Comments on: The big and small

By: Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods » The big and small

Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods » The big and small — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:26:07 +0000

[...] Read more: Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods » The big and small [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:18:35 +0000

Carl – Ain’t that the truth! Faced that dilemma many times!

By: Carl D

Carl D — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:47:08 +0000

Hey Mark,

Your last comment (above) actually expresses a conundrum on this kind of shoot – when you find a scene like that, do you sit and wait for the bear, or wander and find them where they’re at? I tend to do a lot of the former now that I’ve already got a number of closer, portrait style shots. It’s hard to do though, sit and wait, when you have great bears maybe just 100 yards down the river, but the minute you give up the location, you miss this kind of shot. Lots of factors play into it, of course, and I’ll often miss something really cool because I’m sitting by a gravel bar, or tree with fall color, waiting. Wildlife photographers spend 99% of their time wishing they were somewhere else, eh?

Cheers

Carl

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:57:38 +0000

Anita – thanks so much. Yes, finding a river that has the compositionally desired s-curve, and then actually having the bears walk across it reminded me of something that happens staged in Hollywood, not real life. We were very lucky.

By: Anita Jesse

Anita Jesse — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:51:46 +0000

Beautiful images, as always, and an excellent lesson demonstrating the role size plays in good storytelling. On other notes, I love the way the river takes me to the bears and on to the mountins and sky. The colors and light really make the picture of the moose something special. The play of greens wrapping around the reds of the moose and the way the light skims the animal just so, bringing the coat to life, are reminders of the excellence in your work.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:46:16 +0000

Paul – not sure if you have seen the National Geographic feature where they stitched 90 photographs together. Nick Nichols seems to agree with you on the difficulty. However, it seems you have some more equipment to buy…

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player#/?titleID=nichols-redwoods-gatefold&catID=1

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:38:47 +0000

Thanks folks.

@ Tomas, it isn’t much different here – many of these animals have been hunted to near extinction in the lower parts of the US. Fortunately some protection programs are helping many of them stage a comeback.

By: Tomas Turecek

Tomas Turecek — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:11:34 +0000

Beautiful images and good post again, Mark. Thinking about mooses/elks… they lived in our country (Czech Republic) some 50 years ago and some people from natural conservation faction want to naturalize them here again.
Red deers visit our garden almost daily; they foraged on our apples this autumn. I can’t imagine seeing or even meeting a moose here. No, not 7-feet tall!

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:53:57 +0000

Nice shots, Mark. Showing size, for me, is somewhat difficult at times. I remember my first, and only, trip to Sequoia National Park. Talk about being humbled. Imagine staring up at 275 foot tall tree, General Sherman, having a base of 102 feet around, and trying to convey that! Nature can humble us if you stop to have a look.

Thinking about your moose. I couldn’t imagine a moose standing 7 feet tall at the shoulder! Lots of wonders to behold.

By: edvatza

edvatza — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:47:46 +0000

I am partial to moose and that moose image is superb, Mark. The detail is excellent, the water color looks inviting (is the word that comes to mind) and I like the moose against that background. The landscape image ain’t too shabby either. Very nice colors, nice s-curve to the water flow and love the layers I move farther into the image.