this panoramic photo...
And while up in Maine in late May I discovered this Osprey and its nest in South Portland.
June 2008
June brought the sad news that Takuma Akiba passed away. He was such a passionate photographer, he inspired me, and has been missed greatly.
I visited Great Falls and took the above 1 shot D300 14-bit RAW hdr image.
July 2008
July brought more Fox Kits, this time at Bombay Hook NWR.
And Osprey chicks at Belle Haven Marina - thanks Kim!
August 2008
In August thanks to a photographer that I didn't know before, I found out about a location not far from me where there were a bunch of Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Herons that were very approachable. It ended just about as quickly as it began for me, since the birds migrated just a couple weeks later.
On a visit to New York, I learned that the Osprey have made a major come back there, and saw them fishing in the Atlantic Ocean right near a good friend's house.
I also made my first trip to the Capitol Mall at sunrise. It was good, and I even went to the top of the Washington Monument.
September 2008
I got a new lens this month, the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR and I really liked it.
October 2008
In October I made my first trip out to Assateague Island. It was a great trip, spent 5 days there, and saw lots of great wildlife and scenery.
Assateague Beach
This was my favorite wild pony of the over 130 at Assateague.
November 2008
I hadn't been going to the zoo as much as past years, but I still went occasionally. This Cooper's hawk made my day, especially with the foliage and great light!
After 10's of visits to Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth Maine, I finally got a nice sunrise photo from there. The above is from about 15 minutes before sunrise, taken while in Maine for Thanksgiving.
December 2008
December is always good for migratory Eagles in Maryland...
The eagles compete / fight over their catches, and I got a pretty good sequence along the Susquehanna River.
Animation of the first bunch of shots
And to round out the year I went back to Maine, and shot a bunch of birds in my brother's backyard and in the snow...
2008 was a great year. I went out shooting on more than 200 days, and took about 400GBs of files or roughly 40,000 images.
The days are getting longer already, the sunrises earlier, and pretty soon the migrating wildlife will return (Osprey, Eagles, Herons, etc). And with winter here and spring approaching I'm looking forward to a great 2009.
Links to images in poster:
(top half)
1. Luke!, 2. Dark Eyed Junco In The Snow, 3. Blue Jay In The Snow, 4. Big Flap, 5. Boooom, 6. Luke, 7. Snow Geese @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE (~HD Video), 8. Snow Geese,
9. Skyway Robbery Pt 8 (plus animation), 10. Skyway Robbery Pt 9 - HFF, 11. Pintails and Mallards on High Alert (5pix), 12. Bald Eagle @ US National Zoo, Washington D.C., 13. Bald Eagle With Prey, 14. Early Catch, 15. Sunrise @ Portland Head Light, ME, 16. Happy Thanksgiving,
17. Portland Head Light - Maine, 18. Bald Eagle, 19. Sunrise in Gooseville, 20. Tricolored Heron @ Assateague Island, 21. Can You Spot The Professional Fisherman?, 22. Slowmotion, 23. Fall Cheetah @ US National Zoo 11/09/08, 24. Autumn Cooper's,
25. BLUE, 26. Red Tailed Hawks near Hemlock Springs Overlook @ Shenandoah National Park (3 pix), 27. Sunrise @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE, 28. Bully Ballet - Bald Eagles (+animation), 29. Stretchy, 30. Sunrise @ Assateague Island Beach, 31. Sunrise @ Assateague, 32. She Was My Favorite Pony,
33. Pony @ Assateague Island, 34. Lil' Hunter @ Chincoteague, 35. Cadillac, 36. My King Of Beers @ Sunset, 37. Tricolored Heron *updated* Hunting @ Assateague, 38. Luke!!!, 39. Big Papa, 40. Eye Sees,
41. Ever Had One Of Those Days?, 42. Chatty Kathy, 43. Preening and Watching, 44. Shake It Off, 45. Triplets, 46. Snowy Egret, 47. HFF / TGIF, 48. JYCNH Hunting,
49. Dam Clouds, 50. Painted Turtle @ Blackwater NWR, MD, 51. The Quick And The Dead, 52. Morning Perch, 53. RSH Closeup - Blackwater Eagle Festival 2008 (captive), 54. Rokan, 55. Blackwater is still mostly closed!, 56. Green Heron,
57. Rorschach @ Great Falls MD, 58. GLT for Clyde, 59. BATHING in protected area ONLY, 60. Get Out And Shoot!, 61. Sunrise @ Blackwater Refuge, MD, 62. Gulp!, 63. Red Fox Kit, 64. Power of the flower,
65. Little Star, 66. Skywalker, 67. Capitol Hill Sunrise, 68. Green Heron!, 69. Green Heron, 70. At Death's Door - HFF, 71. Great Falls NP MD 8/20/2008, 72. Gone until next year
bottom half:
1. Luke, 2. Red Fox Mates @ BBH NWR DE, 3. Osprey @ LBNY, 4. Soloist, 5. Shake and Bake, 6. Yellow Crowned Night Heron Eating, 7. Yellow Crowned Night Heron and Green Heron, 8. Eagle!,
9. Osprey Eating, 10. Momma Fox and Kits (video of images), 11. Deer @ Great Falls NP Maryland - (plus Eagle News 07/16/2008) 2 of 2, 12. Red Fox @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE, 13. Cute Times 2 (plus Flickr and Getty Images thing), 14. My New Neighbors - Barn Swallow Family, 15. Look in to my eyes, 16. Soyono - Sumatran Tiger @ US National Zoo,
17. Erosion, 18. What? They're Having A Party?, 19. Rest in Peace - Takuma Akiba, 20. Chippy (2), 21. Blackwater, NWR MD, 22. F-22 Raptor @ JSOH 2008, 23. Max, 24. Fox Kit Closeup,
25. Casco Bay, ME, 26. Osprey in Maine, 27. (Maine) Osprey - Portland Harbor (1 of 3), 28. Rainy Sunday @ JSOH 2008, 29. IMM-RWBB @ Blackwater Refuge, MD and 80-400mmD VR Review/Guide, 30. Soyono Secretly Likes To Play Too, 31. Great Horned Owl @ Wetlands Awareness Day, Huntley Meadows, VA, 32. Fox Kits!,
33. Peregrine Merlin Hybrid @ Bird Fest - National Zoo 4/27/2008, 34. BALD EAGLE vs osprey (3 pix), 35. Centennial Lake, Columbia Maryland, 36. Ducklings, 37. Great Falls National Park (from Virginia side) Photos / VIDEO, 38. Sunrise @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE, 39. Red-Tailed Hawk Encounter, 40. Luke the Lion - US National Zoo,
41. (just) Two Fox Kits, 42. Washington's Faithful, 43. Curious Fox Kits @ Blackwater NWR, MD, 44. Expert, 45. Red Fox Kit - Blackwater NWR, MD, 46. Model Citizen, 47. Screech Owl Release 3/24/2008, 48. Blackwater Refuge, MD,
49. I am Luke. I am Awesome., 50. Strike-a-Pose!, 51. Signs of Spring - Wood Duck (wild) @ US National Zoo, 52. N. Harrier @ Blackwater, 53. The Birds!, 54. Red-Shouldered Hawk @ US National Zoo, 55. Tai Shan @ US National Zoo 2/17/2008, 56. Sunrise @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE,
57. Sumatran Tigers - US National Zoo, 58. Luke @ US National Zoo, 59. Luke @ US National Zoo, 60. Together, they rejoiced! (9 of 9, full story), 61. Bald Eagle @ Conowingo Dam, MD, 62. "Portrait" - Mandara 1 of 2, 63. Cedar Waxwing - Maine, 64. Red Fox @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE,
65. Knock Knock..., 66. Red Fox @ Bombay Hook NWR, DE, 67. Red-Tailed Hawk!!!, 68. Northern Harrier @ Blackwater NWR, MD, 69. Luke @ US National Zoo 12/31/2007
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2008 My Photography Year In Review - Nikographer [Jon]
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3 comments:
You had an amazing year in photography. I aspire to capture shots like yours. Thank you for sharing and giving me something to shoot for...Best of 2009 to you!
amazing photos!
A superb series of photographs. What I also like about your work is that you provide details about how you took the photograph and what the wildlife was doing. Giving that context makes it all the more interesting.
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