Fall Toad

Well, it's still only July, but the late summer/early fall wildflowers are starting to bloom, and the leaves are changing color...  (Well, the leaves on at least one stressed black gum anyway...).

This southern toad was hopping around the yard when I got home yesterday, and the moss and leaves looked so nice that I had to get out the camera & lay on the wet ground... ;)

Southern Toad on a Bed of Moss with Fallen Black Gum Leaves

Nikon D300s, Dine 105 mm, f/5.6, 1/200th second, ISO 800, handheld, exisiting light, slight crop.

Fire-bellied Toad

Here's a shot of a fire-bellied toad from last week. 

I put the little guy on a mirror with some black foam core supported over the mirror to give me a black background & reflection, and then I lit it with a ring-flash.

Fire-bellied Toad on a Mirror

Nikon D300s, Dine 105 mm, f/22, 1/25th second, ISO 800, tripod, ringflash as main light, slight crop.

This is a waterfall in Dogwood Canyon just South of Branson, Mo.
Jeff Impey

After  watching the Gator Boys wrestling show for the third time I was convinced that I could wrestle an alligator. After getting some valuable tips from the Gator Boys stars, Paul and Jimmy I mustered up my courage and set out to wrestle a real live alligator. After a lengthy struggle I was able to get the subject to submit to my will and I proceeded to secure his mouth for safety just like they do on TV. Below is a picture with me and the wild beast. I can now mark this off of my bucket list of things to do before I die. Wrestling an alligator is now officially checked off. Jeff Impey

Fourth of July Fireworks

The fireworks shows to celebrate our nation's declaration of independence were just great earlier this week.  I hope that all of the folks shooting & enjoying the fireworks took a moment to reflect on what we were celebrating and the immense sacrifices that have been made for our nation to prosper for so long.

Biloxi Fourth of July Fireworks - shot from a barge near Deer Island

I know some of the rest of y'all were out & about with cameras, so post a few of yours too!

Gator Boys at the Gulf Coast Gator Ranch

I sure enjoyed seeing the other photographers last Saturday when we went to photograph the Gator Boys at the Gulf Coast Gator Ranch.  For me, the conditions were tough with the bright light and crowded venue.

The Gator Boys did a great job of providing factual information about alligators during their show, and it was interesting to watch the film crew do their jobs as well.  When the videographers were between me and the action, I figured that I'd picked a pretty good light angle...  And since I couldn't see through them, I tried to get some shots showing the whole thing - Gator Boys & crew, film crew, & crowd...

I went back for another show in the afternoon & got on the opposite side from the film crew...  I sure wish that I could have been inside the chainlink fence too!

My 5-year old daughter is a HUGE Gator Boys fan, and she got this portrait of Jimmy Riffle using one of my old D-70 bodies with a kit lens...

And my wife got a neat "alligator in habitat" shot out in the marshlands while we were there...

I went back Sunday morning and  took these. This gator was not going to have anything to do with this show and after being dragged out of the water to the demonstration area jumped up and said "I ain't doing this" and took off and went back into the pond. The same thing happened with two gators and the third one cooperated with Jimmy. They said today that there were about a dozen gators and one crock in the pool. The front end of the gator actually came off the ground when it opened his mouth and jumped at Jimmy.

A couple more to take a look at. Jeff

Some of the group made it over to the Gator farm this weekend to see Paul and Jimmy from the Gator Boys from Animal Planet. Other than almost passing out from the heat we had a good time. Paul and Jimmy are both very friendly and were willing to talk with people and have their pictures taken. I would like to give Curtis and Allen from the Gator Farm a big thank you for inviting us to come and take pictures.

I shot these while in the Ozarks on vacation last week in Branson, Mo.
These shots were taken on a Nikon D90 with a Nikon 70-200VR F2.8 lens. I had my Nikon D7000 with a Sigma 17-50 F2.8 on it for the closer shots but these were taken with the D90 combo.
Jeff

Bronze Frog

Continuing with the frog theme is a nice, young bronze frog.  Gary Carter (www.garycarterphotos.com) and I had a great Hands-On Herp Photography workshop yesterday with some great participants.  While neither of us took many shots during the 10 hours we spent helping wrangle & photograph 20 different reptile, amphibian, & invertebrate species, I was very happy with the shots I got...  But the photographers who attended sure picked up the slack; one photographer filled a 32 gigabyte card & started on another!  And a great time was had by all!

A few more images here: http://photobiologist.com/

Courting Gray Treefrog

All this rain moving across the Deep South has the wet weather ponds filled with water & the breeding amphibans out in force.  This gray treefrog (along with 100+ of his buddies & several other species of frogs & toads) was out in the dark last night calling for a mate.

A few more shots & more descriptive commentary here: http://photobiologist.com/frogs-and-toads-go-courting

Nikon D300s, Lester A. Dine 105 mm,  f/11, 1/60th second, ISO 200, tripod, off-camera flash as main light, slight crop to enhance composition.

I took this photo in my yard of a grey squirrel.

Blue Heron, sitting on the dock of the bay.

This was taken at the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom La.

Take the pebble from my hand grasshopper.

Bandit Run '12 Hits the Coast

So, I saw at least one other Nuttie Photographer at the Bandit Run '12 yesterday.  How many of us showed up?

LOTS of fun photo opps (especially if you like cars & people).  It was a lot more fun that I anticipated!

Meadow Beauty

While dodging thunderstorms yesterday morning on DeSoto National Forest and looking for birds, I spotted a lone meadow beauty blooming that had fresh rain drops sprinkling it's petals. So I dug out my camera and took a couple of quick shots.

Meadow Beauty (Rhexia)

Nikon D300s, Dine 105 mm, f/8, 1/80th second, ISO 1600, existing overcast light, handheld but braced well, full frame.