DLWS Redwoods kicked off with a day of water.  We began our day with a shoot at the harbor in Crescent City and ended with an evening shoot at Harris Beach.  What a great day with an enthusiastic group of shooters.

Beached ship that has seen better days.   I’m sure there are many stories in her past.

A shiny new ship in the final stages before heading to Alaska.

Our day ended with a great sky at the beach.

Images captured with Nikon D3, AF 16mm Fisheye, AF-S 4-24mm (beached ship) on Lexar Digital Media

Well, the gang’s all back together and we went out scouting in the Redwoods to find some special locations to share with the group.  How do you capture the majesty of these giant trees?  Stick with us this week to see how we do it.

Photographing the canopy shooting straight up with the AF-S 14-24mm set at 14mm.

Ferns growing on a canyon wall.

Images captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 14-24mm on Lexar Digital Media

I’ve just posted four new safaris with a couple more TBA.  Hope to see you there!

Well, it’s been a great ten days of shooting in So Texas. In all we had over 40 different species of birds, several mammals and reptiles and are heading home with hard drives full of images and hearts full of wonderful memories. The temps were hot and so was the photography. So Texas is one of my favorite bird photography locations with consistent, great shooting. Our hosts at the ranches we visited were wonderful. I can’t wait until next year!

Western Diamondback

Long-billed Thrasher

And I finally got my lens on a Painted Bunting

Images captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 600mm VR, TC-14E on Lexar Digital Media

Here are a couple of images from the participants of the raptor extension

Painted Bunting Russ Gifford

Crested Caracara Russ Gifford

Harris Hawk Edmund Prescatano

Western Diamondback Edmund PRescatano

This ends the first week of my So Texas safari and I have to say that it was an outstanding week with more birds than I have been able to count so far. Some new to my files and some opportunities to add new and improved images of birds I already had to my files. The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is without a doubt one of my favorites and it gave me many opportunities to photograph it. I even broke the spell and got one where it is just taking off.

Images captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 600mm VR, TC-14E or TC-17E on Lexar Digital Media