I've seen the elephants reaching over their fence and grabbing shrubs and branches outside the exhibit. This time the goods were just out of reach.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Zoo Photography: Elephants
Taking pictures at the elephants exhibit at the local zoo has been quite a challenge for me lately. Actually the only zoo I've visited with a good view of the elephants was Syracuse's Rosamond-Gifford zoo. For me, I only visit the elephants to study the environment and just watch the beautiful animals.
I've seen the elephants reaching over their fence and grabbing shrubs and branches outside the exhibit. This time the goods were just out of reach.
I've seen the elephants reaching over their fence and grabbing shrubs and branches outside the exhibit. This time the goods were just out of reach.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Baltimore's Annual Greek Independence Day Parade
As part of my ongoing project, I shot this year's Greek Independence Day Parade in Baltimore's Greektown section. I missed last year's parade and nearly missed this year's either, but thanks to Twitter I managed to get out there in time.
The skies were cloudy and threatened to unleash a torrent on the dozens of revelers, but in the end all was well and the sun even broke through the gray mass for a few minutes.
There were clergy, politicians, marching bands, and floats, but the best feature of the parade was the embracing of the Greek culture by both participants and the crowds. Colorful costumes and folk music blaring through loudspeakers hung along the parade route brightened up the mood. No matter how many fancy colors were there, however, azure and white reigned supreme.
Here are some images from the event...enjoy!!!
The skies were cloudy and threatened to unleash a torrent on the dozens of revelers, but in the end all was well and the sun even broke through the gray mass for a few minutes.
There were clergy, politicians, marching bands, and floats, but the best feature of the parade was the embracing of the Greek culture by both participants and the crowds. Colorful costumes and folk music blaring through loudspeakers hung along the parade route brightened up the mood. No matter how many fancy colors were there, however, azure and white reigned supreme.
Here are some images from the event...enjoy!!!
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| US and Greek flags along Eastern Avenue. |
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| Parade-goers. |
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| Baltimore City mayor in the Hellenic spirit. |
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Bridge Photo
On the train somewhere between Baltimore and New York.
I liked the effect the train's window glass had on the image so I used my Infrared Lightroom preset. Since the train was moving and I wasn't able to do a proper pano, I cropped to 12x36.
I liked the effect the train's window glass had on the image so I used my Infrared Lightroom preset. Since the train was moving and I wasn't able to do a proper pano, I cropped to 12x36.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Zoo Photography: Bird Portraits
Since the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore let out its warm-climate birds, it's been even better shooting at the zoo. There's a reason why bird photography is one of the most beloved form of photography, and it's easy to see when you observe the zoo's collection. Unfortunately while shooting at the zoo you're unlikely to get a shot that looks like it was taken in the bird's natural environment. Many zoos have done a great job creating aviaries that replicate natural habitats and allow the birds to fly, something many birds in exhibits can't do.
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has two aviaries which give photographers a chance to get shots that look like they might have been taken in the wild. These environments, however, aren't always enough to get the shot since you still have man-made objects and people around.
The best solution, I've come to find out, is to isolate the animal as much as possible, sometimes even shooting portrait.
1. This lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) is a beautiful sight to behold. It's a shame to shoot it on land while it's not tearing through some carcass, flying through the air, or perched on some long-gnarled branch under the African sun. When shooting it, I made sure to avoid buildings, fences, or other animals that clearly show that it was taken in the zoo. In the first shot, I wanted to show its powerful legs and talons. The second shot is to emphasize its facial features.
2. I was lucky to shoot this Abdim's Stork (Ciconia abdimii) just as it was taking off in the aviary. You can see two large wires holding up nets at the top, although a wide aperture has done a great job of blurring out the background.
3. Normally docile, these Demoiselle cranes (Anthropoides virgo) have moments when they let themselves known to the rest of the world. Here I caught it as it was in the middle of its trumpeting call. They embody both beauty and grace.
4. Growing up in Rwanda, nothing excited us kids as to see crested cranes flying. They were rare and we believed killing one was equal to killing a person. I recall seeing a pair land in the field next to my first grade classroom in 1989 or 1990 and those two were the only ones I've ever seen not in captivity. My admiration of these birds led me to write a radio play titled "The Dance of the Golden Cranes" which was a finalist in a BBC radio play writing contest in 2010. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore only has West African Crested Cranes (Balearica pavonina pavonina) on exhibit.
5. This Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) is one of the zoo's Animal Ambassadors and is not on exhibit. It was attached to the handler's arm as it was trying to fly off so I had to keep her out of the frame and get that 'ready-to-sail' look. Once again a wide aperture, I mostly use f/5.6, helps eliminate background clutter and isolate the subject.
6. I caught this female Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) in what looks like it could be its natural environment.
7. There's nothing special about this Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) other than it feels the frame, without cropping, and is sharp against a blurred water background in which it's swimming. It might even pass as having been taken in the wild.
8. I loved these Fulvous Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor) for more than their looks. They seem to have great personalities and are nearly always lively. I took these as they perched on the railing of the aviary walkway. If I had a faster lens I would have attempted to capture them in flight, but my lens Auto-focuses like molasses so I missed those...the portraits more than made up for it, though. The fence and people in the background were blurred and the dark blots complement the duck's dark feathers.
9. The Blue-Bellied Roller (Coracias cyanogaster) is probably one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. The blurred dry reeds in the background match the bird's light brown feathers and counteract its darker features.
10. The Common Raven (Corvus corax) exhibit at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is one of the hardest to shoot. The ravens don't stay still for more than a second or so, and they're either too close to the foreground or the background fences. They're really beautiful birds and the purple on their feathers makes them even more so. The Baltimore Ravens football team takes its name and colors (black and purple) from these birds. The team's official mascots, Rise and Conquer, reside at the zoo.
11. Regarded by many as the most beautiful of all ducks, if not birds, is the male North American Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). It's not hard to see why with all its beautiful coloring. The hay in the background helps give the impression that it was taken in the wild. One reason I like to shoot ducks in the water is that it helps hide the ring tags on their legs. If the birds are out of the water, I try to find a way not to show the tags.
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has two aviaries which give photographers a chance to get shots that look like they might have been taken in the wild. These environments, however, aren't always enough to get the shot since you still have man-made objects and people around.
The best solution, I've come to find out, is to isolate the animal as much as possible, sometimes even shooting portrait.
1. This lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) is a beautiful sight to behold. It's a shame to shoot it on land while it's not tearing through some carcass, flying through the air, or perched on some long-gnarled branch under the African sun. When shooting it, I made sure to avoid buildings, fences, or other animals that clearly show that it was taken in the zoo. In the first shot, I wanted to show its powerful legs and talons. The second shot is to emphasize its facial features.
2. I was lucky to shoot this Abdim's Stork (Ciconia abdimii) just as it was taking off in the aviary. You can see two large wires holding up nets at the top, although a wide aperture has done a great job of blurring out the background.
3. Normally docile, these Demoiselle cranes (Anthropoides virgo) have moments when they let themselves known to the rest of the world. Here I caught it as it was in the middle of its trumpeting call. They embody both beauty and grace.
4. Growing up in Rwanda, nothing excited us kids as to see crested cranes flying. They were rare and we believed killing one was equal to killing a person. I recall seeing a pair land in the field next to my first grade classroom in 1989 or 1990 and those two were the only ones I've ever seen not in captivity. My admiration of these birds led me to write a radio play titled "The Dance of the Golden Cranes" which was a finalist in a BBC radio play writing contest in 2010. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore only has West African Crested Cranes (Balearica pavonina pavonina) on exhibit.
5. This Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) is one of the zoo's Animal Ambassadors and is not on exhibit. It was attached to the handler's arm as it was trying to fly off so I had to keep her out of the frame and get that 'ready-to-sail' look. Once again a wide aperture, I mostly use f/5.6, helps eliminate background clutter and isolate the subject.
6. I caught this female Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) in what looks like it could be its natural environment.
7. There's nothing special about this Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) other than it feels the frame, without cropping, and is sharp against a blurred water background in which it's swimming. It might even pass as having been taken in the wild.
8. I loved these Fulvous Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor) for more than their looks. They seem to have great personalities and are nearly always lively. I took these as they perched on the railing of the aviary walkway. If I had a faster lens I would have attempted to capture them in flight, but my lens Auto-focuses like molasses so I missed those...the portraits more than made up for it, though. The fence and people in the background were blurred and the dark blots complement the duck's dark feathers.
9. The Blue-Bellied Roller (Coracias cyanogaster) is probably one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. The blurred dry reeds in the background match the bird's light brown feathers and counteract its darker features.
10. The Common Raven (Corvus corax) exhibit at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is one of the hardest to shoot. The ravens don't stay still for more than a second or so, and they're either too close to the foreground or the background fences. They're really beautiful birds and the purple on their feathers makes them even more so. The Baltimore Ravens football team takes its name and colors (black and purple) from these birds. The team's official mascots, Rise and Conquer, reside at the zoo.
11. Regarded by many as the most beautiful of all ducks, if not birds, is the male North American Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). It's not hard to see why with all its beautiful coloring. The hay in the background helps give the impression that it was taken in the wild. One reason I like to shoot ducks in the water is that it helps hide the ring tags on their legs. If the birds are out of the water, I try to find a way not to show the tags.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Baltimore: A Cultural Melting Pot of Sorts
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| View of Baltimore's Inner Harbor from Federal hill. |
I've lived in many places over the course of my short life and I've come to hold great appreciation for the people and the cultures I've come across. It amazed me how people helped us when we were refugees and didn't speak local languages, and, as I got older, it led me to realize that we all share certain core qualities that make us human. So while some people's fighting was chasing us away from our homeland, other people's generosity was easing the burden of our flight.
When I came to Baltimore, I was intrigued by the city's history, its architecture, and a certain air I couldn't quite identify. I feel a certain vibe that draws me to this city, that makes me want to do my part in building it up. While I can't tell what that connection is, there are a few things I love about this city but for the sake of time I'll be focusing on the melting pot that it is.
I myself come from a culturally-varied background. Rwandan, Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, etc. I was born in Moldova, then part of the USSR, grew up in Rwanda, and later lived in several African countries as a refugee. Due to my observant and friendly nature, I am able to absorb any culture's traditions and customs in a short time. I believe by learning about other people's way of life I'm able to understand their actions and not be offended by them.
Looking for things to do, I found that there were many ethnic festivals hosted by the city, and I decided to attend as many as I could to learn about those particular cultures and enjoy the food and entertainment. A few things soon became apparent, however. Many of the festivals were demographically-segregated. It was hard to find non-Greeks at the Greek festival, non-blacks at the African American festival, or non-hispanics at the Cinco de Mayo festival. Even St. Patrick's Day parade, the largest parade in the State, does not represent many of the city's cultures in its diversity.
This realization first hit me when I attended the 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. parade and noticed it was about 99% African American in both participants and revelers. King's vision was to bring people together, which has happened a lot in society, but seems not enough to attract many of the city's residents to attend a parade in his honor. I don't know the underlying reason and I'm not leaning towards the race factor because race is not an issue based on other festivals/parades I've attended in the city. For example, there were very few African-Americans besides those of African descent at the Africa Fest festival held in the city in 2010.
I saw first hand what can happen when people view themselves as superior and seek to impose that superiority over others through violence. Many friends, family, and neighbors were killed even though they had no choice as to which group they were born into. I, myself, was nearly killed because of this ignorance. So I want to know how best to bring people together, how to make them appreciate their differences while celebrating their similarities. That's one of the reasons I like Baltimore, a chance to learn how best to unite humanity's many subgroups. Whether unity among humans is possible is unknown to me, but I hope to keep learning by observing how the city blends and unites its many cultures.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Baltimore Events in Pictures: 2011
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| The Motorettes perform at the Baltimore Ports America New Year's Eve Spectacular in 2010. This was the last year Ports America sponsored the event. |
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| Boy watches participants in the 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. parade. This kid was particularly drawn to this group and it made me think that maybe this is the message that drew him the most. Or maybe it was the faces of the stick figures. Either way, tomorrow's generation is depending on us to teach them about peace. |
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| A shadowy figure leaves the tomb of American author Edgar Allan Poe in 2011. The Poe Toaster used to leave a glass of cognac and roses on Poe's grave until 2009 when he failed to appear. |
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| Dance troupe performing at the 2011 St. Patrick's Day Parade on Pratt street. |
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| Children have a chance to look at and pet baby chicks and ducklings at the 2011 Flowermart in Mount Vernon. |
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| Performers at the 2011 Cinco de Mayo. |
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| Go Ask Alice entry performs in the water section of the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture race in 2011. Go Ask Alice won The People's Choice award for the second year in a row. |
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| Elvis serenades 2011 Baltimore's Best Hon, Sherry Meyers. |
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| People began dancing the Cha Cha slide at the African American Festival in 2011. |
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| 4th of July fireworks in 2011. |
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| Performer in Center Plaza. The Downtown Partnership organizes events in Center Plaza during the summer including musical performances on Wednesdays. |
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| People dance in the rain at the Mount Vernon 1st Thursdays concert in July 2011. On this particular day performances were cut short by rain but a few people took the opportunity to literally dance in the rain. |
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| Stiltwalkers at the 2011 Artscape, the largest free arts festival in the US. |
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| Members of the Morgan State University perform at the annual Washington Monument lighting ceremony in 2011. The event ushers in the holidays season in Baltimore. |
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| Santa high-fives a boy as he arrives at the beginning of Fell's Point's Olde Tyme Christmas in 2011. |
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Good-Bye, Sophie
I believe all of life is connected and communicates through energy, both good and bad. Whenever I visit zoos to take pictures, I always ask the animals to give me good shots and make sure to thank them afterwards. I believe animals know and understand our intentions, and this transcends whichever language we might use to communicate with them. My mom is also like me in this manner as she tenderly addresses animals in Russian. I jokingly tell her these animals don't speak Russian, but I know they understand in their own way. Sophie, the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore's snowy owl was one of the animals I made sure to talk to on my visits.
I actually never got to take many pictures of her, as I was still studying the best way to shoot her exhibit, but I always stopped by to say hi and ask if she could give me good shot opportunities. She flew once but I was too slow to take the picture. She gave me other opportunities for good images but I always held out hope that she would fly for me again, but today the zoo announced she had passed away over the weekend. Complications from medical care.
Good-bye, Sophie, we'll get those pictures in the life after. Til then!!!
I actually never got to take many pictures of her, as I was still studying the best way to shoot her exhibit, but I always stopped by to say hi and ask if she could give me good shot opportunities. She flew once but I was too slow to take the picture. She gave me other opportunities for good images but I always held out hope that she would fly for me again, but today the zoo announced she had passed away over the weekend. Complications from medical care.
Good-bye, Sophie, we'll get those pictures in the life after. Til then!!!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Zoo Photography: Patience and Resilience
Every nature photographer will tell you that patience should be your most cherished and practiced virtue, and that applies to those of us who find nature within the confinements of zoos. The reason for this, I believe, is that animals can be unpredictable and could care little about your interest to photograph them.
Patience, combined with resilience, will afford you the chance to observe and learn more about the animals you want to photograph and this can bring about an improvement in the quality of your shots.
Over the past couple of months, I've been visiting local zoos about once a week. This has allowed me to know more about the animals and their behavior. However, I'd been unable to shoot a few of the animals. Since I try to avoid shots that are too zoo-ey, there are several animals that I hadn't been able to shoot...actually, there are still some that I'm trying to figure out how to shoot, but these I've shot now.
The male sitatunga normally hangs out in a corner of the exhibit that's far from the observation walkway and is right by a fence and shelters. On my last visit, he ventured out in the open and I got a few shots.
The ravens have also been hard for me to shoot, but this time one of them flew down and posed for me.
I also hadn't been able to get interesting shots of the ostriches, but one of them was scratching its neck on the ground as it fed. Either that or it was turning over the ground to expose any food that might be hidden by the dirt. Looks like he's enjoying a good nap, though.
The female polar bear was more active and even jumped in the water.
I also got a few shots of the sifakas, the lemurs, but it's not because they normally don't offer good shots. Normally, there are a lot of kids around the exhibit and I don't like to disturb them, so I just go to shoot other animals since the shooting conditions are normally less than ideal anyways. The reflections on the glass are some of the hardest to eliminate. On cold days, the exhibit's warm, humid air will also create condensation on camera gear. Overall a good place to avoid as a photographer in the winter. This time, however, I managed to get off a few shots.
The more time you spend around these animals, the more you'll get to appreciate them, even when they don't present you with good shot opportunities.
Patience, combined with resilience, will afford you the chance to observe and learn more about the animals you want to photograph and this can bring about an improvement in the quality of your shots.
Over the past couple of months, I've been visiting local zoos about once a week. This has allowed me to know more about the animals and their behavior. However, I'd been unable to shoot a few of the animals. Since I try to avoid shots that are too zoo-ey, there are several animals that I hadn't been able to shoot...actually, there are still some that I'm trying to figure out how to shoot, but these I've shot now.
The more time you spend around these animals, the more you'll get to appreciate them, even when they don't present you with good shot opportunities.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Sunset Photography
After spending almost two days indoors doing work, I decided to take my gear and walk around Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood. However, I didn't see any good opportunities to shoot, so I headed to the inner harbor and Federal hill hoping today would offer a beautiful sunset. Spring and summer sunsets are colorful in Baltimore and I haven't had an opportunity to shoot them the past few days when the days have been clear with little clouds.
I wasn't disappointed. This was one of those orange-yellow sunsets that completely inundated the cloudless sky. Since I had decided not to bring my tripod, I had to shoot at ISO 800. I also wanted to create a silhouette with the Ravens stadium so I used a 300mm lens. I underexposed by about 1/3 of a stop.
As I always shoot RAW, I had to adjust contrast, sharpening and noise reduction, but I didn't increase vibrance or saturation. The sky really was that orange. I then cropped the image to 1x3 aspect.
On the imageabove, I included an out-of-focus tree in the foreground to balance out the left side and add a little something to the picture.
Overall, glad I headed out and worked on my sunset photography rather than sticking indoors.
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