Category Archives: Photographs

Amusing Monday: Nature photographers reach beyond ordinary

Attracting more than 48,000 photo entries from 100 countries, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition remains one of the most prestigious photo contests in the world.

“Night Glow,” contest entry by Cruz Erdmann, named Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year
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Click on images to enlarge photos

The competition reflects a diversity of “wildlife” in its various entry categories, focusing on the “behavior” of various groups of animals while making room for stunning landscapes and photos of plants and fungi.

The first photo on this page, “Night Glow” provides a rare image of a bigfin reef squid showing off a variety of iridescent colors. Contest judges, impressed with the quality and clarity of the image, honored photographer Cruz Erdmann of New Zealand with the Young Photographer of the Year Award. The photo also was declared the best in the category for young photographers in the 11-to-14 age group.

The photo was taken during an organized night dive off North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where Cruz noticed a pair of squid engaged in a mating ritual. One of the squid jetted away, but the other — probably a male — stayed just long enough for the young photographer to capture this image of the creature in its colorful sexual display. Cruz understood the rarity of the moment as well as the technical challenge he faced.

“Land of the Eagle,” winner in the Bird Behavior category, by Audun Rikardsen/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

“You have to be careful not to stir up the silt when you dive or you’ll get a lot of backscatter from the strobe light,” he told BBC News. “I wasn’t kicking with my legs so that’s why the photo seems very clear.”

Theo Bosboom, a nature photographer who served on this year’s judging panel, commented: “To dive in the pitch dark, find this beautiful squid and be able to photograph it so elegantly, to reveal its wonderful shapes and colors, takes so much skill. What a resounding achievement for such a young photographer.” (Check out the story by Josh Davis on the Natural History Museum website.)

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. Images are selected by a panel of professionals for their originality, artistry and technical complexity.

“The Garden of Eels,” winner in the Under Water category, by David Doubilet/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Judges included chairwoman Rosamund ‘Roz’ Kidman Cox, writer and editor from Great Britain; Shekar Dattatri, wildlife and conservation filmmaker from India; Jamie Rojo, naturalist conservation photographer from Mexico; and Tim Littlewood, director of science for the Natural History Museum.

“There has never been a more crucial time to move hearts and minds with beautiful, truthful and impactful nature photography, so judging the competition is both a privilege and a huge responsibility,” Littlewood said in a news release. “We hope the images we select will inspire not only the next generation of photographers, but the next generation of scientists, conservationists and advocates for the natural world.”

“Touching Trust,” Highly Commended by judges in the Wildlife Photojournalism category. By Thomas P. Peschak/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The second photo on this page by Audun Rikardsen of Norway was the winner in the Birds Behavior category. Titled “Land of the Eagle,” the picture was the result of a three-year effort to attract eagles to a tree branch where Audun had mounted a camera. Over time, with occasional treats of road kill for the birds, this golden eagle became accustomed to the camera, allowing its picture to be taken with a flash via motion sensor. Audun watched from a blind he had built nearby on the Norwegian coast.

The third photo, by David Doubilet of the United States, shows a colony of garden eels on a steep slope off Dauin, The Philippines. The slope, at least two-thirds the size of a football field, was home to the largest such colony he had ever encountered, David said. It was the winner in the Under Water category.

“The Huddle,” part of the best “portfolio” of wildlife images by Stefan Christmann/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The fourth photo, by Thomas P Peschak of Germany and South Africa, captures a young gray whale approaching a pair of human hands that are reaching down into the water. The photo was taken in San Ignacio Lagoon, a gray whale nursery and sanctuary off the coast of Mexico’s Baja California. Since the 1970s, trust of humans has developed to the point that gray whale mothers sometimes allow their young to get close to the limited number of whale-watching boats.

The picture of the two penguins by Stefan Christmann of Germany is part of a collection of photos deemed to be the best “portfolio” of wildlife photography in the contest. Other photos show up to 5,000 emperor penguins huddling on the sea ice of Antarctica’s Atka Bay. Females entrust their eggs to their closely bonded mates, who incubate a single egg while the females head to sea to feed for up to three months before returning to take over care of the chicks. For more of his work from this portfolio, visit Stefan’s website Nature in Focus.

Not shown on this page is an image by Yongqing Bao of China, named the overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year and winner in the Mammals Behavior category. The photo is a freeze-frame image of a startled marmot in its final moments of life as a Tibetan fox prepares to pounce. This image, along with other winners and “Highly Commended” photos in 17 categories can be viewed on the following pages of the Natural History Museum website:

In addition, The Guardian newspaper and The Atlantic magazine are showing the winning photos in nice presentations on their websites.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest was started in 1965 by “BBC Wildlife Magazine,” called “Animals” at the time. The Natural History Museum came on board in 1984 and later took over the full contest operations.

London’s Natural History Museum is a place to explore the natural world and confront the most important issues facing humanity and the planet, according to museum officials. The museum welcomes about 5 million visitors each year, and the website receives more than 850,000 unique visitors each month.

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Amusing Monday: Satellites can reveal “Earth as Art” imagery

The latest collection of “Earth as Art” satellite images shows stunning depictions of land, water and ice in both natural and unnatural colors.

Enhanced drone image of algae bloom in Milford Lake, Kansas. // Image: USGS/NASA Landsat

“Earth as Art #6,” produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, is the latest in a series of Landsat images released since 2001. This new series includes for the first time high-altitude photos taken by unmanned aircraft, or drones, as well as satellite depictions.

The satellites are designed to capture both visible and invisible light. The photos are often enhanced with color to provide extra contrast for scientists studying various aspects of the landscape. USGS officials post some of the more interesting images online, allowing the rest of us to see dynamic changes underway in river deltas, wetlands, ice fields, mountain ranges, deserts and more.

Some people choose to display these images in their homes, as they would works of art — and in some ways the true-life stories behind the pictures make them worthy of discussion beyond the beauty of the Earth itself.

Enhanced satellite image of Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia. // Image: USGS/NASA Landsat

The first image on this page, titled “A Study in Algae,” reveals the annual algae bloom in Milford Lake, the largest man-made lake in Kansas at 15,700 acres. Because the algae can be harmful to fragile wetland ecosystems, the USGS Kansas Water Science Center uses drones with multispectral sensors to monitor changes in the blooms and report their effects on humans and animals.

In the second image, called “Wondrous Wetlands,” we are viewing the Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia, where 17 rivers flow in but only one drains out. The entire wetlands, which are about the size of Connecticut, include areas dominated by grasslands as well as open water with shorelines featuring dense patches of aquatic vegetation.

All 20 of the newly featured images and their descriptions can be linked from the “Earth as Art #6” webpage. This series also can be downloaded in high-resolution format for framing or purchased as a print for $25 from the USGS Store.

Enhanced satellite image of Solway Firth between Scotland and England. // Image: USGS/NASA Landsat

Previous collections can be found on the “Earth as Art” webpage hosted by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Near the bottom of this page, I’ve posted a new video, which adds music to a slideshow that features this latest collection.

If you don’t wish to wait for the next “Earth as Art” collection, you might like to peruse the “Image of the Week Gallery” sponsored by EROS. Beyond that is the “Landsat Image Gallery,” which includes the latest up-to-date images as well as many others posted since 1972.

The third and fourth images on this page, posted by EROS on Friday, show the Solway Firth along the coast of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and Cumbria, England. The images, captured in October, provide a spectacular example of a drama that plays out in many estuaries during tidal changes.

Zooming out from above image to view surrounding landscape. // Image: USGS/NASA Landsat

“This sloshing of water into and out of basins can produce visible surges of sediment and floating debris, turbulent mixing of fresh and salty waters, and sometimes distinct lines between different water masses,” states the description on the image page. “The water changes color abruptly offshore where the shallower bay meets deeper waters of the Irish Sea.”

Blending art and science, Norman Kuring of NASA’s Ocean Biology group used software programs with color-filtering aspects to draw out the fine details in the water. The swirls and streamers are real, but the tones are enhanced to better show the sediments and dissolved organic matter. To see the natural colors, go to this lower-resolution image.

Also shown in these images captured by Landsat 8 is the Robin Rigg wind farm, located on a sandy shoal and revealed as a symmetrical pattern of white dots and shadows. Robin Rigg is Scotland’s first offshore wind farm, coming online in 2010. It can generate up to 174 megawatts of power, enough to supply 117,000 homes, according to the USGS summary.

In November, the USGS released a new report placing the economic value of the Landsat archive at about $3.45 billion in 2017, compared to $2.19 billion in 2011.

“The analysis is based on the number of scenes downloaded from the USGS and the price that users would be willing to pay per scene,” according to a summary of the report. “It does not include scenes downloaded by cloud vendors or other downstream economic benefits for things such as value-added products and environmental monitoring.”

The report also concludes that much of the value of the Landsat images comes from the open-data policy of allowing users to access as much or as little of the imagery they need. Despite the reported value to users, charging fees per image would likely result in a major decrease in their use, the report says.

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Puget Sound people, places featured in book ‘We Are Puget Sound’

Some of my favorite people are reflected in the new book “We Are Puget Sound,” which offers an overview of the geography, history and natural environment of our inland waterway.

Lead author David Workman does a wonderful job pulling together facts from the far-flung corners of Puget Sound, providing a realistic sense of the place where we live. But I was most captivated by the stories of the local people who have made a difference in protecting, restoring or otherwise improving our region.

The book provides only a sampling of the people doing good things, of course, but I enjoyed reading about people who I have long admired. Through the years, I’ve written about many of them, but not in such detail.

The people of Puget Sound were always a part of the writing project, said Mindy Roberts, who helped coordinate the “We are Puget Sound” project.

“We realized from the start that there are a lot of people doing inspiring things,” Mindy said. “We wanted to talk about the people who are doing things that everyone should know about.”

Mindy Roberts

Folks recognized for their work in special sections of the book include Betsy Peabody, who is leading a group that restores Olympia oysters and other native species; scuba diver Laura James, who has documented the effects of pollution on sea life; former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, who played a key role in ending the commercial capture of killer whales in the 1970s; and former U.S. Rep Norm Dicks, who secured federal funding for many Puget Sound projects, including the removal of two dams on the Elwha River.

Also featured are Native American leaders, including Joseph Pavel of the Skokomish Tribe, Sally Brownfield of the Squaxin Island Tribe, and Ron Charles and Jeromy Sullivan of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, all involved in protecting Puget Sound’s natural resources — including salmon and shellfish, guaranteed to the tribes by the federal government.

“My biggest takeaway (from the book project) is how much good is happening out there,” said Mindy, who leads the People for Puget Sound program for Washington Environmental Council. “There are a lot of amazing people doing a lot of amazing things.”

I’m going to keep this new book alongside my copy of “The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest” by Audrey DeLella Benedict and Joseph Gaydos. Both books are filled with high-quality photographs of people, places and sea life. But where Workman profiles people, Benedict-Gaydos offers intimate portraits of sea creatures and their habitats.

David Workman

The book “We Are Puget Sound” also includes a chapter that describes more than 30 usual and unusual places around Puget Sound that are worthy of exploration. The chapter, written by former Seattle Times travel writer Brian Cantwell, has inspired me to visit several places I have never been and to take a fresh look at places that I have not seen in recent years.

Release of the book last week in Seattle marked the start of the “We are Puget Sound” campaign, which calls on people to go beyond their daily routines to think about what they can do to help recover Puget Sound. As part of the project, Mindy interviewed at least 20 people (including me) to come up with ideas for a section of the book called “Ten things you can do.”

The 10 actions form the basis of the campaign, which will include meetings starting in the Seattle area and continuing in communities throughout the Puget Sound region during 2020. One can follow upcoming meetings and other developments on the “We Are Puget Sound” website and the Facebook page “We Are Puget Sound: Discovering & Recovering the Salish Sea.”

Sea kayaks waiting to go out, Henry Island in the San Juan Islands // Photo: Brian Walsh

“The book is the foot in the door for a lot of people,” Mindy said. “We have an Instagram account called “I Am Puget Sound” in which people can take a picture of themselves maybe in their favorite place or perhaps with a ballot in hand.”

Voting in local, state and federal elections is actually the first item on the list of things that people can do to help Puget Sound. Other items include supporting businesses that protect Puget Sound, eating locally grown foods, reducing impacts in your home and sharing your delights of the outdoors with others. See the full list on the website.

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Amusing Monday: Wildlife caught in the act of being humorous

Forty finalists have been named in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which features a variety of animals looking and acting funny — or at least it seems that way from a human perspective.

“He’s right behind me… isn’t he?” Tiger shark, Tiger Beach, Bahamas
© Anthony N Petrovich / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019

Take a look at the 40 finalists and vote on your favorite if you are inclined. The picture getting the most votes will receive the People’s Choice Award. I thought readers might like to participate in the voting, which is why I’m letting you know of these awards at the finalist stage and not after the winners are announced. Deadline for voting is Oct. 20.

Now in its fifth year, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards is the inspiration of professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, originally from Great Britain, now living in Tanzania. For previous finalists and winners, visit the Gallery page.

“Family disagreement,” Croatia
© Viado-Pirsa / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019

“Every year we do this competition, it gets more and more exciting seeing how people visualize the funny sides of wildlife in the wild,” said Joynson-Hicks in a news release. “And each year we see a wider variety of species doing funny things — whether it’s a very naughty penguin (which had my kids rolling around the floor in hysterics) or dancing lions, a chillin’ chimp or even bee-eaters having a shouting match. (They’re hysterical!)

“To be or not to be…” Snow monkey, Japan
© Txema Garcia / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019

“Of course, the other aspect of our funny competition is letting people know what they can do at home to be conservationists,” he added. “Our planet is in distress; we all know that. Now we just need to know what to do. Hopefully, we can provide a few small tips to get people started.”

The conservation message, featured on the competition’s website, focuses on these three ideas:

  1. Shop responsibly
  2. Use water carefully
  3. Become a “wildlife influencer”
“Chest Bump,” King penguin amd Antarctic fur seal, South Georgia Island
© Tom Mangelsen / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019

In addition to Paul and Tom, the judges for the contest are Kate Humble, wildlife TV presenter and writer; Hugh Dennis, actor and comedian; Will Burrard-Lucas, wildlife photographer; Andrew Skirrow, co-counder of Amazing Internet; Simon Pollock, photographer; Will Travers, wildlife expert and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation; Ashley Hewson, managing director of Affinity photography and graphic design; Oliver Smith, online travel editor for “The Telegraph;” Bella Lack, a “next generation” conservationist; Celina Dunlop, lead photo editor for “The Economist;” and Henrik Tanabe, marketing manager for Olympus Nordic optical company.

“Rhino Warning! Territory marking, follow at your own risk.” White rhino and egret, Nairobi NP, Kenya
© Tilakra Nagaraj / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019

Although the competition has a British orientation, these are photos that can make anyone smile.

Winners will be announced on Nov. 13, so return to the contest page at that time if you are interested in seeing how your favorite photos fared. Books of photos from the completion are available on the website as well as on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

Sponsors and partners include the Born Free Foundation, Affinity photo, Amazing Internet, Think Tank, Alex Walker’s Serian, Spectrum Photo and Olympus Nordic.

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Amusing Monday: ‘Serengeti’ TV series focuses on entertainment

“Serengeti,” Discovery Channel’s recent groundbreaking series about African wildlife, has come under fire from some experts for the show’s over-dramatizing animal emotions and motivations. But if we can view these personal animal stories with a bit of skepticism, I think we should feel free to immerse ourselves in the magnificent landscape and life-and-death struggles of the animals. Stunning photography, captivating music and intriguing narration of the various stories provide high entertainment value plus a greater appreciation of nature.

The six-part series, produced by “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller, has made its mark as one of the highest-rated nature documentaries ever seen on television. The show recently wrapped up its first season, but you may find all parts available “on demand” from TV providers, or you can watch online with access to the Discovery Channel webpage. If you’ve seen the show, you might be interested in several behind-the-scenes videos. A second season of “Serengeti” may be coming, but I don’t think it has been announced yet.

“We’re not used to telling or hearing the stories of animals,” says Fuller in an explanatory video about the project. “I see pain. I see love. I see joy. I see suffering. I see anger. And I see happiness in animals, and it’s powerful.”

Director John Downer, an-award winning nature filmmaker, said three film crews worked in the field for well over a year, using all sorts of specialized equipment to capture intimate and intense moments on the plains of Tanzania. Hidden cameras, aerial drones and camera-stabilization platforms made the live action possible, according to an interview with Andy Dehnart of “Reality Blurred” magazine.

“In ‘Serengeti,’ there are endless moments of intimacy that you don’t normally see in a natural history film because we’re telling that emotional story,” said Downer in the explanatory video. “And there’s also things, really unbelievable dramatic moments, that I could never script, never write, because you never know they would happen.

“The reality of when you’re there, spending that long in the field with them, the stories come just when you’re least expecting them. And they’re always the ones that just blow you away,” he said.

Narrator Lupita Nyong’o, who won an Oscar for her acting performance in the movie “12 Years a Slave,” grew up in Kenya and seems to share an intimate connection to the African landscape. She introduces the audience to both predator and prey and finds it worthwhile to root for both.

“There are no bad guys,” she says in the video. “There’s just guys trying to survive. And I think that’s really a beautiful dynamic to watch.”

We meet baboons, zebras, elephants, antelopes, gazelles and giraffes, along with hippos, wildebeests and buffaloes. We also meet some powerful characters among the predators: crocodiles, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas and jackals.

One thing became clear to me: Water is an important aspect of the drama. Both predator and prey, as well as rivals in family groups, must find water. That brings ongoing conflict at the river and watering holes that can dry up or turn to mud-laden traps.

Cinematographer Matthew Goldman said one of the biggest challenges was filming in the rain, even though a special housing was built for the cameras that ride along on stabilizing platforms on the sides of the film trucks. The rains provide for interesting footage, he said, but the crew was unable to shield the camera lenses from scattered water droplets. Keeping a lens clear was a task not without risks.

“My job is to jump out and clean the lens,” Goldman said. “When it does start raining, lions especially get very excited, so it can be quite nerve-racking when you are focusing on what you are doing … and the lions are playing and starting to get into this hunt mode.”

The emotional connection with the animals is enriched with an orchestral musical score. Vocal credits go to Lola Lennox, daughter of Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox. The song “Wild Hearts” (above) is written and performed by singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis, who has written many pop hits including Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl.”

As I said at the outset, some wildlife experts are apoplectic about the manipulation that takes place to produce a compelling narrative story. The animals might be viewed as actors playing a role, and discerning eyes have noticed that sometimes a single character is augmented with multiple animals playing the role.

Sometimes the narration presumes the feelings of animals, which just might go beyond human understanding. Do animals really love their babies the way humans do? It is hard to say, but it is nice to think so.

“This is documentary as theatre,” writes Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian newspaper. “I’m not saying gritty realism is always a more appealing approach, but this all-out anthropomorphism sometimes reaches beyond what it can deliver, which is a shame because, visually at least, it’s a stunner.

“It’s all very well to smother animals in human emotions, but the animal world is brutal and cruel, and cozy reconciliations are few and far between,” she continues. “I could feel the manipulation happening as if a puppet master were making me dance, but the death scenes … had an impact. At last, ‘Serengeti’ began to carry me along with it. If this is entertainment, then at least it entertains.”

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Amusing Monday: Watching wildlife around the world

You can learn a lot about the birds and the bees — not to mention the bears and a whole lot of other creatures — by watching a live telecast among hundreds of webcams fixed on wildlife in every corner of the globe.

Each location has its own story and its own history, but many existing webcams are coming under the support and networking of Explore.org, an educational program funded by the Annenberg Foundation, with special attention from Charles Annenberg Weingarten.

One live cam is situated near an osprey nest on Hog Island (first video), an educational nature camp in Maine that has been associated with Audubon since 1936. Today, Hog Island Audubon Camp is operated by Project Puffin, which is part of National Audubon Society’s Science Division.

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Amusing Monday: Rare beauty, adventure shown in national parks photos

Auburn photographer Scott Eliot was named this year’s winner in the “Night Skies” category of the “Share the Experience” photo contest for this stunning image of stars over Mount Rainier.

Night Skies winner: Mount Rainier by Scott Eliot.

The annual contest, sponsored by the National Park Foundation, invites amateur photographers to submit their favorite views, moments and adventures from America’s national parks and public lands. See all the winning photos on the NPF Blog.

As Scott described it when posting his photo to the contest website last year: “The early morning hours of late July begins to bring the Milky Way into alignment with Mt. Rainier from a vantage point along the Silver Forest Trail on the Sunrise Plateau of Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington state.

“A mid-summers new moon and clear skies were the only occasion necessary to spend a peaceful night out alone for some astrophotography composing the Milky Way with Mt. Rainier, before the Pacific Northwest weather changed its mind.,” he continued.

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Amusing Monday: Citizen scientists lend their eyes and ears

Just about anyone interested in becoming a citizen scientist can participate in real-life research projects by connecting with Zooniverse, a website that has been expanding and refining its projects since I first wrote about it in Water Ways in 2017.

Zooniverse enlists the power of many people to analyze raw data of various kinds. As a participant, you sit down at your computer and follow instructions to make observations about nature, history, art, language or other fields of your choosing.

“The major challenge of 21st century research is dealing with the flood of information we can now collect about the world around us,” says the description on the Zooniverse webpage. “Computers can help, but in many fields the human ability for pattern recognition — and our ability to be surprised — makes us superior.”

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Amusing Monday: Evolution of sea snakes takes twists and turns

I’ve always felt fortunate that residents of Western Washington need not worry about encountering a deadly snake while hiking in our home territory. The same goes for divers and sea snakes — which are even more venomous than terrestrial snakes. The cold waters of Washington and Oregon tend to keep the sea snakes away.

The same used to be said for California, where sea snake sightings were once extremely rare. That has been changing, however, the past few years — especially during years when higher ocean temperatures encourage tropical creatures to make their way north. Is it just a matter of time before Washington scuba divers begin to report the presence of sea snakes?

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Amusing Monday: Inspiration from underwater photos

More than 5,000 underwater photographs, taken by photographers from 65 countries, were submitted for judging in the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.

“Gentle Giants” ©François Baelen/UPY2019

The contest, based in Great Britain, was started in 1965 and celebrates the art and technology of capturing images under water — from the depths of the ocean to “split shots” at the surface, from open waters to enclosed estuaries, from lakes to even swimming pools.

I first reported on this contest in Watching Our Water Ways last year and received such a positive response from readers that I decided to make it an annual feature of this blog. The 125 winning entries are shown in an online Gallery of the 2019 winners. A series of videos provides insight from the photographers telling the stories that surround their winning entries.

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