Figure 1 – Cardinal in flight, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

The other day I spoke about how humans envy birds their flight.  It is a dance and elegant ballet.  The other day I caught the male cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis ) of Figure 1 in flight through the trees.  I would have preferred a more complete and overall sharpness.  But the wings are beautifully in focus, and I love their translucence and their downward gesture.  I also like the contrasting green  of the canopy, which provides the backlight that gives the transparency to the wings.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 180 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/800 sec at f/7.1 with +1 exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Peeling Bark at Black’ Nook, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Last Friday I took a break from photographing birds to capture the texture of peeling bark on the trunk of a venerable tree at Fresh Pond.  Actually, this particular tree is long gone and reduced to being the post that holds a birdhouse high above the ground by Black’s Nook. For me this is the defining black and white subject – contrasting texture between the bark and the smooth wood, which in turn creates a contrast between a diffuse and a specular reflection.

Taking this photograph actually screwed me up.  I find that when photographing birds it is important to have your camera preset, just in case.  That means ISO set to 1600, spot center metering, and F/7.1 (for this lens).  A short while later I came upon a beautiful pair of Baltimore orioles and started taking pictures.  I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t coming out in focus and only after realized that I was set on the distributed metering appropriate to the tree.  Arg!! another of lifes little lessons.

It continues to be a great spring in Cambridge.  On Thursday I saw my first green heron high in a tree survey they nook.  I took a couple of images but these are almost certain to be too distant for a decent shot.  Then on Friday I spooked one of the herons when I stepped onto the observation deck on Black’s Nook and this sent him flying in that characteristic pterodactyl style that makes you think “welcome to Jurassic Park.” I stood a while to admire his flight.”  It is oh so humbling when you realize for just how many years birds have been flying like this.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 94 mm, ISO 200, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/125th sec at f/6.3 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Gray catbird, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Arguably – all right very arguable-  for the cat lover the ultimate bird is the gray catbird, which fills the forest and urban parks with it meowing sound.  Actually, you would never fool either me or my cat with this, but let’s pretend.  The name catbird seems an oxymoron for someone brought up with the world view of Sylvester and Tweetie Pie – “I  taut I saw a puddy cat.”   Well, all that I can say to this is “Sufferin succotash.”  In the canine world the order of things is preserved.  There are not dogbirds, no woods filled with avian barking.  There are however, as there should be, bird dogs.

I will confess that I have always had a certain fondness for this unpretentious gray bird. And I have always been pleasantly amused by their feline screeching. Last Friday I sought out a group that was inhabiting the woods between Fresh Pond and the golf course.  I took several photographs, but in the end was most please by the photograph of Figure 1 which shows a chirping, or is it meowing, catbird from below looking up into a pleasing early spring canopy.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 200 mm, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/1250th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – American robin, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

he Shakers taught us that there is, or can be, beauty in simple, everyday things.  In the United States there is no bird, save perhaps the sparrow, that is more common than the American robin.  They are everywhere, paying quintessential homage to the saying that “the early bird catches the worm.”  And everywhere that you go the air is filled with their call.  Still if you stop and think about it the American robin, despite its inauspicious genus name of “Turdus,” is quite a beautiful bird.  Indeed, its orange breast can be so brilliant that it often is mistaken for a Baltimore oriole, of one our most dramatic birds.

I have been holding off photographing one. But yesterday I came upon this most handsome example on the path at Fresh Pond.  He struck a most characteristic pose, breast pushed forward regally like a soldier stnding at attention and he exposed the dramatic pattern around his eye. As the Shaker song goes: “‘Tis the gift to be simple,” and certainly “‘Tis the gift to be free, ’tis the gift to come down where we ought to be…” And if you analyze it, isn’t this why we photograph birds.  We admire their simplicity.  We admire their Darwinian resilience against a benign and often malignant nature. We admire their species specificity and complex instinctual behavior. Andm of course, we most of all admire them their freedom to fly.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 180mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode at 1/400th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – The smiling cat, (c) DE Wolf 2015.

I have been corresponding with a reader about the difficulty of photographing black (or black-faced) cats. It is indeed a challenge, although solvable.  The complexity is getting the cat to sit still Oh, of course, cats will readily sit quite still when they are fast asleep and that is most of the time. However, try to get them to open their eyes for the photograph and they give you this “get that camera out of my face” glare. And if you try to use flash, well after the first attempt they can shut their eyes faster than your camera can flash.

But if you are looking for a true feline challenge, try to get your cat to smile. There is, of course, the Chesire Cat of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, who is known for his distinctive mischievous grin. Chesire has the distinguishing ability to make his body disappear. The last thing to go is his iconic grin.  But Chesire is unfortunately purely fictional.  The closest we ever came to a true Chesire cat was Theodore Roosevelt. But I offer up Figure 1, which I took with my IPhone, to show that the thing can be done.

Figure 1 – Soap-dish on granite, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 is not the kind of photograph that I usually do.  But last weekend I was at a local farm-stand and came upon a display of unique garden ornaments.  I was intrigued by this antique soap-dish and by the texture of the piece of granite that it was mounted upon.  The piece of soap is actually a granite pebble.  The grain size in igneous rocks are define by their rate of cooling.

There was never any question about whether it should be in color or black and white.  This was a monochrome abstraction from the get-go. I played briefly with toning but the image demanded pure blacks and whites. And I enjoyed having the option to switch from my usual ISO 1600 for bird photography to a more thoughtful, compose carefully ISO 100.  Indeed, I am always intrigued by the process of composition.  You take your first image and then you progressively see details.  I suppose that there are others who thoughtfully always get it right the first time, and I’ve always tipped my hat to large format photographers, who are ever thoughtful and skilled.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 78 mm, ISO 100, Aperture priority AE mode 1/1250 th sec at f/5.6 with -1 exposure compensation.