One More Week of MYANIMALANDI

My current exhibit, MYANIMALANDI, will be up for one more week (it comes down March 28th). If you haven't seen it already, make your way down to the Arts Council of Kalamazoo and check it out.

Below are the portraits, but they're even better in person. The same way a friend is better in person.

BIG CATS & A CHIMP

I recently visited Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and although it was sad to see the animals in cages, the big cats simply blew me way.

I hadn't seen a lion or tiger since I was a wee lad, and considering the largest animal I encounter in my urban wildlife adventures is a whitetail deer (and even they're considerably smaller than one would expect) the size of these cats was down-right awesome. They're massive.

Their demeanor also moved me: they truly are as majestic and noble as legend and lore would have you believe.

I had a chance to see so many other animals that day that I simply can't cover them all. Let me just say that it confirmed for me that the diversity of life on Planet Earth is jaw dropping. We're definitely part of something truly inexplicable and amazing. If only we can appreciate this fact and not unravel it all.

The only other animal I'll mention at this point were the chimpanzees. It was these guys where I saw our distant relatives, and most uniquely, an intelligence unlike the other animals in the zoo. They came across as the clever ones, and Lord knows they need it, because otherwise those big cats would eat them up in the wild!

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE KIA

If you live in the greater Kalamazoo area and want to learn how to take great pictures of wildlife, I'll be teaching a class this April at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Half of the classes will be out in the field taking pictures and the other half will be in the studio, learning technique and reviewing our work. Great class all around.

Click HERE to learn more.

SNEAK PREVIEW

 Above are a few close-ups or cropped versions of the portraits in my upcoming exhibit, MYANIMALANDI. 

The originals are even better.

Come join us March 1st.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN???

It seems like forever since I've visited the virtual world of "Little Piece", and that's largely because it's been nearly forever since I've visited the outdoors with my camera. And in turn, I've been getting a little restless! I've been missing the mating season of coyote and fox!

But I've been up to something good none the less, and it involves our animal brethren. I've been exploring new worlds of composition and juxtaposition, fusing photographs of friends and their respective animal, or what some commonly refer to as a spirit animal. I actually came up with a new name/phrase to describe the phenomena: MYANIMALANDI (see if you can pronounce that!)

Well, my personal journey of discovery in Photoshop is nearing it's end and I'm just about ready to share my rewards with others.  

Please join me this March 1st for the March Art Hop in Kalamazoo for the opening reception of my exhibit of portraits. There will be 6-8 portraits with animals ranging from the wolf, the bobcat, the tree-frog, the praying mantis, the jumping spider, the barn-owl, and the red-tailed hawk, not to mention the amazing cross section of friends who were willing to put up with my mad-scientist approach to an ancient theme.

My friends, the animals, and I hope to see you soon.

I'll be posting more as the clock ticks down.

SAUGATUCK HARBOR NATURAL AREA

Made a little excursion out to Lake Michigan this past week while doing some business in Douglas. Decided to go to the recently preserved Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area. Beautiful place.

It will continue to be beautiful if the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance and concerned citizens continue to stave off inappropriate development of the North shore. The mouth of the Kalamazoo River is one of the last remaining undeveloped river mouths on Lake Michigan. It is a rare treat and privilege for all of us in Southwest Michigan.

I only had my big lens (500mm) with me this time. Consequently, every shot was tight. No big pictures here.

COMING TO A GALLERY NEAR YOU...

One year older...

The Creek Buck and I just got a little closer. 

When you see a buck one year--and in my case, photograph him--you get to know him a little bit.

When you see him again the next year it's like seeing a friend you haven't seen in a while.

Below is the Creek Buck last year. Perhaps my best buck shot of 2011.

Below is the Creek Buck just last week, looking as handsome as ever. 

He grew an extra tine, making him a 9-point. Why on Earth he didn't grow another symmetrical tine on his right side is another great antler mystery.

I love the way the light was streaking through the trees and spotlighting him.

I found him in the fenced-in area of a drainage pond and had a fair amount of time with him because his rear, left leg was injured and he was having a hard time finding a way out through the fence. 

He may have been hit by a car, or perhaps took an antler in the leg during a fierce fight. Either way he was hurt, and now I have to worry whether I'll have the joy and privilege of seeing him again in the fall of 2013. 

And of course, there are poachers - and for any big buck, a nice rack can be their demise, whether they're rural or urban. 

Busted!

Look who strolled into my yard the other night while I was fast asleep...

The Wayward Hummer

This little guy (and when I say little I mean about the size of a matchbox) has been living in the pines of a household on D Avenue since around October of this year. And not only is it a little late in the season for hummingbirds, this little hummer is a Rufous and WAY outside his normal range, the western third of America.

He made himself known to the home-owner when he started nipping from the sugar water in her hummingbird feeder. He's been hitting on it everyday since October. 

When I went to photograph him, he was initially a little cautious with me standing 10 yards from the feeder with my big lens, but in the end he always zoomed in on the red plastic to get his fill.

What was particularly amazing about his arrival for each feeding session was that I could always hear him before I saw him. I could hear the pleasant buzzing, or "humming", of his wings when he entered the area. I guess that's why they call them hummingbirds.