Photographer Chad Davis Blog » Essay

Florida Opportunities at the Local Parks

Chad Davis — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:52:55 +0000

Well, I said there would be second post on the Florida Opportunities subject. I’m keeping my promise. So let me start.

In the prior post I stated that I searched for a couple hours for the wildlife in the parks. There are more then a few in Florida. Some you have to pay and others you do not. You can guess that ones you have to pay to get in would have plenty of wildlife to photograph. That’s not always the case. I have payed plenty to photograph the animals in Sea World and have come out with very little quality shots. That’s not to say that you can’t get some good shots, but you don’t get the type of shots that say wildlife. You get the shots that say wildlife in captivity.I prefer to photograph animals in there natural environment. When money is tight and you can’t afford the safari to Africa or what have you, then parks are the next best thing. I personaly like to visit local parks that wildlife tend to hang out in. Wildlife refuges are a good place to check out as well.

My visits to local parks in Florida entailed Sea World, community parks and one camping park. The Camping park I had to pay to get in. It didn’t cost much, but hey I thought there would be few possibilities. So I went ahead and payed the money. It included a large lake which usually invites the wild birds and a few alligators if your lucky.

I once tried to photograph an alligator up close. He was pretty small, but when I tried to approach he split in about two seconds. With his small size of 3 1/2 feet long, he was probably more scared of me then I was of him.

I parked my car and grabbed my bag and strap my lucky camera around my neck and made way to the water front. At first glance I wasn’t very impressed. I couldn’t see much in the way of wildlife. The only wildlife I saw was a fish on the end of a little boys fishing pole. Right away, I new what the problem was. The family with the little boy! Most waterfowl are going to keep there distance from people. So I decide I would see if there were any opportunities around the dock area. Sometimes the bigger birds will see if they can snatch a snack or two from people fishing and such. There was no such luck. I looked off into the distance an took a few shots of the area for reference and to capture something pleasing. Often when the wildlife are not around I will see what possibilities lye with scenery. It was big lake, and I thought surely there would be wildlife somewhere around the area. I continued my hunt walking the shoreline of the lake. I finally came across some White Ibis foraging for food in shallows of the lake. About seven in all. My plan was simple get within range and snap off a few shots while they were foraging. Hoping to catch one with something in his beak with water dripping at the end. Those crazy birds had there beaks underneath water more then anything. I guess they couldn’t find much in the way to nibble on because they searched for sometime finding very little except for a little moss here and there. I managed to only capture one shot of one with something in his mouth. The lightning was all wrong so it was a loss. I however did manage to capture a nice liking of one. Normally I try not to disturb the wildlife, but this time. I had to make them a little nervous so they would bring there heads up out of the water to get a nice portrait of one. There a crazy looking bird, long curved and pink beaks. A Full body of white feathers and blue eyes. I spent the better of two hours just watching them along the shoreline. Sometimes you just have to be patient. Often the lightning would be just terrible and I would have to wait until they went to a new area. After catching a hundred shots or more I decided that it was time to go.

I stopped off at another park to see if there was anything of interest. That park was limited, very limited in fact. Don’t ask me what the name of the park was because often I just come upon them going to one location or another. Just driving around or exploring is the best way to see wildlife. You never know what you will see. It was late in the day and it was wearing on me. Not seeing much. I headed out of the small park when I looked up to see an Osprey nest on the wooden electrical pole with an Osprey perched just to the left of the nest. He was pretty high up and it wasn’t the best place to photograph this majestic looking avian. A small pool of water was near by. The possibilities of it having much in the way of fish was pretty slim. If there were any, I’m sure this bird and already picked it clean. My decision to leave was based on that assumption alone. Catching a nice shot of him there was pretty unlikely. My day was pretty uneventful. If there was a good shot in the bunch, it lied with the White Ibis birds. I headed back to base for the remainder of the day.

Here are couple shots from that day of shooting. One you may have seen on the front page of the site already.

The next post will be on the pursuit of the natinal bird, the Bald Eagle in Washington state.

The lake

White Ibis of Florida

Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

Florida Opportunities at the Rookery

Chad Davis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:45:35 +0000

Hey Everyone,

Well, I’m back from the west coast. Actually I have been back for sometime, I just haven’t been able to get around to writing anything in the blog. I truly apologize for that. Even know I have been back for sometime I have been working pretty hard catching up with business, editing and analyzing all the pictures that I took from Florida and Washington. I have plenty of new photos up on the website. More on that a little later.

I wanted to talk a little about the places I visited in Florida and Washington. My trip to Florida involved more then taking nature pictures. My visit to the warm southern state of Florida was actually for a wedding. Since I would be down that way I would make the best of my off time while there. When I was done working I would be able to photograph the wildlife, my true passion. So with the little time I had left on this trip, I visited a couple local parks and because of the time of year. I would visit a well known place called “Gatorland”. If you have never been there and you might plan a trip to Orlando, look them up. You can find out more information about them here. www.gatorland.com . It’s a pretty neat place and the opportunities for photographing wildlife are abundant during certain times of the year. You can buy special package to be allowed in Gatorland early and late in the day when the lighting is at it’s best. Of course your always assured of photographing the abundant reptiles on exhibit. I spent more time photographing the wildlife flying above or roosting on nest then the Crocodiles and Alligators in the area, which is what the topic of this post will be.

When I first arrived, within an hour I had spotted an Osprey hovering above the palm trees. He was a good distance from my long telephoto lens. I never bothered with him except to keep an eye on what he was up to every fifteen minutes or so. So, my main concentration was the Osprey from the start, but I also would not throw away any opportunity if it came along. Often that would happen, but I would still have that beautiful Osprey in the back of my head wondering what he was up to. Every time I was distracted I would find him again hoping he was still in the area. Sure enough he would be. There was a fellow photographer there from Austria. The gentlemen and I would spend more time walking along the rookery waiting and photographing the area talking shop. Late in the evening we watched the Osprey I had been watching earlier perched in a tree. The day was growing long so we decided to watch this beautiful bird for awhile. Waiting for the right moment we positioned ourselves in an open area along the walk way for him to take off from his perch. After a couple hours he finally flew off. We managed to get a few shots of him, but nothing really to brag about. Thinking the opportunity was a bust, we photographed a few White egrets flying about. At that time I was still interested in the Osprey, wondering where flew off too. He was more impressive to me and I had been watching him all day. I didn’t want to be defeated. I invested a lot time in this bird. I walked a little way from the spot I had chosen earlier when all the sudden out of the corner of my eye. I spotted him flying toward us with something grasped in his claws. I couldn’t make it out, but I was almost positive it was a fish. I just had to capture him with that fish. The question was, “Where was he going with his meal”. We didn’t know, but I wanted to be ready if he got in range of my camera. Sure enough he flew around these two trees planning a landing. At least that is what I was hoping for. I was ready and managed to capture a series of shots of him with the fish grasped in his claws and wings wide open en between those two trees. Only one of these shots was the one. So you see, I really waited all day to get the one shot that made the hole day worth while. The result of that long wait was beautiful. You might have seen it already on the front page of the site.

Osprey with Fish

Also If you wish to purchase this image click this link below.

http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=3865

The Gatorland visit was one day only, but I would have loved to come back a second day and maybe a third. To get some of these great shots, I spent most of the time at the rookery of Gatorland. This time of the year the birds are building nest and mating. I happen to be a little early when I visited. The time to be there would be late January and February and into March. The birds would be many, that catching a great shot would be guaranteed if you have the patients.

My visits to the local parks. I spent hours just searching for the wildlife to photograph. In deed I found them but getting something beautiful was all together a different story. On the next blog posting I will talk about the visit to the local parks. With that I leave you with a shot of an alligator coming in for a closer look and a link to the newest photos on the website. http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1005

Thoughts of the Past

Chad — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:56:22 +0000

On a recent visit to my first Civil War battle reenactment that took place near Martin City, Missouri, I had a chance to reflect a little while photographing. The reenactment was sponsored by the North/South Alliance, a western theater reenactment organization of the First Federal Division(Union) and the (Confederate) Army of Tennessee. The battle reenacted was the battle of Westport, often referred to as the “Gettysburg of the West”. Now, I didn’t want to write just about the history here. More to the point, I wanted to write about what thoughts that soldier may have been having before they went into battle. Of course none of these individuals were actually ever in a battle during the Civil War, perhaps another War that has been fought by United States maybe. This I didn’t know and gave little thought of.

When it was almost time before the reenactment to start, I had been watching what was going on in the field before me. Soldiers bringing up cannon’s, troops from both sides lining up in the distant fields on horse back. When the cannon’s were lined up I noticed a group of soldiers lying underneath this cart for shade that stored the ammunition for one of the cannon’s. There was one individual that was sitting not underneath as the other’s, but next too the wagon wheel. His head down, clothing dirty, hot and sweating under the heat of sun. Thinking of who knows what, his contemplation was important to the inner workings of this photograph. I could not help, but think during the young history of the United States what did go threw a soldier’s head just before battle. Would they think of their wife’s, their children, home or would their thoughts be of, will I dye today! It was then thinking to myself, I understand what this picture is about. Thoughts of life and death.

Often a picture does not come together like that for me, but I leave the photograph for your interpretation and thoughts. Feel free to write a little something. I would like to read your thoughts as well.

Year Almost over!