Turtleography and more, a day in the park.

patch29

I went hiking and kayaking the other day at a local park. I took along my Canon S1 to take some quick shots. I saw a lot of turtles, probably at least 50 over the course of the day. Here are a few shots from my day away from the computer.

Here are two group photos. I think this one had at least a dozen. They are hard to sneak up on, within 20-30 feet they take off into the water.





Just hanging around, being a turtle does not seem too bad. :dunno





There must have been something interesting here for them to hang out. :dunno All I do know is there was a snake a few feet away, who I heard slithering, so I investigated, only to see the latter part of said snake dissappear in the water. :uhoh I tried to get a better angle on the butterfly, but it flew away, I tried to track it down, but it kept on flying.



Onward with my hike, I passed male and female cardinal, woodpecker and a couple blue jays, sorry not photos. They move too fast and I need a longer lens and time to stake a good spot.

This guy was fairly photogenic, except it would puff up its lower neck with some red skin, but not for my camera. :wxwax



Enough hiking time to get out o the water. This was my first time shooting from the water, a little more than I bargained for. The wind seemed to pick up just when I want to take a photo and move me out of position. Andy I will need to borrow you sherpa and make him get a tandem kayak so I can get photos easier. :rofl



The turtles would let me get a lot closer when I was in my boat. I was probably 6-8 feet from this big guy (could make a helmet out of him) before he took off.



I did start to get the hang of gliding and taking photos fairly quickly, this was a parting shot from the water, not a bad day of not working. :clap This was a small test to see if I want to get an Canon 350D rebel XT to take hiking and kayaking and such. I am a lot closer to getting one today. :deal

Andy

:eat

bfjr

sounds and looks like you had great time
Last shot I really like

Trish323

patch29 wrote:

I went hiking and kayaking the other day at a local park. I took along my Canon S1 to take some quick shots. I saw a lot of turtles, probably at least 50 over the course of the day. Here are a few shots from my day away from the computer.

Here are two group photos. I think this one had at least a dozen. They are hard to sneak up on, within 20-30 feet they take off into the water.





Just hanging around, being a turtle does not seem too bad.





There must have been something interesting here for them to hang out. All I do know is there was a snake a few feet away, who I heard slithering, so I investigated, only to see the latter part of said snake dissappear in the water. :uhoh I tried to get a better angle on the butterfly, but it flew away, I tried to track it down, but it kept on flying.



Onward with my hike, I passed male and female cardinal, woodpecker and a couple blue jays, sorry not photos. They move too fast and I need a longer lens and time to stake a good spot.

This guy was fairly photogenic, except it would puff up its lower neck with some red skin, but not for my camera.



Enough hiking time to get out o the water. This was my first time shooting from the water, a little more than I bargained for. The wind seemed to pick up just when I want to take a photo and move me out of position. Andy I will need to borrow you sherpa and make him get a tandem kayak so I can get photos easier.



The turtles would let me get a lot closer when I was in my boat. I was probably 6-8 feet from this big guy (could make a helmet out of him) before he took off.



I did start to get the hang of gliding and taking photos fairly quickly, this was a parting shot from the water, not a bad day of not working. This was a small test to see if I want to get an Canon 350D rebel XT to take hiking and kayaking and such. I am a lot closer to getting one today.

Looks like a productive photo day...great shots!

patch29

Thanks for all the comments, Andy are you hungry for turtle soup or is your goose cooked.


I guess I will be buying a 350D, since I just committed to a used 10-22. Hmmmn, what other lenses should I get. I really want a 10 (yes10)-400 so I don't have to change lenses on the water.

Harryb

Excellent shots. Those turtles are not taht easy to capture.

wxwax

OK, you convinced me - this is a place I need to visit. I never realized they had any wildlife there. I thought all it had was a big rock and a buncha beer bellies grillin'.

Thanks for the tour.

patch29

Harryb wrote:

Excellent shots. Those turtles are not taht easy to capture.

You are right, the lizard was easier than they were. I need to try again for some really good shots, but it will take time and patience, maybe a frogman suit too.

patch29

wxwax wrote:

OK, you convinced me - this is a place I need to visit. I never realized they had any wildlife there. I thought all it had was a big rock and a buncha beer bellies grillin'.

Thanks for the tour.

That's on the weekends.

I was surprised at how much wildlife I saw. If you get away from everything and sit still it all creeps out. Watch out for snakes.

patch29

I finally was able to photograph two snakes, of course I only had my S70 with me. They are not great shots, but two in one day is decent.

Brown Water Snake



Garter Snake

Gator

Nicely done! Love the slider turtles and the green anole! That red thing under their neck is called a "dewlap", they inflate it a couple of times and then do a series of "pushups". This is all done to attract a female during, you guessed it - "Mating Season"!!


Those guys are everywhere down here, I notice them being sold as pets in a petstore up in New Jersey a couple of years and had to have a laugh!

Congrats on some lovely captures of what looks to have been a beautiful day on the water!

wxwax

Gross. Did you kill them?

patch29

wxwax wrote:

Gross. Did you kill them?

No I put them in my camelback, figured they liked the water, and hope to someday give them a nice home in someone's tankbag.

patch29

Gator wrote:

Nicely done! Love the slider turtles and the green anole! That red thing under their neck is called a "dewlap", they inflate it a couple of times and then do a series of "pushups". This is all done to attract a female during, you guessed it - "Mating Season"!!

Thanks, good to know what the dewlap really is. I wanted a better shot with it, but oh well, maybe next time I will have a dslr with me to get some better shots. I was surprised at how easy these two snakes were to photograph vs the last ten that dove in the water immediately.

patch29

Today, this little guy sat for a second to pose. I needed another second to get a better shot but he would have none of it.

patch29

Finally I have the longer lens, hoping for a good snake shot, well one was out today, but the couple in front of me scared it off the trail into the bushes. They thought I was crazy for chasing after a snake, but I wanted a good photo, but the bushes one and this is all I got of this Kingsnake.

pathfinder

Great series Patch. Are you going to use a DSLR in a kayak? I would get mine all wet if I tried to use it in a kayak.

Summer is coming and the reptiles are moving about. Here is my capture of a turtle from last Sunday morning

patch29

pathfinder wrote:

Great series Patch. Are you going to use a DSLR in a kayak? I would get mine all wet if I tried to use it in a kayak.

Summer is coming and the reptiles are moving about. Here is my capture of a turtle from last Sunday morning

I did try it in the kayak the other day. The problem is that you drift and it makes it very tough to paddle and shoot at the same time.

Cool shot. I need to find one on land so it does not jump in the water on me.

tmlphoto

patch29 wrote:

Thanks for all the comments, Andy are you hungry for turtle soup or is your goose cooked.


I guess I will be buying a 350D, since I just committed to a used 10-22. Hmmmn, what other lenses should I get. I really want a 10 (yes10)-400 so I don't have to change lenses on the water.

What about the new Canon s2. 12x optical zoom (36-420 or so) with IS? Seems like a perfect hiking/kyaking camera.

patch29

tmlphoto wrote:

What about the new Canon s2. 12x optical zoom (36-420 or so) with IS? Seems like a perfect hiking/kyaking camera.

I would think it would be very nice. I have an S1, that I need to sell now that I bought the Rebel XT, but I still like my 1DmkII better so I might sell it, but it is so small and easy to carry hiking that I might keep it.

patch29

For some reason this guy was a bit suspicious of my tripod and camera setup. I guess next time I need some camo fabric to hide it a little.

Andy

patch29 wrote:

.....Andy I will need to borrow you sherpa and make him get a tandem kayak so I can get photos easier.

no problem. he won't work more than 20 hours a day though, the lazy so-and-so... y'know, good help is sooo hard to find these days