Rabbit at Arches National Park UT

This rabbit wasn't quite as cooperative as the lizard in my previous post and wouldn't stand still for very long at all however I did manage to snap this shot as he chowed down on something he found in the red earth. Something that strikes me about him is how blue the patches of gray are on his flanks.Hopefully someone can identify his species for me some time.


Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm
1/25 secs at f/18.0
ISO 200

Lizard at Arches National Park UT

I managed to photograph this beautiful lizard at Arches National Park in Utah. Of course, with wildlife, it's often hard to get cooperation from your subject but in this case the lizard actually allowed me to get quite close with my camera without running off.

Identified as gambelia wislizenii, the long-nosed leopard lizard, by Patrick at Flickr. Thanks, Patrick!


Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 55mm
1/320 secs at f/9.0
ISO 100

Samoan Girls Practicising Dance Routine

These Samoan girls were practising their steps for their upcoming performance at Pacifika when I caught them with my camera.

Their smiles were so sweet that I decided to turn the plumeria and hibiscus flowers behind their ears into a shower of blessings.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 55mm
1/200 secs at f/20
ISO 200

Samoan Kids Pasifika 2007

I didn't even have to ask this group of Samoan kids to pose. Once they saw my camera they bunched together and gleefully posed for me.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 105mm
1/40 secs at f/25
ISO 400

Photographer Chris Jordan - Running the Numbers

Bill Moyers interviewed photographer Chris Jordan on the PBS show "Bill Moyers' Journal" last night.

A long-time photographer, Jordan once took a photo of some garbage that he was surprised to find many people described as "beautiful". This response lead Jordan down a path that ultimately arrived at his "Running the Numbers" series of photographs that visually represents the statistics surrounding American's consumption and social ills. Jordan builds his photographs like pointillist composites using repetitions of the subject matter.

If you didn't get to see the show, you can view it online here: Chris Jordan Running the Numbers Interview with Bill Moyers. Well worth the 10 minutes, in which Jordan demonstrates he is not only a great photographic artist but also incredibly articulate.

And here's an example of Chris's work taken from his website http://www.chrisjordan.com/. This piece depicts the 106,000 aluminum cans used in the U.S. every THIRTY SECONDS! OMG! In this piece seen in its totality, it resembles a work by the impressionist painter Seurat. Partial and full zooms show how the photograph is composed. My mind boggles to think how long it took Jordan to compose this artwork.


Cans Seurat, 2007 by Chris Jordan

Bull on a Hill

This big red bull was standing on top of a hill as I drove by on my visit to the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand earlier this year. He was such an imposing figure atop the hill that I just had to slam on my brakes and back up for a photo.

The Hawkes Bay region on New Zealand's North Island is one of my favorite parts of the country. It has beautiful rolling hills and a temperate climate that favors horticulture leading to its nickename as "The Fruit Bowl of New Zealand". It was also the cradle of what has become a huge wine industry in New Zealand.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm
1/500 secs at f/5.6
ISO 100

Dandelion Seed Head

This dandelion seed head was growing out of a rock wall at Beckett Point, WA. It was still in perfect shape. When I was a kid growing up in New Zealand, we used to believe that the seeds that floated on the air when we blew them were fairies. Are kids taught to believe that too in the U.S. I wonder?

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 55mm
1/250 secs at f /8
ISO 100

Dahlia Flowers at Pike Place Market

There are several florists offering brightly-colored bouquets of flowers at incredibly cheap prices at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Here's a photo of some dahlia flowers that I took.


Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 49mm
1/25 secs at f /7.1
ISO 400

Pike Place Market Seattle

A trip to Seattle isn't complete without a visit to Pike Place Market. Here all sorts of fresh produce and flowers are peddled with vim and vigor, but none more so than the fish retailers who cry out inviting you to make a purchase, and then play football with the fish you select. Somehow the guys manage not to drop the slippery fish as the guy at the front throws it the the guy at the back who wraps it up for you.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 27mm
1/160 secs at f/4
ISO 400

Olympic Range Silhouette

This is a photo of the Olympic Range facing west from Beckett Point on Discovery Bay, Washington State. The sun had not long gone down creating this silhouette of the range.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 55mm
1/40 secs at f/10
ISO 400

Beckett Point North End - Black and White

I thought this photo of the north end of Beckett Point, Discovery Bay, WA might lend itself to black and white, so here it is. What do you think? Here's the original color version of this photo taken at Beckett Point.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 135mm
1/2500 secs at f/5
ISO 400

Beckett Point North End - Color

I took this photo at Beckett Point on Discovery Bay in Washington State from in front of the house at which I stayed facing to the north end of Beckett Point. It was early morning and there was still a bit of marine fog in the air giving the background an ethereal look to the scene and making the point appear to almost be floating on the water. The day clear to be brilliantly fine and sunny.

Follow this link to the black and white version of this photo taken at Beckett Point, WA

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 135mm
1/2500 secs at f/5
ISO 400

Annas Hummingbird on Guard #2

I reworked this one a little more by blurring the background. It's a lot better this way I think. This is the original photo of this Anna's Hummingbird. Make sure you click on the image to view it in its larger size. It's a lot better.


Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm
1/30s secs at f/10
ISO400

Sunset at Beckett Point #3

This photo was taken from Beckett Point Rd. on Discovery Bay looking north west. On the horizon is Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada. The island rising on the right side of the photo is Protection Island. To the left side is the other side of Discovery Bay. You can put it all together by referring to the map I've pasted below. The bay was full of salmon jumping from the water when we arrived a couple of hours before sunset. You can see another photo I took that evening of two women performing a native American Indian chant to the salmon.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 25mm
1/4 secs at f/18
ISO 400


View Larger Map

Indian Chant to Discovery Bay Salmon

On the first evening of my recent stay at Beckett Point on Discovery Bay near Puget Sound, the silence was suddenly broken by the banging of a drum and the sound of native American Indian chant. The sound came from two women further up the beach. In talking to them subsequently they told us that they were chanting to the salmon in the bay. As it turned out, the salmon are running at this time of year, and when we first arrived the water just a little off shore was alive with salmon jumping in the water. The ceremony performed by the women only added to the mystical nature of the evening as the sun set.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm
1/50 secs at f/10
ISO 800

Sunset from Becket Point Color

Here's the very same photo as the previous sepia-toned photo post but in its original color. I like the way the pine trees are silhouetted against the sea and sky.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 25mm
1/6 sec at f/5.6
ISO 800

Beckett Point After Sunset with Sepia Effect

I created a sepia effect for this photo taken from the same spot as the previous post. The pine tree in the center spoiled the photos I took with landscape orientation unfortunately. Actually, there were two pines in the center of the photo, one of which which was a very tall stump from which the branches and top of the tree had been removed. In front on this was the pine that features in the center of this photo and the previous one. I had to line it up so that the bare trunk of the other tree was hidden behind this tree - you can't tell that the second tree is there, but if I moved just a little either way, the bare trunk came into view and spoiled the composition completely. You can see stumps of the branches of the tree behind sticking out. This gives you some idea of just how high the stump was. I guess strictly speaking it's really too high to be a stump.

This photo was taken at 8:05pm so there was less light than for the previous photo, and I was at this point shooting at ISO 800. I shot thise photos without a tripod, so had to adjust the ISO and appeture settings so that the exposures weren't too long.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 25mm
1/6 sec at f/5.6
ISO 800

Sunset from Becket Point Road Discovery Bay

This photo was taken just after sunset from Beckett Point on Discovery Bay in Washington State. I just spent some time up there this week. Beckett Point is at the top end of Discovery Bay, and north-west beyond Protection Island you are looking at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Canadian border and Victoria Island. It was quite a view at night with the lights of Victoria Island visible. The twilight was quite long; about 1 hour, and this photo was taken just a few minutes before eight. Here's a link to a map of the Beckett Point, Discovery Bay area.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 28mm
1/30 secs at f/5.6
ISO 400

Annas Hummingbird on Guard

This is the big Kahuna of hummingbirds in my yard, believe it or not. If he's around, then the other hummers don't stand much chance of getting to the feeder unmolested. This photo has him at his post where he can keep an eye on the feeder and attack any interlopers. Once the spring breeding season has finished, the birds become more territorial and defensive of "their" feeder and one establishes him or herself as the primary bird in the pecking order. During the spring they appear to be more concerned with raising their young, however, and this past spring I had up to 5 birds at a time at the one feeder, all happily coexisting. There's no such peace and harmony at this time of the year, however, and there are many dog-fights throughout the day.

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm
1/30s secs at f/10
ISO400

The Grand Canyon from the South Rim

The favorite location on the Grand Canyon is the South Rim area of the park which is well-provided with accommodations and restaurants on top of magnificent views and a path that runs along the top of the rim for several miles.

I took this photo at 7am, before the sun got too high in the sky and washed out the color and definition of the ridge lines.

Nikon E8700
Lens at 20mm
1/250sec secs at f/4.8
ISO 50

Squirrel on a Park Bench

This little guy posed for me on the top of a park bench in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was spring and the flowers were blooming as well and the squirrel is nicely framed with some red flowers on a background of deep green foliage.

Canon EOS 20D
Canon 70-300mm lens at 75mm
1/500s secs at f/4
ISO 200

Pow Wow Performer

Each year there is a Pow Wow held at the University of Irvine. This photo was actually taken back in April 2005 when I was still using my Nikon camera which wasn't even an SLR camera. So the depth of field for this shot was pretty horrible with the condos and landscaped slope in the background pretty distracting. It took me about an hour or more to make a selection of this wonderful Indian guy so that I could blur the background and my wrist is pretty sore for it too! I mean, look at all the hair and the feathers that had to be isolated from the background. I have to get myself a tablet for this kind of thing. Anyhow, I did the best I could and the photo doesn't look too bad, does it?


Nikon E8700
1/250sec at f/5.1
ISO 50
Focal length 48.5mm