Stono Self captured by Z 9 / Z26f2.8 The Z600f4TC over the shoulder, I slowly, slowly crossed the boardwalk at Stono. The tides were slowly rising, forcing birds like the Clapper Rail out of their normal cover. The sun is coming up, the moon racing for the horizon. A gorgeous morning, but at this moment, no birds. I put down the rig and looked around.

Sanderling captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC w/Z2x A couple of lifetimes ago, my mentor told me I needed to see the mass shorebird migration in fall at Folly Beach. I didn't have the means back then to make that trip, so I'm been doing it now. Ted's photo showed a beach covered with little peeps, a birders' paradise! This pass week I struggled to find just one bird each session to photograph.

Clapper Rail captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC In South Carolina, spending time on its beaches looking for shorebirds. And, not finding more than a handful the entire week has been very disappointing. Might be because of the Nor'easter, maybe the heat, or we've likely done a number on their habitat, or a combination of these and more factors. Whatever the reason, after lots and lots of time in the field, not a feather!

RR 747 captured by Z 8 / Z24-120 Traveling from the shores of Kodiak and its Brown Bears to the coast of South Carolina for migrating shorebirds has been a hoot! First morning out, dealt with the winds from the storm hitting north of us. Wind sent the birds for cover, so had little hope of much shooting this morning. After a killer breakie, went south to find just two birds.

Kodiak Brown Bear captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC Alaska is a glorious place to explore with a camera, there are stories at every step! One of the aspects of shooting there that has to be mastered is, shooting in the rain. Life doesn't stop for an act of nature that happens all the time. This Kodiak Brown Bear we named Goldie, she had one COY (Cub of the Year), which was on the smaller side of life.

DeHavilland DH-2 Beaver captured by Z 8 / Z70-200f2.8II With a couple hundred pounds of gear piled up at the end of the dock, waiting for the Beaver to pick us up and ferry us into bear camp, the clock ticked. We had about forty-five minutes, and the usual Sea Otters that keep us entertained weren't around. Watching the second hand tick away the moments isn't my thing.

deHavilland Beaver DH-2 captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC The Fox Sparrows were bouncing around in the tree when I heard Wes arrive in his Beaver. There wasn't time to move, change gear or switch to Shutter Priority as Wes made a dramatic turn and performed a perfect landing. Panning took care of capturing a sharp Beaver, but the prop disk requires a slow shutter speed.

There I was in Monument Valley, the vistas before the camera sweeping, epic, gorgeous! Working on "teaching" moments, I wanted to use the camera's bracketing in the camera to do a White Balance bracket series. I went into the menu to set it up, only to find, the options grayed out. I had another setting "conflicting" with the WB Bracketing, so I couldn't do it.

B-29 "Doc" captured by Z 9 / Z180-600 The B-29 when it first took to the skies in the 1940s, it was a technological wonder. I'm often asked what is my favorite aircraft. I don't have a favorite but one that always gets all my love whenever it's around is the B-29! That's because that's where my father was for two wars and his passion for this aircraft was handed down to me (along with a name).

photograph by Vincent Versace, all rights reserved Travel with the Master to bring Life to the Dead! A mentor of mine, Vincent Versace is leading an epic adventure to the Festival of Death. Go with him to bring life to your photography!

East Mitten captured by Z 6III / Z70-200f2.8II It doesn't matter if it's West Mitten or East Mitten in Monument Valley, every sunrise I tended to put them dead center in the frame! I sure didn't realize it while I was there, and in fact, it was a week after finishing all the images from the week that the pattern registered with me.

P-38 "Glacier Girl", F7F "Here Kitty Kitty" & F7F captured by D3x / 28-300 Two hours prior to launch, Val approached me with a simple question: "How would you like to go up for the A2A?" The ramp was a buzz with the proposed flight, two F7Fs and two P-38s. It was a flight not seen for a very long time and, to this date, has not been repeated.

F8F "Rare Bear" captured by D3x / 70-200f2.8 The Air Races at Reno is where the passion took hold. I was very fortunate, like I always seem to be, to have this dynamo of a nice lady take me in, open the doors, and set my camera and passion loose. With the access Val made possible and the credibility Bob lent to this greenhorn, I was figuratively and literally off to the races.

Kodiak Brown Bear captured by Z 8 / Z600f4TC They were new to us, and we to them. Bears tend to do one of two things, in my experience, when they see humans, walk in the opposite direction or ignore you. In this case, we were in a boat, and while the engines had been cut and we were drifting with the tide, this mother and cub didn't know what to make of us.

Monument Valley "Classics" captured by Z 8 / Z24-70f2.8II You're on location you've spent lots of time and money to arrive at. You simply walk out the door of your home. You're there because of the promise of the possibilities life might bring to your viewfinder. The only way you find out the promise of the day is to meet it at least halfway.

White-tailed Deer fawn captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC Say hello to Scratch! One of the five fawns born on the property this spring, if you look at it left hind leg, you see a kinda nasty gash in its leg. It's how I recognize Scratch. Now you might think the fading spots on its flank are the sign I'm talking about, and while that's a good sign that fall is here, it's not the sign I was thinking about.

Cessna 180 captured by Z 8 / Z400f4.5 Two pieces of unusually packed gear in the kit were required to make this shot. Swim trunks and surf shoes, since the image was taken while standing in the water. The white towel was present as well, not for me but to keep hands dry while working with the gear. The water wakes splashing up on my sides made keeping steady to shoot at slower speeds were as much a challenge as keeping gear dry.

N3N-3 captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC @840mm Warm, clear skies and open water are all it takes to get a seaplane to visit! All you have to do is touch down once, and you're hooked. It's such a marvelous way to explore our world, no wonder they are out every hour of the long summer days exploring. Having been so fortunate to participate in splashing many times (though never in the N3N), I understand the love of water.

Heavenly Bodies over Monument Valley captured by ZR / Z24-120 on Supadupa Monument Valley is such a spectacular place that one camera at a time is simply not enough! I have always had at least one camera out on the balcony shooting either Time Lapse or Interval Timer while I'm either shooting stills beside it or, out and about shooting. In the past, I used a tripod, which works, but I didn't really like how it hogged the space on the balcony.

MiG17 captured by Z 9 / Z180-600 Bringing the sense and feeling of motion to a jet, that requires a bit more thought. When you have an afterburner like the MiG17 has, it's a tad easier. That red exhaust tells the viewer the plane is moving, we mean, really moving. But that's a small sense of movement. When you have clouds, and they are slightly blurred, you've got more sense of movement, and we make some progress.

C-47s & DC-3 captured by Z 9 / Z180-600 The sky was filled from horizon to horizon with 841 C-47s on D-Day. The sight and sound are ones I often ponder. At events like Osh, one can look up and gain a glimpse into what it was like, if just for a moment. What you see are all the same airframe for the most part.

Them aren't stars the arrows are pointing at! When I first watched the Time Lapse video you see at the top of the Landing Page, I was very happy with the results of the lightning (even though it was cut very short because of the downpour soaking the ZR). When I looked at the Time Lapse video on the computer, though, I was so mad at myself!

Hardy Creek, MT captured by Z 8 / Z70-200f2.8II Putting the viewer of our photograph next to us when we took the photograph is just part of the journey. We also need them to feel the heartbeat of that moment that made us stop in the first place. Adding to this is bringing a visual depth to our landscape photograph so the viewer can walk through it over and over again.

Lewis's Woodpecker captured by Z 9 / Z600f4TC My last photograph of the Lewis's Woodpecker from two weeks ago, it's not been seen since. Same with our hummers, they too have disappeared and not been recorded by the game cameras for the last week. While the heat wave seems to have moved on, it took with it many of the summer residents that fill our forest.

Moose Podcast #516 - "Monumental Task" It's a feeling that often comes up when I head out to shoot. You ever felt it? Yes, it still happens to me all these decades later. There is a path through it. Let's talk