Kuyper Photography » Nature

Celery Fields park burned.

webmaster — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:54:07 +0000

Since my last post to this blog, there was a fire in the grasses at Celery Fields park, Sarasota, Florida. We haven’t had rain in weeks and the whole county is under a fire alert. The shallow ponds in which sandhill cranes spent the nights have almost entirely dried up. That would have happened even without the fire. But, now the surrounding area stinks with a scorched smell. There are only vulture birds, now.

Bird Photography in Florida

webmaster — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:49:58 +0000

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.

Loggerhead turtles

webmaster — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:12:45 +0000

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.

ImageKind Update

webmaster — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:14:03 +0000

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 The order was originally made for framed and matted prints, but two days later changed to only the prints, no frames or mats.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?

Photographing tropical fish

webmaster — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:04:41 +0000

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.

Photographing Florida

webmaster — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:02:42 +0000

We just returned from several days in and around Pine Island, Florida. While there, we stayed at the Bokeelia Tarpon Inn, a friendly bed and breakfast. We hired Captain Jim Welch and the “Lady Bokeelia” a 25 foot boat to take us on a hunt for dolphins and water birds.

Our inventory is now full of fresh Florida images including anhinga, ibis, sea hawks, dolphin, boats, and palm trees.

Photographing Animals

webmaster — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:01:50 +0000

We have been busy photographing animal pets.

A cat show was quite interesting. The prizes were just baskets of cat care products. One cat breeder said she traveled across the state to attend the show, just for the pride of winning. She also said it does not help stud fees much even if you have a blue ribbon winner.

I went to lunch in Punta Gorda, Florida, with some friends and stumbled upon a great shop featuring every imaginable product with dog designs. There were night lights, floor mats, key rings, socks, t-shirts, and more. A bakery counter held treats for dogs. The owner allowed photography so I came home with increased picture inventory. Never leave home without your camera!
We drove to Lakeland, Florida, to work in a reptile store and in a store selling birds and tropical fish. Both store owners were present and both were very cooperative. We made hard to get pictures of birds being hand fed from what looked like a baster.

We spent a week working in Tucson, Arizona, too. While there we photographed in 2 large pet stores with all kinds of animals, an aquarium store with large zero edge tanks, and a reptile shop. Birds and lizards were also photographed at Tohono Chul Park, Saguro West National Park, and at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

AKC Dog Show

webmaster — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:21:58 +0000

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.

AKC Dog Show

webmaster — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:45:46 +0000

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.

Photographing Marine Life

webmaster — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:21:24 +0000

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.: