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Character photo - where you work.

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A gardener in Palm Springs posing for me - I'm sure he's proud of the work he does. When I photograph people, I like to have something that speaks to more than just the person's image.  I often find photographing relationships to be rewarding.  When photographing an individual, I often like to do what I call a character shot. Character photos are less about what someone looks like and are more about who they are as an individual.  This may encompass any number of aspects of traits, but I often find that the best associations are with work or hobbies.  They are almost always photos of an individual, often in a setting where they spend a lot of time or find peace, and something that they have positive feelings towards. In the above photo, I asked the gardener if I could photograph him.  He posed very simply with a pair of shears; there was nothing special about how he stood.  I loved the greenery around him and the flowers in the background.  I used flas...
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International Day of ...

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National Bird Day is only recognized in the Americas.  March 19th is International Migratory Bird Day. There is quite a list of international days recognized by the United Nations.   I pulled some from the whole list that you can see here ; the ones below are just some of the international days for the first 3 months of the year.  Notice that National Bird Day and International Migratory Bird Day are not mentioned.  There are many more days that are recognized that are not celebrated or noted on the given site or below - there must be thousands of them. List of International Days and Weeks World Braille Day 04 Jan International Day of Education 24 Jan International Day of Clean Energy 26 Jan International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust 27 Jan World Wetlands Day 02 Feb International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation 06 Feb International Day of the Arabian Leopard (A/RES/77/295) Interna...
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Phoresy - mites on ground beetle - how do you know if they are parasitic?

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Notice the mite on the ground beetle.  Is it phoresitic or parasitic? My previous blog was on a group of arachnids called oribatid or beetle mites, which are commensalistic organisms that hitch a ride on certain beetles.  They benefit; the beetle is not harmed.  Doing that blog reminded me of some other photos I had taken of a ground beetle (above photo) and a carrion beetle (below) that had mites on them.  I had previously thought they were parasites, but I learned of this behaviour called phoresy in some creatures.  Phoresy is a relationship between two organisms where one travels on the body of another organism without parasitizing it.   Carrion beetle with mites attached (arrows). This brought me to the question, how do you know if a mite is in a parasitic or phoresic relationship with the beetle it is on? Mites, like the oribatid ones in my previous blog, are attached and do not seem to move.  However, they have certain characteristics such ...
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Oribatid Mites on White Spotted Sawyer - everyone on the bus!

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Orbatid mites, also called beetle mites, hitching a ride on a white-spotted long-horned beetle. We use horses, donkeys, and ostriches to hitch a ride on, taking us from one location to another.  Such relationships are also common in the animal world between different species.  Orbatid mites, also called beetle mites, belong in this category in that they may attach themselves to certain beetles for a ride.  But, instead of it being just one or two of them, as is often the case, there may be dozens or even hundreds.  From the outside, it looks like the beetle may be parasitized, but the strange thing is, it isn't.  It turns out that this is a commensal relationship. Commensalism is a relationship between two species where one benefits (in this case, the mite) while the other remains unharmed (the beetle).  Other than weighing the beetle down a bit, which really doesn't hurt it much at all, there is no harm.  Some beetles get covered from front to back....
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Photographing old farm buildings - getting the wider picture

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Old farm buildings near Cypress Hills, Alberta Look at the images above and below; both are from the same photo, the above one is how I originally took it, and the other is a significant crop of just the second structure. Crop of second structure from the above image.  Sharpening added. Which do you prefer?  They both have their own appeal, and I could see how an argument could be made for either one.  For me, the answer comes down to what the purpose of the image is.   My general preference is to see the environment surrounding the subject.  It gives context to the location and hints at what is or was occurring.  The top image provides this far better than the lower image.  The advantage of the lower image is that you get more detail of the structure, and the patina of the wood is often pleasing to one's eye.  One of the ways around this is to make a LARGE print - my pigment 17" wide printer at home can make 36" long prints, and I love large...
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Do what you love, and love what you do.

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I photographed this lady in Astoria, Oregon.  She was working on a loom, making a fabric at the time. There are those who begrudgingly go to work, who hate it, but are stuck because it pays the bills and they are not likely to find anything better.  Then there are those who love it because it is what they love to do; going to work is exciting and soulful work.  The difference between the first group and the second often relates to planning and opportunity working in tandem. The planning part has to occur when you actually have some idea of who you are - what defines you in terms of your interests and capabilities.  Many people don't know this until either late high school or, more likely, until sometime in their twenties.  For me, I graduated from high school with a passion for animals of all kinds.  My passion was "critters."  I went to the University of Calgary to get a BSc in Zoology.  I didn't know what would happen after that, but it was cert...
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Erosion vs weathering - different processes that work together

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Waterfalls and plunge pool - evidence of erosion and weathering I used to be confused by the two terms - weathering and erosion.  The reason, I suppose, is that they are often mentioned together; you don't typically have one without the other.  And, although related, they couldn't be more different. Weathering is the process by which material is broken down.  This usually involves rock, but could also refer to soil or chemicals that break down or dissolve.  The forces of weathering are water, wind, changes in temperature and pressure, chemistry, and anything else that causes material to break away from a mass. Erosion either follows or is concurrent with weathering.  Erosion is simply the movement of material.  The forces of erosion are water, wind, gravity, and anything else that physically causes stuff to move.   The entire surface of the Earth has been shaped because of weathering and erosion.  Glaciers, waves, mass movement, cave formatio...
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