Scroll down now if you want to skip the musings of this former academic and just see the photos! Most of my professional life was spent in linguistic anthropology— that subfield of anthropology dealing with the role of language in culture and society. Many of us linguistic anthropologists study poetics. Russian emigré and Harvard professor … More Pattern Repetition: Parallelism in Nature
For the very first time, I am making it simple for people to buy my photographs. Read more to see what photos are for sale, how to buy them, etc.! Claremont California occupies a special place in my heart, not only because loved ones live there but because many of my formative years were th … More Launching My Photography Business With This Post! Birds, Bees, And Their Habitat in Claremont, CA
I found that, as often with sunsets, it is not the hot white globe, even in setting, that is most compelling to me as a photographic subject, but the aftermath especially on a cloudy morning.
Once upon a time, in the days of film cameras, photographers struggled against “grainy” shots. “Noise” is the equivalent in the era of digital photography. If you blow up one of your photos you might be surprised to see irregular blotches throughout. Blurriness is a different problem. Blurriness is caused by camera jiggle or movement … More Noise, one of the enemies of clarity in photos—and, a solution!
My Olympus E-M1 Mark II camera offers a “high res shot,” a jpeg whose resolution is higher than, well, the sorts of photos that the camera takes otherwise. Among other things, we see less “noise” in the high res shots, making them very attractive. The down side? You can only take them with a stable … More In Camera “Special Effects” By Olympus
My Olympus E-M1 Mark II camera provides me with dozens of special effects. I am embedding an example of the “Dramatic” effect. What do you think? Leave a comment below. The image above is the counterpart of the top image, without the special effect..
I thought you might like to see some of my winter photos, focused on ice, icicles, and snow. Click on any of the photos to go to my Smugmug page to access more information, or to make a purchase.
Photos and meditation on our connections Are human beings a part of the natural world, separate from it living in our own human-made world, or somewhere in between? As a professor of anthropology (retired!) I have thought a lot about these questions. Consider this photographic example—a jet’s contrail passing (or so it seemed from my … More Are We Part Of Nature?
I drove up Snowbowl Road and managed to arrive at the top of the road just in time to get my camera out, steady it on top of my car, and shoot. That was 5:19 a.m. Tomorrow morning’s moonset should be at 6:01. Ample time to plan, get the tripod and camera ready, shoot some … More This Morning’s Moonset
I introduced this series of posts addressing “agonistic behavior” with the following definition, from the Wikipedia article on the subject: “The term has broader meaning than aggressive behaviour because it includes threats, displays, retreats, placation, and conciliation.” This post highlights wing flapping by ducks as an example of agonistic behavior that is clearly not fighting (but could … More Wing Flapping Displays As Agonistic Behavior
One clash, two photos— Red-winged Blackbird Harrassing Great Blue Heron on banks of Francis Short Pond. In the first, the blackbird passes by the heron. In the second, the heron seems to me more worried. Once again two species clash, and once again the smaller seems to have the upper hand— or at least it … More Agonistic Behavior: Small Vs. Large Once More
Juncos are fairly tough birds. They hiss and click if you unwittingly get near their nests. So if they can challenge humans, ground squirrels may well appear to them to be relatively easy to chase off. That is the way it seemed a month ago when two juncos challenged a rock squirrel in our front … More The Agoni(stic) And the Ecstacy (Or Not): Bird Vs. Mammal
A useful introduction to the term “agonistic behavior” is found here,” from Wikipedia—”Agonistic behaviour is any social behaviour related to fighting. The term has broader meaning than aggressive behaviour because it inecludes threats, displays, retreats, placation, and conciliation.” My camera and I see it all the time, from our bird bath to clashes in the (relative) wild. I have documented such … More “Agonistic Behavior” Among Birds: More Than Just Fighting
You have noticed by now that there are two connected ponds on the Old Walnut Canyon Road (the road that leads to Walnut Canyon National Monument) that attract a variety of waterfowl as well as ospreys, bald eagles, and swallows. Once again I turn to my cache of photos taken there for another favorite— the … More Motion Blur Photography #3: Flock of Geese
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