Air Boats and Alligators

Posted on September 27, 2017September 26, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Tom & Jerry’s Air Boat rides

The last part of the Florida Adventure tour is a 30 minute air boat ride. We had a 45 minute bus ride from Crystal River to Lake Panasoffkee for a 30 minute boat ride. I’ve been on air boats before but not on Lake Panasoffkee. Upon arrival the group was split in two. Only one air boat was operational. Or maybe it was because there was only one captain available.

Cruising the Lake

airboats and alligator

My group followed the Captain Jerry down the dock where we boarded a medium sized air boat. There were plenty of earmuffs on each bench seat. You really need to use them because the roar of the huge fan that drives the board is deafening. We started out slowly but soon Captain Jerry kicked up the speed. A great blue heron took off as we roared past. Captain Jerry slowed the boat and pointed it out. He said it was the first bird he’d seen since the hurricane. Usually the lake was teeming with birds.

Birds and Hurricanes

Captain Jerry explained that the birds get into the eye of the storm and are carried far off their normal flight paths. It takes them awhile to get orientated and begin to return. He was very happy to see the Great Blue. A bit further on Captain Jerry again slowed the boat. This time so we could see a smaller bird. It was a heron too. This one was the tricolor Heron.

Where are all the Gators?

We finally spotted one alligator. Captain Jerry said he thought most of the gators were way back in the brush. The lake is usually about 6 ft deep at its deepest. With all the water from the hurricane it was more like 12 feet and still rising. It made for a beautiful blue lake but the marsh grass and Lilly pads were all underwater now. Alligators like to be able to hide. With the deeper water they felt exposed so were way back in the brushy area.

Want to hold the Alligator?

Baby Alligator

Back at the dock the 2nd half of our group headed out. One of the other employees brought out a small alligator to let us hold and take pictures. The really little gators were in an aquarium in the gift shop. Captain Jerry may have been disappointed that he couldn’t show us more gator’s but I didn’t hear any of us complaining. We had a great time all day!

Top 10 2015

Posted on December 29, 2016December 29, 2016 by Dusty Roads

To help get into the spirit of my top 10 search, here are the top 10 from 2015. Several have been enlarged and framed. A couple of the bird photos hang in my work place. Hopefully when I’ve gone through 2016 those 10 will be better than these. Hopefully.

Bayou Bridge , City Park, New Orleans

Egret, Orlando Florida

Egret #2, Orlando Florida

Hungry Egret with Hot Dog, Orlando FL

Great Blue Heron, Herring Run , Middleboro, MA

Germany (Epcot). Walt Disney World, Orlando FL

Cinderella’s Castle in “Ice”, Walt Disney World, Orlando FL

King of Beasts, Animal Kingdom, Disney World, Orlando FL

Rain Forest, New Orleans Aquarium

New Orleans Cemetery

So that’s the “bar” Let’s see what I managed to capture in 2016 and how they will compare.

Top 10 2015

Posted on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016 by Dusty Roads

I was just sitting here at the computer trying to learn the ins and outs of editing raw photos. One expert suggested going through the previous year’s photos and picking your top 10. He stressed it had to be the top 10 photos that you, the photographer, like not your friend, spouse, neighbor and so on.

That was a challenge! I took over 4000 photos last year. Still once I got into it I found that a lot of them were of the snap shot variety. I love having my prints enlarged, called gallery prints so that was the criteria I used to narrow down my selections. It had to be good enough that I would spend the “Big Bucks” to make a super large print.

To my surprise no people or pets made the cut. Here are my Top Ten Pictures of 2015.

The top 3 are from Orlando Florida when I was there with Nancy, her children and my friend Joe. I did have 2 of the egrets enlarged and framed as a set. They hang proudly in my office at work.

Egret 2

The Hot Dog picture is on Nat Geo’s site in the “My Shot” section.

Hot Dog Anyone?

Sticking with the Bird theme I caught a shot of a Great Blue Heron doing something besides standing still. These birds can stand like statues for hours. This was taken in June at the Herring Run in Middleboro, MA. This one also made it to Gallery print and is framed and hanging in my home. Why buy prints when I can use my own photos?

Great Blue Heron

The next photos I chose were from New Orleans in October.

The bridge is in City Park. Bridge

The one I call Rain Forest was actually taken in the New Orleans Aquarium where I struggled with lens fog but turns out the effect was really pretty cool.

rain forest

The last New Orleans pic almost didn’t make the cut. It’s a shot taken of one of the cemeteries in New Orleans. Something about the dark atmosphere kept drawing me back to it. In the end I felt it captured the “spooky” atmosphere New Orleans is known for.

New orleans Cemetary

The last 3 photos came from my trip back to Orlando in December. The purpose of that trip was to take photos of the Holiday decorations at Disney World. Although I got great shots they wouldn’t make it to gallery size.

Lion

Mr. Lion is a resident of Animal Kingdom. He’d just given us a roar and was settling back down. I wish I’d caught the roar but the safari vehicle hadn’t pulled around the corner far enough.

DSC_1711a

This shot of Germany at Epcot was a spur of the moment shot. Joe and I were walking around the lake and it just caught my eye. I love the way it came out.

Ice Castle

And of course what is a trip to Disney in December without Cinderella’s Castle all covered in Ice? I thought this night shot was a fitting choice for the final picture on my top 10 list.

So what do you think? Maybe I’ll get some pets or people in 2016. The goal is, of course, to improve in 2016.

http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/

The Wild Life

Posted on October 10, 2015October 10, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I was thinking about wildlife. Now if I were still in my 20’s and 30’s it would be reasonable for you to think I was talking about WILD LIFE! You know, crazy, partying and carrying on. But as I left those wild days behind long ago I was actually thinking about animals in the wild.

Of all the things I’ve tried photographing, pets, people, landscape, travel, flowers, and anything else I run across, wild life, animals in the wild are may favorites. Its also probably the most frustrating and truth be told, the style in which I have the most failures.

My best work seems to be birds. Why? Because there are always birds of some kind around. I can stake out a bird feeder and have all the “models” I could ever wish for.

But wildlife doesn’t always cooperate. First you have to find them. Then you have to wait for them to do something. A perfect example is the great blue heron that summers at the Herring Run. I have spent hours with this bird and over the past 5 years I’ve seen him catch 1 fish. Normally he stands as still as a statue for hours. I finally got this picture this year. But he’ll be back next year and I’ll be waiting.

It occurred to me that I haven’t been out to photograph any deer in the last couple of years. I take that back, I photographed deer

and elk

on my vacation in Tennessee but not around here since I got my first camera. According to a photographer friend of mine, now is the perfect time to try to get more deer shots for my portfolio.

The weather is changing there’s crispness to the air and the bucks are looking for love. He got some really fun shots in RI this week but you have to get there early.

Now I’m not an early riser. Must be a throwback to all that “Wild Life” when I was young so even though I had the best of intentions this morning I missed sunrise. Yup, overslept.

I took a run down to the Wildlife Sanctuary anyway so I can be sure to find it in the pre-dawn light. I’m going to try again tomorrow.

Since there wasn’t any action going on there I headed to my old faithful sanctuary in Marshfield, MA, Daniel Webster. I’ve never been there without seeing deer but this afternoon I came up empty. The reason is that it was crowded with families walking the trails. Kids were whooping and yelling. I stayed until after 5 pm and I could still hear them. My previous schedule allowed me to explore mid week so it was always quiet. Often my car was the only one in the parking lot. So note to self, try after work mid-week.