Michael Despines Photography

Sep

30

Art?

Shot of the Month Posted by Michael / 3 comments

Shot of the Month – September 2021

Is this image Art? And if it is, does that make me an “Arrrteeest”?

Photography was invented in 1826 (almost 200 years ago) and since that time the “Is photography art?” debate has raged on. This may surprise you given that photography is generally accepted today as Art, but this is a fairly recent phenomenon. How recent? Most museums only began to collect and display photographs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Did you know that there are seven traditional forms of art?

Me neither. Photography is not among that list (scroll to the end to see the original seven).

So what is art? The Cambridge Dictionary says:

the making or doing of something whose purpose is to bring pleasure to people through their enjoyment of what is beautiful and interesting, or things often made for this purpose, such as paintings, drawings, or sculptures

I do strive to bring people pleasure with my images so perhaps I am trying to be an artist. Painting and sculpture use essential elements and principles such as line, shape, form, texture, balance, asymmetric balance, color, size, depth, light, positive space, and negative space.

Hmmn, interesting. I also consider many of these elements when I raise the camera to my eye. In fact, on an outing I may spend hours waiting to get the right mix of these elements in place before taking a single image.

As a photographer I spend much of my time trying to showcase the work of the world’s greatest artist – Mother Nature. Each day she throws together a fabulous mix of flora and fauna draped in captivating colors and hues. Every day, across the planet she is producing one masterpiece after another.

If I do my job correctly and get all the technical stuff right — set the right aperture, dial in the shutter speed, and compose the image well then Mother Nature will do the rest and we get some beautiful images that hint at the wonders of the natural world.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines art as:

the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.

I can say that I am a better photographer than I was 30 years ago – even this old dog has acquired a certain level of skill and creative vision to help capture Mother Nature at her best.

And some days I use a bit of “creative imagination” to manipulate an image to form something beyond what I witnessed. As in the photo above, converting it to black and white transforms a “mere” pretty picture of a cheetah into a portal that connects the viewer with feelings and mood a bit more universal.

In the color version we have a shared viewing experience as we all gaze outward at the beautiful scene. The B&W version may offer a more individual, internal journey and reaction that can have very little to do with a cheetah sitting in a driving rainstorm, on a continent far, far away.

The realistic color version connects us to nature, while the B&W version connects us to ourselves – perhaps reminding us of the storms that we weathered in our lives and how we persevered.

Wow, if I keep rambling like that I will have to get a turtleneck sweater, beret, and start smoking little French cigarettes.

Seems all a bit highfalutin for this small town boy (Art, Schmart). All I can say is, if you find joy, or a shared sense of awe, or brief respite from a troubled day with one of my photos, whether it be Art or something else, then I consider my time well spent.

Until next month….michael

Were you able to remember/guess the original, traditional forms of art? They are:

Painting
Sculpture
Literature
Architecture
Cinema
Music
Theater

Sources

Photography: Is it art?

What is photography?

Is Photography Art? – Both sides of the debate explained.

What are the 7 different forms of Art?

A Brief History of Photography and the Camera

Nikon D5, Nikon 600mm f/4 (@f/5.6), 1/1000 sec, ISO 2500

Aug

31

Venice is for Lovers!

Shot of the Month Posted by Michael / 1 comments

Shot of the Month – August 2021

Ok, so first of all, it isn’t that Venice.

And second, the star-crossed lovers are avian in nature, two lovely Great Blue Herons (GBHs), as shown above.

I found this pair of lovebirds at a nesting site (rookery) in the town of Venice, Florida. There is a small lake in Venice with an island of trees where the herons love to build nests and raise their families. It is a surreal to be in such a developed area and then if you turn down one particular quiet street, boom – you suddenly find nesting BGHs, snowy egrets, anhinga, and other assorted wading birds. The alligators in the lake help dissuade any predators (raccoons for example) from approaching the island so the chicks are quite safe in this urban oasis.

Standing up to four feet in height GBHs are the largest herons native to North America and they are one the most successful wading birds in the Western Hemisphere. Their highly adaptive nature allows them to thrive in a range of habitats and they can be found throughout North and Central America, northern South America, the Caribbean Islands, and even in the Galapagos Islands. Great Blue Herons rarely venture far from bodies of water but they can adapt to almost any wetland habitat and may be found in marshes (both fresh and saltwater), mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges or shorelines.

GBHs feed primarily on small fish but they can adjust their diet to capitalize on what may be found in a given habitat. They can prey on shrimp, crabs, aquatic insects, rodents and other small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. For example in Nova Scotia 98% of their diet is made up of flounder while in Idaho voles make up to 40% of the bird’s diet.

These adaptable birds can even be found in highly developed areas, like Venice, Florida as long as there are bodies of water nearby with a food source.

I visited the Venice Area Audubon Rookery during a December when the birds were just beginning their nesting season. The GBH is normally a solitary bird but they breed in colonies that can include 5 to 500 nests. Males tend to arrive at the rookery first and begin building a nest.

Nest building — It all begins with a stick:

During the mating season the Great Blue Herons perform elaborate courtship displays to attract a mate and to build bonds between partners.

Here we see two males stretching their necks to display the glorious neck plumage that develops during breeding season to demonstrate how attractive they are.

Pick Me No, Pick Me

Once the birds pair up the male flies back and forth bringing nesting materials for the female who completes the nest construction ensuring that everything is just right.

When the male returns to the nest after each sortie the couple will often perform ritualized greetings, stick transfers and a nest relief ceremony where they birds erect their plumes and clap their bill tips together.

Ceremonial Stick Handoff:

Here we have some bond-building bill clapping (say that three times fast…):

If all this fancy courtship goes well you get, ehhhh, an adorable (??!!) bundle of joy as shown below:

Ahhhh, Venice — love is definitely in the air at this birding hotspot. If you dig bird life consider a romantic get away to visit the rookery between December to May for a fascinating view of the courting ways of the Great Blue Heron and their avian brethren.

Until next month…..michael

Nikon D4S, Nikon 600mm, 1.4x TC (effective 850mm), f/10, 1/500 sec, -0.5 EV

Sources:

Wikipedia

Audubon

All About Birds

All About the Great Blue Heron

Jul

31

Mammoth Hot Springs

Shot of the Month Posted by Michael / 0 comments

Shot of the Month – July 2021

Check out this month’s crazy landscape — looks like we found a dead tree on planet Mars. This other-worldly scene can actually be found just down the street (as least on a cosmic-size scale) in Wyoming on planet Earth. This dead tree is part of the ever-changing landscape at Mammoth Hot Springs (MHS) in Yellowstone National Park.

How did Mother Nature work her magic this time?

Before reaching the sprawling network of hot springs the water that feeds the site first passes through an underground formation of limestone leaving it rich in calcium carbonate. When the hot water is released into the air it cools quickly and leaves an ever growing hillside of terrestrial limestone (known as Travertine). Each day the cooling water from the springs deposits two tons of new building material creating an ever changing landscape of sculptures, terraces, and new formations. For thousands of years the hillside has grown and changed as the waterflow ebbs and shifts over time.

Ever visited a cave and seen amazing stalactites and stalagmites? Yeah, basically the same process. The process is so similar that the National Park services describes the Mammoth Hot Springs as “a cave turned inside out.”

The dramatic colors are thanks to the range of bacteria that thrive in the warm, wet ecosystems created by the springs. Each type of bacteria has its own color and is uniquely suited to a given temperature range and acidity level. Yellow bacteria indicate very hot water while greens and blues indicate cooler temperatures. Two orange colored bacteria, Phormidium and Oscillatoria can be found in MHS and may be the source of those hues in my image above.

So, if you dig the groovy formations found in caves, but are also claustrophobic, then check out Mammoth Hot Springs for wondrous geology in the comfort of the open air and blue skies.

Until next month….m

The MHS are located near the North Entrance of the park near the town of Gardiner. If you are heading to Yellowstone NP and want to learn more on how to explore the MHS check out these detailed posts from other photographers:

Maria Struss Photography

Mammoth Hot Springs/Guide to the Terraces of Yellowstone

Exploring Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone

Martin Belan

Sources

Wikipedia

Travertine

Thermophilic Bacteria

Nikon D4S, Sigma 150-600mm (@ 150mm), f/6.3, 1/500 sec, ISO 1600

Jun

26

Monet Marmot

Shot of the Month Posted by Michael / 0 comments

Shot of the Month – June 2021

In 2020 I spent a weekend at Mt. Rainier in search of wildflowers. Ironically, some of the most intense concentration of flowers, and color, can be found along side the roadway. Of course, this is not really the setting for a “wild” nature image that I am looking for. As I was driving from one hiking site to another I saw a Hoary Marmot along the road near a collection of wild flowers. I have seen marmots dining on wild flowers before as you can read about here.

“Oooh, a marmot in those wildflowers? That could be a great shot!”

Luckily there was a car pullout not far away so I slammed on the brakes and pulled over. I walked back along the road to the small “field” and tried to photograph the marmot. From time to time he would stand up and nibble on a flower. As the marmot scampered about I was ducking and dodging trying to

find a clear shot;
with lots of color;
without showing the road nearby;
without getting hit by a passing car.

The best way to not have the road in the image is to shoot from the road — tricky with cars zooming by. Where is the marmot? Ahh, ok. Click, Click. Take eye from camera view finder and scan the road. Any cars? Yep. Yikes, get off the road.

Ok, now where is the damn marmot? Reposition. Click, click…..Yikes, another car…

This game of hide and seek and dodge-the-car went on for a few stressful minutes. In the end the image above is the only one that kind of worked. The marmot eventually scampered off to flowers down the hillside before I could get THE shot.. The image is a bit of a mess but the photo does offer a nice impressionist sense of the glorious colors that can cover the mountainside for a few weeks each year. With a bit of software I added to the Monet-esque effect:

Mother nature does some of her finest work in the darndest places….

Until next month…..m

Nikon D4S, Sigma 150-600mm (@ 230mm), f/5.3, 1/125 sec, ISO 560

May

31

Fact or Fiction?

Shot of the Month Posted by Michael / 0 comments

Shot of the Month – May 2021

Above we have a nice image of a Grey-cowled Wood Rail (GCWR). The image is technically sound. The entire bird is in sharp focus allowing us to see the fine detail of each feather. The lighting is even making the exposure relatively easy — no areas of the image are too bright (“blown out”) and no areas that are too dark. The “flat” light ensures that the colors are accurate and pleasing allowing us to see all the beautiful colors of this South American bird.

It’s a good photo.

No really, a really nice image.

It’s a really nice image…………………………………..that is boring.

Ok, that’s not totally fair. It would be a perfect photo to use in a Bird Identification Field Guide — in this image you can see all of the key features of the specimen and verify if it is the bird you saw. In such a book you would learn that the GCWR can be found in the forests, mangroves and swamps of Central and South America. This sounds about right since I photographed this fellow in the Pantanal of Brazil.

In such a reference guide you could learn that rails, birds that are members of the Rallidae family, are small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family includes crakes, coots and gallinules and includes about 150 species of birds. This family of birds is quite diverse and can be found across much of the planet.

It is a great documentation photo and is a good image to start my GCWR portfolio. However, as this fellow sauntered about and zigged and zagged his way among the roots of the trees in the mangrove in search of a meal (most likely looking for crabs, mollusks, arthropods, frogs, seeds, berries, etc.) I managed to capture the shot below:

Wow! Although both images are of the same bird, the visual impact of the two photos could not be more different. In this shot the shallow depth of field produces a dramatic backdrop and produces a real sense of depth. That beak seems to be coming right out of the screen while little else of the bird is in focus. And the lack of definition of those red feet makes me notice them (stare really) much more than in the first image. They’re kinda creeping me out…

The portrait orientation of the image tightly stacks all of the bird’s colors on top of each other into a bewildering cacophony of hues. And the side lighting produces drama and highlights that red eye as it stares ominously at us. The angled root adds to the visual chaos. I find my eye jumping from that red foot on the root to the dramatic hues of the beak, to that red eye, and then to the chestnut body…and back to the foot, and the beak….

While I observe the first image, I feel the second. In the second image the rail becomes almost an abstract representation of a bird as the elements and colors of the bird take on a life of their own.

From the first image to the second we go from documentation to inspiration. Or perhaps from representation to interpretation? From so real to surreal? (I could do this all day, but I think you get the idea…)

Ahh, the wonders of photography — an art that can capture what we see to what we can imagine, or anything in between.

Until next month….michael

Sources:

Wikipedia

Nikon D850, Nikon 200-400mm (@350mm), f/4, 1/1000s, ISO 6400

30

Art?

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31

Venice is for Lovers!

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Mammoth Hot Springs

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26

Monet Marmot

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31

Fact or Fiction?

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