Here is a picture of the stilt sandpiper birds that are one species of stilt bird found in ponds at the Celery Fields park, Sarasota, Florida. These birds are in the pond most of the day. The sandhill cranes are usually there only in the hour before sunset. This is a well known birding spot with a lot of cameras and scopes waiting for sandhill cranes. There’s not much interest in the stilt birds, but, they are photogenic, too.
Stilt Sandpiper birds at ImageKind
We are off now to photograph on Siesta Key, Florida. Today is the first warm day after a week of cold and wind.
For the first time in my life I saw newly hatched loggerhead turtles emerge on a Florida beach. What a privilege to see those wonderful creatures on their first day of life. The babies are so small they fit in the palm of your hand and grow to be bigger than you could lift. Here is the picture we made using the inexpensive zoom lens camera we keep in the car. No tripod or add on lenses. It is not too sharp focus because the baby turtle was covered with sand. We did not see if the turtle made it out into the Gulf of Mexico. It had a lot of beach to cover and there was a lot of wave action. 
We had a nice sale last week at ImageKind. Eight pictures in all bought by an unknown buyer. The picture above is one of the two pictures purchased. The buyer took 4 each of 2 water pictures. The images were made in San Diego harbor. An artist friend suggested the images are so peaceful and soothing they will probably be hung in a spa. The order was originally made for framed and matted prints, but two days later changed to only the prints, no frames or mats. With frames it would have cost 5x more than only prints. Shipping would have cost more too due to the weight of wood frames. We are doing well at ImageKind with 804 fans, too. Unfortunately, although I made the first cut for their last contest, I did not win it.. But, you can’t have everything, can you?
Recently we worked at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. They have large, clean aquariums with many species of tropical fish. Tripods, which are essential when using slow 100 ISO film, are allowed. Only fish in sharp focus will be considered for publication, so, we always check before traveling to a photo location and make sure tripods are allowed. Here is a lionfish now on sale at Cafe Press.
We have been busy busy busy working CafePress lately. There are several new products: embroidery patch on jackets, polo shirts, denim shirt, and hats; ceramic pet food dishes, and a ceramic travel mug. With over 1,200 sections in 4 Premium shops and a dozen basic shops, resizing designs on all products takes TIME.
Here’s a sample of the new travel mug.
We made lots of great pictures at the AKC dog show today. It was held indoors, but the area was well lit. Derk made digital pictures and I used a fill-flash for pictures on ISO 100 35mm slide film. We also photographed dogs in the exercise area outside.
No photography was allowed inside the show ring. That is understandable because it certainly would distract the dogs, handlers and judges. The show, itself, had 1 photographer with a digital set-up who photographed the winning dog at each judging.
The yorkshire terrier below was photographed with Derk’s digital Nikon.
If you are a photo buyer looking for dog pictures, please let us know. We are going to Palmetto, Florida, this Saturday and Sunday to photograph an AKC event.
Last month we photographed at a non-AKC event at LakeWood Ranch, the Annual Pug Parade. We made some cute pug dog pictures and will upload one below. The dog has been dressed up like a rabbit.
We have been making pictures of animal pets at a local Petland store for several of our photobuyers. Pictures were made using hand held Nikon F5 with flash. There were just too many customers with small children to use a tripod.
Good pictures were made of lizards, birds, turtles, hamsters, and gerbils. The African Grey Timneh is one of the parrots photographed.
Derk had an interesting day at Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida. He used his Nikon D200 digital camera, no flash, and no tripod. The pictures are great! We worked there on two earlier occasions using film, flash, and tripods. So, it came as a welcome surprise that the digital camera, alone, could do the job.
Mote has the usual aquarium type tanks for tropical fish. The biggest problem photographing in that area of the facility is the ever present hobby photographer or visiting school group.
Mote also has a huge aquarium tank for manatee. It is necessary to use wide lens because the manatee are big. The best perspective for a picture is from the lower viewing area where you make an underwater shot. Reflections on the aquarium glass can be a big problem there.
Here are a couple of Derk’s pictures. The Jellyfish is available at kphotos.imagekind.com/TropicalFish as poster or framed print and the clownfish is also available there.:
The latest addition to products available in our Cafe Press shop Photo Accents is a good example of the benefit of stock photos. Three years ago we had a publishers request for llama pictures.
We found a llama business in Georgia agreeable to our request to photograph herd of llamas. Some of the pictures made then were published in a children’s book on llamas.
Another llama picture is available on products at Cafe Press like the sweatshirt below.
