Saturday, June 27, 2009

Closer. Closer. Just a little closer.

Spotted on the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park. I'd love to say this was an eight foot monster but it really was a touch under five feet long and hence was still living very much under Mum's protective gaze. Would have loved to have seen her.
Samantha, my guide on the trail, had lamented that we likely wouldn't see any gators, or much else in the way of wildlife, given the wet season had begun in earnest and the Everglades' population was happily dispersing across the more than million acres of the park. Leave it to kids to prove the experts wrong though. A group of chattering and bellowing YMCA youngsters spotted this specimen hanging out near the trail, and we managed to catch up to them, and it, before the gator beat retreat into the sawgrass.
Canon 40D with 70-200mm f/2.8, at 200mm, f/4 and 1/320 sec.

Friday, June 26, 2009

America's Got Talons

Okay, so you have to forgive me for punning "America's Got Talent" for this posting, it was just too good to pass up. Besides, LOOK at those talons after all. I'm thinking, based on what the rangers in the Everglades told me, that this splendid individual is an immature Osprey. This critter was enormous, and I would never call it immature to its face - it was pretty intimidating and I was only a few feet from its perch.
It was taking a bath in an enormous puddle that had formed in a rundown former gas station at the Flamingo section of the Everglades National Park, and it headed for a tree limb when I leapt into action with the Canon and the huge zoom. I'm not, however, totally convinced that it is indeed an Osprey given the color of the wings, so anyone who knows better, please let me know. And the answer to the previous posting, for 10 points and a bonus round, was Monk Parakeet.
Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f2/8 at 200mm, f/7.1 and 1/200 sec.


Monday, June 22, 2009

Polly Wants Prada

Halfway down the Lincoln Mall in Miami's South Beach - just a stroll from the Delano - another hotel development is underway. The construction is accompanied by incredible noise, stops tourists and locals alike in their tracks, and is definitely conducted without the usual permits.
Thankfully, the ceaseless work in question is being undertaken by a flock of parakeets, whose chirping elicits stares and quite a few hopeful shots by point-and-shoot wielding tourists who become momentarily distracted from the glitz of the stores and cafes in the mall.
The parakeets seem to have selected a particular clutch of palm trees in the mall for their new homes and don't seem to be concerned that they've chosen one of the most trafficked parts of the city. It might be the promise of food tossed by the besotted pedestrians. Who knows? (And in fact if you're one of those gifted folks who can tell the difference between a Parakeet and its cousins from 40 paces, fire away with the identity of this example).
The new residents are perfect for this part of town. Gregarious, able to produce noise that belies their size, flighty, and colorful almost to the point of garishness.
Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm, f/4.5 at 1/400th sec.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Spot the 20 Million


The view from Casa Milverton. When we set out from Washington DC in the fall of 2005 to scout out a new home in Mexico City, we had little idea what to expect but vague notions about a secure, modern apartment in Polanco, Condesa or Roma. In two days of frenzied footwork with our former model cum rental agent, Racquel, we had narrowed our options down from 18 to three, all in Polanco.
The place we chose wasn't an obvious selection at first. The place hadn't been lived in for quite some time, meaning a solid layer of dust on the beautiful wood floors, dead house plants scattered around, scuffed walls, and carpet in the bedrooms that looked like something out of "Animal House." But we were taken by the view, and I suspected that with a good overhaul, the place could become the cool pad we had in mind. In fact, the vista reminded me of a stay at the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi, where I seemed to stare for hours out my window at the lush park that fringed the hotel and gave lie to the fact that a teeming metropolis sprawled outside.
This place in Mexico City feels the same. The expanse of Chapultepec Park that greets you when you walk into the apartment instantly wipes away the stresses of traffic or street hordes and you become lulled by the stretch of green, and absorbed in the change of color in the trees and the sky as the day progresses. It's hard to capture all that but I thought I'd try with a cheap and cheerful pano shot that I want to improve upon in the days ahead.
I stitched together seven or eight photos in Photoshop and used some curves adjustments to touch up the contrast but really, that's it in terms of manipulation. Those hills in the far background are the volcanos Iztaccihuatl and (the still quite active) Popocatepetl. The funny little house in the central foreground with the curved roofs is the giraffe house in the zoo. When I called Sylvie at work during our first day here in Mexico City to tell her I was watching giraffes and ostriches prance around 16 floors below me, she assumed the altitude had already enfeebled my tiny mind. Thankfully, I was able to prove this wasn't case - in this instance - later that day.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Night Swimming


Back to baseball. I went to Nationals Park in Washington DC earlier in June for the series against the Giants, with the big attraction being the chance to see Randy Johnson snare his 300th career win, something only 23 players have achieved in the game before him. 
The first game on a Tuesday night was a surprise win for the Nats against Tim "The Freak" Lincecum, and the next game was to have been the Big Unit's Big Night. Instead, the heavens opened in a truly biblical fashion. A huge storm crashed in, completely drenching the city and putting on a lightning show that sent blue waves of light coursing through a sopping stadium.
There were little scenes to be enjoyed even while we waited an eternity for the game to be postponed (which it was, to the next day when Randy got to his milestone in the first game of a very soggy doubleheader). 
Abandoned beers amid peanut shells under what some fans optimistically thought was covered seating; skeptical security personnel watching amazed as a school group braved the downpour and fork lightning to get to their bus outside the park; bleacher waterfalls; and of course, the boredom-induced and beer-fueled sprint and tarp slide for home. In this case, the fan was shadowed by the black-and-white clad field attendants as he rocketed from second, past third, and dived for home only to meet the yellow-shirted security guard who duly flattened him a few feet short of home in a plume of spray. Great fun. And I can't believe my 40D survived the night, given it was constantly in and out of the bag during the storm. Pretty impressive for a semi-sealed camera.