Wednesday, September 25, 2013

American Prairie Reserve

By Keith McHugh
Tony Nastase


By Michael Stocker
www.americanprairie.org
By Rob Mutch
Yesterday I watched The National Geographic documentary "American Serengeti," about the American Prairie Reserve. The documentary reminded me greatly of my trip to the reserve a few years ago. I searched for photographs of the animals that are populated on the reserve and that help for it to thrive and rebuild its greatness. I remember camping in these huts out there called yurts. When I was there, we spent an afternoon taking down a barbed-wire fence, many of which prohibit animals like the prong horn from migrating to where they need to go. The fences can also be harmful to many animals because they get caught in them and become stressed and end up injuring themselves. All of these species are vital to help the prairie be healthy and the prairie is in turn vital to all of these species. The picture of the American Kestral is great, she is looking right at you, paying close attention.





Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Foxes

Bat-eared Fox





















This is a photograph of two bat-eared foxes taken by Suzi Eszterhas, a wildlife photographer. I think this is a really nice photo because the mother fox is looking straight up and out at you. It makes the photo engaging, like she is telling you that you better watch out, this is my baby and I will protect her from anything. The mother's eyes are intense and then you look at the baby sleeping and a gentle sense comes into the scene. The coloration of their fur is well caught with the lighting in the photo. Looking at the photographer's galleries on her web page, my eyes were immediately drawn to this one.

Suzi Eszterhas's website is: http://www.suzieszterhas.com/


























Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Feel the Power of Bowie


I was in the David Bowie mind set today. This photo of him was taken by Helmut Newton in 1982. I really like the gray scale of the photograph. The side lighting of his face makes him stand out. The light leads the eye directly to his face. The darkness creates shadowing effects on the side of his face where his natural hollow of his cheek is. There is also a white light effect that outlines his figure that brings the eye to notice him even more, not that you necessarily need outlines and lightening to notice Bowie, I know I don't.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Here Comes the Sun


















I was in the mood for sunflowers today. Sometimes you can have really good days and really bad days and some days that are just okay. But there are other days where you can feel just outside of yourself. Your mind gets so absorbed with worrying about things, and not even always important things, but you can get so worked up and your mind becomes so full you feel like your head might just burst at any moment. Everything you need to get done, everything about your future, and everything that is wrong with the world all comes flooding in at once and you don't know how to stop it. No one can build a dam that fast. Eventually you have to just stop and sit down and try to relax and breathe. I usually have to go outside. I try and focus on the sky: the clouds and the sun. I try and let the sun shine down on my face and realize that I can't fix everything that I may be worrying about all at the same time. I try and read or think of things that are calming . . . like sunflowers.