Birds

I have learned alot this year about bird photography. It's not easy, but it is exciting and rewarding. This Indigo Bunting has been on my list for awhile and I finally got one.

The most fun was setting up my blind next to a Bluebird nest in Camden State Park. They would dive bomb me every time I'd show my face outsidethe blind.

Getting the birds to come to the backyard is great! The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and American Goldfinch were two of my favorite captures.

The Cardinal population must be increasing or else it's my attention to them, whatever the case I am getting a pair almost every day at the feeders.

Prairie at it's finest

First off, after I first started this blog back in late August '09, I fell ill and spent some time in the hospital. I am better now and on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, updating my blog in the meantime has not been on my priority list until now. It's hard to remember the details like I wanted to record at the time, but I'll do my best to fill in the gaps from then until now.

The prairie in Camden State Park once again was alive with color this late summer weekend. I led a sunrise walk out to the priairie and came up with a few very nice images. It was very nice to spend time Deb and her husband along with Tom and surprise guest Bonnie from Marshall who showed up at the shelter.

Camden Prairie Walk

Back on June 21st, 2009, I invited anyone interested to join me on a prairie walk in Camden State Park on Saturday, Aug. 29th, 2009. I knew it would be full of vibrant colors based on my photos from last year on that date. I scouted it out weeks beforehand and it was going to be just as I expected, although with a slightly different set of flowers, well namely the Purple Coneflower was done blooming and all dried up, but there were plenty of others to choose from including Goldenrod, Blazing Star, Yellow Coneflower, Gentians, and many others that I am still learning the names of. During my pre-hike scouting, I was able to capture some Purple Coneflowers. I love their color and lonely, droopy appearance.

I arrived Friday at noon and got the campsite set up. Tom Flynn from Camera Talk Minnesota was already there and we met and were able to immediately talk about our passions, cameras and photography, how fun! We decided to go out to the prairie that night and try our luck at capturing star trails away from city lights. After figuring out how to focus in pitch blackness and what settings to use, an hour later we had some pretty good shots.