Flamingo Pink

Red Panda

Aquarium Interactions

One of my favorite things about the Ocean Voyager tank at Georgia Aquarium (besides the whale sharks, mantas, and tons of other beautiful creatures) is the sheer size of it. The HUGE viewing window allows visitors to almost interact with the fish swimming by. They can get eye to eye with sharks and rays. It not only gives you a sense of scale of these amazing creatures but I get to watch faces light up when a huge manta comes gliding by. This is where conservation and appreciation of nature starts.

I could sit in front of this window all day. There was also a family who was in there for a very long time. The 2 boys had one of the fish guides in hand and followed sharks and rays back and forth across the window the entire time I was there. Another boy was always spread his hands wide and watched as the fish swam past his outstretched arms.

Long Shot

This is the closest I could come to fitting an entire whale shark in my frame...

Manta Ray

Cruising Speed

Tropical Diver Tank @Georgia Aquarium

About 25% of this wall is live coral. This takes extraorindary amounts of care to keep alive and beautiful. There is a sky light above the tank as well as UV lights. 6000 gallons of water dump into the tank every 2 minutes to keep the water aerated. They also have to feed the corals plankton & add calcium and other minerals to the water to help the corals grow.

Giant Pacific Octopus

Eye to Eye at the Georgia Aquarium

Whale Shark

Eagle Ray

African Penguin

This is the most patriotic picture I've ever taken. In NYC, we are forced to remember today for better or for worse.

The Stables on the Hill at Sunset

I was busy planning with my cousin's son and sent Ben out to take photos of the Stables on the Hill. He did a great job.

Wedding Flowers

DMB Caravan

Dave Matthews Band Caravan made its third stop of the summer at Governor's Island on Friday. It was supposed to be a 3 day festival like the rest of the stops but Hurricane Irene changed those plans. I did get to attend the fest all day on Friday. I started the day on the 10am ferry to help set up the WCS booth for the ecovillage. When gates opened at 1 we got to watch the festival ground fill up and feel the energy level rising. I got to watch most of Soulive, OAR, and all 3 hours of DMB. The average attendance at the other dates was 40k a day, and I'm sure we got close to that.

I was afraid I wouldn't be allowed to bring the larger camera so I found the old Canon Powershot from 4 years ago. I'm happy to have some pictures of the day even if they are lower quality. If the dates are rescheduled and I am able to attend, I will definitely bring our T2i.

Hope everyone weathered the storm ok. Nothing to report here!

Monument Sunset

Taken from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Ebony Langur

IMG_4264

IMG_4264, a photo by AWagy on Flickr.

Published on Gothamist!

Manhattanhenge

Manhattanhenge happens a few times every year when the sunset lines up with the grid of manhattan. Photographers flock to through streets to photograph this fabulous event. This was our first time viewing and photographing the event in our 3 years here. It will also happen again tomorrow. These photos were taken on 72nd street. I think we're going to go to 81st street tomorrow.

Dinosaur!

Perfect Dinner

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending a close friend's wedding in Albuquerque, NM. Friday we were invited to attend the rehearsal dinner at Papito's which apparently is an ABQ staple for anyone famous who comes through town. The dinner was amazing, the margaritas even better, and homemade pie the best! Here's what I like to see at the end of any dinner with friends.

Petrified Redwood

Shot with our Canon EOS Rebel 2Ti at iso1600,, f/5.6 & 1/20 shutter speed with our 50mm fixed lens.

Petrified

TBM@ Mercury Lounge

It's been crazy busy and stressful since last time I posted, hence the HUGE gap. I'm going to try to get back on track though... So starting back up with a photo from the last time I took photos a full month ago.

We've had a wide angle lens for a while now but I resisted using it for the longest time. The past few months I've been pulling it out more and more to experiment with while I've been shooting.

Red!

I believe this is a Japanese Sugar Maple but I could be wrong. What drew me to this tree is the bright red color. This color is rare for spring!

Canon EOS Rebel T2i, 70mm focal length, f/7.1, 1/800, iso 1600

Cherry Blossoms

Canon Rebel EOS T2i, 47mm focal length, f/7.1, 1/2500, 1600 iso

Contrast

I just loved the contrast in the white & purple tulip and planting it next to the deep purple tulips just brought out the color even more!

Canon T2i, 75mm focal length, f/5.6, 1/2500, 1600 iso

Shades of Pink

I've never seen such a variety of tulips as I did at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. They were in full bloom and BEAUTIFUL!

Canon EOS Rebel T2i, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 1600

Dual Tones

Canon EOS Rebel T2i, 112 mm focal length, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 1600.

A beautiful two-toned tulip. I'd never seen such varied colors and shapes of tulips as I did at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens!

Yellow Sunshine

After a long absence, here's to starting again. Life's been busy but hopefully I can keep this up this time.

Canon EOS Rebel T2i, f/5.6, 1/4000 shutter, 1600 iso.

Tundra

Tundra is our resident polar bear at the Bronx Zoo. He's an older bear but that doesn't stop him from posing for pictures! Did you know a polar bear has black skin and their fur is hollow and clear like a straw?

Bear Hug

One of the courses we teach spends a lot of time discussing and teaching about different forms of enrichment for our animals - especially our carnivores. Throughout the week participants build enrichment items for some of our animals and the last day the keepers stuff these items with yummy treats and give them to the animals. I had the joy of photographing the animals and participants during the most recent run of the course. And here is the resulting photo:

Enrichment is a way to keep captive animals entertained. It takes many forms from treats hidden in something or around the exhibit to scents to simply rotating animals through exhibits. It encourages the animals to get up and move around the exhibit and exercise their brains as well as encourage some natural behaviors. A lot of times the public has no idea that enrichment is going in for an animal (it almost always is for mammals) because it can be so natural but when you know what it is you see it all around.

These are 2 of our rescued brown bear cubs (about 2 years old). After receiving their enrichment boxes they remained quite active. Here they are playing much like they would in the wild. Play like this is very important to learn about social relationships. In predatory species it also allows the organisms to practice hunting skills. It is always a challenge in zoos to keep animals active, especially as they age but so far these guys are doing a great job of staying active and keeping us entertained in the mean time!

Just Hanging Out

This Emerald Tree Boa is just doing his thing. Every time I see one of these creatures, they always seem to be in this position. It is characteristic of them to coil up this way over a branch or two. They sit this way all day and when they hunt at night they extend their head down and wait for prey to come by. I find their face especially haunting. Just above their mouth looks like a cage (they are heat seeking cells though) and their green eyes make for some creepiness. They always photograph well with their bright skin. I especially enjoy the depth of field in this shot.

This type of snake is a constrictor, meaning it wraps itself around its prey and then swallows it after it has been asphyxiated. However, this constrictor is much smaller than the more well known Boa Constrictor or Anaconda. This is probably why they have much larger fangs/teeth than a normal non-venomous snake. I think it is much prettier too - such bright green skin!

Darwin's Tortoise

These little guys are best know for being written about by Charles Darwin. They are inhabitants of the Galapagos Islands where Darwin made many of the observations that led him to publish On the Origin of Species and forever changed the field of biology. These tortoises can live over 100 years and weigh almost 1000 pounds. They obviously won't stay in this exhibit full grown - they'd never make it out! Some zoos allow people to ride them, the Bronx Zoo used to many moons ago. My mom has a picture of me on one at Busch Gardens when I was about 5. The Staten Island Zoo had one that was the first animals to receive radiation treatment for cancer. They have a statue of him on their grounds because he was so cool.

Cool hint for getting them to come close to the glass - wear pink or red clothes or nail polish. They LOVE it because they think it's fruit.

Hot Rock

The cubs are now about 8 months old. The whole family can't quite fit on the heated rock like they did in the beginning of winter. 10 minutes after I took this picture I went back and saw this. Everyone sound asleep but half the family is in the snow!

Trilobites

Trilobites are organisms that lived in the ancient seas and as you can see there are numerous fossils of all different sizes of these guys. This display is from the Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History The Sant Ocean Hall

I spent the weekend in Washington DC visiting a close friend from college. I went straight from the bus to the museum of course. I bee-lined it straight to the ocean hall of course. While smaller than the American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, they had many real specimens on exhibit. The large blue whale at AMNH is much more impressive however. This photo was taken from the second floor of the museum.

ReBAR Photo Shoot

Ben just bought us a new camera body and I had the pleasure to break it in with a Break Mission photo shoot on Saturday. The camera is GREAT. It is very fast and I can shoot at a much high ISO than we were able to before. All of the shots were at 800! Barely any noise!

This is just a teaser shot. There will be a few more to follow until I finish sorting through and editing all the photos. It was a great way to start my Saturday and break in the new camera. THANKS BREAK MISSION!

Hidden in the Bronx

Who would think this scene would be from the middle of the Bronx?

Majestic

This wonderful statue greets me out in front of my building every morning. It looks even more majestic covered in snow. Just thought I would share. It's kinda cool to walk by something this cool everyday.

Birds in Action

White Throated Bee Eater is one of the species at the Bronx Zoo used for feeding demonstrations. They are known for their ability to catch their prey in midair. Keepers throw crickets into the exhibit for the birds to catch. They also keep a bee hive to feed bees to the birds in the warmer months but thankfully those aren't released into the exhibit while the public is there. They move so quickly, photographing them was difficult. Everyday in the World of Birds visitors get the chance to see these birds in action and talk to a keeper. Highly recommended experience!