A western painted turtle pokes its head out of the water

I’m back, baby, I’m back!

It’s been quiet the past month but hopefully that is about to change.

There were several themes running through May, starting with the rainy weather that allowed me to photograph at Ridgefield from when the gates opened to when they closed. All told I think I spent 63 hours in May at the refuge, keeping my spirits up despite long hours at work.

May is also a great time for watching birds as they court and nest and raise their young, and also to see birds that are migrating through and too soon pass on. I spent several thirteen and fourteen hour days at the refuge, much of it on foot, savoring each encounter as next time my subjects might be gone.

All of that time also highlighted some equipment problems, either outright failures like my teleconverter or issues like my tripod and ballhead, which aren’t up to the challenge of carrying the big lens for that many hours. I bought it to be my hiking tripod where it only needs to support my lighter lenses, or to handle the big lens in a pinch, but with that many hours with the big lens it just wasn’t up to the task.

I got to see many of my favorite species, such as this western painted turtle poking its head out of its pond of many colors near the Kiwa Trail. Painted turtles are one of only two freshwater turtles native to Washington, the other is the pond turtle which is so rare you’re unlikely ever to see one. The painted turtles seem to be doing fine, at least at Ridgefield, where on a sunny spring day I’ve seen a few dozen just along the auto tour.

There are lots more pictures from May to come, including some new species that haven’t been on my site before. There are a few house wren pictures, a pileated woodpecker, a male western tanager, several black-headed grosbeaks (male and female), at least a couple of great horned owl fledglings, and a white-breasted nuthatch bringing bugs to the nest.

Lots of updates to existing galleries too, most notably tree swallows, with both close-ups and environmental portraits. Also hungry cedar waxwings, a female yellowthroat, a red-winged fledgling, a couple of starling fledglings, the elusive sora, and a male ruddy duck resplendent in breeding plumage. Possibly a cormorant, white-crowned sparrow, kestrel, and cinnamon teal, I’ll have to see how they turned out.

And let’s not forget the mammals, including a new mink picture, several muskrats, a black-tailed doe, a nutria, and several new eastern cottontails. Also a Townsend’s mole, a new species for me, it was dead but the picture isn’t macabre.

And perhaps my favorite encounter of the month, a swarm of bees on a tree, I found them early in the morning when they were quiet and I could safely photograph the patterns of the colony.

I’m also going to put up a post of the pictures that got away, starting with a full-frame shot of a long-tailed weasel that is heartbreakingly out-of-focus. And there are still pictures from the winter I need to sort and edit, particularly of bitterns.

Stay tuned!

I saw this western painted turtle trying to cross the road towards a water channel at Ridgefield. Being a turtle, it was taking its own sweet time making it across and I was concerned it might find itself in the path of a birder watching the trees more than the road. I got out and helped it across but the turtle wasn’t too appreciative of my aid, pulling tightly into its shell and refusing to come out and play. I took a few pictures and hopped back into the car so we could each continue safely on our way.

Fence lizards come in a variety of shades from light to dark, but most of the lizards I saw at Smith Rock had this light coloring. I don’t know if it is genetically more common or if it leads to higher survival rates by enabling the lizards to better blend in with the lightly colored rocks in the park.

Another view of the western fence lizard from Smith Rock, this view nicely shows off the blue speckles that run the length of his torso. The body color of fence lizards can range from dark to light and I saw all varieties at the park, but this color was the most common.

After featuring an eastern fence lizard, here’s a look at the western variety. The blue patch under the chin indicates that this is a male.

I’m not a rock climber but I enjoy watching both the two-legged and four-legged variety at Smith Rock State Park. I found this fence lizard on an old log in the higher elevations at the park.

You can find the little guys everywhere from the valley floor to the rocks along the cliff faces to the top of the rock formations. A telephoto lens was helpful, as they didn’t like a close approach and they scamper along the rocks a lot faster than I.

The world of photography is full of long running and tiresome debates — I think some people get into photography strictly for the debates. The problem is, like most debates in life, people tend to gravitate towards the extremes and the valid points on both sides are lost in a sea of hyperbole.

One of the oldest is this old chestnut: “Which is more important, the photographer or the equipment?” The purists trot out the same tired cliche, “Give Ansel Adams a disposable camera and he’ll take better pictures than the average photographer with the best equipment available.” Which is both true and beside the point. Obviously the photographer is the most important element of the artistic side, but just because equipment isn’t the most important, doesn’t mean that it isn’t important.

An artist will understand the limitations of his tools and work within their limits to create the best result possible, so the purists are on the right track with their Ansel analogy. But a better question to ask is why didn’t Ansel shoot with a disposable camera? It’s the job of the artist to choose the appropriate tools, because your tools will define the limitations you have to work with.

The advent of digital photography has introduced new tiresome debates. One of which is: “Which is more important, the picture that you print or the quality of the picture viewed onscreen at 100%?”

The purists proudly stick out their chests and announce “The print!” They derisively label anyone who wants to view their pictures at 100% pixel detail on their monitors as pixel peepers or measurebators. People who can’t see the forest for the trees.

I have a confession to make: I’m a pixel peeper.

Now I don’t photograph rulers or brick walls and examine them in excruciating detail, looking for the slightest problem. I don’t stay up at night worrying about vignetting in the corners at wide apertures on wide angle lenses. I don’t think sharpness is the end-all be-all characteristic of a picture. I don’t photograph color charts and worry about slight differences. I don’t obsess over noise charts. I don’t buy the top of the line of everything because I need to have the best of the best.

But here’s the thing – I almost never print out my pictures. How my images look as an 8″x10″ print isn’t how I judge quality because it’s not the main way I view my images. What matters is how it looks at on my monitor. I want to see the forest and the trees.

For family snapshots, it’s true, I don’t pixel peep. I don’t need to study the pores of my skin in a self-portrait. But for my wildlife photography, I love being able to zoom in and see fine details I’d never get to see otherwise. I love being able to take an environmental portrait where the animal is seen in the context of its world, but still be able to zoom in and study detail of the animal itself.

Medium format photographers have always understood this, it’s why they shoot in a format with a larger negative. They want to print a large landscape and have the scene rendered with fine detail, so that you can stand back and view the entire scene, step closer and revel in the fine detail, then step back again and view the entire scene.

As I hinted at above, you can take this to an extreme and become too obsessed over the details. Scan any Internet forum when a new model is introduced and you’ll see this in abundance, from the smallest digicams to the largest SLR’s. But that doesn’t mean pixels don’t matter, for those of us who want the forest and the trees.

Take the picture linked at the top of the post of an alligator at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. I love being able to zoom in and see the crab that’s in the gator’s mouth, look at the details of the gator’s teeth. Even with a spotting scope you won’t see that kind of detail, it happens too quickly. But with the digital image, I can zoom out to view the entire scene and then zoom in to view the details.

So go ahead and pixel peep, revel in the details, just don’t forget to enjoy the forest as well as the trees.