Photo locations, techniques and technology. Highlights of locations we frequent as well as features on how and why we shoot the way we do, including gear reviews specific to nature photographers.

Barry Scully 12/24/25 Barry Scully 12/24/25

Tanzania teaser- Start with the big five and add a few

As a child I remember getting up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and nature shows like New Wilderness or Wild Kingdom. Years later, as a nature photographer, my dream has always been to go to Africa to live that life, even if only for a short time.

Elephant family slowly making its way towards the river for a drink

Growing up in small town Ontario, I remember waking up on Saturday mornings to one of two exciting things; Cartoons and Nature shows. I probably never really grew up because I have never gotten over either of them. We only had 3 TV channels and had to move the antennae each time we wanted to change the channel. So with the TV guide in hand, we would plan what shows to watch. We had just a few options but Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Untamed World are the ones I remember and it was always the African Safari episodes that kept me imagining myself in a safari vehicle exploring with a camera.

Standing in our Toyota Land Cruiser. Looks pretty similar to the ones I saw on TV as a kid. (Photo by Salwa Farah)

Years later, as a nature photographer, my dream has always been to go to Africa to live that life, even if only for a short time. Nearly a year ago, we made plans for a 2 week trip to Tanzania with a group of nature photographers. With just one week to go, we got news of protests that resulted in deaths during the Tanzanian election. This resulted in a number of countries making statements basically saying "do not travel" to Tanzania. Needless to say, I was stressed out and a bit depressed with the idea that the money we had put towards a once in a lifetime trip may be gone. Fortunately, after going back and forth with the safari company and reassurance from customers on the ground in Tanzania, with the exception of one couple, we made the decision to go. The trip was a success and I believe I got almost everything I wanted out of it. My inner child saw everything he dreamed about and more.

I didn’t realize that lions climbed into trees as often as they do.

Getting the big five animals in Africa was certainly one of the goals, but it wasn't about ticking things off a list. I really wanted to get to see these animals living their lives. It wasn’t about just getting a pretty portrait of each. For the big five I can say we managed to get good pictures for 80% on that goal. There was so much more to see than the big five, and I'll explore those later, but for now let's take a look at some of the big ones, let's call them the big five-ish.

A pair of male lions doing a bit a of dance before lying down to rest on the Serengeti

So, let's start with what is the accepted definition of the big five. They consist of elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, and rhinos. For me the "ish" part adds in giraffe, hippos, and cheetah.

Three cheetah taking a quick look back before heading off.

With nature photography in Canada you can usually count the number of animals you see on a single hand, On our first day out in Tanzania, we saw a half dozen giraffe in the first 5 minutes of crossing into our first National Park, and things got even better from there.

Giraffe

Giraffe are an interesting challenge to photograph, especially from a truck that can't leave the road. This is where the Tamron 35-150mm lens became the most useful not only for big subjects that were up close, but also for those shots that include more of the environment. We saw giraffe almost everyday, and in so many different environments. These are a majestic animals that I could easily take pictures of daily without ever getting bored.

Elephants

While the Giraffe were fun to watch, usually one or two at a time, the elephants on the other hand were most often seen in family groups. The interactions between the elephants made for the best shots, I really had no idea how active they were and how much they interacted with each other. This was a show again I could watch over and over again. We watched them walking together slowly in long trains to reach water, but once they got there they were like a bunch of children in a playground.

Sometimes they would play fight, other times they sprayed water or dirt over their hides, and the little ones would fall and roll in the dust, as if they were still discovering how to use their legs and trunks.

Spraying a little dirt overhead, I’m assuming it helps with the bugs or the sun.

Lions

Most times of the year you are limited to staying on the roads in Tanzania’s National Parks, so getting to see lions at first was mostly a case of seeing them at a far distance as they lay under the shade of a tree to escape from the heat of the sun. Fortunately, the more we explored, the more lions we saw. We found several families resting near the road and another group hanging around in a large sausage tree.

These animals are so used to the vehicles that most of the time they barely noticed us, and when they did it was in passing as they used the shade of a truck to get out of the sun before making their way towards a watering hole. Luckily for us, most of the time we got to enjoy the lions by ourselves. Although this wasn’t the busiest time of year for safari’s, there were occasions when we saw lions in a tree with a bunch more vehicles. I managed to get a shot of one descending from the tree with a Land Cruiser in the background.

With safari vehicles in front and behind, this lion acted as if we weren’t there at all but wandered behind our truck to get out of the sun for a bit before heading back to the rest of the pride.

We were lucky to see many lion cubs, sometimes playing with the rest of the pride lazing in the sun and with a couple that were a little curious about us.

Fuzzy and cute, lion cubs seemed to act a lot like house kittens, curious and energetic but often a bit clumsy.

Leopards

I can say that we were very lucky to see several leopards on this trip. Our guide was pretty thrilled since typically they can only get a glimpse of them in a distant tree. Instead, we got to spend a good amount of time watching one resting in a tree, another coming down from a tree to start to hunt, as well as another beside a tree after an unsuccessful hunt for a mongoose.

lone leopard in a tree noticing something interesting back behind us

Although the light was challenging to get great shots, the fact that we were able to spend as much time with this elusive cat made it worth having to do a little work to get the best out of the shots.

Buffalo

Cape buffalo were a little difficult to get interesting photos of, at first we only saw them far away in small herds and often mostly hidden in the brush, but in the Ngorongoro crater we got to see a larger group of them in a wet, muddy open area. One of the photographers in our group was on a mission to get a picture with oxpeckers on the buffalo which, after patiently waiting, we did manage to get exactly the shot he wanted. I also managed to get something, but the composition I really wanted would have been a backlit headshot.

Rhinoceros

Salwa wanted to see a black rhino, from our first day out it was on her list and it wasn't until the final day that we had a chance to see them. In this case that was pretty much all we can claim is that we saw a couple as it was from a long distance though many trees with a significant amount of heat haze in the air. I only managed to get a couple of shots off, and I think I can at least say for certain that it was a rhino but I'm not going to be showing off any of these photos. I think in this case I'm mostly disappointed about the fact that rhinos now need to be protected so much due to human predation and over tourism that they have had to close down many of the roads to allow them a bit of room away from people. It is our own fault and I hope that some of the work being done will mean that these magnificent animals will have a future. For now, I can live without getting a nice picture.

Highly cropped image of two black rhinos deep in the bushes on a hot afternoon in Ngorongoro conservation area. Not a great shot but at least we got to see them on the last day.

Cheetah

From day 1 of the trip, when asked what I wanted to see, it was always a cheetah on the hunt. While I didn't get to see one at full stride chasing an antelope I did get to see a mom with two cubs and three active cheetahs on the plains. I think these were my favourite moments from the entire trip, and something that child watching TV on Saturday mornings can now say he got to see in person.

Hippos

Anytime we came close to water and the air smelled rank, there was a good chance that we might be close to some hippopotamus. The rainy season had not quite started yet so most of the time we found hippos in muddy, putrid ponds where they were all squeezed close together. Hippos seem to be rather ornery creatures, but I suppose I would be as well if someone was flinging dung in my face with their tail.

Big yawn, very big teeth and a lot of attitude.

The one thing we watched numerous times that I hadn't expected was hippos rolling over with their feet up in the air on a regular basis. It helps to keep their backs wet and muddy so they don't get sun burnt, and it was amusing to watch.

Hippos can move very quickly in water, and tend to raise a good bit of muck while doing so

While we can certainly call the trip a success on the basis of seeing and photographing the big five, there was so much more to see. So many antelopes of different types, numerous birds everywhere, lizards, smaller mammals, and monkeys. We travelled through Arusha National Park, Tarangere, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater over 10 days. I’ll have many more photos to share in the next few posts. You can take a look at the Tanzania Gallery for some of my favourites.

Barry Scully 10/1/25 Barry Scully 10/1/25

Summertime Bald Eagles - a few pointers for those who want to get some interesting eagle shots.

Bald Eagle taking off along the shore in an industrial area. Certainly not the most beautiful background but it does tell a story.

Summer can be difficult for nature photographers, the spring migration is over and here on the wet coast we are eagerly awaiting the salmon to head up river as autumn arrives. Here in Campbell River we do have a huge number of Bald eagles along the coast in summer and they can be very active fishing off the coast or just grabbing leftovers from the fisher people as they come back from a day on the water. Although the best times of day for interesting light are early morning and as evening approaches, often these eagles are very active in the bright light of day. This can often make shooting eagles difficult as we can have deep shadows and very bright whites just on the eagle. Personally I like having some interesting shadows on some of my bird shots to give a bit more emphasis on the brighter portions but that does mean that I have to be picky about which shots have the light on the most interesting part of the bird….and that means shooting at high number of frames per second. This is a nice option to have as just a few years ago I was getting a maximum of 5 frames per second which meant I often missed that crucial moment when the eyes were in the light. Some of the latest cameras like the Canon R5II that I am using now allow me to get up to 30 frames per second and even allow for precapture so that I get up to 15 shots from before I pressed the shutter button. This really does mean that I come home with a much better chance of having the best shot possible on my memory card.

Eagle in flight on a bright day. Notice the shadows of the wing tips across its neck which gives an interesting added element to this shot. Taken with Canon R5 II with 500 f/4 at 1/4000s, f/4, ISO 320.

Bright days of summer do mean that you don’t necessarily need to have a large aperture telephoto prime to stop motion and get reasonably good detail in the shot. This allows for lenses like my 200-600 which has a maximum aperture of 6.3 at 600 to still be able to get shots at 1/2000-1/3000s at relatively low ISO which means minimal noise. This allows us to get interesting in flight and interaction shots relatively easily.

Adult bald eagle circling near a boat launch while a juvenile eagle sits on the rocks in the background. Taken with Canon R5 II with 500 f/4 at 1/4000s, f/4, ISO 500.

In flight eagle shots can be very fun to capture. Eagles here are often flying fairly low and banking around the beaches looking for fish. If you find a place where someone has left parts of fish after filleting their catches you can easily have a dozen eagles vying for a piece of the easy prize. The eagles also tend to stay around certain beaches as the tide recedes waiting to see what gets caught out of water. In these cases I have found that having a long telephoto zoom allows you to capture many of the fleeting moments that occur sometimes fairly close to you but also nice shots as the birds approach and circle around the scene. My usual starting camera setting for these situations are with the camera set to M (manual but not really), auto ISO (which is the not really), shutter speed of 1/2000s, and the aperture as open as possible. This allows for easy changes to the aperture if you have situations where you need a deeper depth of field, like trying to capture multiple birds interacting. It also allows for quick changes to shutter speed if you need it but still allows the camera to determine the ISO which will usually mean that you let the computer on board determine the exposure as the birds move in and out of the light. Depending on the exposure metering method and how well it obtains automagical exposures you can still change things with the exposure compensation more to your liking as you see your shots come out. Eagles can be difficult as you have white and very dark areas on the bird so it can be easy to blow out the whites on the eagles head if you aren’t paying attention.

Two juvenile eagles fighting over some salmon left on the beach. Because they were so close to the same distance from the camera they are mostly both in focus with the other eagles well out of the range of the depth of focus. Taken with Sony A7R5 with Sigma 500 f/5.6 at 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO ??

Hot days in the summer do have one major issue for shooting long distances especially close to the ground/water. The further away you try to take a shot the more the atmosphere itself between you and the subject can reduce the perceived sharpness of your image. Especially over water you can often see a shimmering in the air and trying to take images through that is basically not going to produce the best results. Luckily this effect is reduced as you get closer to the subject but just be aware that you may not notice this effect as you are taking your shots until you get back to processing your images.

Pair of Bald Eagles on an old phone pole at the local spit. This portrait was taken while waiting for these guys to take off and hopefully do something interesting. Taken with Sony A7R5 and Sony 200-600mm at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, ISO 320. I could have reduced the shutter speed but since I was waiting for action I had it set at 1/2000s.

If you don’t get to see eagles often, you will likely be happy grabbing some beautiful shots of perched birds often as they are sitting on dead branches looking for their next meal or on the beach at low tide. You can get some fantastic portraits and environmental shots often of single eagles or of small groups of them together. In these cases I will often reduce my shutter speed to get the lowest ISO I can to reduce noise. Once you have those shots in the bag, then the birds in flight shots are often the next target. Although a few shot of the underside of an eagle as it passes over you are kind of fun, I have found the most interesting shots are as the eagle banks and turns. In these cases you can often get beautiful full wing spreads hopefully with the eagle looking towards you (or at least towards the water/ground but in your direction). If you can get the sun behind you a bit in these situations you should also be able to get a good bit of light on the eyes which will really help to liven up the image. As the eagles come down to the surface they will usually start to bring their legs down and open their talons. These can produce some interesting shots and if all goes well you might capture them as they grab a fish from the water or something interesting from the beach.

I managed to get many of the elements that I wanted in this shot, good light, grabbing a fish from the shallows, nice wing spread but I just missed in the wing position being able to see the eyes. The other shots were just before it grabbed the fish and then in the air. Taken with Canon R5II, 500mm +1.4 teleconverter, 700mm at f/5.6, 1/2500s, ISO320

If there is some competition for the food on the beach you will often be able to capture some interactions between the eagles (or eagles and turkey vultures, ravens, or gulls). In these cases a slight increase in your aperture value to increase the depth of field can help to get a shot with most of that action in focus. Determining the amount of increase in depth of field depends on the focal length of the lens, the distance from the subject and the sensor type. Having a tool on your phone like PhotoPills can help you to determine how much extra depth of field you can achieve but it is always going to mean that you have to give in to either higher ISO or lower shutter speed. I much prefer to deal with a bit more noise in these situations that to have blurry action due to slower shutter speeds but this is something you will need to determine for the situation you are in. If you have the time (and can move around the scene) you can improve your chances of getting things in focus by moving around until the birds are closer to the same plane of focus. This may not be possible if the action if happening quickly or you are on a cliff/waters edge.

As this eagle circled about I was able to get in a location that gave me nice light, and what I considered a nice background since the other directions were pure blue sky or houses along the shore.

If you have a choice of location then there are a couple other things to consider. The first for me is the direction of the sun, most of the time I prefer not shooting into the sun (there are always exceptions to this). The second for birds is the wind direction. Most eagles will tend to take off into the wind so if you want those shots you will have a higher chance if you put yours slightly upwind of the bird so that it takes off towards you. The last major thing I consider is the background and foreground of the shot. Once the other two conditions have been given me a general location then determining a nice background (and sometimes interesting foreground) can take a clean shot and make it a much more interesting one.

With the salmon leftovers on the beach quite a few eagles were fighting over the spoils. In this case I did not have many options for shooting locations as I had only a small spot on the beach to observe. With only a prime lens I had to choose for close up action shots at a high shutter speed.

I hope some of this helps anyone who is interested in photographing eagles. Here on Vancouver Island in the summer you will get many chances to practice and hopefully capture some fantastic shots.

A bit different shot with the wings half cocked and the cedar bows as a close background. This background isn’t too distracting since it is all one set of textures and colour shades.

Barry Scully 3/1/25 Barry Scully 3/1/25

Persistence and Patience - Short eared owls

Sometimes there are dry spells, sometimes months between interesting moments when you do nature photography. After the Salmon spawning season last fall I have been experiencing one of those times. Three months of rain nearly every day then a cold spell made it difficult to get out much in a time of the year when there often isn't much to shoot. Even when there may be something out there you still need a good deal of patience. Since moving to Vancouver Island just around a year and a half ago I have been looking into areas in which I might be able to find different types of owls and other birds of prey. Eagles are very abundant here and there are some very good times of the year to photograph them but other birds of prey are a bit harder to find here than in other areas I have lived. Determining where to find birds can take a long time if you don't have any local knowledge and I'm building that slowly but surely. Barred owls are in the area and I've seen a few but don't currently know of any good spots to reliably find them. Great horned owls are less abundant on the island but can be found. This will take some footwork getting out in the evenings and mostly just listening for them at dusk.

Pygmy owls have been kind of elusive, I have seen a couple but currently do not yet understand their habits to reliably figure out where to find them. Short eared owls, however, are a bit easier to figure out. These owls tend to like to hunt over open fields with good trees to hide in nearby. There are often found in fields that northern harriers also hunt in. I also had some intel on a couple of locations that they had been seen. Short eared owls are a bit more predictable in terms of when they like to hunt, they will hunt anytime during the day but tend to prefer to come out an hour or two before sunset. This is a good thing from a photography perspective as it is the nicest light to catch them as they swoop along the fields and drop down on unsuspecting rodents.

This is where persistence comes to play. Knowing where they have been and when they usually start hunting is a good starting point but like most animals they don't tend to put up a schedule so the best you can do is try to be in the right location at the right time. This year it took me 5 separate trips to 2 different locations to finally get a chance for some shots. For most people spending 20-30 hours standing outside often in the cold and rain for a few minutes of being able to capture some interesting shots of a owl in flight seems silly but for me it was all part of the fun and I will almost certainly spend significantly more time in dry spells hoping to be able to see that interesting moment that I have in my mind or one that I never expected. In fact I have just recently spent a good 8 hour day searching for pygmy owls and came up with nothing and am already planning my next road trip to try again.

For me, the time with those creatures is well worth all the time, walking, cold, and even sometimes the boredom. The photography is the reason that I do it, but even before I did photography I used to spend almost the same amount of time out in nature just watching and trying to understand it a bit more. Hopefully the pictures I have shown today are worth the few minutes of reading this article, they were certainly worth the time I took to get them! See below for a small gallery of pictures from an afternoon shooting 3 short eared owls and their interaction with a north harrier.

Barry Scully 10/26/24 Barry Scully 10/26/24

Salmon run on Vancouver Island - How to get Good shots while Watching Black Bears get Fat

As fall approaches we wait for the first rains to help the water flow in the rivers along the coast of Vancouver Island. Here on the Island, the main species I like to photograph that benefit from this abundance are the Black bears….

A rather large black bear lunging after a salmon on the Quinsam River. Taken with Sony A9II and 200-600mm at 448mm, f/6.3, 1/640s,ISO 12800

As fall approaches we wait for the first rains to help the water flow in the rivers along the coast of Vancouver Island. This increase in water flow is one of the signals for the Pacific Salmon to start their spawn migration upstream to the locations they originally hatched. This is not only an important time for the salmon but also for the people that live (and have lived here for well before it was ever referred to as Vancouver Island) here and also for many species of wildlife that need the salmon for their own survival. Here on the Island, the main species I like to photograph that benefit from this abundance are the Black bears and the eagles. Of course, there are many others that directly or indirectly benefit from the salmon run.

This is then a time for nature photographers to also get out with those long lenses to try to capture some of the action. For me this means getting out daily and walking along the river trails, quietly waiting for some interesting action to happen. At first, I focus on capturing pretty pictures of bears, eagles, herons, mink and other animals. Once I have those in my back pocket, I start looking for action shots and the interactions that really make a picture tell an interesting story. Sometimes it is best to find a good location and wait for the action to come to you, other times I have to go find the action, either way if you aren't out there, you're not going to get the shot.

Brownish Black bear taken near dusk. Taken with Sony A7RV with Sigma 500mm f5/6 at 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 12800. I turned a corner and saw this bear fishing, this was one of the first few shots I got. Luckily my camera settings were good for getting a quick and sharp image even if we could likely have reduced the shutter speed considerably and still gotten a sharp image once we had time to consider the light more.

The best time to see bears is near dark, as most black bears spend their day sleeping in a tree and only start fishing about an hour before the sunset. While there's a higher chance of finding bears at the river's edge at this time, the small window when there's enough light to get the shot at anything less than ISO 12800 means the likelihood of getting an exciting action shot it limited. Not all bears sleep during the day, and a few will try their luck during the day. They may be nervous of the bigger bears the fish in the evening, or much like me, they just can't sleep when they are hungry. Either way, this provides opportunities to capture shots in better light. Higher shutter speeds and lower ISOs means a better chance at a shot that I'll be able to print and not just use for a quick social media post. As always, there's a balance - sometimes the harsh midday sun combined with the deep shadows in the woods are challenging to capture all in one image. Isn't that what it's all about? Trying to get the right shot, in the right light to tell an interesting story. I do have to say that with the latest camera image sensors and the improvements in noise reduction techniques, we can get much better results at high ISOs than ever before.

More light makes a significant difference in the details of the shot. In this case I was lucky to find this bear in the afternoon but the shadows could be a challenge if it turned the wrong way.

What Lens Should I Use?

When it comes to gear, I've found a combination of lenses and settings that best work for the variable light conditions. The best lenses I've found would be somewhere between 100-400 maximum, and if you can afford it, a large aperture of about f/2 to f/2.8. That's out of reach for most of us, but a 70-200 f/2.8, 70-300, or 100-400 would likely do the trick in most cases. While the 70-200 may be a little short in some cases, the extra light gathering capabilities of the f/2.8 will allow you to continue to shoot at higher shutter speeds and lower ISOs longer into the evening. The 70-300 and 100-400 lenses that are common for each of the brands have a great range for capturing the bears up close and still being able to get the environmental shots at the wider end, but you'll find that you're often shooting at double the ISO of a f/2.8 lens which can quickly make the shots noisy. If you can afford it, there are a couple of very good lenses that can be found. The best in my opinion would be the 100-300 f/2.8 for Canon and the 120-300 f/2.8 for Nikon (Sigma used to have a 120-300 f/2.8 that I would love to see updated for mirrorless but that is another story). These two lenses have both the large aperture and the versatility of range that are excellent for close conditions.

Momma black bear bringing a huge salmon over to an expectant cub. These are the types of shots that tell a more interesting story than just a pretty portrait. These moments I will remember for a long time thanks to these pictures.

My Photo Techniques to Capture the Best Bear Photos

Back to technique for capturing bears. Get down low, sitting is a good position for bears. There are 2 reasons for this. The first has to do with being at eye level. I think this is a well-known concept, but it really is a good way to make sure you aren't always seeing bears with their eyes looking down. It also changes the background behind the bear so that you often get foliage instead of just water. The second reason is more for the bears and that has to do with the fact that animals notice a person standing as much more of a threat or worry than if you were to have a smaller, lower profile. This definitely applies to other animals and birds. While a hide would be your best option, I've found that animals ignore you more when sitting (or lying down). Much of this also has to do with how much movement there is and keeping fairly still without a lot of large gestures is also a good idea This doesn't mean that the bears don't know you're there. They likely knew about you well before you even saw them (depending on the wind and noise). It has more to do with an animal feeling like it can continue with what it's doing without constantly looking towards you. There are a few ways to tell if the bear is not comfortable; one is by constantly looking towards you, usually followed with a yawn. When I see this behaviour, I back away and find a better place or even back off entirely and let them continue on their way. Even with my more than 25-years of experience with black bears, I don't consider myself an expert and there are better forums out there that delve into this topic. Having said that, bears have their own unique personalities, and even general tendencies in one area may not be the same for other bears in other conditions. The bears around Campbell River are more used to fishing alongside people, but by no means does that make them tame.

When a black bear is not concerned about us photographers it may even sit and eat lunch right in front of you.

In my experience shooting wildlife, I have a few basic camera settings that may be helpful to others. First, my in-camera set up as a starting point (on the M1 memory on camera). I set the camera to this position before I head out as it usually will get me a first shot or two that's going to be in focus, sharp (even if moving quickly) but may be noisy depending on the light. I set it up with auto ISO (with a maximum of 12800), 1/2000 sec shutter speed, lens set with it's most open aperture, autofocus set to animal subject tracking and wide (all focus points). This setup is great if you happen along a situation where action is happening in front of you and you need to get a shot before you miss the moment. This has allowed me to capture fleeting moments that I may have missed otherwise. In these cases I may not get a perfect shot as I haven't had any time to think about composition, lighting or optimal settings, but I most often get a shot that I can use and sometimes these quick shots are the only opportunities I get with that subject.

Shadow and light are critical components of a composition and help to give a feel for the actual conditions on the river.

If you have more time with the subject, this is when you start to adjust for the "better" shot. First I try to get a few shots at lower ISOs and with better consideration for the composition. If you have more time or can set up prior to the animal coming to you, then there are more choices. As I'm walking, I am always thinking about where the sun is with respect to the subject but you can't always put yourself in the best location right away. When time does permit, the light and the environment around the subject become the next thoughts. Most times shooting with the light behind you or to the side of the subject is better than having the sun in line with the subject (except in very specific situations where you might want a silhouette or faded look). Many animals will be ok with you moving sideways to them in a slow manner but do keep an eye if their mannerisms change as you move. The background behind the subject is the next consideration. A busy background that is relatively close to the animal compared to the distance you're from the subject will often make the subject blend in. A background that's simple will be easier to manage and bring out the subject in certain cases, but also consider if the surrounding environment is part of the story. No one method is correct, so try different options and take multiple shots.

It was really exciting to watch this sow come down to the river with her 2 cubs. The interaction in this case lasted a long time so I was able to get a number of interesting shots of all three and each individual as well as a number of action shots. This doesn’t happen often but when it does I can go through most of the ideas I have been talking about here. From the initial quick grabs to the low noise shots and then get the shots with different environmental conditions and different angles.

If you're lucky, you might even have a number of shots. The initial quick shot of the subject (sometimes some unique action that you happened to witness), some cleaner shots of the subject, and maybe some ongoing action with camera setting that will ensure better results. More time with the subject means that you may have a chance to make different choices around the background and the light, and if all goes well, possibly a shot or two to add to your portfolio.

Some other things to think about when out with black bears.

Keep the noise to a minimum mostly for the bears but also for others who may be trying to enjoy the moment.
Do not make fast movements if possible. This will inevitably distract the bear from what it's doing.
Try not to have anything near you that smells. Cologne/perfume and smoking are the worst as bears can smell that from a significant distance and may avoid you entirely.
Try not to crowd the animal. I know it is difficult as often I will see a group of 10 or more people trying to get close enough for a shot, but if possible, it is best with 1 or 2 people at most at a distance that you will need a fairly long telephoto lens to allow for the best observations. This will also ensure the bear has a higher likelihood of going about it's business of catching fish.
If a bear is looking uncomfortable with your presence back away (slowly) if you can until it goes back to more normal activity. You may just have to leave that bear alone. Not only will you not get good shots if the bear is uncomfortable, but the bear may miss an essential meal if it is concentrating on you instead of fishing.

Sometimes you don’t have to work hard to have a picture tell a story

Being able to watch these bears in this area is a fantastic way to get a better understanding of nature. My intention is to encourage others to do the same in a respectful way that minimizes direct interaction with the bears and where people remain at a safe distance. Even though I always carry bear spray, I hope I never have to use it, particularly as a response to my own interactions with a bear. Bear interactions in this area of Vancouver Island are inevitable if you walk regularly in nature areas. I only hope that with better understanding, and through observation, we can live with them and not feel like we need to remove them from their own territory due to our fears and ignorance.

Action shots at high ISO but a fast enough shutter speed to get a reasonably sharp image. New noise reduction algorithms definitely help to reduce the colour noise in these shots.

Barry Scully 12/13/23 Barry Scully 12/13/23

Winter trip - Final stage - ...and this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home

Silhouette of Salwa looking down from Indian Bread Rocks.

Ok, we went wee in many odd places along the way, not really the most interesting part of the story I hope.

Our winter trip took a bit of a turn to the east so that we could go to a boat show in Florida, after some fixes to the trailer in east Texas we made a beeline to Miami spent a week there and then quickly again started to head back west. I did manage to get some birding in and a few other shots along the coast in South Carolina, you can see a few of them below.

The trip back was pretty accelerated with a short stay in South Carolina to see old friends from when we lived in Greenville. We began to slow down again when we got back to the desert states and finally started to find BLM land to camp on. Not being always in State or National Parks was a treat in terms of finding locations where we were mostly on our own and had some unique and interesting landscapes.

The first of these was Indian Bread Rocks Rec Area in Arizona, a great stop a little south of Highway 10 near Bowie. This felt a lot like the recreation areas we have in British Columbia. Just a few camping spots well spread out, a pit toilet and plenty of space to wander about. Our spot was at the foot of a large rock formation with plenty of boulders all around us.

This area is also available for cows to graze so we did have to watch our step in case we stepped on a cow patty. After a couple of weeks of mostly driving and city life it was really relaxing to just enjoy our time around the trailer, hiking into the rocks and waiting for the right light for a few interesting shots.

Next stop was near a pretty fantastic birding location called Madera Canyon. Although there is camping in the park, just before you get to the park there is some BLM land with some beautiful campsites. These ones don’t have toilets but it is a relatively short drive/long walk to the park entrance which did have facilities.

Much like the last spot, the free part of the camping was nice but not really the reason we liked BLM camping. It was the ability again to be mostly on our own, in this case there were a couple of others camping but not close enough to really even notice most of the time, ok, except for the one that let their dog free and it decided to chase after some cows nearby. That was a bit annoying!

This was the first time in a while that I plunked myself down at a set of bird feeders in the park to just get to see a few birds that I have never seen before and to grab a few shots. This was quite relaxing, and there was even a coffee shop and nice seats to make this a fun afternoon of not really in nature-nature photography.

We didn’t stay long in Arizona this time around, moving on to Southern California and a highlight of the trip for me. There are only a few types of owls in North America that I haven’t been able to get shots in the wild, and the burrowing owl has been one that I haven’t been lucky enough to find before in the south west or in Florida…and I have made specific day trips just to see them multiple times, all of which were unsuccessful. So, driving down a farm road on our way to a bird sanctuary and just seeing them on the side of the road was amazing. Not sure what people driving by thought of me laying on the side of the road with a big lens shooting into the gutter but it was really a fantastic time for me. The fact that I managed to get some portfolio shots from that location is a big bonus. This was definitely a highlight for the area as we were at the wrong time of year to see much else around the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife refuge.

Burrowing Owl in flight along a farm road in California.

Moving on back to the coast for that long wet trip back north and the fun task of finding a new place to live when we got there, we headed for Morro Bay, some good sushi and a little time with sea otters and their young. Could have stayed and watched them all day and we pretty much did.

There was an area around the docks in town where about 20 or so otters congregated, a bunch of them had babies that stayed on their bellies and pretty much just looked cute. If you want to be able to see sea otters up close this is definitely the town to do so. That was mostly it for California this time, other than a stop at Elk Meadow in Redwood National Park to see….well elk of course, and some redwoods.

A little practice sparring for these bull elk.

We didn’t have much time left before I had to start a new contract and go back to work like as a normal person, so we started up the coast staying just a day or two in any given location. We were back to either State Parks or city campgrounds along the coast which at least had running water and hookups so although we were no longer alone in the wild we were pretty comfortable even in the rain.

We did manage to spend a bit more time on the beautiful Oregon coast, this time in and around Coos Bay where the coastline is absolutely breathtaking. This is a location we will need to come back to for the fall storms and King tides so that we can get some of those epic wave shots.

For now, the seascapes and rock formations will do quite nicely.

Two more seascape stops at Yaquina Head and Cape Lookout showed us some more amazing locations and our last sunsets on the beach that would have to hold us over as we headed back to Canada through central Washington, into the Kootenays and our stopping point (at least at that time) in Nelson, BC.

This was our first really long road trip, with our new trailer camper and plenty of time to just travel. It was kind of a sampler tour, we never stayed long in any one spot. We didn’t really plan much when it came to our photography, just took advantage of what was there at the time. I think we learned a lot about this type of travel, we now know many places that we would like to go back to and spend more time hopefully choosing the right time of year for some special shots or for birds and animals to be more likely to be around. We also learned a lot about our comfort level with different types of camping, we definitely prefer the open spaces and BLM lands when we can. It will be fun now that we know the capabilities of our truck and trailer to go further into the unknown, but we also now know our own limitations. I do think that many of the places further into these BLM lands and onto off-road trails means making sure we are not alone. Getting stuck on your own out there can have grave consequences, even if you are relatively competent.

Now that we are back in Canada, we have a new set of adventures ahead as we finally found a place to settle down on Vancouver Island and we can start exploring the coast, the mountains and all the surrounding small islands. Plenty of new landscapes to view, so many birds and animals to photograph and maybe we can start to do some of it from a boat?!

Barry Scully 6/6/23 Barry Scully 6/6/23

Winter trip - Stage 3 - Desert States

When it is time to run from the cold and rain the desert states seem like the perfect place to get back to sunshine and that dry heat. That was the plan and for the most part we found a good amount of sun but for some odd reason the cold was still following us down from the north.

When it is time to run from the cold and rain, the desert states seem like the perfect place to get back to sunshine and that dry heat. That was the plan and for the most part we found a good amount of sun but for some odd reason the cold was still following us down from the north. We left the coast after visiting friends near San Jose and travelled up to Lake Isabella. It was a fantastic road up through Sequoia National Forest and our first night of BLM camping along the Kern river.

The view from our campsite on the Kern River. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 19mm, f/9, 1/800s ISO 1600

This is definitely an area we would like to come back and explore again as there were old mines fantastic rock formations and signs of animals in the area. This trip however we just spent the one night and headed towards Death Valley. This seemed like a great idea as it almost never rains there, right?

Well, we were lucky enough to come in just before a huge wind and rainstorm that tested the strength of our camper (and our sanity). It wasn’t all bad, in fact the weather actually made for some pretty spectacular photography. Scenes that were probably pretty rare with storm clouds on one side of the valley and sun on the other.

Salwa was finding sand in her hair for days after this hike. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 46mm, f/9, 1/400s, ISO 100

The salt flats is the first spot we went to see what sunset would be like. The views were amazing, the salt flats such a cool thing to see but that evening the light wasn’t fantastic. We did get a few interesting shots but went away that night without a portfolio shot.

Salt flats at sunset, not quite the sunset we hoped for but still such an amazing place to explore. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 19mm, f/10, 1/20s, ISO 100

The next day was a different story. The wind picked up again and we could see storm clouds around us so we drove north again towards the sand dunes which looked promising. We managed to get out about a half mile into the dunes when the wind suddenly went crazy, blasting sand at us and then the sky opened up pelting us with rain that felt like pellets from an air gun. This didn’t stop us completely as we tried to get some video of the situation, mostly so that we could laugh at ourselves. We got back to the truck and the rain moved away after about 10 minutes. This was when the sky started to look wild. Dark clouds and rain in front of us with harsh sunlight on the dunes and the wind still throwing the sand around. I think I have at least 10 shots that I could print from the next hour out there…maybe more.

A rain storm making its way past us across the valley of Sand dunes. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 at 105mm, f/10, 1/250s, ISO 100

The sand was still blowing in the distance, but the light and shadows were amazing as the storm clouds moved on. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 at 43mm, f/9, 1/320s, ISO 100

Salwa on the top edge of one of the larger sand dunes. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 34mm, f/9, 1/320s, ISO 100

As per usual on this trip the weather was starting to turn again as we heard that snow was coming for the mountains on the way to Vegas. We decided to run for the hills, and got to the very top just in time for the snow. It was a slow and nervous trip down into Las Vegas that night but after a night at a KOA campground to get a shower, wash some clothes and get the batteries topped up we were headed to a park on the other side of Vegas called Valley of Fire.

Salwa near the beginning of wave of fire hike. Sony A7III with 70-200 f/4 at 70mm, f/4, 1/1000s, ISO 100

This turned out to be one of the best stops of the entire trip, and I had barely heard of the place before we went there. We camped at the Atlatl Rock campground in the park where we were surrounded by fantastic red rocks with desert bighorn sheep wandering through regularly. Just hiking through these rocks could take up your time for days.

Waves of weathered rock. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 17mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 100

We spent most of our time hiking along White Domes road with beautiful slot canyons that we accessed from the end of the road.

Part of the Slot canyon near White Dome. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/10, 1/20s, ISO 100

From just after the sun came up we wandered all around Fire Wave trail. This area had some of the most spectator rock formations and wild colors. This is an area to check out with a quick hike and then come back again and again in different light. I think I would like to come back here and spend at least a week capturing dawn and sunset shots. If you are into astro or night sky photography you might find you will really never have time to sleep in this park.

So many textures and colours make the Wave of Fire hike a photographers dream. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100

Pink, orange, red…pick your favourite colour. Sony A7III, 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO 100

When we finally did leave Valley of Fire we were off to another very different desert landscape. This was an area we visited years ago in a 1976 VW Westfalia. Joshua tree may not have the same wild colors but the shapes of the boulders, and the Joshua trees themselves make for some wild landscapes.

If you can’t find camping in the park, there is an area at the south end of the park for BLM camping which will allow you to spend your days in the park without too much time on the road. On this trip we spent most of our time around Jumbo Rocks and Cottonwood.

A dead tree with some fantastic boulders in the background. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 34mm, f/8, 1/80s, ISO 100

I see a face, do you? Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 49mm, f/9, 1/320s, ISO 100

a boulder playground. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 22mm, f/7.1, 1/800s, ISO 100

Joshua tree hugging Salwa…always another tree to hug. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 26mm, f/9, 1/250s, ISO 100

hiking near Cottonwood campground. Sony A7RIV with 24-105mm at 31mm, f/13, 1/25s, ISO 100

Night sky and a Joshua tree. Sony A7III with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/4, 25s, ISO 1600

At this point we started to put California, and Nevada into our rear view mirror and headed to Arizona. Organ Pipe Cactus National monument was going to be our first stop and was one of the first times we actually had some warm weather (at least for a couple of days). This park is a little south west of Phoenix down on the Mexican border and it is easy to see what this park is named for.

Sunset in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Sony A7III with 70-200 f/4 at 200mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s ISO 1600

This is also when we started seeing more birds and I was able to pull out the big lens.

Cactus Wren. Sony A7III with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 250

Phainopepla. Sony A7RIV with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, ISO 250

Mexican Scrub Jay. Sony A7RIV with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, ISO 200

Again, just outside of this park is some BLM land for camping, we stayed in the park this time and learned quickly that there is an area that is generator free so that you don’t have to listen to loud engines instead of the nature in the park.

I have parents that were snowbirds for around 20 years and spent a good deal of their winters in Tucson so I have in the past been able to come down and spend time in that area. Tucson Mountain state park is a great area to get into some of the desert hiking and to wander amongst the Saguaro cactus that so much reminds me of Saturday mornings watching the bugs bunny/road runner hour.

Saguaro cactii and the view into Tucson Mountains state park. Sony A7III with 24-105 f/4 at 24mm, f/8, 1/320s, ISO 100

This time around we spent only a couple of nights in this area but also went up to Mount Lemmon to check out some wildly different terrain and to give us some time for some good food in Tucson itself.

multiple hoodoos to hike through and around. Sony A7III with 24-105 f/4 at 24mm, f/10, 1/160s, ISO 100, 6 shot panorama

More interesting rock formations along the road up Mt. Lemmon. Sony A7III with 24-105 f/4 at 34mm, f/10, 1/320s, ISO 100

On the next portion of the trip we went to a bunch of areas we found out about through other campers, as we headed east just before the New Mexico border there is a small town called Portal which is just that, a little portal into another amazing piece of landscape and also another little birders haven. The whole area from Madera Canyon to Patagonia Lake and across to Portal are great locations to find hummingbirds and many birds that are only found in Arizona and Mexico.

Anna’s hummingbird near Patagonia Lake, Arizona. Sony A7RIV with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, ISO 1000

Blue throated hummingbird. Sony A7RIV with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO 8000

broad billed hummingbird. Sony A7RIV with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, ISO 500

Since moving into Arizona we had been lucky enough to have much more sunny weather even if not nearly as warm as we would have liked. This continued as we worked our way into New Mexico and White Sands national park but our hopes to head into northern portions of New Mexico were not going to be on this trip as ice and snow were in the forecast for Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

The shadows bring out the textures in these nearly monochromatic images. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 24mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 100

The wind shapes the land. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 52mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 100

Black and white image of the rolling dunes. Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 at 89mm, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 100

This meant a whole new plan was in order and now Texas looked to be one of the few areas that was going to be warm enough for us to camp. On the map was Big Bend Nation Park and as with anything in Texas it was a fairly long drive. Our first stop on this leg was Hueco Tanks, a park I had always wanted to visit when I was a younger and was fairly active in bouldering and climbing. This park is a haven for bouldering and we watched a few climbers attempting stuff I couldn’t think of now.

An example of the defining feature here in Hueco Tanks. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 22mm, f/14, 1/80s, ISO 100

Hueco tanks is a very protected area with some significant native historical landmarks and petroglyphs so treading carefully and only in the self-guided parts is important to ensure others will be able to enjoy this area for years to come.

Some fantastic petroglyphs in a cave. We had to be so careful not to touch the wall in this tight and slippery location. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/4, 1/8s, ISO 1600

Just the view from in the cave, but the light was so amazing this is one of my favourite shots from the trip. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/9, 4s, ISO 100

Getting a bit closer to Big Bend, we found a nice park to stay at in Fort Davis which has a big Observatory near by. Nice hiking, camping and dark skies along with some more desert bighorn sheep made for a good stopover before some outback camping on the north end of Big Bend. We didn’t get a chance to check out the observatory this time, but I definitely would like to come back just for that.

Sunset from the lookout at Davis Mountain. Sony A7III with 24-105 f/4 at 105mm, f/22, 1/15s, ISO 640

Our first night in Big Bend was at a spot called Nine Point Draw and we were out there completely on our own. This was so beautiful and quiet. We were able to really relax and just enjoy the scenery. I think we could have spent weeks in the National Park and the state park combined. We managed a number of interesting hikes, one called balancing rock (how many of those are there?) was very picturesque, the hike down to what was called the window to the world was busy but still worth it. Finally the view into Santa Elena Canyon was amazing.

Balancing rock, Big Bend National Park. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 35mm, f/10, 1/125s, ISO 100

Window to the world. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 16mm, f/10, 1/40s, ISO 100

Santa Elena Canyon. Sony A7RIV with 16-35 f/4 at 35mm, f/8, 1/50s, ISO 100

At this point in out trip things took a turn…we didn’t know if we should head back west and try to find warm weather in southern Arizona and California or to continue east since we were interested in a boat show in Miami in a couple of weeks. Our indecision was also challenged as we found a problem with our trailer that caused us to spend a week in San Antonio to get fixed (thank you Arkto for dealing with this so well for us). Our decision was made for us as the weather became ice and snow all the way to San Antonio and we managed to miss the worst of it by heading straight towards Louisiana and onwards to the east coast, but that’s a story for the next posting.

This was a fun road through Big Bend State Park. Sony A7III with 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 at 200mm, f/7.1, 1/2000s, ISO 2000

Barry Scully 5/18/23 Barry Scully 5/18/23

Winter trip - Stage 2 - Quickly down the US west coast

Coastal photography, we have spent a great deal of time shooting on the east coast of the US when we lived in South Carolina. The west coast is a different beast altogether. Rocky coastlines, big waves crashing, fantastic tidal pools all make for very different shots and of course the fact that the sun goes down over the ocean instead of rising again makes shooting very different.

The view from “Secret Beach” one of many stops along the ***Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.***

Nature along this coast is also very different, we don’t see many different types of herons or egrets and gators are not something we need to worry about but we can look forward to sea lions, elephant seals and sea otters.

Since we are on the road continuously we are at the whim of the weather for the few days we were at each location. This means that whatever conditions we see that day is likely what we have to shoot. In that sense we often stopped at many locations during the day with the hope that one of those locations would be a good sunset shot…with the hope that conditions at sunset will be good or at least interesting enough. With storms and rainy weather following us down the coast it did make for some interesting seascapes and sunsets.

Photo taken with Sony A7RIV and 70-200 f/4 lens at 82mm, ISO 1000, f/4, 1/2000s. This was just a quick stop at a lookout along the highway where we saw waves crashing from a distance.

Writing these articles helps to ensure I look back at the photos I’ve taken. I usually pick what I think are the best photos from that day when I download them into Lightroom but what I have found is that if I go through them again a few weeks or even months later I find quite a few shots that I overlooked when I first downloaded them. I’m not sure what it is that changes how I look at them but I’m glad I do this once in a while.

I almost overlooked this shot on my first pass. After a couple of months I looked back through the library and this one stood out for some reason.

Our first real taste of the coast was at Cape Disappointment as the south end of Washington State. We basically didn’t get much of a chance to see anything else due to two full days of rain that kept us on the road from Port Angeles along hwy 101. I’m hoping that we will get a chance to revisit the Washington coastline but grey and rainy is not the best way to see any of that area.

Disappointment was definitely not disappointing. In fact as our first real taste of this rocky coastline it had a pretty big impact on us. One of the first sights was the Lighthouse and with the first bit of sunlight we had seen in many days it was the first time we wanted to get out with the cameras. One of the best small hikes we did was to head into Deadman’s Cove which turned out to have a cool island in the middle with a lone tree….an interesting subject to do a bit on long exposure photography and after the trip I still think it gave me one of my favourite shots of the trip.

It took some time to get this shot just right. With a 6 stop filter we were trying for long enough exposer to smooth out the waves but that log to the right moved when the waves were too large. This was one of my favourite shot of the trip. Photo taken with Sony A7III with 24-105 lens at 50 mm, ISO 100, f/13, 30 seconds.

Oregon has been on my list of places to visit for a long time. I’ve been watching a landscape photographer on YouTube named Nick Page (https://www.youtube.com/@NickPage) so I had some ideas of what was possible, although I knew it was unlikely I would be lucky enough to get an opportunity to get shots that were as good as his when our window was usually one or possibly two days at any one area. I just hoped that we would get some weather windows at dawn and dusk with interesting weather…not pure grey skies and drizzling rain or pure blue skies. If you are looking on a map some of the spots we stopped at are Bandon Beach, Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay, Cape Blanco, and Secret Beach near Brookings. This is just a few as we stopped many times along the highway all the way through Oregon.

Bandon Beach as the sun was getting low. Very little colour with the grey clouds and mist from the sea so I thought black and white would give a better feeling. Photo taken with Sony A7RIV and 70-200 f/4 at 100mm, ISO f/13, at 1/640s.

Turned out we did get some really windy days but we managed to miss a king tide with those winds by just a couple of days. That being said we did manage to get some nice shots around Bandon and scoped out a few areas around what is referred to as secret beach?? This is a place I would like to come back and spend some time near so that I could find a better spot to take shots from. The places I stood made me feel like I was just missing the shot.

We did manage to get very lucky on one of our coastal walks. By lucky I mean we ended up with a storm coming right over us as we wandered down the beach and got absolutely soaked but as this storm moved off we got one of the most amazing rainbows that I have seen with dark skies in the background and sunlight hitting the rocks. It was worth the painful rain/ice hitting us as we tried to get these shots.

A wet and cold walk on Lone Ranch Beach through a very windy storm was all worth it for these shots as the storm passed through. It was a fleeting moment but one I’m glad we caught. Photo taken with Sony A7RIV with 24-105 f/4 lens at 27 mm, ISO 160, f/11, 1/200s.

Before heading inland we took a little time along the California coast.

Along Highway 1 we continuously saw hawks hovering above the cliffs over the grassy hills hunting. At times they would go into another hawks territory and that would cause some interesting interactions. If we didn’t need to get to our campsite I could likely have stayed for hours waiting and watching those hawks.

A pair of Red-tailed hawks fighting above Highway 1 in Northern California. This was a quick stop on the side of the road as we saw numerous hawks hunting in the grass above the ocean. Photo taken with Sony A7RIV with the 200-600 lens and 1.4 teleconverter at 840mm, ISO 250, f/9, 1/1250s.

I am always eager to find some wildlife and we hit the jackpot with a sea otter that was getting ready to sleep, rolling in the kelp and fluffing up its fur for a good half hour only 20 feet from us on the beach. It finally settled in to sleep, seemingly without a worry in the world.

Sea Otter wrapping itself in the weeds and starting to puff up and clean before settling down for a nap. Photo taken with Sony A7RIV and 200-600 lens at 400mm, ISO 2000, f/9, 1/1250s to ensure I stopped the motion and was able to get the whole otter in focus.

You can see more of this cuteness in our vlog on no.fixed.plans on YouTube, you can also look directly at the West Coast Gallery for more pictures.

With horrible weather always just one step behind us, we really did not spend the amount of time we wanted to on this trip. It was a good sampler and now that we have some ideas I think that we can make some more trips down to the Oregon coast especially and hopefully get to spend more quality time behind the camera. With that cold and wet weather coming for us again our next step was to head inland towards Death Valley, but that will be in the next post.

Barry Scully 1/11/23 Barry Scully 1/11/23

Nature photography on the road - Chasing the sun (blog version) part 1.

I had a plan. This plan was to reduce the amount of time I spend working in my real job (I am a physicist who migrated to the financial world to build computer software and systems for mathematical modeling). If I did this right I would be able to take some long trips to do the types of photography I love in new places for extended periods.

My plan has come to fruition, but of course not everything goes to plan the way you think it will. I have been working on contracts that last about 18 months and then I take 6 months to do other things. The first of these “sabbaticals” was during the pandemic and we moved ourselves from southern Ontario (where we landed for a job in Buffalo, NY) to south central British Columbia. This in itself was a challenge as we had hoped to buy a small acreage and look towards building a tiny house as a base. Housing and land prices skyrocketed during the pandemic so that part of the plan turned into a long term rental in the Okanagan Valley and a second 18 month contract working from home.

With the pandemic slowing (not entirely) and travel being allowed again into the United States we decided to prepare for our next 6 month excursion by purchasing a camping trailer and a pickup truck and set out to photograph the west coasts of both British Columbia and the United States.

Ford Ranger and Arkto trailer, ready for our photo excursion.

Our journey started one month after my contract completed and we were able to close out our lease and pack everything we own into a storage container and our little trailer. Of course the weather had plans for us that would change our well laid out plans completely.

One thing I had to learn quickly on these trips is to change the way I think about photography. When you are shooting nature or landscapes close to home (within about 6 hours driving) you have time to understand the habitat you are in, including where you are likely to see animals or birds and the best place to be to get the shot both without disturbing the subject and ensuring an interesting photo. You do not have that luxury when you are on the road unless you are with a guide that has that knowledge. In most cases we are only in a location for 2 or maybe 3 days. This usually means doing some work beforehand on the internet to see if we can figure out some good locations and then the first day is mostly about hiking the area to see for ourselves what is around and when and where we might come back for some shots. For the landscape shots we take this can be enough to get a good location but we need to get lucky for the weather to be just right to get some good shots the next morning or evening. For nature photography we have much the same conditions we would like to have but now we also need to get lucky and have something show up. Often we also need to choose whether we are going to do landscape or nature since the best times of day are sunrise and sunset for both. Although, some birds of prey are best shot in bright daylight, and that is one of my favorite things to shoot.

A pair of red-tailed hawks fighting over a hunting area.

What we do try to do is to make notes where we go, just in case we do manage to get back to those locations so that we might be able to capitalize on that knowledge when the conditions are looking good.

All that being said, when you are out each evening and morning you do still get some pretty fantastic shots. I guess what is different is if you can come back regularly you can refine you compositions until you get what you picture in your mind, whereas currently I try to take a number of different shots relatively quickly while the light is good so that I can look at them later to decide what composition was better.

We have also been doing significantly more video in the last couple of years. Some of this is to document our trip, but also just because video is one of the best ways to get yourself known out here on the internet, and there is so much potential in that medium.

This poses other issues, as we are shooting video while we are trying to take shots, looking at getting “B roll” that is interesting and trying to story board a cohesive video that we hope others may find interesting. That, of course, is not just twice the work but significantly more than just trying to get out there and produce some compelling photos as I’m sure many of the YouTubers that do these type of videos will attest.

The last thing that we always need to remember is to take some time to just enjoy the trip. Not everything has to be around getting a good photo and we do need time to relax or to do regular daily things. Since we do love taking photos it is sometimes difficult to remember to just relax.

Back to the trip.

The first leg of our journey was to be a month in British Columbia, starting from the Okanagan Valley to Vancouver and then over to Vancouver Island for what is usually a wet but mild November. We were looking forward to exploring the west coast of the Island along with some treks north to check out some smaller islands and the north west coast.

Our first stop was near Vancouver in Golden Ears Provincial Park. The campsite was nestled under a canopy of huge evergreens with that typical west coast rainforest feel. Beautiful mountains surrounding us, a very large creek just below feeding into a long valley lake. In the summer this place would be completely full with campers and day hikers in from the city, but in November there was only a half dozen other people in the campground that had basic amenities of a pit toilet and not much else this time of year.

Plenty of water rushing down from the mountain in Golden Ears Provincial park.

Moss and ferns make the scene into a flood of greens

Our next stop was a campground near central Vancouver. We were here to meet some friends, do some shopping and eat at some nice restaurants before our ferry trip across to the island. It was also during this stay that we started to understand that we had a few leaking issues on the camper as one of those atmospheric rivers decided to descend on Vancouver. Despite the rain is was a good layover with good friends including one I had not seen in about 40 years. Not much in the way of photography was to be done here, other that the quick shot of the Lion’s Gate Bridge as we had our morning coffee.

Lion’s Gate bridge in Vancouver with a good bit of flare from shooting into the sun.

I love ferry rides, usually I stay out on the top deck with cameras looking for coastal shots and maybe even a whale or some dolphins. This trip was indicative of much of our time on the island as it was cold, wet, and overall uninviting. It didn’t stop me from getting on deck for a bit to get a few shots off.

View from the ferry on our crossing to Vancouver Island.

The eastern coast of Vancouver Island is a very interesting landscape. You can nearly always see the coast of the mainland with white capped mountains but in between there are many smaller islands. Many of these island are worth a trip in themselves as we have found out on previous trips. Wildlife is more abundant on the island and especially on the coast. The first place we camped was near Parksville where a number of resident bald eagles could be heard at any given point and the seals and sea lions are constantly poking their heads up as I try taking pictures of some of the shore birds coming in for what is left as the tide recedes. These are some reasons that we would love to come back to some of these areas not just for photography but to find that little piece of land so that we can explore the area much more.

Bald Eagle watching the shoreline as the tide goes out in Rathtrevor Provincial park, Parksville, BC.

Great Blue heron fishing along the coast with the BC mainland in the background.

shorebirds taking off as a wave disturbs their feeding.

Seal keeping an eye on us two legged things on the shore.

Our next trip was directly across the island to an area that has always been on my list of places to go. Ucuelet and Tofino are rather remote but definitely a tourist destination not just for the beautiful scenery but also for the surf as a choice destination for many surfers in almost any weather. As you can see by many of the photos this area is rich in coastal scenery and fantastic if you enjoy “long walks on a beach” with a significant other.

View from the lookout of Cox bay. The hike up to this point is quite a muddy climb but well worth it.

We stayed at the Surf Grove campground, which as the name suggests was filled with surfers waiting for the November storms to bring in the big waves. This was a great campsite for a base but can be rather expensive. This time of year the choices were few and there are not really any places to camp that are off grid on this part of the coast. Be sure to make plans ahead of time to stay in the area.

Lone surfer getting the last waves before the sun finally sets on Cox Bay beach.

Foggy morning as we walked through the trees to get to the beach, Cox Bay.

Just after sunset on Cox Bay beach, the surf was still rolling in with the rain heading our way.

Surfer getting a little air. Good practice for when I might get to see some dolphins riding the waves.

The hikes in Ucuelet should be high on any list, but the beaches along the coast especially Cox beach shouldn’t be missed. If you are there during tourist season, there are many boat tours for marine and coastal life. I will definitely go back hopefully with a boat at some point.

Panoramic view from Ucuelet. Looks like a fantastic area to explore by boat.

Sunset looking out to the west from Ucuelet near the lighthouse.

Our time on Vancouver Island was cut short by a weather forecast that showed not just a ton of rain but one of the coldest and snowiest Novembers on record. With a 3 season camper we were not at all prepared for that.

Pine martin in Goldstream provincial park just outside of Victoria.

We ended up camping in the city near Victoria, mostly a parking lot but with a great view of the harbour and our neighbours were a collection of boathouses that looked very inviting.

Our little camper trailer and the house boats on the harbour in Victoria, BC

Our best choice was to head down to Victoria, spend a bit of time again with some friends and then take the ferry to Port Angeles to start the next stage of our tour through Washington and Oregon. Our first few weeks was definitely high on the learning curve. Figuring out the ins and outs of the trailer, dealing with plenty of rain and wind, and just learning what it means to try to do photography on the road. I am finding that flexibility is going to be the key. Take the shot even if you aren’t sure it is the one. When I have been looking back at my pictures it the shot I finally decide to work on is often not the one that I thought was my best one when I was out there.

waiting for the Port Angeles ferry to start the next leg of our journey.

Go to No.fixed.plans on Youtube for our trip vlogs and a bit more footage of Vancouver Island. Hopefully we will get back to this area in the summer.

Barry Scully 7/8/21 Barry Scully 7/8/21

Meet the new neighbors - a rundown of completely new to me nature in our first months in BC

One of the best things about moving to new locations is that we get a whole new set of sights and sounds when it comes to animal and bird life. After our short stay in the Niagara region to complete an 18 month contract in Buffalo we finally committed to our long term plan to get to the west end of North America.

A golden mantled ground squirrel near a mountain lake in the Okanagan region.

This has been a goal of ours to try to build out a way to make nature and landscape photography our semi-retirement plan. The first stage was to get out here and find a location to purchase some land. We figured it would take a year or two of traveling around British Columbia before we would find that ideal location to be a base for photo trips and possibly a nature retreat.

Our first short stop was in the Nelson area of the Kootenays. After a long cross-country drive, this was also the area that we started to find and photograph birds and animals that were new to us. Hiking (or if necessary snow-shoeing ) along the rail trail above Nelson I found a couple of small birds flitting about in the trees. The first on a snowy day was the Varied Thrush followed by a pair of Pine Grosbeaks taking some mostly frozen fruit from the trees.

This trail was also were I caught my first glimpse of a Northern Pygmy Owl, but it would take a trip to the college grounds in Castlegar to finally get a clear shot.

Northern Pygmy Owl on a cold cloudy day near Castlegar, BC

Down along the lake in a creek bed I saw an American Dipper diving into a rocky stream and back out. This is a bird I had seen on a few nature shows and it was just as interesting to watch in real life. Even in town amongst a bunch of loud Canada geese I found a single Greater White Fronted Goose.

After a month in the Kootenays, we headed toward the Okanagan Valley. It soon became evident that this was not only a place for retirees to migrate too, but it was also a great location for birds of prey to spend the cold months. Eagles, Hawks, Harriers, Owls, and Falcons could be found along the river and up on the edge of the cliffs. Most of those birds I have seen before but the Peregrine Falcon was a first for me, and I was lucky to find where they were going to nest in the spring.

Peregrine falcon flying over the cliffs east of Osoyoos, BC

With the exception of a few Bighorn Sheep and Coyotes, at first we didn’t see anything new from the mammal side of the animal kingdom. The first one that was new to me was a rather large rodent. The Yellow-Bellied Marmot can be found along skree fields, in rocky areas and up in the mountain fields. Another rodent-like mammal was a uniquely marked chipmunk that turned out to be a very cute Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel.

We did finally happen along a family of Mountain Goats on the highway up towards Kelowna one afternoon. A very good excuse to stop along the side of the road and pull out a long lens. I’m really hoping to get more chances to see these beautiful creatures in the fall.

A pair of Mountain Goats just off the road north of Penticton, BC

With spring migration I started to see a lot of smaller birds that were also new to me. The list of new birds is pretty long but was interrupted when I went back to work, putting a hold on day outings. On that list are Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks and Brewer’s Blackbirds up in the mountainous areas. Canyon Wren along the cliff edge and Clark’s Nutcracker in the wooded areas. Say’s Phoebe, Yellow Headed Blackbirds, Yellow Breasted Chats, Spotted Sandpipers, a Cassin’s Finch, Bullock’s Oriole, a Red-Naped Sapsucker, Violet-green Swallows, Bohemian Waxwings, Black-billed Magpies, Willow Flycatcher, and a Bewick’s Wren by the creeks and lakes.

As for birds of prey, one of my favorite subjects, I kept track of the pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting in the cliff face, a Golden Eagle, a good shot of a male Northern Harrier, and a number of different morphs of Red-Tailed Hawks.

As you can tell, in only a couple months with just a few hikes and weekend walks I have managed to find a wide assortment of animals and birds that were completely new to me, not to mention the plethora of nature that I have been able to shoot that may not be new but is always interesting to get to know better.

I’m still looking forward to getting some more interesting interaction shots. Eagles and Osprey fishing, Bighorn sheep, elk, moose and deer in rut this fall. Hopefully I can get some more bear shots, maybe even a grizzly. The mammals that continue to be elusive but hope to capture in the next couple of years are bobcats, lynx, wolverines and badgers. On the bird side I continue to look for some of the more rare owls in the neighborhood and maybe a woodpecker or two. With this search, maybe we’ll even find that even more elusive piece of land to build on.

Barry Scully 2/12/21 Barry Scully 2/12/21

Wildlife sampler from the Kootenays

Extending from the last post that focused mostly on landscapes, let’s take a quick look at what we were able to see in the way of wildlife in the Kootenays on our short stay.

Extending from the last post that focused mostly on landscapes, let’s take a quick look at what we were able to see in the way of wildlife in the Kootenays on our short stay.

I think the first thing we saw along the roadside was eagles, they hang around the river valleys year round and we were able to catch a few in the Slocan valley on some cloudy days. There were 5 eagles all hanging around, the juveniles would often fly up to the adults making the adults decide it was time to go. Below is a little slide show of a few of these eagles perched and in flight or taking off.

On the trails we saw a few birds that have stuck around for winter. A new one for me was a varied thrush that was looking for food in the underbrush. The light was horrible and the thrush wouldn’t stay still so I had to take this shot at 1/1000 s which brought my ISO up to 12800. I’m still pretty impressed with the image quality at that high ISO especially since this is cropped down to around 5400x3600 from the original 61 Mega Pixels of the Sony A7RIV. The shot was taken at 600mm and f/6.3.

Woodpeckers seemed plentiful around town in Nelson. A pair of Pileated woodpeckers had been very busy removing a lot of the bark from an evergreen tree in the local park. I’m never sure if they are doing more damage to the tree or actually helping it out by getting the grubs out of the tree.

Back on the rail trail we came across a small flock of pine grosbeaks feeding on small red berries on snow covered trees. Both the Male and the female have some beautiful markings and colors.

Another new bird for me was seen by chance as we walked through Kokanee creek provincial park. I thought that I had seen a fish in the creek but was quite surprised to see a bird pop out of the water onto a rock. I had seen these only on an Attenborough special before so this was quite a treat to watch them hunt in the shallows of a fast moving creek. I managed to get a clear shot once one came up for a breather on a small rock.

Just in town there were things to see as well. Pretty pine siskin were often in the trees and around feeders in town.

A greater while fronted goose was keeping company with the Canada geese in the park in town.

Golden eye can be found in the lakes and rivers in the area.

Many of the birds above were new to me although they likely aren’t that hard to find in this area. The one bird that I was really hoping to find to add to my list of owls in North America was the Northern Pygmy Owl. For the first few weeks I had just glimpses of two in the woods above town. A trip down to Castlegar and some trails near the local college got me the first good views of one sitting at the top of a tree. I do hope that I will get more chances to see these little guys in better light and hopefully capture some in flights but for now this shot definitely made me happy.

Not a bad list of birds to find in winter before we took off to the Okanagan Valley. Animals however were not as easy to find with only one Big Horned sheep seen in the east Kootenays. With all the wildlife in the area, I’m sure it will be worth heading back to see the bears, cougars, elk, moose, and maybe even a wolverine if I’m lucky enough. Those will have to wait for trips into the backcountry. For now here is the one and only mammal from this tour.

Coming up next we explore the Okanagan valley while we continue to try to find a piece of land to build our next home.

Barry Scully 2/10/21 Barry Scully 2/10/21

A month in the Kootenays

As it was just the start of winter, it can be a challenge to get places to shoot nature. Most travel from Nelson requires traversing at least one mountain pass which can and most likely will have some significant snow and ice and can also be rather treacherous to drive.

The clouds dropped deep into the Slocan Valley.

As part of our move to the western end of Canada we stayed for a month in Nelson, BC. Nelson is a pretty little town tucked away on the side of a mountain on the shore of the west arm of Kootenay lake.

A view into Nelson and the sort of famous Big Orange Bridge from the rail trail.

In the East Kootenays there are a number of hot springs that can take the cold out of your bones. One such area in which we managed to get some very pretty shots was at Fairmont Hot Springs in the Eastern Kootenays. This first shot was taken above the old hot springs overlooking the western mountain range as the sun was setting. The steam from the hot springs really seemed to just fit with the clouds both below and above the mountains.

Although this view was pretty amazing, looking behind us showed off some amazing looking mountain peaks. The photo below was taken with some lovely side light hitting the furthest mountain range. I tried to wait for the optimal lower cloud coverage to add in some more depth to the shot but had to temper that with the light disappearing behind the clouds.

Back in the west Kootenays we travelled up the valleys a number of times and found a few interesting locations to shoot. One in particular seemed to be good for Bald eagles along the river edge. With nearly constant cloud inversions isolating the eagles from the background was not difficult at least in some cases. The difficult part was getting just the right amount so that there was some background and not just another high key bird shot.

Moving up the Slocan Valley we stopped at the small town of New Denver. This town is on the eastern side of Slocan Lake with beautiful views in nearly every direction, this view north was pretty amazing. There are so many places to go from New Denver.

North heads to some larger mountains and pretty little mountain lakes, this shot was taken on the edge of Summit lake. East takes you across a pass again towards Kaslo. This is an area we will go back to explore again both in winter and summer.

The area around Nelson itself is beautiful. In the winter it can be rather warm one day and in a few hours you could be wandering through a foot of snow. Beautiful, but even in town where the streets are all on a slope it can be sketchy driving or even walking sometimes. The rail trail above town has some of the most pleasant walks in the area. Of course the picture below shows what that trail can be like after a little heavy snow.

Down closer to the lake we did get to explore Kokanee creek provincial park, at least the lower portion. This pretty park is a good place for hungry bears in spawning season but at this time of year it was just us…at least up at these little falls.

This was a quick view of the Kootenay region from our short time here, my next article will look closer at the wildlife in the area that we were able to see in the area.

Barry Scully 1/5/21 Barry Scully 1/5/21

12 Best Photos of 2020

Last year will go down as one of the oddest years for most. It definitely wasn’t the best year for nature and landscape photography but I still managed to get out and get some shots for the portfolio. From a photography point of view it started pretty well for me, getting chances to get shots of a Northern Hawk owl that decided to stay the winter in a location that was 20 minutes from Salwa’s father, and I got to spend a couple weekends in upstate New York with Short Eared owls before the border shut down.

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The first shot on the list is of the Northern Hawk Owl taking off.

This was taken on a cold February day with a bunch of other nature photographers taking in the action. This owl stayed in the little marsh in a small town in Ontario for a good portion of the winter. It seems that there was so much to eat that it would keep a bunch of voles stashed in the trees around the marsh. This particular shot was taken with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/3200 s, and ISO 800. Cropped to 5x4, I wanted to focus on the look in its eyes as it took off. This was easily worth standing in -20 degree weather for before it decided to take off.

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Some of my favorite shots this year were of the Short Eared owls, watching them hunting over the fields is amazing. I first went to the place they affectionately call Shortyville with a photographer I met while wandering around a little park in Buffalo. Since he had been before it made it easy to get to the right locations and find some of the best spots that the owls had been seen hunting. This was a well known sight for locals that would return each year with the migrating owls, but there were many farmers fields in which the owls might hunt each night. We got lucky this night as we saw one shorty and a harrier flying over a field just before sunset. It became a 40 minute shoot as a couple of owls and the harrier hunted across the fields continuously. The light wasn’t great most of the time but there were a few moments where the light and the action coincided to get some spectacular in-flight moments.

I picked 2 of my favorite shots from these outings to be on this list. The first, a banking shot as the owl was looking to dive shows off the wing spread and that amazing look of concentration. This was taken near dusk with the A7RIV, the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter and was cropped afterwards to square. It was taken handheld at 840mm, f/9, 1/4000s, ISO 3200 and brightened half a stop in Lightroom.

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This second shot was taken as the Short Eared owl glided back up towards me over the farmers field.

The grass and twigs in the foreground helped to give a bit of depth to the shot. What I love though is how the colors of the owl match the surroundings so well with the white to match the snow and the browns match many of the shades in the field. This shot was taken with the same setting as above but since I was shooting in aperture mode the shutter speed came down to 1/2000s since the background was a bit darker than the sky in the previous shot.

I probably could have picked another 10 shots of the Short Eared and Northern Hawk owls for this list but these as my favorites. You can see more of these in the following blog posts.

SHORT EARED OWLS IN SHORTYVILLE (OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE MY 200-600)

SONY A7RIV AND FE 200-600…ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL

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I was able to do a little Astro photography last year, one night in particular as we were trying to get shots of Neowise comet I stayed out to capture some wide angle shots of the Milky Way.

This particular shot was taken at ISO 3200, f/4, at 16mm for 30s on a fixed tripod with the Sony A7III and the 16-35 f/4. The skies are dark enough in Haliburton to pull out some interesting color in a single shot. I always love to have something as a silhouette to give some context to the location and the trees here were perfect.

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Living along the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River gives us plenty of opportunities to shoot Osprey.

This year was not the best for getting to see them fishing but I did manage to get some great shots in-flight and taking off. I really liked the feeling of action in this shot as the osprey’s claws are just releasing from the branch and the wings are just ready to come back down.

Taken at 840mm (200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter), f/9, 1/2000s and ISO 400.

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I managed to get back to a location where I used to spend a great deal of time doing photography when I lived near Toronto. Cranberry Marsh near Whitby, ON has more birds and animals than nearly any conservation area that I have been to. I was able to get there this fall as the shore birds were getting ready to migrate south.

Since the marsh was quickly losing water there was a mess of fish that were unable to get to deeper water and that meant birds hunting, and fighting for their share. I got down on my belly for this shot as I saw these two greater yellowlegs fighting over a spot. I was shooting with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter at the time and didn’t have a chance to take off the teleconverter for the closer action. This didn’t really affect the shot that I took at 360mm, f/9, at 1/2000s and ISO1000. I managed to stop the action well and since I was shooting at 10 FPS I was able to pick out what I thought was the best moment from about 30 shots over a couple of bursts. I do have a couple more from this set that I really like but this one stood out for me.

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There were a great number of herons and egrets also taking advantage of the depleting water. I watched a Great Blue heron try to swallow an eel-like fish that had to be a foot long. It took about 10 tries before it was able to swallow but it was quite the sight. This juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron had such an odd look to it as it came in for a landing that it quickly became one of my favorite shots this year.

Again I took this shot from a low angle and ended up at eye level as it came in. The shot was taken at 600mm, f/6.3, at 1/2500s and ISO 1000 on the Sony A7RIV with the 200-600mm lens.

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I came back to this location in October to look for owls and managed to get to watch a Barred Owl hunt along the road side.

This was a successful hunt as you can see the vole in its talons. Barred owls will often hunt during the day and rarely worry about people nearby...as long as they don’t bother the owl or get in the way of the hunt. Over the last 15 years I’ve had the privilege to watch owls hunt many times but it never gets old watching the process. This particular time I could actually hear the vole moving in the grasses and could hear that same sound in many places along the trails. Should be good hunting this winter. The light was not very good on this particular morning but with the new Canon R5 and the 500mm f/4 IS II and 1.4 teleconverter I was able to still get some good shots. This shot was at 700mm, f/5.6, at 1/1000s and ISO 6400. Very high ISO but I’m happy with the detail and the noise levels don’t take away from the shot.

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As I was getting used to the new Canon R5 I tried to get out to practice with bird in-flight shots as often as possible this fall. The animal and bird eye autofocus has turned out to not be a gimmick.

Where the Sony cameras have been fantastic at grabbing onto moving subjects for some time now, this new camera catches the eye of birds so quickly and gives confidence that I am getting the focus where I want it. It isn’t perfect yet but boy is it good. This shot is from a burst in which every shot was in focus. I just love the simplicity and detail in this one. Nothing but the bird. Shot taken at 700mm, f/5.6, at 1/2000s and ISO200.

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Our move out to the west coast of Canada in December did give me a chance for a few landscape shots that I found compelling.

This first one was of a waterfall in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park and although the light is kind of neutral I really liked the scene and textures. I hope to come back to this location a few times with more interesting light to see what kind of compositions I can get.

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In the East Kootenays we spent a few days at Fairmont Hot Springs while waiting for our little apartment to be available.

The view from the hot springs was absolutely amazing and I managed to get a shot of the mountains as the sun was dropping and with a few clouds passing across. In the end a panorama made the most sense. This was shot on the Sony A7RIV with the 24-105 f/4 lens at 40mm, f/4, 1/1000s at ISO 100. It was cropped to a 4x1 aspect. I really can’t wait for the weather to improve to be able to explore these regions more.

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The last shot was taken very close to the end of the year. A very foggy day in Slocan Valley watching 6 Bald Eagles interacting along the river. As the clouds or fog moved through the valley I was able to get some interesting shots. This one just started to reveal the trees on the edge of the valley with the eagle staring into the distance.

The shot was taken with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter. 840mm, f/9, at 1/1000 s and ISO 4000. I was hoping at the time for the eagle to take off but it was content to sit there for quite a while. I’m sure I’ll get more chances for these types of shots soon enough.

That was the 12 top shots from last year. This next year I’m really looking forward to new opportunities that come along with a new location and am really looking forward to getting more use out of the new gear. Should probably get out a review of that soon :)

Barry Scully 9/9/20 Barry Scully 9/9/20

Wayback Wednesday (Take 2) - Australia

Sandy beaches and light blue seas around the Whitsunday Islands

Time for episode 2 of this series where I look back at pictures from past trips, much like I would have in bygone days, flipping through photo albums. I find it helps bring into focus things I did well, or mistakes I’ve made. It also highlights how I have grown over that time in terms of my technique and composition.

The iconic laugh of the Kookaburra startled us many times with a call that almost sounded like monkeys in central America.

I chose our trip to Australia from seven years ago for my look-back. Ever since I was a young kid I remember thinking how great it would be to travel around Australia to see the exotic animals and birds, amazing coastlines and reefs, not to mention those cool accents, right? To make it worthwhile for a plane ride that takes more than 24 hours, we hoped to make this trip for a longer duration. As luck (or something similar) would have it, I finally had more than a week off work for the first time since leaving high school (that can’t be healthy) and we booked a little camping van for a 6 week tour of the east coast of Australia.

Our little home for six weeks on the road

We had already completed a couple of trips in VW Westy camping vans, and we knew we enjoyed this style of travel. Since this was going to be a photography trip as well, the camper van was a great way to take our gear and always have it at hand.

The six-week tour started in Brisbane with a visit to Salwa’s brother and family, and then we started the trek north along the coast towards Cairns, Port Douglas and the Daintree National Park.

An old pier in Brisbane…used a vintage monochrome filter to bring us back to the days where the pier was a center of commerce.

There….northward bound

After departing Brisbane the first area we explored was the Sunshine Coast with some beautiful beaches, especially around Noosa. If we had a 4x4 camper I think we would have spent more time in this region along Great Sandy National Park and onto Fraser Island but that will have to wait for another trip.

Sunset at Noosa Beach heading up the sunshine coast

We had heard great things about the Whitsunday Islands National Park and wandered up the coast with the goal of taking a boat out to the islands. The beautiful white beaches on the island were breathtaking. There were a few sailboats anchored in the bay and I think that would be the perfect way to be able to really see these islands. It was beautiful at midday, I’m guessing it would be spectacular at dusk and dawn.

The white sandy beaches and a safe anchorage. What else do you need? Lemon sharks and stingrays were abundant in the shallows.

We continued to wind our way up the one main highway stopping at various beaches, towns and small wildlife sanctuaries with a main goal of getting up toward Cairns and Port Douglas. Along the coast and in the wildlife sanctuaries I was able to get my fill of bird photography, most of which I have never seen before. The slideshow below has a sample of these.

We picked a great time to head into the north end of Australia, going into their winter season it was still hot like a Carolina spring but not to the point that we couldn’t handle the heat. For those of you who love the heat, the north of Australia has enough to explore to spend months wandering. This area becomes very under-populated so you do need to plan well ahead if you are camping. From a nature photographer’s perspective, the rainforests are so unique to those of us from North America that I found it difficult to focus and found myself wandering aimlessly pressing my shutter button for everything that caught my eye.

Although I did get plenty of interesting shots, slowing down and thinking about what I wanted to capture would have allowed me to get much more interesting bird and animal shots. I think the excitement of seeing things for the first time can make you just want to get a bit of it all, even if you know better, and would normally stop and wait for the action to come to you.

One of the more fascinating birds to capture. A Cassowary in the Daintree forest.

Both the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef were things that I will remember for a long time. I think in some ways this trip became like a wine tasting tour. We got just enough to know that we want to go back and get more of some areas - and in some cases we might want to buy the vineyard and never leave.

would love to go back and dive the great barrier reef again with a proper underwater camera. Talk about opening a whole new world and rekindling my love of scuba diving.

…and back again….southward bound

On the way back south we ventured inland and were rewarded with completely different landscapes and creatures. The people were very different as well, most of the people we met in the campsites were transient workers for the mines. They would stay for weeks at a time in the camps and head back to their families on the coast for some weekends and holidays. Looked like hard work, and they traveled where the work took them.

The landscape changed considerably as we headed inland. Far enough inland to get some different rocks and trees but not quite far enough to be in the desert this time.

There were many National and State Parks that we passed on the way south. Many of these parks really required 4x4 campers to enjoy properly. Often roads that might be passable at the time could be flooded after any rainfall. Sadly, even though many of these were high on our list of places to play we had to skip this time and put on our “next time” list. One of the bigger National Parks did have some areas that our camper could drive into. Carnarvon National Park was a hikers dream. This was also a fantastic spot for landscape photography. We got some interesting shots, and again found locations and compositions for that next time - oh, and we did see the very illusive and odd platypus hunting in a creek.

hiking in the interior of Australia we found some amazing granite to climb

Past Brisbane we headed back to the coast. Beaches along the Gold Coast gave us some relaxing camping with Salwa’s family again and a taste for why this area is one of the best places to live in the world. Beautiful weather, interesting people, and if you love surfing….this is really paradise.

Where there were waves there was never a shortage of surfers

The coastline gets much more rugged and a lot less sandy as you head further south. For coastal photography this was spectacular. With many cliffs, tidal pools and waves crashing against the shoreline it felt a little like parts of the west coast of North America - but also different in so many ways. You won’t often see beach kangaroos in North America.

We managed to get down as far South as Murramarang National Park before needing to get back for our flight in Brisbane. The beach and sea scape at this park was a place that will bring back many great memories and quite a few good pictures.

…and back one more time…northward one last time.

Blue Mountains - just another fabulous area to hike

We spent 6 weeks in Australia and barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and locations we would like to shoot. I guess we can look at this trip as a very long reconnaissance trip, and hopefully we can use what we learned to plan more trips. We did also spend time doing the usual tourist stuff, visiting historical sites, vineyards, and beaches along with many coffee shops and bakeries. Next time I think we would purchase our own camper van and look into taking a year or more to do “the big loop”, circumnavigating the entire country and taking pictures and videos. It might even be a good excuse to get people to meet up at locations for some photo treks and work with some local landscape and nature photographers who have done most of the scouting leg-work to come up with some expeditions.

Take a look through the gallery below for a glimpse of the different sights and sounds as we wandered the country.

A small Oasis (Copy)

A small Oasis

Wandering through a rainforest in Australia. Looking back on a fantastic trip.

Perfect anchorage (Copy)

Perfect anchorage

A great spot to anchor in the protected bay on Whitsunday Island.

Is that sitting? (Copy)

Is that sitting?

Stone Curlew resting near our campsite.

Up the creek (Copy)

Up the creek

Looking up this creek we know there are more interesting pools and small cascades to find.

At the end of the day (Copy)

At the end of the day

So much we have seen, and so much more to see tomorrow. Looking towards that next horizon.

Beach walk (Copy)

Beach walk

searching for food

On the rocks (Copy)

On the rocks

Just another fantastic coastal location along the east coast of Australia. looking back on a great trip.

Rusty Rocks (Copy)

Rusty Rocks

Just another beautiful and rugged coastal scene

Sunbathers (Copy)

Sunbathers

Definitely not a sight I’m used to seeing on the beach.

A big dome (Copy)

A big dome

An interesting hike, like most in Australia just a simple sign at the bottom warning of danger if it rains but no other safeguards. Up to you to understand what you can do.

Sooty (Copy)

Sooty

A Sooty Oystercatcher glides across the beach in South Eastern Australia

Continuous Waves (Copy)

Continuous Waves

Slowly evolving shoreline as the wave continuously hit the rocks over eons.

Seems like old growth (Copy)

Seems like old growth

Sometimes when you walk through the woods you find places that just seem ancient and slightly mysterious.

Little funnel (Copy)

Little funnel

Water pushes up this funnel, splashing across the rocks and back down again for the next wave.

Iconic sound in the Australian forests (Copy)

Iconic sound in the Australian forests

When you hear that laugh you can forget where you are, thinking you might be hearing monkeys in the trees. The laugh of the Kookaburra is pretty distinct in Australia.

Got shell (Copy)

Got shell

Now to get the meat out of it.

Breaking in the middle (Copy)

Breaking in the middle

Not the best surfing area with all those rocks but the waves are definitely breaking nicely.

Wispy clouds (Copy)

Wispy clouds

Sunsets can also be found on the east coast, just need to find the right cove.

Yellow masks (Copy)

Yellow masks

A pair of masked lapwings on a sandy beach

Dragon head (Copy)

Dragon head

Bearded dragon getting some sun

Looking out over the Blue mountains (Copy)

Looking out over the Blue mountains

Yellow-tailed black cockatoo along the ridge.

From a distant age (Copy)

From a distant age

A bird that looks more like a dinosaur than any I have seen before. The cassowary is beautiful but almost ancient looking.

nesting (Copy)

nesting

A pair of Galah guarding the nest hole.

Pair of Corella (Copy)

Pair of Corella

Bare-eyed or little Corella Cockatoos

Silver (Copy)

Silver

A tiny Silvereye in the thicket.

multiple cascades (Copy)

multiple cascades

Each drops down into another little still area.

amazing colours (Copy)

amazing colours

Rainbow Lorikeet grabbing a seed

Interested (Copy)

Interested

A Blue-faced honeyeater looking awfully interested in what I’m doing.

Out of the fog (Copy)

Out of the fog

The fog starts to lift over the hills giving a nice distance to that background.

Bird and Banksia (Copy)

Bird and Banksia

Red Wattlebird looking for seed in this banksia flower.

Small part of a large flock (Copy)

Small part of a large flock

We stopped for a patio dinner on the coast and heard nothing but rainbow lorikeets screeching away as they found a spot in the trees to rest.

beans for lunch (Copy)

beans for lunch

Sulphur-crested cockatoo with a big pod.

Big bird (Copy)

Big bird

It is not everyday to get to see a bird that is nearly your own height walking through the woods.

Tidal Pools (Copy)

Tidal Pools

We can walk for hours along these beaches searching out the tidal pools and what lies beneath.

One tree rock (Copy)

One tree rock

And one big hole underneath

In the long grass (Copy)

In the long grass

A couple of smaller kangaroos found while wandering a bird sanctuary.

What did I learn from this Wayback Wednesday?

Slow down and enjoy the scenery. Sometimes we try to get everything in on a trip and don’t get to fully take in an area. Even with 6 weeks we often felt like we had to move on before we were ready. This is something we need to continuously think about as we often want to see what is around the next corner without fully exploring what is around us now.
Come back in good light. We say this often but rarely do. We would see an amazing scene but the light would not be great. We nearly always had some place to go next and often wouldn’t come back for that great evening or morning light.
Beaches can be hell on cameras and lenses. Both the sand and the salt water in the air add up. I came back with 2 lenses that sounded like they were grinding pepper. Clean your gear well after beach days.
We could have taken a full year traveling around Australia and still not explored all we wanted to. There is so much to see, and it is so easy to caravan around the country. If we were to go again for a short visit then I think we might want to limit ourselves to a couple of locations and explore them thoroughly. Otherwise we need more time - much more time.
Make sure to take time to relax, enjoy the scene around you. This goes back to the first lesson but sometimes we need to just put away the cameras grab a beer or glass of wine and enjoy what is happening around us.
Get better at documenting our trips, mostly so that we can plan the next ones.
Buy a boat and a camper van. We want to explore and we have no reason to put down roots. This lesson we will need to work on in stages. It is good to have goals.
Make some photo books of our travels. Much better for showing people than on a computer and nice to look through for the memories.

I think, looking back, that this trip will be remembered as one of the best times we have spent as a couple traveling. Wandering around the country in a little camper van was the best way to see what we wanted to see. With only a flight to catch at the end of 6 weeks we traveled where we wanted and stopped at anything that was interesting. I think we just want to be able to spend more of our time in this way.

Barry Scully 8/19/20 Barry Scully 8/19/20

Wayback Wednesday - Costa Rica 2010

Back in 2010 Salwa and I had an opportunity to stay at a “resort” near Corcovado National Park on the Southwest Coast of Costa Rica. This trip would mean a flight into San Jose, a second “white knuckle” flight to Puerto Jimenez and then an hour and a half 4x4 ride to the Pacific coast and the Bosque Del Cabo Rain Forest Lodge.

Quick look back at a trip we made to Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.

Relaxing in the garden cabin at Bosque Del Cabo, in the Osa Peninsula.

Unlike most of our trips, we were going to be staying in one location and doing small day hikes out around and through the rain forest trails. This was also going to be the first photo trip for me that would revolve around almost entirely nature photography.

The way in to the Lodge was a bit of an adventure in itself. We were weighed along with our luggage before getting on a small prop plane and then took off over the mountains towards a small landing strip with a dirt road and a couple of dogs roaming around. A 4x4 picked us up for the next stage and off we went through the little town with one store, a gas station, a few small houses, and past farm land that seemed to be growing more rocks than anything else. The dirt road narrowed and started to push across dried river beds and then into a more lush rainforest environment where we were dropped off at the common area of Bosque Del Cabo.

Common area, kitchen and dining. Everything outdoors, but the chef they had brought in made every stop here worth while.

Salwa had found this location through some boating friends whose kids had built the lodge. It came highly recommended and the first sight of this place was special. While not a typical 5 star hotel, this Eco Lodge had excellent amenities. The juxtaposition of luxury and back woods was in-line with our ambitions.

Luxury in the rainforest with a view that can’t be beat.

The Lodge is on the Southwest corner of the Osa Peninsula and has more than 700 acres of rainforest to explore. Our first night we splurged and stayed on the ocean view cabin that had to be pretty much the most beautiful view from a bed that we have ever seen. Looking over a 500 foot cliff onto the Pacific Ocean, we were greeted with beautiful sunrise and sunset along with the sight of Scarlet Macaw flying below us.

The view from our pacific view cabin. A glass of wine or beer and we could sit here for hours watching time pass us by.

The rest of the week we stayed in the garden cabins located a few hundred yards into the rainforest in a 10 acre garden with each cabin facing directly into the rainforest where we would watch the monkeys swing by our room. The cabins were set up with one wall, a bathroom in the back and open view on the other three sides. The bed was sitting in the middle with a large bug net over it that Salwa insisted I inspect for ‘critters’ before she sealed herself in by tucking the bug net under the mattress. You might say this was open air camping but definitely a very luxurious form - glamping before that was even a thing.

Garden view cabin with outdoor shower and views in almost any direction.

Nature Photography 101 - What I Wish I Knew Then

The trip itself was a huge learning experience for me in terms of nature photography. We were still in the early days of digital SLRs and I had just gotten a new Canon 100-400L lens to put on my Canon T1i with a whole 15 Megapixels of crop sensor goodness. This was also the trip that I learned a lesson about backing up your pictures…but I’ll get to that later.

Howler monkey, one of many that we heard that morning in the distance.

Every morning after a hearty breakfast at the common hall we would grab our cameras and head on on a hike either through the jungle trails or down to the coastline. We could last about 3 hours in the heat on these hikes before we needed to be back to grab more water and food. At 35 degrees and 100% humidity we were constantly wet and would just replace our current sweaty cloths with ones that we had hung up earlier that were slightly less hot and wet. Each hike took us to a different area, sometime we would be wandering towards howler monkeys, other times we would be looking for poison dart frogs in the undergrowth or whatever birds were passing through.

Roadside hawk no where near a road at this point.

Looking back to the things we learned there, both Salwa and I see so much in our photography that we didn’t do well. Composition was lacking, tracking our subjects was difficult with the equipment we had and our lack of experience. Taking shots in the undergrowth of a jungle is difficult even now with cameras that can deal with much less light, but reviewing these shots just makes me want to go back and do it again. Part of looking back on these trips in nostalgia, part is looking forward to what we would do next in our travels.

The long hike down to the coast was well worth the climb back in the hot sun. We explored the tidal pools until we could go no further.

We also look now to see what shots we took and what ones we missed. On that note, I can tell you about one of the biggest lessons I had to learn the hard way on this trip. To start off, because the location was remote, we didn’t bring any laptops which I would normally download the day’s pictures onto. My camera only had one card slot and, of course, with the high humidity the one thing that could go wrong, did. Into day three I started to take some pictures and was presented with an error stating “could not write to card”. I tried to look at the pictures on the card but nothing showed up. I quickly put a new card in the camera and continued on with the hope that I would be able to recover the data once we got back to a computer. Unfortunately this was not going to be the case, even the forensic tools I had from work were unable to recover the data and I lost two full days of the trip. Lesson learned, dual card slots became one of the most important things to look for in a camera. The sad part was the loss of some shots that would have been some great memories and at the time shots I thought were going to be amazing wildlife shots. The Toucan and Scarlet Macaw in flight were ones that come to mind but also some great shots of Salwa that I miss now.

White face capuchin monkey family, tough shooting up into the canopy to get good exposure. Definitely a challenge for the dynamic range of cameras back in 2010…maybe even still now.

So what did we learn on the Wayback Wednesday?

Dual card slots good, heat and humidity are not my friend.
Costa Rica is a treasure and well worth going back to enjoy nature again and to maybe get some of those shots I lost or missed the first time.
Memories from these trips are worth looking back on once in a while, another reason to make a hardcopy travel book from each of these trips.
I can see the improvements that we have made in our photography and continue to look at what things I would like to improve as I compare shots from 10 years ago to ones from today.
We both really miss traveling and as soon as we can, we’ll plan our next trip according to the type of photography we’d like to explore.
New technology may not be everything, but you can really see the difference and I can tell how much easier it is to get the shot now as compared to then.

Thanks for joining me on this look back, let me know if you liked it and I might make Wayback Wednesday more often. If you are interested in the Eco Lodge please take a look at http://www.bosquedelcabo.com/

Barry Scully 5/31/20 Barry Scully 5/31/20

Spring migration - short post for an odd spring.

We had a very odd spring this year, cold and wet until the last couple of weeks of May and then 30 degrees Celsius immediately afterwards. No transition, and due to that the spring migration of birds felt kind of abbreviated.

Common Loon fishing on the Niagara River on a rather cold and dreary day. Since there wasn’t much colour anyways I made this Black and White to focus a bit more on the Loon’s feather textures.

The ducks and loons came through and stopped on Lake Erie and the Niagara River for a few days before heading north towards their summer haunts anywhere from southern Ontario all the way up into the arctic.

Bald eagle returning to the nest with a decent sized fish on another grey day. High key images can be a challenge with the contrasting white and black of the eagle.

Osprey and Eagles came back into the area and started setting up nests quickly. Many of these nests are located on the US side of the river but we do get to see these birds fishing along the edge of the river. If/when the borders open back up it will be nice to get over to see some of the nature areas around Buffalo again to see what has returned.

Female purple martin taking off from the martin condos on the Lake Erie shoreline.

The next thing we tend to see just as the swarming bugs emerge are the swallows, Martins and swifts. There are plenty of houses that people put up along the shore for these birds along with bridges for many swallows to build their nests. It can be quite the scene in the mornings and evenings when there are hundreds of these birds doing aerial acrobatics lunging after tiny bug clouds up and down the shoreline.

Wilson's warbler stopping for just a second beside a wiggly branch

Usually a big thing, but this year not so much. The warblers come through and if we are lucky stay a few days in the small woods nearby getting back energy by eating the bugs in the trees. There are years that I have seen more that 30 different species of warbler, this was not one of them. I did get to see a few very pretty warblers and a couple that I have never seen before this year. Now that spring migration is mostly over, it is time to get out in the kayaks and canoe to see what we have in and around the lakes of Ontario…I guess that will be another story depending on where we can venture off to on this odd 2020.

Magnolia warbler down low in the thick of the bushes.

Barry Scully 5/7/20 Barry Scully 5/7/20

Short eared owls in Shortyville (or how I learned to stop worrying and love my 200-600)

Short Eared Owls are not a particularly rare owl, but up until this year I have had little success in getting to know them. Near the end of this winter I got a call from another nature photographer with some local knowledge of a great location to be able to shoot Short Eared Owls…not owl…owls.

Short eared owl banking a turn while hunting. So cool to watch the head stay perfectly stable as the body turns through the corner.

I have been observing owls and photographing them for nearly 20 years in North America. There are now only a few of the more common species that I haven’t been able to get to know and don’t have good photographs of. Short Eared Owls are not a particularly rare owl, but up until this year I have had little success in getting to know them. A couple of trips to Amherst Island years ago gave me some quick glimpses of them as they took off before I could raise a camera. Near the end of this winter I got a call from another nature photographer with some local knowledge of a great location to be able to shoot Short Eared Owls…not owl…owls.

This area has been locally referred to as Shortyville, and the locals know where to go and when to be there. They stick around this farming area for a few weeks before dispersing to their summer haunts and during that time they will hunt just before dusk over the farmer’s fields in some of the nicest light.

On our first trip down there we got to the location at around 2pm. Thinking we were early, I was surprised to see a good number of cars with people standing around with tripods on the edge of the road. Seems this was the hot spot from the day before. Nothing was around at the time, it was still a bit early even though the sun was not going to be high in the sky for long.

Short eared owl on the hunt over the farmers field.

We decided to drive around a bit as the owls were known to hunt in a number of the fields in the area. We got pretty lucky, seeing first a northern harrier and then in the same field a short eared owl, both searching over the field. Within a few minutes there were two more owls and we started to have our choice of what to try to shoot. By the time we had seen the owls, the clouds had come in and the light was not the beautiful golden hour that seemed to be promised an hour earlier. We did make the best of it, with the owl circling the field for about 45 minutes before heading off to a field that we couldn’t get close to.

Beautiful short eared owl in flight. I had no idea that the underside of the wings were so white.

For this trip I was using the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 G lens with the 1.4 teleconverter. To say that this combination was not the optimal set up is an understatement. A slow (f/6.3) lens with a teleconverter for f/9 aperture was a challenge…would have loved to have had a 600 f4 instead. The teleconverter was necessary due to the distance these birds were from the road. The Sony A7RIVs high megapixel sensor would not normally be considered the best choice in a low light situation but again the cropping capability was pretty important for this shoot due to the distance from the subject. I have to admit, with all that I have said above I was really impressed with what I was able to get with that combination.

I really had no idea how light the underside of a short eared owls wings were....such a contrast to the top side.

First, the autofocus is amazing. I had never, before the Sony A7III had a camera that could track focus with all focus points at f/9 with such speed. The A7RIV is actually better, not as good I’ve heard as the A9 series but better by far than I had expected. It was able to attain and keep focus even after I could barely see the subject. The other thing that amazed me was the view finder. My A7III has a very low resolution view finder and can be seen as “just usable” but the view finder on the A7RIV is brilliant, really a pleasure to use.

I love the difference in the colours on the back of the wing to the lighter shades underneath.

All that being said, if the pictures aren’t good was any of it worth it? From my perspective, shooting at ISO3200 I was very happy with the results. Yes, at the pixel level the noise was higher than the A7III but there wasn’t that much difference if I downsized the shot to match the A7III pixel count. Not quite as good but pretty close and I really needed those extra pixels that day.

As this short eared owl locked in on a target those wings and tail feathers spread until it was nearly a hover.

One nice thing about short eared owls is that they are not too difficult to keep your lens on. This was a good thing as I was learning the capabilities of the camera and lens combo. Trying to keep a bird in the shot at 840mm when you can predict its flight path is still hard enough when you aren’t used to the length or weight of the lens. Since I shoot mostly hand held, getting to know the camera like it is an extension of my arm is pretty important.

Those beautiful big eyes are busy. Short eared owl on the hunt.

The shots ranged from cloudy background to a background of tree branches at the edge of the field. The fields were partially snow covered. This combination meant that exposure was going to be pretty unpredictable, so I used aperture mode to keep the depth of field I needed to get most of the bird in focus and adjusted the iso up to keep the shutter speed around 1/1000s as much as possible.

Short eared owl hunting over a field in shortyville beke behind a barn.

The highlight was watching the owls hunt. Circling the field over and over, hovering almost like a kestrel over any noise they heard on the ground. These owls are absolutely beautiful to watch with an almost white belly and amazing coloration on the back and wings.

Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier) competing with a short eared owl for food.

I had two more chances to get out to see these owls in February and March, the second time was mostly a bust but the third trip gave some great views and a good chance for Salwa to see the owls with me.

Short eared owl sweeping across the field, looking for anything that moves or makes a sound.

This was a great winter for owls, Great Horned, Barred, Snowy, Long Eared, Eastern Screech followed by the Northern Hawk Owl, and Short Eared and finally a Saw-whet. I still have a few in North America that I want to shoot. I have yet to see a Boreal Owl, or get shots in the wild of a Barn owl or Burrowing owl. Once I get back out west there will be a chance to get a few new ones there as well. Then I have the rest of the world to try to find them all. Hopefully I can do it in the next 20 years or so.

Barry Scully 5/3/20 Barry Scully 5/3/20

Winter wonderland - Wandering through some of Ontario’s Parks and conservation areas.

On our first winter back in Canada after 5 years down in South Carolina we were not really looking forward to the prospect of weeks of below -30 degrees Celsius, but we were looking forward to some hikes in the parks… hopefully after a big snowfall.

Once winter starts, the snowy owls come down regularly to the Holland marsh area with what I assume is abundant food around the carrot farms in the area.

Our worries about the cold were mostly unrealized this year, but that also meant that there were few good snowfalls for us to get out hiking with the cameras. We managed to get out a few times looking for snowy owls and got to see a northern hawk owl for the first time.

This northern hawk owl was a real winter treat, pretty unusual for this far south in Ontario. It did keep birders happy for a couple of months feeding in a local marshy area close to a small town.

For hiking close to home we found that Short Hills provincial park was good for a morning hike with a couple of pretty creeks and a very pretty waterfall.

A very icy version of the falls in Short Hills provincial park on a rather nippy day.

The hiking trails in the park are pleasant but the views of the waterfall from the trail are certainly underwhelming. If you get down into the valley the view is so much more interesting.

Walking up the valley through the creek is much easier when mostly frozen.

My Christmas present to myself this year was the new DJI mavic mini. We did get one chance to learn a bit how to fly it on a rather cold day in an old quarry that is now a conservation area near Port Colborne. I can’t wait to get some more experience with it, the perspective of some of the shots is quite interesting…much learning to do both in the flight part and in producing some interesting footage. I will explore this in another post, likely because it is going to take me a while to get good enough at using the drone to make an article worth reading and hopefully some footage worth seeing.

Hiking along the edge of the quarry on a very cold, windy and snowy day.

That quarry did give us some pretty fun shots on a very cold and windy day hike. This is an old limestone quarry with a couple of huge ponds in the middle. Everywhere you go you can see fossils in the rocks along the paths and on the edges of the ponds.

Pond in the midst of freezing. With only a few cold snaps even these ponds didn’t freeze over for long this year.

We did manage to get up north to Algonquin once this winter. A hike along the Oxtongue river at Ragged Falls gave us some of the most beautiful winter river and waterfall scenes I have ever witnessed. An afternoon hike in Algonquin on Mizzy Lake trail was interesting, but we definitely over-dressed for that hike and came back rather sweaty and with no interesting nature sightings. Still hoping for a winter encounter with a Pine Martin.

serene winter scene along the Oxtongue river just above Ragged Falls. On a cloudy day with little colour anywhere I thought this looked more appealing in black and white.

We did get a few bird sightings out at the Spruce Bog trail. A spruce grouse was resting in a tree just a few steps from the parking lot. While we waited for it to wake up and get more active a group of Canada jays came by looking for a few handouts. Also known as Grey jays, they can be quite the little thieves and are very curious.

Spruce grouse tugging at some needles in Algonquin Park

Grey Jay (Canada Jay), always a little mischievous but still rather cute.

Funny enough a little red squirrel that we came across near the end of the trail held our attention darting back and forth across branches and finally enticing us to drop a few seeds for it to collect and hide.

cute little red squirrel with little red mittens

Our first winter is now over, it definitely was not a harsh one. Our last couple of weekend road trips before the corona virus lockdown were spent in what is locally referred to as Shortyville. A group of farmers fields where there is a good chance to see short eared owls hunting just before the sun goes down. These shoots gave me a great chance to get used to the new camera and lens combo for in flight action shots. This will likely be the subject of my next article. Both the owls and the camera gear as I get used to using the new Sony A7RIV with the 200-600 for in flight shots.

This hasn’t been the winter we thought we were going to have, it has been consistently warmer and wetter than expected, but I think we have managed to take advantage of the interesting moments we could. Now that we are not going far for our nature shoots, at least until the world gets back to something that seems more normal, I’m going to have to get a little more consistent with these posts.

Barry Scully 3/29/20 Barry Scully 3/29/20

A tiny haven for nature

One small wooded area on the beach near where we live that can still be a resting and replenishing area for migrating birds. Located near Waverly Beach, this small plot was the sight of the Erie Beach Amusement Park nearly ninety years ago.

Entrance to the tiny woods nearly Waverly Beach. An old sidewalk can still be seen, remnants of the Erie Beach Amusement Park from early in the 1900s

We moved back to Canada a year ago after living near the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Carolinas where there were stretches of uninterrupted nature and wildlife corridors. We now live in Fort Erie, Ontario, across the Niagara River looking toward Buffalo, NY where I am currently working. This town is a combination of retirement residences, renovated cottages, typical subdivisions, a scattering of farmland and a good number waterfront properties occupied by people from the Upstate who have probably been vacationing here for generations.

The view of Buffalo skyline from Fort Erie. The shoreline may look industrial but there are numerous pockets of green space for nature.

Although the town isn’t densely populated, there still isn’t much in the way of natural areas along this portion of Lake Erie, a noted bird migration route. On the other hand, over the bridge and relatively close to Buffalo, there are a good number of natural reserves and wetlands where bald eagles and migratory birds can take refuge.

One of few stopping points at this end of Lake Erie for warblers migrating back into Ontario in the spring. This Cape May Warbler is just one of a number of types of small migrating birds that stop to replenish themselves after the longer stages of … — One of few stopping points at this end of Lake Erie for warblers migrating back into Ontario in the spring. This Cape May Warbler is just one of a number of types of small migrating birds that stop to replenish themselves after the longer stages of their migration.

The exception is one small wooded area on the beach near where we live that can still be a resting and replenishing area for migrating birds. Located near Waverly Beach, this small plot was the sight of the Erie Beach Amusement Park nearly ninety years ago. It is filled with large old trees that have outgrown their concrete barriers, and remnants of stairs and paths lead to the foundation of concession stands and rides. This is still private land but hasn’t been touched in many years. Sadly, this last tiny bit of woodland is on the chopping block for a new set of McMansions, the horror of urban sprawl that will finally decimate the last of what nature has to offer.

Holes in older trees make fantastic homes for woodpeckers, squirrels, owls and pretty much any other creature in the area that is looking for some shelter and protection. A family of Pileated Woodpeckers made this hole their home last spring, hopefu… — Holes in older trees make fantastic homes for woodpeckers, squirrels, owls and pretty much any other creature in the area that is looking for some shelter and protection. A family of Pileated Woodpeckers made this hole their home last spring, hopefully they will be back this year.

In these woods, there are dozens of holes in old trees where woodpeckers, owls, and squirrels make their homes. The fallen trees litter the forest act as shelter for chipmunks and other little critters. Deer prints are all over, and a family of foxes has been seen in the area. Of course, it is also a good spot for some birds of prey to get a good meal as well.

Grey morph Eastern Screech owl getting a bit of the midday sun. This is one of the natural homes that will be such a sad thing to lose…and is one of my favourite things to find.

As spring comes, we are watching the changes daily. A pair of Cooper’s hawks are calling regularly looking for a good nesting spot. A beautiful little grey morph screech owl has found a hole in a tall stump that seems to be a good safe spot. Downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers are seen and heard regularly. A few red-bellied woodpeckers and even a red-headed woodpecker were seen last year, and we are hoping they will be back. Once the spring migration starts in earnest this is a great spot for warblers heading north.

One of a pair of Cooper’s hawks in the woods this spring. This one is calling to its mate that is sitting with its back to this one just a few meters away.

Although there isn’t really much hope for this last area along the Fort Erie beaches, what I do hope to do is to document what nature is here in the hopes that some of that knowledge will help people to see what they are losing. Maybe this will help slow down or stop the next areas slated for urbanization. These nature corridors and hotspots are so important for making sure migration paths stay viable. It is one of the few things I can do as a nature photographer, show people what they might lose.

Quick clip out of a bunch of footage. Very cute Screech owl exiting and heading back into a hole in a tall tree stump.

Barry Scully 11/4/19 Barry Scully 11/4/19

A quick tour of Vancouver Island (first big trip with only Sony gear)

Got a new toy and places to go. I picked up the Sony 200-600 and was able to test it out on Osprey before the start of our one week trip around Vancouver Island. This is the first big trip I have done leaving my Canon gear at home and only going with Sony.

Got a new toy and places to go. There was a lot of talk about new gear in the last couple of posts, and since then there was an actual purchase and a lot of shooting. I picked up the Sony 200-600 and was able to test it out on Osprey before the start of our one week trip around Vancouver Island. This is the first big trip I have done leaving my Canon gear at home and only going with Sony. On this trip I had the Sony A7RII and A7III with 16-35 f/4, 24-105 f/4, and 200-600 f/5.6-6.3. A pretty comprehensive set of focal lengths to hopefully capture anything that we came across.

One of the first days out with the new Sony 200-600 lens. A few Osprey have been hanging around the Niagara river grabbing catfish and coming back to these perches.

Our trip to the west coast had two main purposes, and the one standard side purpose which was to get out and shoot nature as much as I could. The two main reasons for the trip were a wedding in Vancouver and a tour of Vancouver Island to see if we could find some property to build on in a few years.

On our way from Ontario to Vancouver with a blanket of clouds below us.

Our first day was in Vancouver, we stayed at UBC which allowed me to see an old friend from university that has been a professor there for most of his career. This brought back a lot of memories of a time that sadly I have no photographic record of. It was a great wedding, one of Salwa’s friends from UVic had found a wonderful companion.

OK, there is a third reason to go out west….some of the best Sushi we have had in years.

The next morning we started the road trip, heading to Horseshoe Bay to take the ferry over to the Sunshine Coast. We headed to a tiny little “town” called Egmont for a hike at Skookumchuck….yes, skookumchuck or big water. This is a unique area in which the tides move in and out of a very long bay causing significant rapids that are often surfed by kayakers.

Kayaker surfing the waves at Skookumchuck

We stayed in a little lodge in Egmont that night near the mouth of the bay and just as we were about to go into the restaurant at the local marina we saw a couple of Orca hunting in the narrows. Although we only got to watch them at a long distance it was still amazing to watch these whales in action. Seeing killer whales this soon in the trip gave us some hope that we might get more time with them that week as we would be on a number of ferries and staying in good locations for more sightings….a little false hope it turned out, but this really just made us more eager to get back out there again soon.

Our one and only encounter on this trip with Killer Whales. Fascinating mammals to watch and a beautiful area to find them.

The next day took us on three ferries, up the east coast of Vancouver Island and onto Malcolm Island where another of Salwa’s university friends has a cottage.

The sun rises as we depart from Earl’s Cove on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, just the first of three ferry rides on this day as we head to Malcolm Island.

This was the first area that we got to really see the nature on the tidal pools. On this little coastline we saw many Bald Eagles, shore birds, some river otters and a very fat looking seal resting on a rock. Although there is a small town on the island, this was a pretty sparsely populated area with plenty of space for nature.

Close up with a Bald Eagle that was perched on the evergreens right outside the cottage we stayed at.

Beautiful reflections as the tide starts to come back in on Malcolm Island looking out towards Vancouver Island.

The east side of the island has some spectacular hiking through the rainforest as well as along the coastline. There was a rather special location where Orca are known to come in close to shore, but we were not lucky enough this time to have that experience….another excuse to go back.

30 seconds with the milky way from the cottage on Malcolm Island.

Our tour next took us up to the north end of Vancouver Island, past Port Hardy and onto a logging road for another hour and a half to get out to the west coast at Cape Scott Provincial Park and probably our favorite hike of the trip out to San Josef Bay.

The sun peaks through the canopy of the rainforest along the hike into San Josef Bay on North-west coast of Vancouver Island

More Sun stars as we hit the beach at San Josef Bay

This northern part of the coast is definitely one of the most fabulous locations in Canada, the hike into San Josef Bay was through one of the best hikes I have taken. I have heard that the hike along the coast back up to Port Hardy can be one of the most challenging on the island. The bay was a photographers dream, with amazing hoodoo-like rock features on a long sandy beach.

Fabulous features along the coast both for photography and just for looking to see what was left behind by the tides.

We came in near high tide so were not able to travel far up the coastline, this is another place to come back to and camp in this area to be able to get shots at sunrise and sunset and maybe even some astro photography with those amazing features in the foreground. Next time!

Can’t wait to get back to this beach in Cape Scott Provincial Park…definitely want to see this area at dusk and dawn.

After taking our rental back down the logging road we toured our way back down the island, past Victoria and stayed the next night in Sook. A fantastic little B&B with coastal views, a little hobby farm and a black bear that ran through the yard to get the blackberries that were everywhere. That bear had some competition for those berries that day, I haven’t eaten that many blackberries in one sitting, ever.

The weather started closing in on us after a long walk along China beach.

Our last days on Vancouver Island gave us a couple of beach walks north of Sook, a quick tour of Victoria, and a couple of vertical hikes where I got to see a pretty little Barred owl before we headed to our final ferry ride to Vancouver.

This was a bit of a whirlwind trip, plenty of driving and sampling the areas. We managed to enjoy the wedding, get to see some areas that we might want to buy property in a few years and hike and photograph just about everywhere. The gear was certainly not limiting, and really seems to be the perfect combination for what we do on our trips. I was able to carry it all in one single backpack. From landscape to birds in flight, this was a great travel setup that you can take on most flights and still have an amazing focal range from 16mm to 800 with that 1.4 teleconverter in a side pocket. As for location, Vancouver Island is a place that I could stay for years and not capture everything I would like to. The Sunshine Coast is another gem and we barely got a chance to be on the water this time. We will be back, hopefully soon. That dream of a piece of property to start hosting photo tours is still deep in our dreams….it will come true.

Barry Scully 10/29/19 Barry Scully 10/29/19

Birds in Flight challenges - Autofocus improvements over the years

Learning to use your tracking autofocus is not just a matter of picking up a new camera and point it at a subject.

Learning to use your tracking autofocus is not just a matter of pick up a new camera and point it at a subject. I’ve been using Canon cameras for nature photography for about 15 years and have over time learned how to use what is given to me….starting with the Canon rebel and going to the 5D and 5DII we had a very basic focus system where I had to really learn to just use the middle focus point for most tracking. I picked up a used 1DIV and my life changed….many focus points, quick tracking and relatively little to learn.

Blue Heron in flight at dusk along the St. Lawrence River. Taken with the Canon 5DII and 100-400L

The 5DIII and 5DS had a bit more configurability and for the first time I started using some of the focus groups and changing the configuration for the type of shooting I did. At the time this was great and I didn’t really think it could get much faster or easier…..I was wrong, but it took quite a while to really get used to thinking differently and adjusting to a new camera brand and the way things worked within that system.

With all of these cameras and at the time I had one other major issue with respect to reach. My longest lens was the 100-400 and if I added the 1.4 teleconverter I could get out to 560 mm but at a minimum aperture of f/8 which meant that I could only use the center point for tracking if in that configuration.

Red-tailed Hawk taking off at Cranberry Marsh. Canon 1DIV with 100-400L

Around this time I started exploring mirrorless cameras, starting with the panasonic micro 4/3 which gave some great telephoto range for a small system but was really only suitable for static subjects. I then got a hold of the Sony A7R….fantastic image quality but the same issue for autofocus. This all changed when the A6000 came out, an inexpensive apsc camera with some pretty fantastic autofocus tracking capabilities. It wasn’t perfect but it was very fast and let you track across a much bigger proportion of the image than almost anything else at the time. This system was pretty easily fooled by complex backgrounds and would sometimes back focus and lose the subject when you left it to do all the work by itself. The one thing I did find was that it could get a subject and follow it significantly faster than anything else I had used at that time.

Brown pelican flying over my kayak in the everglades. Sony A6000 with 70-200 F4.

Things have only gotten better. While all the camera companies have made improvements in autofocus over the last 10 years or so, none have made the quantum leaps that Sony has. To be fair, they did have a long way to go at first to just catch up to Canon and Nikon but once they did they have continued to improve with each new camera in pretty substantial ways.

At this time I have the A7RII and the A7III. The former was pretty close in capabilities with the A6000 I mentioned above, with a few software improvements but it will still lose the subject at inconvenient times and does not work as well in lower light. The A7III however is just another level again.

Ring billed gull with breaking waves. A7III and 100-400GM.

When this camera came out it was shortly after the A9 which I have never had a chance to really work with in the field but is a technical marvel. The A7III was kind of the poor persons A9 but for two grand it really is much more camera than I have ever bought anywhere near this price point. When it came out, I found it had really improved on the software to the point that just leaving it in all points focus I almost never lost a subject. At that time choosing a subject to track was ok, but not great. Sony came out with the latest firmware update which now makes it so that picking a bird out of a small flock and tracking that one bird is now pretty easy.

This now comes back to my learning curve. Every improvement and change in these focus systems means I need to learn new techniques and adjust the way I think about getting the image. It takes time to get good at using any of these new capabilities just as it did when I first started using aiServo with a center point on my original 5D or rebel.

Osprey landing in Sparkleberry Swamp, taken from kayak with Sony A7RII and 100-400 with 1.4 teleconverter.

That was a rather long winded way of getting to the point which is that as good as these cameras have gotten, in all cases you still need to spend the time to learn the camera you have to get the best out of tracking focus for nature photography. I love the new features and things are much easier now, but to capture that swallow diving for a bug on the surface you have to know your camera and lens. It needs to become second nature, even if you switch between brands as I do. To do this I spend a lot of time shooting birds that I will likely never print or show anyone else. I try to capture gulls and terns outside our house diving and twisting to see if I can anticipate a moment….and often miss over and over again until I finally get the feel for the birds movement and how to keep my lens on it throughout.

On Hunting Island beach with the Canon 5DS and 500mm f/4 II. Shooting tri-colored heron and snowy egret fishing as the tide goes out.

The most humbling lesson I have learned in that last few years was just after I had made a huge purchase. I had been looking to buy a big telephoto for many years and had finally saved up to get the Canon 500 f/4 II. I was so eager to show how great of shots I was going to get. The first month or so was frustrating. I could get great static shots, amazing details. I found that my in flight shots were very inconsistent and that I was having a lot of trouble keeping a steady view on the subject. It turns out it wasn’t the weight….I was used to using a sigma 120-300 f2.8 at the time which might have been a bit heavier. Turns out it was the length. It took me a good month to get used to keeping that lens on subject and keeping it smooth while tracking. I had to learn it all again when I added the teleconverter to that combo.

Tri-colored Heron fishing as the tide roles out on Hunting Island, SC. Canon 5DS and 500 f/4 II with 1.4 teleconverter

Along with that lesson, I have also learned that before I make a decision about how good a camera or lens is for tracking subjects and getting the shot I want I need to remember that it may not be better or as good as what I am used to immediately. I need to remember to not fully discount it until I have really used it for usually a few thousand shots.

Osprey taking off along the Niagara River. Sony A7III with 200-600G