This is quite nice; I had my bear photos published in today’s (Monday January 16, 2012) Rogue Valley Mail Tribune!
The spread looks great and the photos printed very well. Neat!
Click on the snapshot below to open the gallery with the original bear photos, if you haven’t seen them yet.
It’s a snow morning in Ashland — the first of 2012! — and a pair of deer took refuge on our path this morning. Funnny thing is, three hours later and they’re still there!
Deer in the first snow of 2012 in Ashland, OR @ Jan 2012 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 70-200mm ƒ/4L IS @ ISO 640, ƒ/4, 1/320
In this part of Oregon, black bears are plentiful in the woods (estimates are in the 25,000 to 30,000 range), and those of us living on the edge of town know they come down looking for food this time of year. In fact, I have a BearSaver trash can and have tweeted the evidence of bear-sign before. Not to mention I’m regularly cleaning bear, erm, evidence, off the front lawn.
Then a few days before Christmas, we caught a glimpse of a momma and two cubs tearing through the front yard in the late morning. Which is really unusual, as they typically are only around at night.
Then this morning, I spotted them again, down at the creek at the bottom of our property. And they weren’t running away. I had time to grab the long lens and get a few shots through the window!
Black Bear in Ashland, OR — Momma on Watch @ January 2012 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 400mm ƒ/4 @ ISO 640, ƒ/4, 1/80
They were up and down the canyon (it’s a small canyon, my house at the top on one side and a creek at the bottom), but I was shooting through windows and trees. They started to come up our path right to the back patio (!!) but thought better of it and turned around. I caught this shot of them bounding across the creek. The 400mm lens was too long to catch all of them in the frame at once!
Black Bear in Ashland, OR — Cubs on the run @ January 2012 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 400mm ƒ/4 @ ISO 640, ƒ/4, 1/50
Alenka named them “Scrappy” and “Coco”. Some of you will, I’m sure, get the reference ;-) (Scrappy is the black, scruffy looking brunette in the front… Coco being the blonde in back).
They eventually headed up our side of the hill, which gave me a chance to change lenses. I spotted our neighbor in her yard, and dashed out to warn her so she didn’t walk right into them. Turned out she was heading out for a better look too, and by then they had climbed a big tree on the hill. There was a dog barking on the other side of the canyon, and I think seeing us didn’t help. We were able to stand our ground and I got some cool shots for several minutes before they started climbing down. Shooting through thickets of bare branches is never good, but the lighting was gorgeous and I managed to get a few shots I’m pleased with.
Black Bear in Ashland, OR — Three in a Tree @ January 2012 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 24-70mm ƒ/2.8L @ ISO 640, ƒ/3.5, 1/320
I have to admit we were quite close; probably closer than was smart to be. But, you know… had to get the photo :) Plus my neighbor was standing with me, and we discussed it and figured if they actually came our way, both of us yelling would divert them.
After a bit more of this I had a chance to change lenses again, during which time momma and Scrappy climbed down and headed back up the canyon, leaving poor Coco behind for my photographic enjoyment.
Black Bear in Ashland, OR — Solo Coco @ January 2012 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 70-200mm ƒ/4L IS @ ISO 640, ƒ/4, 1/160
That’s the best shot of the bunch. I do wish I could have gotten something that clear of all three of them, but you know… bears don’t listen to direction very well.
For more backyard nature, be sure to check out the entry “Oh, Deer!” from back in July. It’s a jungle forest out there.
I’ve gotten contest happy… the first one went really really well, the second one went really really well (it finishes judging today… if you haven’t voted yet, you have until 1700 GMT!), and a third one is already in the queue. I was going to wait a month, but I have a very cool prize from a very anxious vendor, so we’re gonna kick the next one off in less than a week, with the actual contest a week later. Stay tuned!
Congratulations to the winners of the first contest, +Sarrah Kaliski, +Mark Hebblewhite and an honorable mention to +Tarah Gaa. Jump here to see their winning images.
All this time spent running photo contests, and I’ve barely been picking up the camera myself! So I got out from behind the desk today and spent an hour hiking around the Oredson Todd Woods right behind my house here in Oregon, armed with a 100mm macro and a ringlight. Lovely stuff… every shot here is handheld, high-speed sync.
Click on this first photo to open up the larger gallery.
Butterfly @ Aug 2011 | Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III & 100mm ƒ/2.8 Macro @ ISO 160, ƒ/6.3, 1/2000
If you’ve been following on twitter, you may have seen that my side yard is apparently part of the Great Deer Oregon Highway. A few days ago I captured these elegant shots on the iPhone (#1 [you gotta see 1!] and #2 and #3), and yesterday I grabbed the camera just in time to catch this leaping buck as it crossed the neighbors yard.
Today though, I was a bit more ready. We didn’t see the buck again, but we did get two younglings—a boy and a girl from the looks of things. They were a lot more skittish than the adults, but they stuck around long enough for me to get this shot.
Oh, Deer! @ July 2011 | Canon EOS 5D Mk II & 400mm ƒ/4 @ ISO 320, ƒ/4, 1/400