Rinus Baak Photography: Blog https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog en-us (C) Rinus Baak Photography (Rinus Baak Photography) Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:06:00 GMT Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:06:00 GMT https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/img/s/v-12/u911727488-o443440908-50.jpg Rinus Baak Photography: Blog https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog 67 120 Whooping Cranes & More https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2025/3/whooping-cranes-more It’s a dilemma knowing whether to share good news first or bad news first.  I’ll start with the bad news first.  After twenty years, Jane and I have lost a dependable and cherished friend.  Yes, the 2004, four-wheel drive, Toyota 4Runner, with nearly 250,000 miles has gone.  And here is the good news, the 4Runner was traded in for a brand new 2025 Toyota, all-wheel drive, Rav4 Hybrid.  And, we just finished our first major road trip in the Rav4 to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Rockport, Texas, to photograph whooping cranes.

Whooping cranes, endemic to North America, are among the most endangered birds in the world.  Back in 1940, due to habitat loss and hunting, there were only 21 whooping cranes left in North America.  Today, as a result of conservation efforts and captive breeding, the current wild population is estimated to be around 500 birds.  The only naturally occurring, and self-sustaining, flock of Whooping Cranes breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park, in northern Alberta, Canada, and spends winters in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

You can understand that I would want a chance to photograph the endangered whooping crane.  Besides its endangered status, the whooping crane is also the largest crane species, standing more than five tall with an eight-foot wingspan.  It is a most impressive bird but also a difficult bird to find.  Most of the wintering cranes forage for food among the coastal barrier islands of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  Searching for them involves motoring along the edges of the barrier islands in a boat and hoping you will spot cranes close enough to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

Whooping CranesWhooping CranesCranes In Flight Whooping CranesWhooping CranesCranes Eating A Snake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent three mornings with Captain Kevin Sims on his boat, with two other photographers, searching for whooping cranes.  There are thousands of acres of barrier islands where the 500 remaining cranes could hangout.  So, we were very fortunate to find several family units of cranes within a reasonable distance for photography.  When crane sightings became scarce, Captain Sims motored to a small rookery island with breeding great blue herons, reddish egrets, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, and Caspian terns.  Of particular interest was the ability to photograph the distinctive white morph of the reddish egret.

Great Blue HeronsGreat Blue HeronsHerons At Rookery White Morph - Reddish HeronWhite Morph - Reddish Heron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caspian TernsCaspian Terns White IbisWhite IbisIbis Foraging for Food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After regaining our “land legs” and a satisfying lunch, we headed for a blind on Kevin Sims’ property where whooping cranes are often enticed to feed on corn.  We four photographers spent hours in the blind waiting for cranes to arrive.  Fortunately, cranes did show up, but they were sandhill cranes, the same crane I have photographed often at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near home.  Eventually, though, some whooping cranes did arrive and we could see the huge difference in size between the whooping crane and sandhill crane.

Whooping Crane & Sandhill CraneWhooping Crane & Sandhill CraneSize comparison Whooping CranesWhooping CranesTaking Off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to whooping crane photography, we also visited the El Potrero Nature Photography Ranch near Kingsville, Texas, an hour’s drive inland from Rockport.  The Ranch has purpose-built photo sites with blinds to photograph regional birds.  The variety of birds showing up at the photo sites was disappointing.  Jane was able to add four new species of birds to her list, however.  Perhaps the most interesting photo site was the one dedicated to attracting raptors where we had ample opportunity to photograph the Crested Caracara.

Crested CaracaraCrested CaracaraCaracara Landing Crested CaracaraCrested Caracara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Fronted WoodpeckerGolden Fronted Woodpecker Yellow Throated WarblerYellow Throated Warbler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bumble BeeBumble BeeBee on Purple Thistle Roseate SkimmerRoseate Skimmer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When all the photography was done, we packed up and headed for home, ending our first major road trip with the new Rav4, that now has a whopping 3,500 miles on the odometer. That means only one thing, more road trips to come.

For photos from our Whooping Cranes & More trip, check out the “Latest” gallery on the website.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2025/3/whooping-cranes-more Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:06:29 GMT
2025 Is Here https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2025/2/2025-is-here Twenty-twenty-five has arrived, as well as another birthday, and the beginning of new, exciting travels.  For starters, Jane and I rang in the new year at Santa Fe’s dazzling central plaza, ablaze with its thousands of colorful electric lights decorating the leafless trees.  We were among hundreds of other revelers watching the last seconds of 2024 tick away on a large, electronic clock that was ascending up to a Zia Sun symbol representing the new year, 2025.  There was boisterous cheering, enthusiastic well wishing, and intimate hugging and kissing as the clock reached its midnight zenith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The excitement of Santa Fe was followed a month later with our first trip for the new year, a repeat February journey to Costa Rica.  For this weeklong excursion, we had decided to stay at just one location, the Arenal Observatory Lodge the only accommodation inside Arenal Volcano National Park.  This was our third trip to Costa Rica coordinated by Costa Rica Focus, a travel company specializing in organizing private bird watching and photography tours.  It is so easy working with Costa Rica Focus.  We tell them what we want to do and where we want to stay and they arrange airport transfers, lodging, meals, and guide services.  Easy as pie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arenal Observatory Lodge is a lovely place to stay.  Jane and I had stayed there a couple of nights on a previous Costa Rica trip and decided that we would spend this entire trip at Arenal.  The lodge is situated on 870 acres, of which nearly a third are primary (old growth) forest. There is a myriad of paved and dirt trails to explore and find birds to photograph.  Finding the birds is the hard part and that is why having a birding guide from Costa Rica Focus is so valuable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From previous trips to Costa Rica, I knew of some places I wanted to go back to.  So, while staying at the Arenal Observatory Lodge, we made a couple of day trips to those locations.  The first was the Catarata del Toro waterfall and the adjacent Blue Falls on a private reserve.  Catarata del Toro is truly impressive with water from the Toro River cascading nearly 300 feet into an extinct volcanic crater.  There is an easy, short trail with three viewpoints overlooking the falls.  There is also a much longer, steeper trail down to the bottom of the falls that we did not attempt to navigate.

The trail to the Blue Falls, on the other hand, was not easy.  Far from it.  The ticket agent assured us that the path was fairly level for most of the three-quarter mile track.  That was certainly not the case. The trail was pretty much all uphill with some rather steep ascends.  Upon approaching the waterfall, the trail became narrow with lots of steep, wet steps descending down into the river gorge.  We hiked down to only one of several Blue Falls.  The water gets its robin-egg blue tint from an abundance of dissolved aluminum sulfate, of volcanic origin, that reflects blue from sunlight.  The hike was a bit strenuous but worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my recurring hopes for trips to Costa Rica is to photograph a sloth with a baby.  So, our second day trip was to the Bogarin Trail near the bustling tourist town of La Fortuna.  The trail is known for sloth sightings, and, we were informed that there was one with a baby.  We started out very enthusiastically, only to learn that the sloth with baby had left the area.  We did spot and photograph two other sloths.  Photography was difficult due to the sloths being so high up in the canopy of the trees, hidden by branches and leaves, and backlit by a cloudless sky.  Again, I was foiled in my attempt for a baby sloth shot.  Obviously, a reason for a future return trip to Costa Rica.

To see images from this Costa Rica journey go to the “Latest” gallery and for bird images go the “Birds” gallery and then “Birds of Costa Rica”.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2025/2/2025-is-here Tue, 18 Feb 2025 22:55:31 GMT
TWO SHORT WINTER TRIPS TO END 2024 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/12/two-short-winter-trips-to-end-2024  

The early December air was crisp and cold, with temperatures in the teens, as I walked out of the Gallup Holiday Inn Express to attend the 43rd annual Red Rock Balloon Rally.  Frost had to be scraped off the 4Runner windshield before I could drive off for the morning Mass Ascension.  Chemical warmers kept my toes and hands toasty warm as I listened to the pilot’s briefing.  A clear sky with a gentle breeze was forecast as the pilots headed cheerfully to their balloons.  The launch area at Red Rock State Park is divided into a north field and south field, separated by a camp ground.  As the ground crews prepared their balloons for flight, I hustled between the launch areas to find the best photo locations. 

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Several dozen balloons, including a few special shapes, ascended into the calm sky against a backdrop of red sandstone bluffs.  To the delight of spectators, some of the pilots were able to maneuver their balloons close to the bluffs and scrape their baskets against the red rock.  The calm weather also allowed tethered balloons to be tightly spaced for a colorful, synchronized evening balloon glow.

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Jane joined me for the second of my two year-end jaunts.  We spend a day at Bosque del Apache enjoying unusually warm December weather at the National Wildlife Refuge.  In order to catch sunrise with the sandhill cranes, we overnighted in Socorro rather than driving super early from Albuquerque.  Driving around the south and north loop roads looking for cranes and other wildlife, with a baren, winter landscape, was very enjoyable.  There were not a lot of birds, but the few that were there provided some fun photography.  Perhaps the highlight of the excursion was seeing a mom javelina with a very young infant trotting behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With these two short year-end trips completed, Jane and I are now getting ready for the many social event planned with our neighbors to celebrate the holidays.  For New Year’s, however, it will be just to two of us in Santa Fe to ring in the new year.

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/12/two-short-winter-trips-to-end-2024 Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:20:31 GMT
Autumn Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/10/autumn-road-trip Autumn has arrived and we are heading for the end of the year.  This is my last blog for 2024 and it is all about a road trip to our timeshare cabin in Montana, that I endearingly refer to as “our place in Montana”.  It’s a long way to “our place in Montana” so we typically break the drive up with a number of stops along the way.  This year was no exception.

We started out with a short drive to Chama, New Mexico, a bit north of Santa Fe.  There we enjoyed a day-long adventure on the historic Cumbres & Toltec narrow gage railroad.  The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is America’s longest and highest narrow gage railroad and is designated a National Historic Landmark. We left Albuquerque early in the morning for the three hour drive to Chama to catch the ten o’clock train for the 64 mile journey to Antonito, Colorado.  The 1880 era, coal burning, steam Engine 484 pulled our restored Denver & Rio Grande carriages along the tight turns over the mountains from New Mexico to Colorado.  Jane had booked us in the Parlor Car where we marveled at the turns and twists of the narrow gage tracks and enjoyed mimosas while watching the scenery pass by.  The historic train journey ended at Antonito where busses were waiting to transport us back to Chama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After spending the night in Chama, we continued our road trip to Chimney Rock National Monument in Colorado, about an hour’s drive northeast of Chama.  The name suggests that this national monument is all about the outstanding geologic rock formation.  But that would be wrong.  Actually, this national monument is a one thousand year old archaeological site consisting of ancient dwellings, kivas and a great-house pueblo.  Archaeologists believe that the people who lived here a thousand years ago were part of the Chaco culture who inhabited Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Jane and I hiked the steep Great House Trail to view the ruins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Chimney Rock, we drove a short distance to Arboles, Colorado, situated near the north end of Navajo Reservoir.  Arboles is a small, unincorporated community, with an estimated population of around 300 people.  Two of those people are my nephew Mike Riebeek and his wife Aneda.  I had not seen Mike for many years and had never been to his home in Arboles.  We had a great, although short, visit with Mike and Aneda sharing stories and talking family stuff.

After bidding Mike and Aneda adieu, we headed further north on U.S. Highway 550 to Montrose, Colorado.  The goal there was to spend a few days photographing at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  The canyon was not easy to photograph.  When the sun was low on the horizon, one side or the other of the extremely deep and narrow canyon would be in shade.  When the sun moved higher into the sky, the bottom of the canyon would have sunlight, but both sides of the steep canyon walls would be shady.  We hiked to most of the view points on both the South Rim and North Rim roads.  The most spectacular views were from Exclamation Point on the north side of the canyon.  From Exclamation Point we had several clear views up the canyon.  We thoroughly enjoyed the three mile, round-trip, hike to Exclamation Point.  The trail was relatively flat and traversed through pinyon- juniper woodland and the cool morning air was invigorating.

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When arriving at Montrose, Jane noticed the Ute Indian Museum along the highway and we decided to make time for a visit there.  As the name suggests, the exhibits at the museum were all about the indigenous Ute tribes of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.  Ute history, during the “westward expansion” of the 1800’s, parallels New Mexico’s Navajo and Apache history with their confinement to reservations.  In addition to providing insight into this sad history, the museum also provides contemporary programs highlighting Ute tribal activities.

From Montrose, Colorado, we continued are journey to “our place in Montana” with overnight stops in Casper, Wyoming and Great Falls, Montana.  In Casper, of all places, we discovered the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center located in a very avant-garde facility near our hotel. This impressive interpretive center highlights the “westward expansion” from the pioneer’s perspective. Exhibits documented westward migration along the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and the Pony Express. So, Jane and I were exposed to the history of the west from two opposing viewpoints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since our stay at the timeshare cabin is two weeks long, it is not unusual for us to take a short overnighter to some nearby attraction.  This year we opted to visit the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in the Milk River valley near Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.  The park contains petroglyphs created by nomadic Blackfoot tribes of the Great Plains.  The area is sacred to current Blackfoot tribal members and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Our guide for the petroglyph tour was a Blackfoot and he had wonderful stories to tell about the rock art and his personal experiences.

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On the way to and from the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, we sidetracked to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.  Waterton National Park shares its southern, international, border with Glacier National Park’s northern, international, border.  Together these two parks make up the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: World Heritage Site.  We detoured to Waterton National Park in order to have lunch at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel.  Built in 1927, the Prince of Wales hotel is reminiscent of the great railroad hotels built in America’s western national parks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We enjoyed our brief foray into Canada.  The drive along Chief Mountain Highway, in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is always a stunning ride especially when the hills are adorned with fall colors.  Eventually, though, the time came to head back south to New Mexico.  It’s a long way from Albuquerque to our cabin, about 3,500 miles round trip, including visits to Writing-on-Stone and the Prince of Wales hotel.  Jane had downloaded an Audible book on her phone and we listened to Anthony Horowitz’s novel Moonflower Murders (a PBS Masterpiece series).  At each stop along the way we would try to figure out who the culprit was, but we never did.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA We stopped in Logan, Utah, to visit with my sister, Neli, and my nephew, Bryan, and his wife, Margaret. Neli is now a young 97 years old and still doing very well, thank you.  She needs a “walker” to get around but is pretty sharp and delighted in sharing stories with us.  Bryan had arranged for the five of us to have lunch at Cody’s Gastro Garage, an actual auto repair garage turned into a trendy café, in Garden City along the west shore of Bear Lake.  It was a special treat for me to spend some fun time with my sister.

The next day, Jane and I headed home to Albuquerque.  We arrived back in time for the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  Normally, we don’t get back to Albuquerque from our cabin in time for the Balloon Fiesta.  So, this year we were able to go out early a couple of mornings to watch the balloons launch into the air.  The weather in Albuquerque was particularly favorable for the event this year and there were balloons in the air most every day during the nine-day Fiesta.  We were fascinated by the special-shape balloons with their unusual, often whimsical, designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn has arrived and a new year will soon be upon us.  We have started some early thinking and planning for trips in 2025.  So, stay in touch to see what we will be up to next year.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/10/autumn-road-trip Sun, 13 Oct 2024 23:09:41 GMT
An African Safari https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/9/an-african-safari It had been ten years since Jane and I first ventured to Africa.  In 2014, we traveled to Kenya and Tanzania with several friends for some awesome wildlife experiences.  This summer, 2024, we journeyed with Stu Porter on his Wild 4 African Photographic Safaris to Botswana.  Jane and I were two of six intrepid photographers to experience this adventure.  And an adventure it was.  Ten nights in a mobile tent camp within some of Botswana’s most notable national parks and game reserves.

For Jane and me, the venture really started in December of 2022 when we first decided to embark on this safari with Stu Porter and deposits were made.  After that, it was eighteen months of anticipation for the adventure to begin.  Reading the trip information, we knew this was going to be a most memorable journey.  Our excitement grew as departure time approached, but so did apprehensions about airline schedules and potential delay problems for the long, multi-stop flight from Albuquerque to Johannesburg, South Africa.  So, Jane schedule our flights to arrive a day before the start of our tour.  We spent our first night in Africa at the City Lodge Hotel at the Johannesburg airport.

On July 27th we met Stu and our fellow travelers, Lin and T.J. Lenahan, and Jean and Keith Aclin, for the Airlink flight from Johannesburg to Maun, Botswana.  In Maun, we quickly gathered our bags and transferred to a Mackair charter flight to Moremi, in the Okavango Delta.  Waiting for us at the Moremi landing strip were our guides Nkosi Sibanda and Frank Mashebe with the modified Toyota Land Cruiser safari vehicles that would transport us for the next ten days.  It was all very exciting as we encountered jackals, giraffes, lions and leopards along the drive from the airstrip to our first camp site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staying in a mobile, tented camp was a brand new experience for us and we didn’t know exactly what to expect.  An obvious conclusion was that everything, including food, drinking water, kitchen paraphernalia, cots, bedding, and tents had to be brought along as we moved from one remote camp to another.  Our outfitter, Thru-the-lens Photographic Safaris, was well experienced in remote, mobile camping and, logistically, all the camp relocations and setups occurred seamlessly.  The camp itself was also managed efficiently from the 5:30 AM wakeup call, through breakfast, noon lunch, three o’clock high tea and the evening dinner.  Kudos to the camp staff who were always helpful and friendly, but most importantly, kept the camp safe from marauding wildlife through the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our accommodation was an aluminum-framed, marquee style ridge tent large enough to stand up in and contain two cots with space for two bedside tables.  There was a covered “porch” area in front with a couple of large folding chairs, four screened window openings, and an attached en suite bathroom.  Bathroom facilities included a folding console table that accommodated two small galvanized tubs that were filled with hot water every morning at 5:30 for washing up.  There was also a thermos with drinking water for brushing teeth and a bucket shower that was filled with hot water during the lunch break.  The toilet was a “porta potty” placed over an open pit.

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The daily routine started at 5:30 in the morning when camp staff would bring hot water for washing up.  After washing up and dressing warmly (morning temperatures ranged in the mid-40’s), we gathered around the campfire for coffee, tea and breakfast.  Then, as twilight started to lighten the sky, we boarded the land cruisers for the morning game run to see what wildlife could be found to photograph.  Each vehicle was set up with three rows of seats so each of the six photographers would have a full row for shooting and storing camera gear.  Stu instituted a rotation system so that each day we would start in a different row.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the game run, around mid-morning, there would be a coffee break with cookies, and the proverbial “pit stop”.  Typically, we arrived back at camp around noon where staff would be waiting to greet us and prepare lunch.  Lunch was buffet style with choices of salads and main course.  After lunch, during the harsh light of mid-day, was “free” time for charging camera and laptop batteries, showering and napping.  At three, we would gather again at the dining tent for high tea and cake. The afternoon game drive started after high tea, when temperatures ranged in the high-80’s, and lasted until dusk when it became too dark for photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After returning to camp from the afternoon drive, it was time for relaxing around the campfire, sharing stories of the day’s experience, and enjoying a cocktail or glass of wine.  Dinner followed after Holly, the very talented camp chef, announced the evening’s menu followed by her hearty, high-pitched, tongue trill, ululation.  Dinner started with appetizer, or salad, followed by the main course, usually a meat or fish dish, and finished with a tasty dessert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The game runs were amazing.  Frank and Nkosi would maneuver the land cruisers skillfully through a maze of sandy tracks searching for signs of wildlife. They were exceptionally good at reading the signs and tracks of the animals we pursued.  Scouring the dry grass and scrubby terrain, they had an uncanny knack for spotting something interesting to photograph.  Every run was unique and I anxiously anticipated our encounters with Botswana’s wildlife.  At times I felt the experience would have been similar to those of the early big game hunters, only we were shooting with cameras, not guns.

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There were many, memorable wildlife encounters.   One in particular stands out that I refer to as a “National Geographic” moment.  I was in Frank’s land cruiser when he spotted a pack of about twelve wild dogs on a hunt.  He immediately left the sandy track we were on and started pursuing the dogs on a parallel course across the open velt, avoiding large shrubs and deep ruts, at a hectic pace.  Keeping up with the speeding dogs allowed us to witness the wild dogs take down and devour an impala.  That adrenaline inducing chase was truly a “National Geographic” moment.

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Water holes were especially productive for photography.  However, during the dry season, especially now with global warming, water holes are typically dry.  Consequently, Botswana’s wildlife reserves have drilled water wells to seasonally fill a few strategic water holes.  We observed a variety of large mammals, including elephants, giraffes, impala, wildebeest, wild dogs, as well as flocks of birds, drinking at the water holes.

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After ten nights in our mobile camp tents, we departed the dry Okavango Delta for the Chobe River at Kasane, Botswana.  Sadly, we left Frank, Nkosi and our, now familiar, land cruisers at the Savute “International Airport” for our charter flight to Kasane and the Pangolin Hotel.  It was way beyond joy to be at the Pangolin Hotel with a real shower and a comfortable bed for two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Kasane, our safari mode changed from land cruisers to small boats with outboard motors and special gimbal supports for our cameras.  We cruised the Chobe River during mornings and afternoons to photograph wildlife. Along the wide waterway, it was not so much searching for wildlife but rather being at the right place at the right time. The river naturally attracts thirsty animals and the reeds along the river’s edge attract many birds.  Our new guide, the boat captain, was adroit at finding small birds, including bee-eaters and several unique kingfishers.  Our cameras were kept pretty busy on the Chobe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We bade Stu an emotional goodbye as he prepared for his next safari and we prepared for our trip extension to Victoria Falls. All six of us hardy travelers loaded our luggage into a van for the transfer to Victoria Falls.  Crossing the border from Botswana into Zimbabwe came with its own bit of confusion and humor. Eventually, though, all paper work was completed, visas paid for, and passports stamped. Our destination was the Ilala Lodge near the entrance to Victoria Falls National Park.  Once at the hotel, Lin and T.J., as well as Jean and Keith, had their own plans so each couple started their Victoria Falls visit independently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Livingstone, the British missionary and explorer, named the falls after Queen Victoria in 1855 and in 1989 the Victoria Falls was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  During the wet season, nearly 300,000 gallons per second of water thunder over a mile long precipice falling 350 feet into the narrow Zambezi River gorge.  During the dry season, when we were at the falls, the volume of water cascading over the precipice is only about a third, but still an impressive volume of water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a short taxi ride from the Ilala Lodge to the Victoria Falls National Park entrance.  In the park is a paved trail along the edge of the gorge opposite the water fall with a number of viewpoints.  In mid-afternoon, the sun is positioned so that a vivid rainbow appears in the spray of mist created by the falling water. Jane and I made sure not to miss that spectacle.  We also signed up for a helicopter flight over the falls for an impressive aerial view.

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On August 10th, after fifteen adventurous days in Africa, we departed the Ilala Lodge around ten in the morning for our 30 minute taxi ride to Victoria Fall Airport.  From there, it was a long journey home.  We arrived back in Albuquerque mid-afternoon on August 11th, having spent more than 24 hours in airport terminals and airplanes. Looking back, it is hard to imagine an adventure more memorable than this African safari.  The comradery among all our fellow travelers, Stu, Frank, Nkosi, and camp crew, as well as the wildlife encounters, made this a unique, one-of-a-kind, exciting adventure.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/9/an-african-safari Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:19:31 GMT
Early Summer Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/6/early-summer-road-trip After Bruce and I completed our badlands of the San Juan Basin exploration, and Jane returned from her action packed visit with Gigi in New York City, we spent some quiet time at home enjoying our garden for a few weeks before heading out again.  Jane and I have been getting a lot of pleasure from our garden with its many colorful roses.  For me, of particular enjoyment are the cacti.  I have created three small areas in our yard where I planted several hedgehog cactus plants. They were in full bloom with spectacular red flowers.  The garden provided blotches of vivid color for us to enjoy after the dull gray of winter.

Clret Cup Cactus FlowerClret Cup Cactus FlowerClaret Cup Cactus, aka Crimson Hedgehog, In Full Bloom Showing Red Flower Petals And Reproductive Elements King Cup Cactus Flower and BudKing Cup Cactus Flower and BudBright Orange Bloom Of Hedgehog Cactus, aka King Cup Cactus, In Profile View Illustrating Flower Petals and Reproductive Parts

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My good friend Neil Solomon told me about a pair of peregrine falcons that were nesting and raising chicks along the cliffs of the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, California.  Unabashedly, I invited myself and Bruce to come and photograph these raptors with him.  So, in early May, Jane and I ventured to San Diego for a short visit to photograph the falcons.  Neil generously guided Bruce and me to the best photo locations.  Needless to say, these nesting peregrines and their chicks attracted many other photographers and we were not alone on the beach waiting for the birds to appear.

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Jane had arranged for us to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Old Town.  We did not realize it at the time, but it turned out that we ended up in the middle of the Old Town Cinco de Mayo celebration.  It was a noisy, crowded party and we happily joined the throng of revelers while enjoying a margarita along the way.

A recent issue of Arizona Highways Magazine featured an article and photographs of Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona.  I found the geology and scenery of this “sky island” fascinating and was immediately drawn to the rhyolite rock pinnacles and spires to try my own photography there.  So, we were back from San Diego a short three weeks before hitting the road again. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This time it was road trip.  Chiricahua National Monument is only about a six hour drive from home.  Since it was my idea to make the trip, I made the necessary accommodations.  For the first four nights of this week long trip we stayed at the Dreamcatcher Inn at Chiricahua, an extremely nice B&B, somewhat in the middle of nowhere.  Phillip and Ramon (Ray) were our very gracious hosts.  In fact, once Ray found out about my photography interest, he provided directions to a great horned owl nest with three chicks about to fledge.

 

 

 

 

 

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Although a “sky island”, with peaks reaching nearly 10,000 feet in elevation, the Chiricahua Mountains are situated on the edge of the Sonoran Desert and in early June day time temperatures were starting to sizzle.  We mostly kept our photo hikes to late afternoons/early evenings when the sun was low on the horizon and temperatures moderated a bit. To pass the time of day, we made some short excursions visiting the old copper mining town of Bisbee (where a hazardous open pit mine is a tourist attraction) and Tombstone (where there is a shootout at the O.K. Corral at one, two and three in the afternoon).  We also made a trip to the Kartchner Caverns State Park near Benson (no photography allowed inside the cave).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Dreamcatcher we moved to Cave Creek Ranch for three nights in Portal, Arizona.  Portal is a birding hotspot and Neil Solomon had told me about it.  We were not in Portal at prime birding time but since it was only a couple of hours from the Dreamcatcher, and on the way home, we decided to make it part of our summer journey.  As part of the trip planning, I had arranged for a guide to help in locating birds to photograph.  That worked out well.  James Petersen was our guide and he found us 55 different bird species, fourteen of which were new ones for us, including a spotted owl, red-faced warbler and elegant trogon.  Not all the birds James found were in positions where photography was possible, but I did my best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to check the Latest Images gallery for photos from this trip.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/6/early-summer-road-trip Sat, 15 Jun 2024 14:46:14 GMT
First Trip Of 2024 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/4/first-trip-of-2024 Finally!!!  It has been a long time between photo trips and so, at last, here is my first blog of 2024.

A few months back, after previously having decided not to photograph the 2024 total solar eclipse, I had a change of heart and made arrangements to travel to San Angelo, Texas, for this extraordinary event.  In 2017, Jane and I had traveled from San Diego to Idaho to witness the total eclipse.  Having experienced the spectacle in 2017, I had decided we did not need to do it again.  But as April 8 drew closer, the challenge of photographing another eclipse got the better of me.  Jane was not as keen as I was to go again, so we decided that I would ask my photo buddy, Bruce Hollingsworth, to join me for a photo trip and that Jane would make arrangements to visit her friend Gigi Alpers in New York City.  And that is what we did.

Bruce drove from San Diego to Albuquerque and from there we started a week long, two thousand mile, photography road trip.  The venture started, of course, with a drive to San Angelo, Texas, for the eclipse.  As part of the trip planning, I had chosen several alternative viewing locations from San Angelo in case weather became an issue.  And weather did indeed, become an issue.  According to weather reports our original shooting location in Llano, Texas, was going to be socked in with over 90% cloud cover.  We opted for an alternative location, Evant, Texas, where the cloud cover was projected to be only around 45%.  It turned out to be a good decision.  Bruce and I had a good view of the eclipse where as in Llano, we learned, the overcast sky blocked the eclipse.  Unfortunately, shortly after “totality” clouds moved in over Evant and we also lost sight of the ongoing eclipse.

 

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Based on my experience returning from the eclipse in Idaho, I fully anticipated heavy traffic and long delays driving back from Evant to San Angelo.  But, fortunately, those stressful driving conditions did not materialize.  Instead we enjoyed a leisurely drive on rural “farm to market” roads with occasional opportunities to photograph roadside wildflowers along the way.

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Our next objective on this photo journey was Carlsbad Cavern National Park in New Mexico.  The drive from San Angelo to Carlsbad routed us through the oil patch of the Permian Basin.  The barren, oil well studded landscape was a dramatic change from the pastoral ranches and orchards of the Texas hill country.   For hours we dodged 18-wheeler semi-trucks loaded with heavy equipment to service the myriad oil wells scattered throughout the prairie.

As is the case now at most national parks, timed tickets are required to enter the Carlsbad Caverns.  I had acquired our timed tickets a month before starting the trip.  That turned out to have been a good strategy since there were no tickets available for the days we were at caverns.  Bruce and I spent two days photographing the speleothems in the cave.  I was certainly challenged to find compelling compositions.  Inside the cave, the main cavern, the “Big Room”, is huge and I found it difficult to convey the size and complexity of the cave photographically.  But I tried.

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From Carlsbad we traveled to the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Site, a private preserve some fifty miles north of Santa Fe.  Bruce and I had visited Mesa Prieta in 2022, so I had arranged for private tours in new areas where we had not photographed before.  As before, our enthusiastic and energetic guide was Cathy Benthagen.  She overwhelmed us with stories and anecdotes about the spiritual aspects of the many petroglyphs we encountered.  Trails on the private reserve are fairly steep and not well established.  Bruce, being from sea level, was struggling a bit at 7,500 feet.

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After morning and afternoon petroglyph tours with Cathy, we continued on our photography road trip, driving past the communities of Abiquiu, Coyote, Regina and Cuba, to our next destination for a three night stay in Bloomfield. The Best Western Hotel in Bloomfield served as our home base for two exhaustive days of photographing the San Juan Basin Badlands.  Although Bruce and I had photographed portions of these badlands before, I had learned about other sites with intriguing erosional features that I wanted to photograph.  These unique formations came with fascinating monikers like Alien Throne, The Sentinel, King of Wings, The Castle, and The Guardians.  With names like that, who wouldn’t want to photograph these eroded hoodoos.

There turned out to be a small problem.  The San Juan Basin Badlands is a vast, treeless plain cut by broad east-west trending valleys.  Ownership is mostly divided between federal lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and Navajo Nation lands.  The road system throughout the badlands is a spider web of rough graded tracks and two-track dirt toads with little or no signage.  I was very concerned that we would not be able to find our way to the trailheads, nor find the trails, in this desolate area without a knowledgeable guide.  Fortunately, I was able to find just such an experienced, knowledgeable guide.

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Kialo Winters, Owner/CEO/Tour Guide of Navajo Tours USA, was our guide for the photo adventure in the badlands.  As we bounced along the rough rutted dirt tracks to the various trailheads, Bruce and I would frequently confide that we would never have found our way without Kialo.  In order to be in place for photography by sunrise, we met up with Kialo each morning at 5:30 AM at a Sinclair service station, about thirty miles south of Bloomfield.  That also meant getting up by 4:30 AM in order to be on the road by five for the thirty minute drive to the Sinclair station.  By late morning, around 10:30 or so, we would head back from the photo locations driving laboriously on those deeply rutted, washboard roads to the Sinclair station and from there back to Bloomfield for lunch and a short nap.  Then, we would meet Kialo again at the Sinclair station around 3:30 PM for the afternoon excursions and sunset photography. By the time we left the field and drove back to Bloomfield we would arrive there around 9:30 PM just before Blake’s Lots-A-Burger fast food establishment closed.  That was our routine for two days.  After that, it was happily back to Albuquerque for a satisfying, tasty meal and long, sound sleep.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2024/4/first-trip-of-2024 Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:00:24 GMT
Latest Images https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/12/latest-images Since returning from our trip to Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks in early October, Jane and I are enjoying being home and catching up on delayed routine chores, like doctor and dentist appointments.  The holidays are upon us and Jane had decorated our home accordingly.  We’ve also been enjoying visiting with friends and sharing good cheer.  Plans have been made for an overnighter to Santa Fe to enjoy a classical guitar symphony and stroll along the Canyon Road galleries on Christmas Eve.

In the meantime, I’ve not let my camera lie dormant in its case.  On October 14th, I photographed the annular solar eclipse from the backyard.  That was followed by a couple of short trips to the Bernardo and Bosque del Apache wildlife refuges.  Then came an evening excursion to the popular “River Of Lights” exhibit at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens.  And finally, in early December I journeyed to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory on the Plains of San Agustin for a night sky photography workshop with the Very Large Array antennae in the foreground.

Images from these late-year trips can be viewed in the “Latest Images” gallery. 

P.S.

I made another trip to Bosque del Apache right of after new year's and have added images from this excursion to the Latest Images" gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/12/latest-images Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:56:07 GMT
Last Trip Of The Year https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/10/last-trip-of-the-year So far 2023 has been an awesome travel year for us.  It started with a trip to Costa Rica in February for my birthday.  That was followed in April with a trip to Paris for Jane’s birthday.  June found us in Newfoundland and Ontario Canada.  Then, in August, we were off to Iguazu Falls and the Pantanal in Brazil.  Wow!

We finished our travel year in a more relaxed mode with a September trip to our timeshare cabin in the woods of the Flathead National Forest near the west entrance to Glacier National Park.  We have been going to the cabin at Glacier Wilderness Resort for nearly twenty years, not every year, but often enough to call it “our place in Montana”.  We own the last two weeks of September and had specifically chosen that time so we could enjoy the seasonal foliage color change.  With a full two weeks it is possible to just kick back and relax.  Late September is also when the weather becomes more unsettled and this year we had more clouds and rain than in the past.

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Jane and I don’t do long ten hour drives anymore. So we broke up the 1,275 mile one-way trip to Glacier Wilderness Resort with a couple of overnight stops.  Our first stop was along Interstate 15 in Utah Valley just north of Provo.  It was a very advantageous stop.  Traffic on I-15 along the Provo – Salt Lake City corridor was horrendous.  Our second en-route overnight was at the Ninepipes Lodge in Charlo, Montana, only a couple of hours from the cabin.  We spent the next morning searching for wildlife at the National Bison Range located on the Flathead Indian Reservation.  The Bison Range is now managed by the Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the bison on the range are descendants of a pure-blooded herd of bison from the 18oo’s.  In the past, we have photographed many bison, pronghorn and elk on the Range, but this year, no such luck.

We thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks in and around Glacier National Park.  Fall colors were spectacular, especially on the east side of the Park, along the foothills of the Lewis Range.  This year we ventured as far as Chief Mountain, but mainly we spent our time exploring familiar haunts like the Avalanche Lake trail, Hidden Lake trail, and sights along the Going-To-The-Sun Road.  We searched for wildlife at Logan Pass and Many Glaciers but this year, for some unknown reason, there was not much wildlife to photograph.  We did manage to stumble upon a big, burly black bear foraging for berries and roots near the Many Glaciers Hotel parking lot.  This wooly bear, most certainly, was ready for its hibernation. And, after several fruitless visits and many boring hours of waiting, a cow moose finally did emerge from the tall willows at Fishcap Lake, trailed by a bull.  While idling away my time waiting for moose, I did manage to get some shots of common mergansers fishing in the lake.

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We extended this last trip of the year with a four night stay at the Snow Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.  Photographically, the objective was to obtain some panoramic landscape images of the hydrothermal features of the Park, primarily the vividly colored hot pools scattered throughout the geyser basins.  As they say, “the best laid plans often go awry”.  I did not consider that the cold ambient air temperature would create so much steam, coming from the hot springs, that the photogenic pool surface would be mostly obscured.  C’est la vie!

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A couple of mornings, we started our day trip around Yellowstone with breakfast at the Running Bear Pancake House in the bustling town of West Yellowstone.  The Running Bear menu included box lunches that we availed ourselves of for a “dinner” in the room topped with a bottle of wine.  Our day-trip destinations included Lower Yellowstone River Falls at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Tower Falls, Gibbon Falls, Firehole Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs (where we encountered bull elk gathering their harems), and Lamar Valley where we searched for but found little wildlife within camera range.

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After our journey into Yellowstone National Park, we headed south for home, traveling through Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming’s picturesque Star Valley and Utah’s colorful Logan Canyon.  In Logan, Jane and I had dinner with my nephew Bryan, his spouse Margaret and my 96 year old sister Neli.  My sister now resides in an assisted living facility, but she absolutely doesn’t require any assistance.  She’s a 96 year old livewire!  Reminiscing and sharing family stories with my sister was a most wonderful way to close out our 2023 travel year.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/10/last-trip-of-the-year Sat, 21 Oct 2023 19:45:41 GMT
Brazilian Adventure https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/9/brazilian-adventure Discounting an early hiccup with United Airlines that forfeited the first day of our Brazilian adventure, Jane and I wholeheartedly enjoyed exploring the outback of Brazil’s Pantanal.  The Pantanal is the world’s largest seasonal floodplain.  At just over 71,000 square miles, the Pantanal is about the same size as the state of Washington.  The Pantanal is located in Bolivia and Paraguay with the bulk, nearly 82% in Brazil.  During the wet season, 75% of the Pantanal is inundated with floodwater from tributary rivers.  During the dry season, fish and aquatic organisms are trapped in remnant pools throughout the Pantanal bringing in a myriad of migratory birds.  Mammals tend to stay near the main river channels where they become prey for jaguars and it was jaguars we had come to photograph.

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We had selected Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, a well-recognized organization specializing in wildlife photography excursions, for our Pantanal trip.  Jane and I had good memories from our previously photo safari with Van Os to Madagascar and were confident we would have another memorable experience.  Before joining the Van Os group in Cuiabá, however, we arrived in Brazil a few days early in order to make a side trip to Iguazú Falls on the Brazil-Argentine border.  This system of waterfalls, straddling both countries, is reportedly the largest in the world.  The falls were indeed phenomenal and defy description.

 

 

 

 

 

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We flew into Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, from Albuquerque via Chicago and San Paulo.  We had arranged for a local guide to meet us at the airport and help facilitate with logistics including crossing the border in order to experience Iguazú Falls from the Argentine side.  Weather was not on are side as we experienced heavy overcast and rain during our tour of the falls.  The disappointing weather did not lessen the thunderous impact of 470,000 gallons of water per second falling hundreds of feet over successive layers of basalt in a horseshoe array of multiple waterfalls.  Iguazú Falls is without doubt one of the world’s greatest natural wonders.

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We stayed at the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas located within Iguazú National Park and within walking distance of the falls on the Brazil side.  We were as impressed with the service and amenities of the hotel as we were with the roaring waterfalls.  Of course, staying at the Belmond was not inexpensive.  We reluctantly left the luxury of the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas to meet up with our fellow photographers of the Van Os group in Cuiabá.

Our group consisted of nine people, seven photographer clients and two guides, Mark Thomas from Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris and Paulo Boute, of Boute Expeditions, our local Brazilian guide.  I would be remiss in not including our bus drive, Elton, in our travel group.  Elton did an outstanding job maneuvering the bus to enhance photo opportunities.  After our “meet and greet” dinner at the Gran Odara Hotel, we met Elton at the bus early the next morning for the long anticipated journey south into the Pantanal. 

We reached our first accommodation, Pousada Rio Claro, after about five hours on the graded Transpantaneira highway.  We stopped along the way as Mark or Paulo sighted something of photographic interest, mostly various species of birds.  By the time we reached Rio Claro our group had jelled into a congenial band of likeminded naturalists.  The highlight of our stay at this Pousada (Inn) was photographing a variety of birds from boats on the Rio Claro.  Mark and Paulo had perfected a way to call in the birds, including Amazon Kingfishers, Cocoi Herons, and Black Collared Hawks, using fish as bait.

 

 

 

 

 

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From Pousada Rio Claro, Elton drove us deeper south into the Pantanal to the end of the Transpantaneira highway, at Porto Jofre, where we stayed six nights at the comfortable Hotel Porto Jofre.  The highlight here was photographing jaguars.  We ventured out on the Rio Cuiabá twice a day for five days looking for and photographing jaguars.  It was no walk in the park, however.  Up and out before the sun in the morning and chasing sunset on the way back to the lodge in the evening.  But what an invigorating experience it was, observing these wild creatures in their natural environment hunting and stalking prey.  Although jaguars were the focus, there was opportunity to photograph many other subjects along the river’s edge.

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After our exhausting stay at Hotel Porto Jofre, we headed back north on the Estrada Transpantaneira with a halfway stop at Pouso Alegre (Happy Land in Portuguese) for two nights.  It was a welcome relief to have breakfast at 7:00 AM instead of 5:00 AM.  At Pouse Alegre photography occurred at waterholes within about a mile of the lodge.  Paulo used his phone app to call in various birds but the large, colorful Toco Toucan alluded being photographed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


According to an old proverb, “all good things must come to an end” and so did our adventure in Brazil’s Pantanal.  From Pouso Alegre, Elton continued to drive us north, back to Cuiabá for a farewell lunch at the Churrascaria Aeroporto Grill.  Lunch at the churrascaria (steak house) was a unique experience.  Smartly dressed waiters would bring various cuts of meats, lamb, beef, pork and chicken, to the table on long skewers.  We could select a rare or well done portion of the meat and the waiter would carve it from the skewer and serve it right on to our plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, goodbyes and hugs were shared as some of us departed for the airport and others back to the hotel for a later flight.  Jane and I retraced our route from Cuiabá to Albuquerque via Chicago.  It was a long day and night before we were comfortably back home.

You can see pictures from our Pantanal trip in the Brazil gallery on the home page of my website.  Please be patient when opening the gallery.  The files are a bit large and it may take a few minutes to load them for viewing.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/9/brazilian-adventure Tue, 05 Sep 2023 16:17:25 GMT
Canadian Summer https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/7/canadian-summer Locals affectionately call the large island off the east coast of Canada the “rock”. John Cabot was the first known European explorer to land on this island of Newfoundland in 1497.  For nearly a hundred years after that, fishermen from Portugal, Spain, France, Holland and England launched seasonal fishing explorations around the cod rich waters of Newfoundland.  Eventually, it was the British who claimed the island in 1583 and established permanent colonial settlements.  It wasn’t until 1949, however, that Newfoundland joined the Canadian Confederation.

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With that short introduction about Newfoundland, you might well ask “so what were Jane and Rinus doing in Newfoundland?”  Good question.  I had learned of photographers going to Newfoundland to photograph seabirds and so, a few years back, put the idea of going there on my to-do list.  After some covid-19 related delays, the trip finally came together this year.  The plan was to spend a couple of weeks photographing in Newfoundland and finish our Canadian trip in Ontario for some loon photography.

We flew from Albuquerque, via Dallas-Fort Worth and Toronto, to St. John’s.  With a population of about 112,000, it is the largest city, by far, in Newfoundland. We had a few days to explore this most easterly city in North America. We stayed in the downtown area near the working harbor.  Fishing and maritime activities are a mainstay of St. John’s economy and the wharfs were crowded with ships of all sizes, including the Polar Prince, mother ship to the ill-fated Titan submersible. 

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Our hotel was close to the shops, restaurants and pubs on Water and Duckworth Streets.  We sampled a variety of restaurants and found the funky Bagel Café with its small booths our favorite for breakfast.  Jane and I are not night owls, so we missed out on some of the live entertainment offered at the pubs.  We enjoyed our stay in St. John’s but found the downtown area a bit old and weathered, which is understandable in the harsh environment of Newfoundland.  Up the hill from Duckworth Street, however, are residential neighborhoods of row houses painted in an array of bright colors, nicknamed Jellybean Row, that give St. John’s a festive look.

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A few miles south of St. John’s, the offshore islands of Witless Bay Ecological Preserve offered our first opportunity to photograph seabirds.  The preserve is host to large Atlantic Puffin and Common Mure colonies.  I had made arrangements with O’Brien’s Whale and Bird Tour to access the preserve.  The island is off limits to all but researchers, so we had to photograph the birds from O’Brien’s boat that wallowed in the swales of the Atlantic Ocean. Not the best of conditions, but seeing hundreds of birds in their natural environment was truly amazing.

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Our next stop was St. Bride and the Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve, located at the southwest corner of the Avalon Peninsula, to photograph the Northern Gannet.  Gannets roost on a near-shore sea stack, called “bird rock”, about fifty yards from the mainland.  Tens of thousands of Northern Gannets have chosen the rocky ledges of this towering formation to mate and raise their chicks.  Like puffins, the gannets spend most of their lives out on the ocean, only coming ashore in late spring to reestablish relationships, build nests, and raise their young.  During our visit to the colony in early June, courtship, mating, and nest building were in high gear.  A few birds were incubating eggs and I only observed one chick that appeared to be only a day or so old.

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After our three nights stay at the small village of St. Bride, with a resident population of around three hundred, we drove north for a four nights stay in Bonavista, a much larger community with a population of three thousand.  It was in the area of Bonavista that the explorer John Cabot landed in 1497.  My primary objective for going to Bonvista was to photograph large puffin colonies at Elliston and Cape Bonavista.  Both of these colonies were located on large, rounded, near-shore sea stacks that had a covering of soil in which the puffins could dig their nesting burrows.  At each location the puffin viewing area was only a short walk from the parking lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puffins appeared to have just started returning from their time at sea and looking for nesting sites.  There were groups of puffins scattered around the top of the sea stack and flocks flying overhead as if looking for their missing mates.  There were only a few obviously paired couples checking out nesting sites.  Squabbles occasionally occurred as mated couples appeared to compete for a nesting burrow.  At mid-June, we were too early to observe parents with fish laden beaks returning from the Atlantic to feed their brood.  As a bonus, however, on a rocky outcrop at the Elliston location, high on the cliff, I noticed several pair of Black Guillemots going through their mating rituals.

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Every spring, as Nordic temperatures rise, the glaciers of western Greenland calve icebergs.  These large, ten thousand year old chunks of ice are carried on ocean currents some 1,800 nautical miles to Newfoundland’s coast.  Jane and I boarded the trawler “Lady Marguerite” in Bonavista to go iceberg hunting.  We encountered icebergs shortly after leaving the harbor and the captain maneuvered the vessel for some close views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next stop on our itinerary was a two night stay in the quaint fishing village of Twillingate.  Here we did not have to take a boat to find icebergs.  The bergs were floating around Twillingate Harbor right in front of our hotel.  The drive to Twillingate took us through the town of Gander.  Modest in size, with a population around twelve thousand, Gander is location of an international airport with a long runway that served as a refueling stop for flights between Europe and North America before the advent of long range jets.  When the U.S. closed its airspace on September 11, 2001, Gander’s airport was one of only a few capable of handling redirected aircraft.  This small community then provided refuge for nearly seven thousand stranded passengers.  This outstanding show of kindness and hospitality is now the basis of a Tony award winning Broadway musical, “Come From Away”.

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All through our tour of Newfoundland we were adversely impacted by smoke blown in from wildfires in other parts of Canada.  It was particularly bad in the Twillingate area.  With its numerous small islands, bays, coves and charming villages, the scenery around Twillingate would have been striking if not for the grey, hazy layer of smoke.  We did venture out to explore, however. The countryside around Twillingate and the rest of Newfoundland is primarily subarctic tundra and boreal forest.  Trees are mostly small conifers with black spruce dominating some areas.  Conifer lined roads with small ponds and lakes are prevalent throughout Newfoundland.  Treelined lakes would have made interesting, scenic landscape images if it had not been for the smoke.

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From Twillingate, we traveled back to St. John’s and on to Toronto for the last phase of our trip.  We rented a car at the Toronto airport and drove north to Huntsville in the Muskoka region of Ontario.  Back in 2020 I had made arrangements for a loon photography workshop with Michael Bertelsen.  Back then the Canadian border was closed due to covid-19, so this year I was finally able to make this three day workshop.  Including Jane and me, there were a total of four participants that embarked with Michael to search for loons on his specially outfitted boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conditions were less than ideal, however, as the Muskoka region was also impacted by smoke from the Canadian wildfires.  The group was intrepid, however, and was out at five AM each morning.  We searched for loons on the Muskoka River, the Ox Tongue River and Lake Muskoka.  My hope was to photograph loons with chicks riding on their backs.  As with many of my wildlife photography aspirations, Mother Nature always calls the shots and success is totally dependent on Her.  According to Michael, there was a low probability of finding loons with chicks during this workshop. 

However, while we were photographing a nesting loon on the Muskoka River, Michael received a call from one of his fishing buddies that a loon with newborn chicks had been spotted on Lake Muskoka.  Early the next morning, that is where we headed.  Sure enough, Michael spotted the loon and chick and that morning my aspiration of photographing loon chicks on a parent’s back was realized.

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After nearly three weeks of travel, we left Huntsville and headed home to Albuquerque.  Rain slowed our drive back to Toronto but we got to the airport in plenty of time for our afternoon flight back to DFW.  From there, it was a late night arrival at Sunport, a taxi ride back to Lake Isabella Way, and good night’s sleep in our own bed.  Despite the annoyance of smoke from wildfires, our excursion through remote Newfoundland and finding loons in Ontario made for a very unique adventure.

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/7/canadian-summer Fri, 14 Jul 2023 19:10:59 GMT
Spring Break https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/5/spring-break I have generally maintained that birthdays ending in five or zero are the significant ones.  Other birthdays are just minor events.  So as Jane was approaching a zero-ending birthday, I knew that something special had to be done.  An April birthday trip to Paris was the answer.  So, late last year, planning started for a spring trip to Paris.  As planning progressed, the journey expanded to include three European capitals, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris.

Amsterdam

Our American Airlines flight from Albuquerque, via Philadelphia, arrived at Schiphol airport around 8:30 in the morning on April 11th.  After proceeding through passport control, it was a short train ride from Schiphol to the Amsterdam Centraal train station, followed with an even shorter taxi ride to our hotel.  Arriving in the morning as we did, meant we could not check in at the hotel.  So, we parked our bags there and headed out to explore our first European capital.

It took only a few blocks of walking to realize that Amsterdam was a city of, and for, bicycles.  Cyclists appeared to have right-of-way over cars and pedestrians alike.  A large degree of caution was exercised as we explored the city.  Amsterdam is also a city of canals (grachts).  Our hotel, aptly named Canal House, is a converted old, 17th century, canal house along the Keizersgracht.  After leaving the hotel, we navigated our way on this first day of discovery by counting and noting the names of the grachts we crossed.  It was at the Museum Of The Canals that we learned that canals were built to accommodate Amsterdam’s growth in the middle ages.  Construction of canals was integral with water management, creation of buildable land, and transportation.  Amsterdam’s canals are now a UNESCO World Heritage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before going back to the Canal House to check in for our four nights stay, we walked the busy streets of central Amsterdam familiarizing ourselves with its many landmarks, museums and restaurants.  We visited the Willet-Holthuysen House, a grand mansion on the Herengracht, turned into a museum featuring period décor and an extensive collection of nineteenth century art; lunched at the Blue Restaurant with its bird’s eye view of the city; and strolled by the Bloemenmarkt (flower market).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amsterdam is home to a host of museums and during our three full days in the city we enjoyed many of them.  In addition to the Willet-Holthuysen House and Museum Of The Canals, we joined the crowds at the Hermitage Museum, Van Gogh Museum, House of Bols (gin) Museum, Rijksmuseum, and the very popular and congested Vermeer Exhibit.  Favorite restaurants included the Pancake Bakery, Seafood Bar, and d'Vijff Vlieghen (Five Flies) where we celebrated Jane’s zero-ending birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A spring journey to Holland cannot be complete without a visit to the famous tulip fields of Keukenhof.  These gardens are a magnet for tourists, so Jane had made arrangements for our tour several months in advance of leaving home.  Contrary to the cloudy, chilly days we experienced in Amsterdam, our day at Keukenhof was warmer and sunny making the myriad flowers sparkle in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My nephew Wim lives with his girlfriend Marina in Middelburg, located in the south of the Netherlands.  Jane and I embarked on the train journey to Middelburg after our stay in Amsterdam to spend a couple of days with Wim and Marina.  We started that visit on a bit of a sad note.  Wim showed us the cemetery garden where my older brother Dick’s ashes were scattered.  Dick passed away, at age 97, shortly after Jane and I had visited with him last summer on our way to the Alps (see the Europe 2022 Blog of July 13, 2022).

After that emotional experience, we continued our visit with Wim and Marina on a much lighter note.  One day we drove the short distance to Veere, one of our favorite rural villages, for a meal of mussels.  We also made a day-trip to Ghent, in the Flemish portion of Belgium, with its medieval castle and cathedral.  Wim and Marina were perfect hosts and we very much enjoyed visiting with them.  But, we had two more European capitals to visit, so after a farewell dinner, Jane and I continued our journey by train to Bruxelles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brussels

The train from Middelburg, via Rotterdam, arrived at the Brussels Central Station around 2 PM on April 18th.  Although we had travelled to Europe at least a half dozen times, we had never been to Brussels.  Jane had completed a lot of “armchair” exploring of Brussels before we left home and created a list of potential sites to visit during our three days in this capital city of Belgian.  Our accommodations were at the Juliana Hotel, within walking distance of La Grand-Place de Bruxelles.  This UNESCO Heritage Site is a collection of late 17th century building around a cobble-stone paved square.  The buildings are an eclectic mix of municipal, ducal, and guild houses with a multitude of gilded architectural ornamentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the following morning, Jane had arranged a private tour of the European Quarter of Brussels where the European Commission has its offices.  Although we did not enter any of the commission buildings, we found the modern architecture stunning and in dramatic contrast to the historic buildings of the Grand Place.  We visited the nearby Royal Museum that also included the Magritte Museum (Magritte is the artist famous for men in bowler hats) and the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy.  Dating from the 1,300’s, the collection of manuscripts in this library were copied by hand and illustrated by artisans of the Middle Ages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several decades ago, when Jane and I were first dating, we spent several weekends in San Francisco where we frequented the Mozart Café for dinners.  Now when we travel through Europe's major cities, we always look to see if there is a Café Mozart.  We found one in Brussels.  And, of course, we had to have their dinner special, all you can eat ribs, accompanied by their own red burgundy wine.  During our walks around central Brussels we found other interesting pub-like restaurants where we imbibed local beer and food.

Needless to say, any trip to Brussels is not complete without a visit to the Manneken Pis landmark. This pint sized, 22 inch, bronze fountain statue of a little boy peeing into a basin draws hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists a day.  A short walk from the Grand Place, Jane and I found ourselves among these tourists to see this obscure, small fountain wedged between buildings on the corner of Stoofstraat and Elkstraat.

Paris

It was an hour and half ride on the Thalys train from the Midi station in Brussels to the Gare du Nord station in Paris.  From Gare du Nord, it was a twenty minute taxi ride to the Hotel Raphaël for our seven night stay in Paris.  The Raphaël was a boutique hotel with traditional classic French décor.  Located on Avenue Kléber, the hotel was a five minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe and fifteen minute walk from the Trocadéro with its amazing view of the Eiffel tower.  The Kléber Metro station, right in front of the hotel, was our transportation link to Paris’ many attractions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon arrival at Gare du Nord, we purchased Paris Museum and Metro passes at the Tourist Information store.  The museum pass allowed us to skip the long queues at museum ticket counters and the metro pass meant we could bypasses the confusing ticket machines and just tap our pass to enter any metro station.  Both passes were used extensively during our week in Paris.  We spent a lot of time at the Louvre, of course, and visited the Monet’s l’Orangerie Museum, the Rodin Museum, the Jacquemart-Andre Museum, and made the ascent to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to our time in the city, we also made a couple of day trips.  The first was to Monet’s garden in Giverny.  We arrived before the large tour busses and thoroughly enjoyed the uncrowded garden with its variety of colorful flowers and famous lily ponds.  We walked the short distance from the Giverny garden to Monet’s grave, located at the nearby Église Sainte-Radegonde de Giverny.  Our second day trip was to Château de Fontainebleau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, both impressive, ornate French architectural landmarks with opulent gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked a lot in Paris, exploring the Montmatre area around the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur; strolled the length of Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe, past Place de la Concorde, all the way to the Louvre Museum; sauntered through the Latin Quarter past the Sorbonne Université and Panthéon; wandered around the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais Royal; and made the easy trek from the Raphael to the Eiffel Tower several times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas, our spring break to three European capitals had come to its conclusion and on April 28th we boarded American Airlines flight 25 back to the USA, Jane having graciously come to terms with her zero-ending birthday.

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/5/spring-break Mon, 29 May 2023 17:32:30 GMT
Spring Photo Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/5/spring-photo-trip As winter turned to spring in Albuquerque, my mind started thinking about photographing spring wildflowers.  Although the winter had brought some snow and rain to New Mexico, precipitation in early spring had been sparse.  Nevertheless, I talked myself into taking a short trip south to Las Cruces where the Organ Mountains have a reputation for a good wildflower show.  I also talked Bruce, my photo buddy from San Diego, into meeting me there for a few days of photography.  The objective was to find and photograph Mexican Gold Poppies with the Organ Mountains as a backdrop.

In preparation for this short excursion, I had contacted the Las Cruces Chapter of the New Mexico Native Plant Society to obtain current information about the wildflower bloom.  One of their members, Gordon Berman, was nice enough to provide me with potential wildflower locations.  But he warned that there had not been sufficient spring rain to generate a good bloom and that there was only a sprinkling of poppies scattered along the foothills of the Organ Mountains.  His prediction proved correct and Bruce and I were only able find a few small clusters of poppies, but not the fields of flowers I had hoped for.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I suggested to Gordon Berman that it would be nice to meet him in person and we arranged to meet for lunch at La Posta, an old station along the Butterfield stage couch route, converted into a restaurant, in Mesilla, near Las Cruces.  Gordon turned out to be quite the expert on native flowers many of which he grew in his yard.  He sympathized with us about the lack of poppies and offered to take us to some uncommon cacti that were in bloom along the Dripping Springs Trail in the Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument.  That is where we photographed the Chihuahuan Pineapple Cactus and the New Mexico Rainbow Cactus.

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During our last photo trip in August, 2022, Bruce and I had some success in photographing the Milky Way.  So, on a whim, I checked if it were possible to photography the Milky Way in early April.  I did not expect it, but it turned out to be possible during the early morning hours.  So, I made arrangements for an early entry permit at White Sands National Park hoping to photograph the Milky Way with the white gypsum dunes in the foreground.  We relocated to Alamogordo in order to be closer to the Park.  We were up at 4:00 AM, out the door at 4:30 AM and at the Park entrance at 5:00 AM for our early entry.  We had scouted photo locations the previous day so we would know where to place our tripods in the dark.

Night Sky With Milky WayNight Sky With Milky WayMilky Way Over Yucca Plant At White Sands National Park, Near Las Cruces, New Mexico Milky Way Over Gypxum White Sand DunesMilky Way Over Gypxum White Sand DunesMilky Way Over Yucca Plants At White Sands National Park, Near Las Cruces, New Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When all was said and done, Bruce and I had a great time.  It was a bit disappointing that the Mexican Gold Poppies were scarce, but we had some good practice shooting the night sky.  From Alamogordo we both headed home after a brief stop at Bosque del Apache and lunch at the Owl Café in San Antonia. 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/5/spring-photo-trip Mon, 01 May 2023 20:56:35 GMT
Costa Rica 2023 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/2/costa-rica-2023 Our first photo trip of the New Year was an encore excursion to Costa Rica.  Like last year, the trip logistics were handled by Costa Rica Focus.  Jane and I decided on lodging and potential photo locations.  Costa Rica Focus then made all the necessary arrangements for airport transfers, accommodations, meals, transportation, and our personal guide, Carlos Jimenez.  The encore was another great adventurous excursion.

There was a déjà vu moment as we prepared for our Costa Rica journey.  Last year our flight from Albuquerque to Dallas-Fort Worth had been cancelled due to weather and, as a result, we arrived in Costa Rica a day late.  This time, American Airlines sent us an early warning that a storm was expected to move into the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport area on our departure date, so we had time to book a flight a day earlier.  We spent the extra day at the Bougainvillea Hotel near San José.  The hotel is known for its exceptional garden where we spent time looking for and photographing birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Costa Rica has many remote, isolated areas including Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula.  Located along the Pacific Ocean in the southwest corner of Costa Rica, the peninsula is mostly undeveloped rainforest with only a few villages and lodges.  We stayed at the Casa Corcovado Wilderness Lodge near the San Pedrillo Ranger Station entrance to the National Park. 

The Pacific side of the Osa Peninsula has little in the way of transportation infrastructure.  We enjoyed a short domestic flight on Sansa Airlines in a 11 passenger Cessna 208-B aircraft from San José to Drake Bay where there is a small landing strip.  From there it was a slow, bumpy twenty minutes, or so, ride in an old van on a dirt track to the beach along the Drake Bay.  Staff from the Casa Corcovado Wilderness Lodge were waiting on the beach to transport us via a small boat with a large, powerful outboard motor to the Lodge. We changed into water shoes for the wet transfer from the beach to the boat.  After half an hour on the choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean, Jane and I awkwardly alighted from the skiff with the much appreciated help of the crew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were off the boat and on the rocky beach but not at the Lodge.  A short time after our arrival a tractor arrived pulling a small open trailer with snug seating for about eight.  We boarded the trailer and our luggage was placed in a rack in front of the tractor.  It was a steep haul from the beach to the main lodge facilities.  The Casa Corcovado Wilderness Lodge is small, only 14 bungalows on a 170 acre site, intimate resort with good food and very friendly staff.  We stayed five nights and participated in a number of activities, including a snorkeling trip to Cano Island, a boat tour into the mangroves of the Terrabe Sierpe National Wetlands, a hike into Corcovado National Park, and various hikes on the rainforest trails of the lodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Casa Corcovado Wilderness Lodge, we flew back to San José where Carlos rented a car for our journey to Sarapique and the Ara Ambigua Lodge.  On the way we stopped at Don Alvara’s farm where it was possible to photograph macaws from a close distance.  The large, noisy birds are wild but have become habituated to life on the farm where they are occasionally fed peanuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were three nights at the Ara Ambigua Lodge including my birthday.  Carlos surprised us with special dinner arrangements that night including a bottle of fine wine.  Turned out that Carlos actually lives near Sarapique and invited his wife, Maribel, to join us for dinner the last night of our stay at Ara Ambigua.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several sojourns were made around Sarapique.  The best birding occurred along some of rural agricultural tracks as well as the surrounding rainforest.  With the aid of local guide José (Cope) Perez, we were able to spot, and photograph, crested owls, Honduran white bats, a laughing falcon, and an adolescent sloth.  Cope also put some sugar water into a banana flower to attract hummingbirds that I was able to capture without flash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last night in Costa Rica was spent at the Hotel Villa San Ignacio not far from the San José airport.  The vast hotel grounds were well secluded from the hustle and bustle of urban noise and activity.  We enjoyed some quiet relaxing time there before being transferred to the San José airport and our American Airlines flight home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some photos from this trip can be found in the Costa Rica 2023 Gallery on the Home Page.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2023/2/costa-rica-2023 Sat, 18 Feb 2023 22:19:21 GMT
AN AUSTRALIAN ODYSSEY (CHAPTER 4) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-chapter-4 CHAPTER 4

 

The morning Qantas flight from Brisbane got us to Hobart, Tasmania, early enough to check in at the historic Lenna Hotel and do some exploring along Hobart’s waterfront.  We had actually arrived in Hobart the day before our three-day, private, Tasmania tour with Luke O’Brian Photography and packed as much exploring as we could during our day-and-half in this provincial capital of Tasmania.  That afternoon we walked the fashionable Salamanca Place, a redevelopment area with restored warehouses that now contain shops, galleries and upscale restaurants.  Around four o’clock that afternoon we happened upon the Pearl & Co., a waterfront oyster bar and restaurant, during their happy hour and stopped in for a glass of wine then stayed for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast at the small, bustling, but cozy Harbor Lights Café, we joined a walking tour, which Jane had arranged ahead of time, around Hobart’s historic downtown.  Like much of mainland Australia, Tasmania was first colonized and developed by British convicts.  After years of being downplayed, this unique history is now being touted with statues and informative plaques on buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that afternoon, we learned that public tours were offered at the Tasmania Parliament House and, on impulse, decided to take the tour.  As it turned out we were the only ones on the tour that day and enjoyed the personal attention given us by our guide, a legislative analyst.  We visited the House of Lords chambers and those of the House of Commons, both simply decorated in an ornate, governmental sort of way.  We learned a lot about Tasmania’s system of government and voting process, most of which I have already forgotten.  Evening cocktails were enjoyed in the hotel lounge that reminded me of an old gentlemen’s club, often seen in British movies.  Dinner that night was seafood pasta at an Italian restaurant on Salamanca Place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday morning, November 8th, day 43 of our Australian Odyssey, was when Luke O’Brian picked us up at the hotel to begin our Tasmania photo adventure.  I was very much looking forward to some landscape photography after beating the bushes for birds in New South Wales, Northern Territory, and Queensland.  Cradle Mountain was our destination.  We made a refreshment stop at Ross, a small village in Tasmania’s Midlands, along the Macquarie River.  Ross exemplifies Tasmania’s convict heritage with the historic Ross Bridge over the Macquarie River having been built by convicts and the historic Ross Female Factory, a workhouse where thousands of female convicts worked in the mid 1,800’s, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Luke also made a short detour on our way to Cradle Mountain to drive through Sheffield, known as the Town of Murals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cradle Mountain Hotel was our home for the next three nights. After checking in and a short respite, Luke and I headed to Dove Lake for some night sky photography.  Jane opted to take a break from activities and stayed at the hotel.  Luke and I arrived at Dove Lake in plenty of time to get in some sunset photography of Cradle Mountain reflected in the still water of Dove Lake.  As dusk and darkness approached we changed our vantage point to increase our chances of getting a shot at the Milky Way, although this time of year at Cradle Mountain the Galactic Center would be below the horizon.  As darkness crept in so did a full moon start to light the sky.  Conditions were perfect for night sky photography with a clear, cloudless sky and windless conditions for a glassy lake surface.  Only the bright full moon was problematic with its light obscuring the intensity of distant stars.  Just as we resigned ourselves to a wasted effort, the night started to get darker as the moon entered into full eclipse.  What an unexpected surprise that was.

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We spent the next two days hiking and photographing rain forest scenes, wildlife and waterfalls around Cradle Mountain.  A couple of return trips to Dove Lake were made to photograph at sunset with marginal success as a colorful cloudy sky never appeared.  We visited the Devils @ Cradle, a Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary and got some photos of the infamous Devils, although in captivity.  During our time at Cradle Mountain, Luke escorted us to an area that Wombats frequent.  Jane and I both developed an affection for these small, cuddly marsupials with their squatty frames nibbling away at the tussock grasses.  Like all grazing animals, they rarely looked up from their constant foraging, and it was difficult to get a facial portrait. 

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Evolution creates unique solutions to ensure survival of a species and the wombat is a great example.  Wombats live in long, deep burrows that they dig with dirt being kicked out behind them. If wombats had belly pouches like wallabies and kangaroos, all that dirt whipping by the pouch would have been lethal to developing joeys.  Evolution solved that problem for wombats by creating a backward facing pouch that protects joey wombats from flying dirt.  On one of our hikes among wombats, we observed a developing joey stick its head out of the rear facing pouch.

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Our Cradle Mountain adventure ended all too soon.  Luke drove us back to Hobart via Queenstown, with substantial buildings constructed by convicts, Nelson Falls and Lake St. Clair.  He dropped us off at the airport Travel Lodge where we spent the night before flying back to Sydney the next day.  In Sydney, we spent the night at the airport Rydges Hotel to repack and organize for our next day’s flight back to San Francisco and eventually Albuquerque.  We arrived home on Monday, November 14th after 50 days of travel.

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-chapter-4 Wed, 21 Dec 2022 21:47:58 GMT
AN AUSTRALIAN ODYSSEY (CHAPTER 3) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-chapter-3 CHAPTER 3

Trogon’s Photo Tour started in Cairns, Queensland.  We met our tour leaders, Kylie and Frank Pankas as well as our fellow photographer Rich Frank on Sunday evening, October 23rd.  Jane and I had arrived in Cairns two days earlier and had already taken the scenic train ride to the quaint artisan village of Kuranda.  There we had our picture taken holding a soft, cuddly koala.  We had also taken a helicopter flight over the Great Barrier Reef and the rain forest around Kuranda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michaelmas Cay, a small, low, sandy island located some 20 miles east of Cairns, along the Great Barrier Reef, was our first photo destination.  This tiny little spec of sand hosts thousands of breading seabirds.  We were ferried to the islet from our excursion boat and spent an hour or so photographing Brown Boobies, Lesser Frigatebirds, Crested Terns, and the Brown Noddy.  Snorkeling was included as part of our morning’s sail to the Barrier Reef.

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Next morning the five of us were out early looking for birds to photograph around Cairns.  Trogon’s Photo Tour was very much a birding tour as we searched for birds at the Centenary Lakes, Cairns Botanical Garden, and Flecker Botanical Garden without much success.  By mid-morning, we were on our way, through the farming district of Dimbulah on the Atherton Tableland of Queensland, to Ironbark House.  This very comfortable holiday house was totally “off the grid”, with its own solar power and harvested rainwater.  The accommodation was new, well appointed, with a modern flair.  A small water feature off the back patio provided some good photo opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin and Rachael, proprietors of this 1,345 acre remote “outback” property, were outstanding hosts.  Each morning Kevin would drive us around the property looking for birds and rock wallabies to photograph.  Each evening Rachael and Kevin would provide us with a delectable dinner, family style, served on the patio.  Afternoons were spent at the Black Swan Farm, a nearby accommodation where Kylie and Frank stayed.  Black Swan Farm was “on the grid” and Jane and I enjoyed air conditioned naps there.  At Black Swan Farm, I was attracted to some very noisy, distant bird calls.  I searched for the origin of this noise and found a small group of  Sarus Cranes, in a nearby pasture, squabbling among themselves.

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Ironbark House was a very comfortable stay for three nights after which we were off again for two nights at the Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge.  This turned out to be a typical accommodation set in the thick of the rain forest where a boisterous catbird kept our interest.  There not being much to photograph on the grounds of the lodge, we ventured out to find more productive photo areas.  The small village of Yungaburra provided some good photo opportunities including a platypus sighting along Peterson Creek.  Some new bird species were found in the Hasties Swamp area.  Curtain Fig National Park turned out to be very interesting.  The Park has a fig tree with extensive aerial roots that drop nearly fifty feet to the forest floor creating a dense “curtain”.  We finished our stay at Chambers with some night photography of a sugar glider, a small nocturnal marsupial, that feeds on tree sap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge in Julatten was our next destination.  We were on the road by 7:00 AM stopping at Mount Hypipamee National Park to search for a Cassowary, a large flightless bird, but without success.  Lunch was at Mount Molloy Café a Mexican establishment where Frank ordered a hamburger with “the lot” that included everything that could be stacked on a burger.  We reached the Kingfisher in time to do some afternoon bird photography before heading for dinner at the National Hotel & Pub in Mount Molloy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Buff Breasted Paradise Kingfisher is the iconic bird that nests on the Lodge grounds.  The bird migrates from Papua New Guinea and had arrived at the Lodge in time for us to photograph this colorful Kingfisher.  Carol Iles, our owner of the lodge, told us that somewhere during the migration from Papua New Guinea the Buff Breasted Paradise Kingfisher had lost its long signature tail feathers.  So, my picture of the bird is sans tail feathers.  Carol was very helpful and told us about a couple of other birding hot spots, Brooklyn Village caravan park where we found a Tawny Frogmouth on its nest with a chick, and a ranch area where we found a male Australian Bustard exhibiting its mating display.

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After two nights at the Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge we were on the road again back to Cairns for a flight to Brisbane and drive to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat.  O’Reilly’s was a busy place with lots of guests and a myriad of activities.  Although we hiked many of the trails looking for birds, most birds hung out right by the entrance to reception where you could buy wild bird seed and feed the birds.  Parrots, Bowerbirds, and Cockatoos were all over you once you had seed in your hand.  Our last day at O’Reilly’s was charmed when we found a Paradise Riflebird, female Australian Logrunner and Albert’s Lyrebird all on the same trail.

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The last two nights of the Trogon Photo Tour were spent at the unimpressive Shangri-La Gardens in Wynnum, a suburb of Brisbane.  Kylie and Frank did their best to find us some birds to photograph, but it was slim pickings.  We lunched at the Pelican’s Nest Café where Frank assured me again that I would get to photograph flying foxes (large fruit bats).  Sure enough, a short drive from the Pelican’s Nest Café, Frank drove us through some neighborhoods to a Black Flying Fox roost with dozens of the large bats hanging from tree branches. 

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We celebrated the end of our Trogon Photo Tour with a delicious seafood dinner at the lively Manly Boathouse Restaurant with its great view of Moreton Bay.  Early next morning, Sunday, November 6th, forty-one days after leaving home, Frank shuttled us to Brisbane Airport for our flight to Hobart, Tasmania. 

NOTE:  Bird photographs can be found on the Home Page – Bird Gallery – Birds of Australia

Other trip photographs can be found on the Home Page – Austalia Gallery

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-chapter-3 Fri, 16 Dec 2022 19:33:38 GMT
AN AUSTRALIAN ODYSSEY (CHAPTER 2) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-continued Chapter 2

Our Australian journey started in Albuquerque on Sunday, September 25th with a neighbor giving us a ride to the airport.  We arrived in Sydney early on Tuesday morning September 27th, having lost a day crossing the International Date Line.  Sydney was our home for a week.  We had arrived two days early for the Victor Emanuel Nature Tour (Chapter 1) and had five days in Sydney before the start of the Trogon Photo Tour (Chapter 3).

Upon arrival to this dynamic, cosmopolitan city, we stayed at the Pullman Hotel on College Street across from Hyde Park.  Located in Sydney’s central core, the Pullman, with great views from the rooftop, was a great home base for our exploration of the City.  We were in walking distance of the city’s major attraction, the Sydney Opera House.  And, walk we did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our flight from Los Angeles had arrived too early in the morning for us to check in at the Pullman.  So, that very first morning in Sydney, we parked our luggage at the hotel and, with street map in hand, started our explorations.  Quickly, we got our bearings, learned to stay left and with Jane’s excellent navigating skill stayed on course.  We found a convenience store adjacent the hotel where we could stock up on bottled water and a wine shop around the corner so we could enjoy a glass of chardonnay to relax in the evenings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The initial couple of days in Sydney were spent getting familiar with the area.  We found that College Street provided convenient access to the Australian Museum, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park Barracks, the old Mint, New South Wales Parliament House, and the State Library.  The hustle and bustle of the Central Business District was only a short walk further as were the opera house and Royal Botanic Garden.  Hyde Park, across the street from the Pullman proved a convenient short cut when returning from our forays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we returned to the City after completing the Victor Emanuel Nature Tour, we stayed at the five-star Sir Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay.  We splurged a bit staying at the Sir Stamford but the location was perfect, right on Macquarie Street across from the Royal Botanic Garden and only a ten minute walk from the opera house.  The Sydney Opera House is a spectacular architectural venue and we spend quite a bit of time visiting the area.  We viewed the opera house from Circular Quay, from the Royal Botanic Garden, and from ferries crossing Sydney Harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scheduled opera performances did not fit into our schedule.  Instead, we booked a tour to see the interior of this iconic facility and got tickets for L’Hôtel, a cabaret performance, in one of the ancillary theaters at the opera house.  Lots of Édith Piaf style singing, a magician, acrobats and the “coup de grâce” was the manly hunk behind the “hotel” check-in counter who ended up pole dancing in his briefs.  Lots of fun was had with hoots and hollers from the enthusiastic audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the Royal Botanic Garden just across the street from the Sir Stamford, Jane and I visited the garden several times.  Walking the various paths in the garden was relaxing as we viewed the many species of flowers, shrubs, and particularly the amazing variety of trees.  Appropriate for a “royal” garden, the grounds were meticulously maintained.  We particularly enjoyed the Calyx exhibit with its plant covered walls.  A couple of the paths in the garden provided excellent views of the Sydney Opera House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving home, I had envisioned an image of the Sydney skyline at dusk with light emanating from high rise buildings that I wanted to capture in a photograph.  To capture that image meant crossing over to the north side of Sydney Harbor.  To make that crossing meant we had to learn about the elaborate ferry system leaving from Circular Quay.  The anxiety of using the ferries quickly dissipated when we found using the ferries to be much simpler than expected.  Good signage led us to the appropriate pier and platform for the ferry we needed and then it was simply tapping a credit card to access the ferry and again when leaving.  I photographed the evening skyline from Cremorne Point, straight across from the opera house.

Just can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed Sydney.  One morning we joined a walking tour of the old harbor area known as the Rocks.  We learned a lot about how in 1788 the first crew of convicts arrived in Australia.  Mostly, however, we created our own walking tours finding interesting places to discover, like the State Library and cozy little bistros.  During one of our forays into the sky scraper lined business core, we discovered a subterranean food court under Martin Place.  With scores of vendors, food from all over the world was available along with an amazing array of pastries.  As we left the food court, after lunching on sushi, we happened upon the Theatre Royal where Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” was playing.  Of course, we had to get tickets for that famous murder mystery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 21st, half way through our Australian Odyssey, we somewhat reluctantly left Sydney on our flight to Cairns and the Pacific Hotel for the rest of our journey.  Chapter 3 will cover the Trogon Photo Tours portion of our trip.

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey-continued Sun, 11 Dec 2022 22:40:38 GMT
AN AUSTRALIAN ODYSSEY https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey
Introduction

As the crow flies, it is just over eight thousand miles from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Sydney, New South Wales, in Australia.  Jane and I did not fly as the crow, we instead traveled first from Albuquerque to Denver, and then from Denver to Los Angeles, before boarding our fourteen hour, United Airlines flight to Sydney.  And that is how the seven week long journey to our seventh continent began.

This was a momentous journey with more adventures to relay than one Blog can contain.  So, I will detail this journey in several separate chapters.  But first, here is a short introductory recap of our Australian odyssey.  To begin, the trip had been planned for a 2020 departure but was postponed until 2022 due to that persistent coronavirus.  After this long delay, the journey finally started on Sunday, September 25th and ended fifty days later on Monday, November 14th.  Crossing the International Dateline going over and coming back caused some confusion with dates as did the sixteen hours of time zone change.  In summary, this long trip included twelve separate flights on three different airlines, including two fourteen hour Pacific Ocean crossings.   We scurried through eleven airport terminals and slept at seventeen different accommodations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was truly a monumental journey and can be separated into four distinct sections.  Each of these four sections will be a separate chapter of this Blog and will be published sequentially. Upon arrival in Australia, our first undertaking was a two week excursion with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT).  This tour was focused on birding and started in Sydney, New South Wales, and ended at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory. Jane and I were two of ten participants on this tour and I was the only serious photographer.  Chapter 1 will describe our adventures on this portion of our trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the VENT tour, we flew from Uluru back to Sydney for a five night stay on our own.  Our days in cosmopolitan Sydney are detailed in Chapter 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sydney we traveled north to Cairns, Queensland, for a two week excursion with Trogon Photo Tours.  Jane and I were two of only three guests on this tour that started in Cairns and finished in Brisbane, Queensland.  The Trogon tour was to be a photo tour but turned out to be very much a birding tour as well.  Details for this portion of our trip are in Chapter 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hobart in Tasmania was our next and final destination.  I had arranged a private tour with Luke O’Brian, a local Tasmania photographer, for three days of photography at Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park.  Chapter 4 details our visit to Tasmania and encounter with the Tasmania Devil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

We met our eight fellow travelers for the Victor Emanuel Nature Tour for lunch on Friday, September 30th, at the Pullman Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  Our tour was led by Dion Hobcroft, an exceptional birder with over twenty years of experience leading birding groups for VENT.  Dion wasted no time.  After brief introductions and lunch we were off in the minibus, with Janene Luff behind the wheel, to our first afternoon of birding at Sydney’s Centennial Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day, we were up at 4:15 AM to be out by 5:00 for an early start of birding at the Royal National Park about an hour’s drive south of Sydney.  That morning we hiked along the Lady Carrington Drive trail.  The birders, equipped with their binoculars and scopes, and me with my camera, followed Dion eagerly as he spotted and identified Australia’s birds.  The morning weather was gloomy with off and on light rain, making for low light photography.  After a picnic lunch, we traveled to Burraneer Park where Dion was able to locate a pair of Australia’s largest owls, the Powerful Owl.  This pair, perched high in the upper canopy of a large tree, was raising chicks.

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That same afternoon, while the rest of us were back birding with Dion at the Royal Park, one of Dion’s associates (Steve) was scouting the Engadine section of the park looking for koalas.  Finding a koala in the wild is not easy but Steve had lots of experience and was familiar with the habitat koalas frequented.  It did not take long for Steve to return with the news that he spotted a koala.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that the eucalyptus tree with the koala was located near the bottom of a very steep ravine.  Everyone in the group, however, was game for bushwhacking ourselves down the sheer, forested terrain.  The reward was seeing a koala in the wild and for me photographing the cuddly little marsupial.  To top the event off, while engrossed with the koala, a Rock Warbler, the only endemic bird species of New South Wales, flew into the area.

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After three days of birding the Sydney area, on Monday, October 3rd, our small group of adventurers journeyed west to the Blue Mountains for an overnight stay at the Blackheath Motor Inn.  From Blackheath, getting started before sunrise, we scouted the Blue Mountain region for birds.  Enthusiastically, Dion guided us through Glen Alice, Glen Davis and around Lake Wallis.  Even along the busy motorway back from Blackheath to a hotel at Sydney Airport, Dion called out bird sightings that only those in the front seats could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we were off on a Qantas flight to Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.  Situated at Australia’s “top end”, Darwin’s climate is similar to that of other tropical countries near the equator, hot, humid and sweaty.  Even a short foray into the field for birding resulted in clothing sticking to wet skin.  We were an intrepid bunch, however, and followed Dion eagerly to find that new bird.  The Adina Hotel was our home for a couple of nights as we sojourned the Darwin area looking for more new bird species.  Howard Creek, Knuckey Lagoon, Buffalo Creek, and Lee’s Point were all visited as Dion continued his tireless search.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooinda Lodge in Kakadu National Park was our next destination.  The nearly four hour drive to Kakadu started after some early morning birding around Darwin.  It was a long haul getting to Kakadu National Park with lots of “road train” trucks on the two-lane highway.  A much needed break was lunch at the Orroboree Park Tavern with its huge crocodile statue in front.  There was much birding to be done in Kakadu National Park but I was attracted to the pristine aboriginal rock art found in the park.  While the rest of the group was searching for illusive feathered creatures, I concentrated on finding and photographing this very unique x-ray style of rock art.

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From the Cooinda Lodge at Kakadu we ventured to Knotts Crossing Resort in Katherine, Northwest Territory, birding along the way, of course.  The indigenous purple backed fairy wren was on everyone’s want list and Dion knew where to find it.  So, next day we were on the road at 4:45 AM for the two hour drive to the Victoria River crossing at Gregory.  Finding this diminutive bird was not easy.   For well over an hour, we trudged back and forth through dense flood plain vegetation.  Only Dion’s persistence kept us going and resulted in finally locating this illusive little bird.  I was not fortunate enough to photograph the bird, however.  The next day was another long one on the road as we traversed back to Darwin to catch an afternoon Qantas flight to the remote town of Alice Springs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice Springs is a small community in the "red desert" of the Northern Territory.  The Mercure Hotel was our home for the night.  Temperatures continued hot in the desert but humidity became more tolerable.  The terrain changed noticeable to a desert environment with vegetation more open and geologic features more prominent. The ubiquitous large termite mounds continued to be a dominant feature of the landscape as we birded the Alice Springs area.  We searched for birds in the Simpson Gap, Ormiston Gorge and Glen Ellen Gorge areas.  Then it was off again in the minibus for the 270 mile drive to Uluru, the massive sandstone monolith formerly known as Ayer’s Rock.  On the way, lunch was consumed eagerly at the Erldunda Roadhouse, at Stuarts Well, an establishment typical of those along the Stuart Highway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first Europeans explorers arrived at Uluru in the late 1800’s but tourism to this amazing geologic feature did not get started until the 1950’s when less than 3,000 intrepid travelers braved the 12 hour primitive travel from Alice Springs.  An entire tourist village was planned and constructed in the 1980’s and today, with completion of massive upgrades to the village, more than 350,000 visitors arrive to experience this sacred UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

By mid-afternoon, we arrived at the Desert Gardens Hotel where we all enjoyed an afternoon break after a long, bumpy ride through the “Red Center” of the Northern Territory.  That evening, Dion treated us to a champagne sundowner at the Uluru sunset viewpoint.  It was a perfect setting for our last night together.  But, next morning, Dion had us up early again for sunrise at Kata Tjuta, “many heads” in the aboriginal language, a group of large domed sedimentary rock formations about 16 miles to the west of Uluru.  The Victor Emanuel Nature Tour ended at Uluru and after lunch the resolute birders headed to the airport for their flight back to Sydney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane and I, on the other hand, stayed behind as we had booked two extra nights at the Desert Gardens Hotel.  Although we had thoroughly enjoyed the company of our birding friends, it felt really good to be on our own again after fourteen days of communal touring.  After bidding adieu to our fellow travelers, we prepared for a sunset helicopter flight over Kata Tjuta and Uluru.  We followed that up with a Uluru sunrise tour to complete our trifecta of sunrise, sunset and from the air views of the Uluru monolith.  I had also booked a night sky tour to photograph the Milky Way over Uluru, but unfortunately, the desert experienced one of its rare cloudy nights and that outing was cancelled.

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On Sunday, October 16th, twenty days after leaving home, we enjoyed a much needed sleep-in and leisurely breakfast, after which we shuttled to the Uluru Airport for our flight back to Sydney.  Our days in Sydney are described in the following Chapter 2 of the Blog.

NOTE: Bird photographs can be found on the Home Page - Bird Gallery - Birds of Australia Sub-Gallery

          Other trip photographs can be found on the Home Page - Australia Gallery

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/12/an-australian-odyssey Sat, 10 Dec 2022 18:01:31 GMT
"On The Road Again" https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/9/-on-the-road-again Borrowing words from a Willie Nelson song, late August 2022 saw me “on the road again”.  This late summer road trip was with my San Diego photo buddy Bruce Hollingsworth.  Bruce had driven from San Diego to Albuquerque for a week of photography in New Mexico.  It had been three long years since Bruce and I had hit the road together.  (See the 2019 “October’s Whirlwind Tour” blog for that trip with Bruce.)  I had picked a handful of New Mexico locations for this photo adventure.  After three years of not photographing together, we easily fell back into our normal travel routine with lots of humorous conversion along the way.  I should not forget to mention that my trusty and reliable Toyota 4Runner also thoroughly enjoyed being “on the road again”.

Bruce and I started this journey literally in my backyard with a short walk to the community gate into Petroglyph National Monument.  Two species of wren forage among the lava boulders scattered along the mesa escarpment, the rock wren and the canyon wren.  In the past, I had had success with calling the birds using an app on my phone.  It worked this time as well and we were able to obtain images of both birds.  After photography, it was a short hike back home for lunch.

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Shortly after lunch we headed west on Interstate 40 to El Malpais National Monument.  Not quite in my backyard but only about an hour and half up the road.  I had planned two photo objectives at El Malpais.  First, to photograph Mexican Short-Eared Bats as they emerged en masse from their lava tube cave, and second, some night sky photography with the Milky Way rising over the ruins of the historic Garrett Homestead.  Both these objectives were achieved.

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After a sleep-in the next morning, the plan was to drive to the small town of Truth or Consequences (referred to as T or C locally) and stay at the Sierra Grande Lodge for guided tours onto Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.  Frequent blog readers may recall my September 2, 2021 blog where I had attempted to photograph Swainson’s Hawks preying on bats as they foraged for bugs on the Armendaris Ranch.  That was the plan also for this trip with Bruce.  Unfortunately, the plan did not work out.  Resent monsoon rains had made the dirt tracks on the ranch impassable.  Consequently, I had to improvise an alternative objective.  So, instead of touring the Armendaris Ranch, we scouted the area around T or C for a night sky photography opportunity.  Fortunately we discovered an old steel windmill within easy access of the paved road that made a great foreground for the rising Milky Way.  So, all was not lost at Truth or Consequences.

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Out next photographic target was the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.  Bruce and I had been there thirteen years ago, about the time we first started photographing together.  At that time we spent all our time on the lower portion of the petroglyph site.  This time, however, we concentrated our efforts on the “upper trail” where we had not photographed before.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of petroglyphs pecked into the boulders at the Three Rivers site and we found and photographed many new and fascinating panels.

After our morning shoot at Three Rivers, we turned north towards the small village of Mountainair where we planned to have a late lunch.  As it turned out, much to our chagrin, there was no restaurant in Mountainair for lunch.  We did find a deli counter hidden in the back of the grocery store where cold cut sandwiches were available.  The visitor center for the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is situated in Mountainair and that is where we photographed next.

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There is little light pollution at the remote location of this national monument.  As a result, I included this location on our itinerary with the intent of getting images of the Milky Way with the Abó Pueblo Mission ruin in the foreground.  Night access for photography required that I obtain a Special Use Permit from the Park Service.  During the process of obtaining the necessary permit, the park ranger suggested that if I volunteered to be a guest night photography instructor they would waive the permit fee requirement.  That was all arranged, Bruce and I would volunteer to assist with photography and the Park Service would arrange a night sky astronomy event at Abó for the evening we arrived.  I estimated that about 25 people participated in the night sky event.  Not all were photographers, but Bruce and I assisted those that were.  The evening turned out to be highly successful.  The Park Service was happy, Bruce and I were happy, and event participants were happy.

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The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project (aka The Wells Petroglyph Reserve) is on private land and only accessible with a tour.  The site has an extensive collection of unique, undamaged petroglyph panels and I had wanted to photograph them for some time.  Fortunately, private tours were being offered again after a two year Covid hiatus.  Tours consisted of two hour hikes over boulder strewn hillsides.  I had arranged for two private tours, one in the afternoon and one the following morning.  Our docent guide was Cathy and her knowledge of local pueblo history and insight of the petroglyph panels made the tours very special.

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We concluded our week of New Mexico photography by visiting the Highway 64 steel bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge for some panoramic compositions.  Also open again after two years of Covid shutdown was the Taos Pueblo were we spent an hour or so as our last photography location.  After learning about the pueblo and its people, we packed up the photo gear and set the GPS for 9104 Lake Isabella Way Northwest.  Early the next morning, Bruce slid into his German made luxury sedan, set the cruise control for highway speed, and enjoyed his ride back to San Diego.  In retrospect, it was totally sweet for me to be back “on the road again”.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/9/-on-the-road-again Tue, 20 Sep 2022 15:44:43 GMT
Gallup 2022 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/8/gallup-2022  

Steer wrestling, calf roping, bronc and bull riding, barrel racing, what could be more exciting?  These were the rodeo events at the Gallup, New Mexico, Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial.  The last rodeo I attended was in my teen years at the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I had read about the Ceremonial in New Mexico Magazine. Founded in 1922, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial is one of the oldest continuous celebrations of Native American culture and heritage.  This year was the event’s centennial celebration and I thought it would provide an interesting photo opportunity.

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The Ceremonial was a ten day event but I attended just Friday and Saturday of the last weekend.  Gallup’s Red Rock Park, with its outdoor arenas and amphitheater, was the venue for the celebration.  Besides the rodeo, there was a parade showcasing the various tribes and pueblos participating in the event.  For me, highlights were the traditional tribal dances that are normally performed only at special tribal or pueblo holidays and ceremonies.

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The entire experience was engrossing and most enjoyable.  I certainly gained a greater appreciation of Native American traditions.  Similar to the Gathering-Of-Nations Pow Wow I attended in the spring, the Ceremonial was a celebration for and by Native American families.

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You can see more images from this trip in the New Mexico Gallery, under Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, on the home page of the website.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/8/gallup-2022 Sun, 21 Aug 2022 16:47:23 GMT
Europe 2022 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/7/europe-2022 Planes, trains and automobiles provided transit for our month long excursion to the Swiss and Italian Alps.  It was American Airlines that transported us from Albuquerque to Amsterdam, KLM that carried us to Zürich, then, the ever efficient and punctual Swiss train system glided us to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn, and back to Zürich, from where Swiss Air took us to Venice and a rented car got us to the Italian Dolomite Alps.  Along the way, we used trams, funiculars, cable cars, cogwheel railroads, and chair lifts to reach some of our destinations, not to mention shanks pony. 

It all started on Memorial Day, May 30th, when our neighbor gave us a ride to the Albuquerque airport.  With our TSA PreCheck boarding passes, security was a breeze and we were soon on our way, via DFW, to Amsterdam, very much enjoying the comfort of our Business Class cubicles.  A visit with my older brother Dick is always an included stop when traveling to Europe.  This trip was originally planned for 2020 the year Dick turned 95, so this year he had turned 97 and we were certainly looking forward to seeing him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our nephew Wim picked us up at Schiphol and being a very tall person, he was easy to spot in the crowded arrivals area.  Wim lives with his girlfriend, Marina, in Middelburg, a small picturesque town about two hours south of Amsterdam.  On the way to Middelburg we stopped in Spykenisse where Dick lives, still in his own home.  At 97, Dick still looked good, a bit frail and using a walker, but mentally sharp and a good sense of humor.  After our visit with Dick we continued on to Middelburg where we stayed three nights at the Fletcher Hotel near the city center.  Wim and Marina entertained us with walks along the North Sea dunes and a sail on De Arne waterway in a rented motorboat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 4th, we had a morning flight from Schiphol to Zürich.  In order to avoid any potential traffic problems driving from Middelburg, we spent the night before the flight at the airport Citizen M Hotel.  By this time we had become aware of the extreme labor shortages at Schiphol, including baggage handlers.  So that night, at the Citizen M Hotel, we repacked our bags making sure we had all essential items in our carry-ons.  We also took time to walk from the hotel to the departing passenger check-in counters so we would know exactly where to go in the morning.  We also decided to leave plenty early in the morning to battle the long check-in and security lines.  During our reconnoitering, we had observed insanely long lines of people queued up to check-in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left the hotel at 5:30 AM with our bags in tow.  When we approached the long queue, we were directed by a friendly KLM staffer to follow the signed priority path that bypassed the long line of disgruntled travelers.  It turned out that Jane had had the foresight to purchase the priority boarding option that came with the economy ticket.  That saved us hours of waiting in line.  Instead, we got to wait several hours at the departure gate, but we were able to relax a bit in the crowded gate area and read our books.  The wait at the gate turned out to be a bit longer than expected, however, because the KLM flight to Zürich was delayed an hour.  That created some anxiety because we had only a short window of time to catch our train from the Zürich airport to Zermatt.  But it all worked out fine.  Our single checked bag was the very first bag to arrive on the baggage carousel.  After quickly retrieving the bag, we hustled from the baggage claim area down an escalator to the train platform and were comfortably seated in a designated first class quiet car with time to spare for our journey to Zermatt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1865, the British mountaineer Edward Whymper became the first person to scale the Matterhorn.  This feat turned Zermatt from a small agricultural village into a Mecca for climbers, skiers, and hikers.  For me, the objective was to photograph the iconic, pyramidal peak of the Matterhorn.  Geologists call this unique shape a glacial horn.  Originally, when collision of the African and European tectonic plates created the Alps, the Matterhorn was a dome shaped mountain.  Subsequent ice ages covered the dome shaped mountain with glaciers.  These glaciers eroded cirques on three sides of the mountain creating the unique shape of today’s Matterhorn.

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At 14,690 feet, the Matterhorn creates its own weather and is often shrouded in clouds.  We were fortunate during our five-night stay in Zermatt with the photogenic mountain being visible about half the time, mostly in the mornings before obscuring clouds would form.  From Zermatt, there are several ways to traverse higher up the mountain to obtain different views of this glacier formed horn.  Not all the lifts were operating yet during our stay, so some of the photo locations I wanted to visit were not available.   However, the Gornergrat cogwheel railway was available to take us up to 10,000 feet in elevation.  We used this unique train several times to take us to different trailheads along the route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane had gotten us a fantastic accommodation in Zermatt, a two room suite, with balcony, at the Perren Hotel, very close to the train station.  Some of our best views of the Matterhorn were from the balcony.  Lifts going up the mountain did not start running until about 8:00 AM well after sunrise at 5:30 preventing alpenglow photography.  Early on several mornings, however, we watched sunlight descend on the rocky face of the mountain from the comfort of our room.  Of course, I was out on the balcony with my camera.

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From Zermatt, we trained back to Zürich for a five-night stay at the Marktgasse Hotel in the city’s historic old town district of  Niederdorf.  We explored much of old Zürich on foot.  The hotel was near the Zürichsee, a large lake in Zürich, where throngs of people gathered to stroll along the waterfront and frequented sidewalk cafés. The opera house was also located near the lake and provided free performances on an outdoor screen where people gathered with folding chairs and spread blankets to watch an opera.  We actually had tickets for an indoors performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Ballet at the opera house.  It was a non-traditional, avant-garde, production with colorful costuming, great choreography, and superb dancing.  During our stay in Zürich we also enjoyed a day-trip by train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

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Our time in the Swiss Alps ended when we packed our bags, boarded a tram to the bahnhof (train station), trained to the Zürich airport, and flew via Swiss Air to Venice to start the next phase of our European excursion.  At the Venice airport we rented a Fiat 500, stick shift, compact car with just enough trunk space to hold all our bags.  With the help of Google maps Jane navigated us through the maze of airport roads to get us to the autobahn and on our way to Cortina d’Ampezzo, our first destination in the Italian Alps.  Jane had rented us an apartment in Cortina d’Ampezzo for five nights and we day-tripped from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dolomites are part of the Southern Alps and are uniquely different from the rest of the Alps due to the lighter color of the dolomite base rock.  When the Alps were formed, millions of years ago, this area of uplift had been coral reefs in a tropical see.  Like the Matterhorn, ice age glaciers eroded the uplifted mountain range into the spectacular peaks, pinnacles and escarpments visible today.  Elevation wise, the highest peaks in the Dolomites only range just over 10,000 feet or so.  At approximately 5,500 square miles, the Dolomite area is about one and a half times the size of Yellowstone National Park.

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I had done my research and developed a detailed itinerary of places to photograph in the Dolomites.  We drove to some of location, including some picturesque lakes, but mostly we used cable cars and chair lifts to reach the higher alpine valleys where the bare Dolomite peaks and massive cliffs were impressively close.  Although the trails are well marked, the trail markers are not always easy to spot.  We found ourselves turned around and going somewhat it circles at times, but we were never really lost.  The trails were well groomed and easy to navigate but I found that, no matter where you started or what your destination was, there was always an uphill grade to conquer.

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After our stay in Cortina d’Ampezzo, we moved to Ortisei for a five night stay at the grand Hotel Stetteneck.  We found the Stetteneck more conveniently situated than the apartment in Cortina for walking into the village.  Ortisei is a very popular destination and we observed many groups of hikers, young and not so young, walk through the pedestrians-only village to the chair lifts.  The age range of hikers we passed on the trails was amazing, from young families with toddlers and baby-carrier backpacks, and a dog, to men and woman obviously at least my age, or older.  The Dolomites are riddled with cable cars and chair lifts.  Every high alpine meadow we visited had numerous lifts going in all directions on the mountain.  I told Jane that if we were to ski here, we would need a GPS to find our way off the mountain.  We enjoyed Ortisei a lot and had some wonderful day-trips from there with amazing mountain views.

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From Ortisei we traveled to Corvara for our last four nights in the Dolomites.  We stayed in the Hotel Italia where we also had a two room suite but the décor was very stark and we did not “warm up” to the suite.  One of the longest and steepest cable cars we rode was in Corvara and the views at the top were spectacular.  I spent a lot of time working on panoramic compositions there.  Also, there was a regional “Bike Day” while we in Corvara where cyclists were given free reign and roads were closed to vehicular traffic.  That day we embarked on long hike and ended up in the village of Colfosco where we took a cable car to an alpine rifugio for a much needed lunch break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Like the Swiss Alps, the recreational infrastructure in the Dolomites is exceptional.  There are cable cars and lifts everywhere.  Trails are well maintained and signed.  Signage in the Dolomites, however, can be confusing.  A trail or roadway sign may appear to indicate direction to three different locations when it fact it is only one location in three languages, German, Ladin, and Italian. At the top of every lift there is a café or rifugio offering food, drink, and often rooms.  Roads throughout the Dolomites are steep, narrow and winding.  They are a magnet for speeding sport cars and daredevil motorcycles.  We encountered those continuously as we traveled to our photo destinations, not to mention cyclists slowly peddling up the steep grades or coasting extremely fast downhill.

On our fifteenth day in the Dolomites we left Corvara, turned south, and headed back towards Venice.  That night we stayed at the Marriott Hotel at the Venice Airport.  We repacked our bags again for the journey home.  On the morning June 28th we boarded our American Airlines flight back to Albuquerque, again enjoying our business class cubicles, and arriving in Albuquerque near midnight after a twenty hour travel day.  It is always good to be home again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see some additional photos of the Matterhorn and Dolomites, return to the homepage and go the Europe Gallery to Switzerland and Italy.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/7/europe-2022 Wed, 13 Jul 2022 17:33:17 GMT
SPRING 2022 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/4/spring-2022 Our travels for 2022 started in February with a fantastic private photo adventure of Costa Rica that exceeded expectations (See previous Blog).  This spring, our travels continued first with an attempt to escape Albuquerque’s cold weather followed by a trip to actually embrace the cold.  In mid-March we ventured south hoping for warmer temperatures. That did not happen but the conditions were much better than in Albuquerque where it snowed while we were gone.  One of our “Friday Happy Hour” neighbors, Jim Barnes, had gone out after the snowstorm to take some pictures around the neighborhood, including one of our house. 

The objective of our trip south was to photograph spring wildflowers at various locations.  Unfortunately the continuing drought in the southwest spoiled that. We did stumble upon some early blooming trees that were host to swarming pipevine swallowtail butterflies feeding on the blossom’s nectar.  During our random motoring along country roads we were also able to photograph some unidentified flowers growing along the shoulders of the road along with some birds and a field of cultivated bright yellow flowers that we assumed to be rapeseed.  So, all was not in vain for this short trip south.

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Continuing our Spring 2022 travels, in early-April, Jane and I ventured to Fairbanks, Alaska, to observe and photograph the Aurora Borealis. We knew it would be cold and it was very cold.  Fairbanks had endured more snowfall this winter than it had for several decades and massive drifts of snow had been plowed along sides of the roads.  I had signed us up for three consecutive nights of aurora watching. As it turned out I did not need the “insurance policy” of three tours as we watched in awe at the spectacular display of the aurora each night.

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For three consecutive nights, the routine went like this.  Dinner around six (fortunately there were several restaurants to select from around our hotel, including a Japanese restaurant where we had dinner several nights), then back to the hotel where we would receive an email around seven each night letting us know at what time we would be picked up by the tour guide.  The pickup time was usually sometime just before ten o’clock.  We would grab a short snooze between seven and nine each night before bundling up in our cold weather gear.  And bundle up we did with multiple layers of warm clothing topped with heavy parkas and chemical warmers in our gloves and boots.

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Each night there were ten clients in the van heading out for the aurora.  Before starting, our guide would check the weather cams located around Fairbanks to find where there were clear skies.  Then we would set out driving about sixty miles or so out of town where there was no light pollution from Fairbanks.  The aurora is most vivid when the night is darkest and that was normally around one to two in the morning.  At that time, with clear skies, temperatures ranged from 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit making us very happy with our extreme attire.  We would get back to the hotel close to 4 AM each morning where we would unbundle ourselves and crawl into bed.

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Jane and I rated this trip a most definite success.  Images from the trip have been added to the Aurora Borealis gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/4/spring-2022 Tue, 12 Apr 2022 14:37:00 GMT
COSTA RICA 2022 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/3/costa-rica-2022 It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.  It was supposed to be simple, a routine winter getaway to warm Costa Rica. Bags were packed and we were ready for an early morning departure.  But then, much to our surprise, Winter Storm Landon appeared on the scene and everything became complicated.  As we were getting ready to retire for the night, a text message from the airline informed us that our morning flight had been cancelled.  Complication after complication followed that initial text.  Eventually, in the middle of the night, we were able to purchase tickets on another airline for the next day, the day after our originally scheduled departure.  But we made it to Costa Rica even if it was a day late.

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In preparation for our trip, we had arranged a customized itinerary with a local tour company Costa Rica Focus, which also included a private naturalist guide/driver.  The itinerary consisted of extended stays at three different locations, Manual Antonio National Park on the southern Pacific Coast, Arenal Volcano National Park in the highland rainforest, and the Sarapiqui region of the Caribbean lowlands.  At each of these locations, Costa Rica Focus had arranged for private wildlife viewing and photography at various ecological reserves and private biological conservation sanctuaries.  This was a twelve day, all-inclusive tour for just the two of us with Minor Hidalgo, our guide/driver, taking care of everything.

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After all the turmoil dealing with airline issues it was a relief to settle in at the Hotel Playa Espadilla adjacent to Manual Antonio National Park.  We were more than ready to enjoy the warm humid air, appreciate the remote jungle setting, and marvel at the diversity of wildlife.  Most of Costa Rica’s wildlife consists of birds with 850 species.  During our travels, Minor Hidalgo helped us locate and identify 155 species and I was able to photograph more than a hundred of those, with about half being species I had not photographed before.

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Arrangements for this Costa Rica adventure were made well in advance of the actual trip.  So it came as a bit of a surprise to us that the trip coincided with my 83rd birthday.  We celebrated with dinner at El Avión, a very unique eatery at Manual Antonio where a C-123 Fairchild cargo plane had been converted into a pub and restaurant.  Now the pressure is on me to contrive a similar birthday experience for Jane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Manual Antonio, Costa Rica Focus’ itinerary included a private mangrove boat tour.  This excursion was tide dependent and required a pre-dawn departure from the hotel.   Jane and I had kayaked through a mangrove before in Baja California but that was nothing like the Costa Rica mangrove.  Here the various mangrove tree species were huge with a dense jumble of tangled roots reaching up from the water.  The narrow water ways gave the impression of boating through a jungle.  We encountered several new bird species including the diminutive American pygmy kingfisher and the very large bare-throated tiger heron.

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Our next destination was Arenal Volcano National Park where we stayed four nights at the Arenal Observatory Lodge.  Outings from here included Ecocentro Danaus, a private ecological reserve, Mistico Hanging Bridges, with its 16 bridges suspended through the rainforest canopy, and Arenal Natura, where we were able to photograph tropical frogs and reptiles.  All these were private visits for just the two of us and our own guides.  We also spent a lot of time searching for and photographing birds around the Arenal Observatory Lodge.  Playing birds songs recorded on the Merlin app on his smart phone, Minor was able to entice small songbirds to approach close enough to be photographed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ara Ambigua Lodge, a friendly family run hotel, was our last accommodation.  In addition to photographing birds feeding on melons and bananas provided by the lodge staff, Minor also led us on explorations of area pastures to locate other Costa Rica birds including macaws, parakeets, tanagers, woodpeckers, and flycatchers.  One morning was spent at the La Selva Biological Station, a world renowned research facility.  La Selva was the first private ecological conservation area in Costa Rica.  The trails at La Selva meander through origin old growth rainforest where we encountered a variety of exotic, colorful birds, including trogons, motmots, and woodpeckers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop on this truly amazing Costa Rica adventure was Cope’s Garden not far from the Ara Ambigua Lodge.  Cope’s Garden was created by wildlife artist José Albert Pérez as a retreat for birders and photographers.  From the garden, we followed José into the surrounding forest where he cleared a trail for us with his machete.  The purpose of this foray was to locate spectacled owls and white bats, both of which José successfully found for us.  Photographing the white bats proved to be a challenge.  These bats are very small, white fluffy mammals about the size of a ping pong ball.  They are nocturnal and roost during the day under large plant leaves that are folded into a “tent” shape.  I had to lay supine on my back while Minor illuminated the bats with a flashlight in order to photograph them.  I would dare say that was the highlight of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The ending of an outstanding adventure is bitter sweet.  To mitigate this nostalgia is to have reason to return.  I have a reason to return.  My primary goal for undertaking this Costa Rica trip was to photograph a mother sloth with her baby.  That did not happen.  Sloths were seen and photographed, even sloths with a baby were seen, but they were not photographable. So, happily I have a reason to return to Costa Rica and try again to attain my goal of photographing a sloth with baby.

To see more of the pictures from this trip to to the "Costa Rica 2022" Gallery on the home page of the web site.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/3/costa-rica-2022 Sun, 06 Mar 2022 21:33:04 GMT
First Road Trip Of 2022 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/1/first-road-trip-of-2022 A year ago, on January first of 2021, Jane and I were ringing in the New Year with bubbly mimosas while watching the Tournament of Roses Parade on television.  Then and there we vowed to attend the next parade in person and spend some warm days away from the cold winter temperatures of Albuquerque.  A few days later Jane got us tickets to the parade and reservations at the Pasadena Sheraton.   As the new year approached, however, we became more and more anxious that the new Covid-19 Omicron variant would cause the parade to be cancelled.

The parade was not cancelled and we enjoyed our first road trip of 2022 to Pasadena, California.  It’s a comfortable two day drive from Albuquerque to Pasadena with an overnight in the Phoenix area.  For the holiday week, freeways were busy but not overly congested with lots and lots of eighteen-wheeler, big rig trucks.  You wouldn’t think there was a driver shortage with all the semi-trailer trucks on the freeways.

We arrived in Pasadena on a rainy December 29th .  The plan had been to spend time in the LA area sightseeing.  But the weather prevented that and we ended up spending the stormy weather channel surfing the TV in the hotel room.  After the storm system moved on, the rest of our stay was southern California sunny, but on the cool side.  The Omicron variant hadn’t stopped commerce in Pasadena.  On New Year’s Eve restaurants were busy and crowded.  Fortunately, Jane had the foresight to make dinner reservations well ahead of the holiday.

On the first day of the new year we were up at the crack of dawn for the half hour walk from the hotel to our grandstand seats along the parade route.  Masked up with our N-95’s, we walked past sleeping parade enthusiasts who had spent the night camped out along Colorado Boulevard.  Even in the early morning, vendors were already set up selling souvenirs and greasy, beacon wrapped hot dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parade was marvelous, everything we had expected.  The floats with their vast array of colorful flowers were beautiful and ingeniously engineered and constructed.  Among the many creative floats, the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom float was my favorite.  Marching bands from around the country, with their skimpily dressed, baton twirling, majorettes performed John Phillips Sousa favorites.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the parade we maneuvered back through the throngs of people to the hotel to pack up, check out and head for San Diego where we had arranged to meet up with old friends.  In San Diego, in addition to reuniting with our friends, we spent several delightful days visiting familiar sights including a stroll along the Embarcadero and Sea Port Village, a ferry ride across the bay to Coronado, and lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Prado, in Balboa Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2022/1/first-road-trip-of-2022 Mon, 10 Jan 2022 20:28:54 GMT
Year's End https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/11/years-end This travel year has come to an end.  For the last few remaining months of 2021 Jane and I have been staying close to home.  In early October we ventured out to enjoy the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  This year we did not get tickets for the event, but watched the mass ascension from the “side lines” east of the venue that provided a different perspective.  There were some special shape balloons this year that we had not seen before.  It was a different, more distant, view but we didn’t have to deal with traffic and crowds getting to the balloon park.

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In mid-October we were getting “cabin fever” and opted for a short road trip to Ruidoso, a small town located in the Sierra Blanca Mountains, in central New Mexico.  With peaks at nearly 12,000 feet, the mountains around Ruidoso provided a pleasant respite from the low lying Rio Grande valley back home.  Before starting on this outing, Jane had found that there was a very nice and modern theater, the Spenser Theater for the Performing Arts, located near Ruidoso.  This $25 million gem was just fifteen minutes from our hotel and we enjoyed a performance by the Brothers Four, singing old favorites from the distance past.  The Spenser Theater also hosts a collection of colorful Chihuly glass sculptures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were three nights in Ruidoso and spent some time exploring the surrounding area with a brief stop at historic Fort Stanton.  The fort was established in 1855 to control the then warring Mescalero Apache Indians.  Eventually the Mescalero Apache were relocated to a reservation just south of Ruidoso where we enjoyed a lunch and beer at their Inn Of The Mountain Gods Casino.  During our forays around town we discovered that Ruidoso is home to herds of elk that roam the back roads and like to forage on grasses at the golf course and school play fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon returning home from our short trip to Ruidoso, we found that the cottonwood trees along the Rio Grande had started their fall display of brilliant yellow foliage.  Jane and I took the opportunity to make several trips to the open space corridor along the river to hike among the colorful trees.  Overhead we heard the gravelly calls of the sandhill cranes as they migrated back to their winter stomping grounds along the Rio Grande.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/11/years-end Sat, 06 Nov 2021 22:15:20 GMT
Armendaris Ranch https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/9/armendaris-ranch  

In the early 1800’s New Mexico, and most of America’s southwest, was still part of New Spain with the governor of the Northern Provinces of New Spain located in Santa Fe.  It was the custom at that time for the governor to award land grants as a favor for political or military service.  In 1918, Pedro Armendariz applied for a land grant, citing his military service and loyalty to the King of Spain and in late 1919 was awarded the Armendariz Land Grant consisting of 397,235 acres.  During the ensuing decades, first Mexico in 1821 and later the United States in 1848 controlled the New Mexico territory.  Throughout these governmental and subsequent ownership changes, the Armendariz Land Grant remained pretty much intact.  In 1990, the last owner of the land filed for bankruptcy and in 1994 Ted Turner purchased the property and established the 362,885 acre Armendaris Ranch. 

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The huge ranch, with a landmass greater than the city of Phoenix,  is located along the Rio Grande River in south central New Mexico near the quaint town of Truth Or Consequences (T or C).  The landscape is semi-desert grassland of the northern Chihuahua Desert. Since 1994 Turner has allowed the previously overgrazed land to regenerate and has established a number of environmental initiatives to restore native species.  One of those initiatives was protecting the Mexican free-tailed bat population at the Jornada Bat Caves located on the Armendaris Ranch.  I convinced Jane that we needed to photograph these bats and that is how we ended up at the Sierra Grande Lodge in T or C for a two night stay.

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About 761,000 years ago a shield volcano erupted and spewed out a large basaltic lava flow.  As streams of hot lave flowed, the top crust cooled creating lava tunnels.  Centuries of erosion later, some of the crust lava, the roof of the lava tube, gave way and collapsed into the tube creating caves.  Some of these lava caves are on the Armedaris Ranch and from June to September, several hundred thousand female Mexican free-tailed bats migrate from Mexico to utilize the lava tube caves as their nursery. 

When tens of thousands of bats emerge from the cave each evening around dusk, Swainson’s hawks gather in the sky to prey on the bats.  This was a wildlife event I wanted to try and photograph.  I scheduled two tours to the bat cave to maximize the opportunity to capture some keeper images.  The bat tour departs from the Sierra Grande Lodge, a Ted Turner Preserve property, at 3:30 PM and requires a two and half hour drive across the ranch on dirt tracks to the bat cave.  We left home around noon in order to check into the lodge well before the 3:30 PM departure.  Our guide for the tours was Ken, a retired biologist and accomplished photographer.

Unlike last year, this summer New Mexico is experiencing a more normal monsoon season with clear skies in the morning transitioning to huge cumulus clouds with extensive lightning and dark ominous cumulonimbus clouds by late afternoon with cloudbursts following in a random pattern.  That was the scenario when we arrived in T or C that afternoon.  By the time Ken picked us up for the drive to the bat cave, threatening clouds were all around.  Ken checked his weather app that showed the storms were concentrated to the west and east of our trajectory and we pressed on.

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The contrast between the lush grassland vegetation on the Armendaris Ranch and the overgrazed conditions we had seen in southwestern New Mexico during our trip to Silver City was astounding.  By not grazing cattle or sheep on the ranch and allowing nature to restore the land, a healthy diversity of thriving plants and grasses abounded.  As we traversed the extensive ranch property there was a sense of isolation and returning to nature.  Along the way, we encountered a number of desert species I had never seen, let alone, photographed.  The western desert tarantula was one that Jane discovered as we were waiting for the bats to emerge.  The white lined sphinx, a type of hummingbird moth, we found pollinating and feeding on evening primrose flowers.  Ken nearly ran over a prairie rattlesnake that was sunning itself in the middle of the dirt track.  I also give Jane credit for spotting a tarantula hawk, although Ken had to tell us what it was, a spider wasp that preys on tarantulas.

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Photographing the bats, however, proved problematic. The bats normally emerge from their roosting cave around dusk, a half hour before sunset.  We arrived at the cave at 6:30 PM and storm clouds to the west were obscuring the sun creating early dusk conditions.  The bats must have sensed that conditions that night were different and decided not the leave their shelter until nearly sunset.  We did see a string of bats fly out to forage for insects on the prairie but by that time it was too dark to attempt photography. That is why, as a form of insurance, I had scheduled two tours to the bat cave. 

The second night we arrived a bit earlier, but the weather was also a bit more threatening.  Ken had brought folding chairs so we would be more comfortable while waiting for the fly out.  We had barely set out the chairs and gotten cameras ready when it started to rain.  By the time we reached the shelter of Ken’s truck, a hundred yards off, we were pretty much soaked. This time the rain cells were right over us and Ken had to drive two hours on the water logged dirt track back to the paved road with torrential rain pelting down.  We made it back without incident but it was a scary ride.

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So, photographing Swainson’s hawks preying on bats was a bust but we experienced other photo ops during our two tours into the pristine grassland prairie of the Armendaris Ranch and the stay at Sierra Grande Lodge with its friendly staff was most enjoyable. Jane and I made a pact to return again to The Armendaris Ranch in the future to do more sightseeing in the area.  Of particular interest is a tour of the New Mexico Spaceport located not far from T or C and, of course, another chance to photograph Swainson’s hawks going after Mexican free-tailed bats.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/9/armendaris-ranch Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:16:00 GMT
Glacier National Park In 2021 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/8/glacier-national-park-in-2021 The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicted a robust return of vacation travel this summer with nearly fifty million travelers forecast to take to the roadways and skies.  Jane and I were willing participants in this enormous bubble of holiday travelers.  Our destination, along with throngs of other vacationers, was Glacier National Park.  In anticipation of record high visitations, the National Park Service limited visitors to the park by instituting a new ticket requirement for access to the Going-To-The-Sun Highway, the primary entry into the park.  We did not learn of this restrictive entrance requirement until it was too late for us to obtain a special ticket.  The only way for us to gain entry into the park by way of the Going-To-The-Sun Highway was to pass the park entrance station before six AM.  That meant getting up at 4:45 AM and hustling out of the cabin.

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We were a week at our time-share cabin at Glacier Wilderness Resort and only made the super early run into the park twice.  Each time the objective was to reach Logan Pass in time to obtain a parking spot before rangers closed the parking lot.  The Hidden Lake Overlook trail that starts at Logan Pass has always been a good location for spotting the park’s varied wildlife.  This time was no exception as we enjoyed watching and photographing bighorn sheep, mountain goats, hoary marmots, Columbia ground squirrels and the ubiquitous golden mantled ground squirrel.  Being on the Hidden Lake Overlook trail in July provided us the chance to observe some animal family interactions.  I was photographing a large, adult hoary marmot when I noticed one, then two and eventually three pups cavorting around the area.

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There are two areas on the east side of Glacier National Park that can be visited without the special ticket required for the Going-To-The-Sun Highway. So, after checking out of our time-share, we moved for a couple of days to the Glacier Park Lodge, built in 1913 by the Great Northern Railway, on the east side.  Two Medicine and Many Glaciers on the east side were inundated with visitors, who like us, did not have a special ticket.  We were turned back by park rangers during out first attempt to enter the park at Two Medicine because there were no parking spaces left.  It was suggested we arrive at this entrance early in the morning and that is what we did the second time.

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One of the scenic locations at Two Medicine is the Running Eagle Falls, a short walk from the parking pullout.  We made that our first stop and because we had arrived early, there were only a couple of cars there.  While photographing the falls, I noticed an American dipper flying along the water flowing from the waterfall.  Dippers are somewhat difficult to find because of their high elevation, clear stream habitat.  Obviously, I had to spend some time locating and photographing this bird.  It was “eagle eye” Jane, however, who spotted them first and had to point me in the right direction.  Eventually I was able to get some good images of the dipper, including a recently fledged immature bird being fed by an adult.  By the time we left Running Eagle Falls the parking area was full and numerous cars were parked along the shoulder of the road.

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From the Glacier Park Lodge to Many Glaciers is normally a little over an hour’s drive.  This year, however, the entrance road from Babb to the park entrance station, an eleven mile stretch, was under construction, making this section of the route dusty, bumpy and slow.  When coming to Glacier National Park, we usually include a visit to Many Glaciers because we have had fairly good luck in finding large mammal wildlife there. 

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Fishcap Lake, a short hike from the Swiftcurrent Lodge parking area, is where moose are frequently seen and that was our objective.  We checked out Fishcap Lake for moose twice.  The first time, we got there mid-morning and it started to rain shortly after we arrived.  We were not prepared for rain and settled ourselves under the protective canopy of trees along the shore of the lake and waited, and waited.  We were far from being the only moose watchers along the edge of the lake.  Other likeminded visitors were practicing patience waiting for one of the big animals to appear.  Finally after more than an hour of waiting, the call “moose” went out from somewhere among the spotters along the lake. A female moose and calf had come out of the forest at the far side of the lake.  She and her newborn scurried along the edge of the lake for a few seconds and disappeared from view among the willow bushes.  Only if you happened to have your camera pointed in the right direction could a shot be obtained while the moose was in the open.  Fortunately, my camera and I were looking where the moose appeared and was able to get an image of the adult and calf trotting along the edge of the lake.

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We arrived in the early morning for our second visit to Fishcap Lake.  It was a gorgeous sunny morning with brilliant reflections in the lake water, just the kind of morning you would love to have a moose walk into the lake.  Well that did not happen.  I waited and waited for more than three hours before my patience ran out.  Jane had the good sense to leave long before I did to relax at the Lodge.  The only distraction that occurred while waiting for a moose to appear was that a large spotted frog had jumped into the lake right in front of us.  It had been startled by a hiker passing by and offered some photographic relief during an otherwise boring morning.

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Glacier National Park is a special place and we enjoy every visit.  This July visit was unique.  Most of our visits to the park have been in late September.  Turned out that one of our neighbors also has a time-share at Glacier Wilderness Resort and we traded our time in September for their time in July.  This visit provided us a different view of the park with colorful wildflowers, instead of the golden aspen trees of fall, and young baby animals, instead of the larger grown up animals intent on bulking up for the winter hibernation.  I would be remiss, however, if not mentioning that this visit in July was hampered by extremely smoky conditions from the many wildfires in the west.  We felt sorry for first time park visitors who were not being able to clearly see the grandeur of the peaks and valleys of the great Rocky Mountains.

Other images from this trip have been added to the Glacier National Park sub-gallery in the National Parks and Monuments main gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/8/glacier-national-park-in-2021 Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:18:14 GMT
Crested Butte https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/7/crested-butte After our nearly two-week, high desert adventure in May, Jane and I set our sights on a shorter, cooler trip to the Colorado Rockies.  At the high elevations of the Rocky Mountains, spring wildflowers arrive in late June so we planned this new adventure to coincide with the wildflower bloom in the Rockies.  We chose Crested Butte, “the wildflower capital of Colorado”, as our destination and rented a condominium apartment for five nights to serve as our home-base for exploring the high alpine meadows of the Elk Mountains.

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Crested Butte, established in 1878, was historically a coal mining town.  With the decline in the need for coal, mining operations closed down in the early 1950’s and in the 1960’s Crested Butte re-emerged as a ski destination.  During the summer, Crested Butte is a haven for dirt bike enthusiast with dozens of bike trails through the Gunnison National Forest.  Of course, we were there for the wildflowers and were not disappointed.

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Colorado Highway 135 dead ends at Crested Butte and from Crested Butte there are only dirt roads leading west and north.  I had consulted a guide book to Colorado’s best wildflower photography locations around Crested Butte by Andy Cook, a well known Colorado photographer.   So, Jane and I traversed all these roads in our quest to locate wildflowers locations mentioned in the guide book.  Each day we selected a different track to explore and we discovered the vast aspen forests and scenic backcountry of the Rocky Mountains around Crested Butte.  Jane’s favorite was the Ohio Creek Road with its stunning vistas and majestic mountains.  My favorite was Gothic Road that yielded vast alpine fields of wildflowers.

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In addition to the colorful displays of wildflowers, we also encountered a variety of wildlife, including mule deer, yellow bellied marmots, the ubiquitous golden mantled ground squirrel, a lone sandhill crane, and a fox.  Since my selection of camera equipment was based on flower photography, some of the wildlife, particularly birds, was too far away for my shorter focal distance lenses.  Nevertheless, some good images were acquired.  I will place the photos from this trip in a new gallery titled “Crested Butte, Colorado”.

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Jane and I so enjoyed the beauty of these high alpine mountain settings that we are committed to returning to Crested Butte for a future fall foliage photography expedition.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/7/crested-butte Sun, 18 Jul 2021 16:45:18 GMT
Déjà Vu https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/5/d-j-vu One of Yogi Berra's famous quotes is, “It’s déjà vu all over again”.  In 2008, Jane and I had traveled to Page, Arizona, and now thirteen years later we were back, " all over again".  This was our third road trip of 2021 and I had developed an adventurous itinerary for this return to Page, including tent camping, hiking and a scenic flight.

The adventure began with our drive to Page through the Navajo Nation.  At more than 27,400 square miles, it is the largest reservation in the U.S. and bigger than ten states. We stopped at Window Rock, the capitol city of the Navajo Nation, and made a short visit to the Window Rock Tribal Park and Veteran’s Memorial.  We then followed Highway 264, the Navajo Code Talkers Highway, past the Hubbell Trading Post where Jane and I had stopped in 2008.  It is now a National Historic Site and, unfortunately, we found it closed due to covid restrictions.  Highway 264 changed to the Hopi Code Talkers Highway as we entered the Hopi reservation.  The Hopi reservation is totally surrounded by the Navajo reservation and only about a tenth its size.  In 2008 we had toured Second Mesa, the center of Hopi culture, with a Hopi guide.  This time we merely reminisced as we drove through the reservation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination for this first travel day was the Cliff Dwellers Lodge near Marble Canyon in Arizona.  The Cliff Dwellers Lodge was the launching place for a three day photo tour of White Pocket in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.  This was no run-of-the-mill photo tour.  To reach White Pocket, there was a two hour ride from the Cliff Dwellers Lodge with at least half of that on unimproved House Rock Valley Road and other 4-wheel drive dirt tracks with deep sand sandstone slick rock.  When Jane and I were at White Pocket in 2008 it was only for a few hours.  This time it was two whole days and that meant camping out on the remote Paria Plateau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The photo tour was sponsored by Arizona Highways PhotoScapes and the camp outfitter was Kanab, Utah, based Dreamland Safari Tours.  They set up our camp, provided tents, sleeping bags, mats and meals.  It had been literally decades since either of us had slept on the ground in a tent.  In anticipation of this adventure, camping out under the stars far from civilization was expected to be an incredibly exciting experience.  In real time, however, we found it to be a struggle squirming into sleeping bags in the confinement of a small tent.  Mother Nature also dealt us a nasty blow by offering night time temperatures well below normal.  We were pretty uncomfortable that first night.  The second night was much better because Dreamland had communicated with their office in Kanab to dispatch extra blankets to the camp.  All in all, however, camp life was enjoyable and we had seven other good-natured photographers to share the ambiance of camp life.

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White Pocket is an intriguing photographic destination of multicolored Navajo sandstone formations.  A grayish white sandstone layer covers red sandstone creating cross-bedded, twisted, swirling, multicolored formations creating a fantasy landscape. The whole colorful outcropping is only a couple of miles long and the sandstone provides a gritty surface for boots to cling to making traction easy on the undulating terrain.  Camping out provided the opportunity to photograph the fascinating White Pocket formation at sunrise and sunset.  As a bonus, I was also able to practice some night sky photography, with mixed results however.

Images of White Pocket are located in the National Parks and Monuments Gallery under Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

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The photo tour ended at the Cliff Dwellers Lodge where it has started.  After gathering our gear and bidding adieu to our fellow photographers, Jane and I headed to Page for a good long shower and a much needed nap.  I had scheduled three nights in Page and Jane had made reservations for a king room at the Hyatt Place hotel, a smart, modern, new facility.  We thoroughly enjoyed the space of a king room after two nights in a small tent.  The next morning was a sleep-in and the day was set aside for some shopping in Page.  The pandemic, however, had caused many shops to close or go out of business.  We did manage to do some browsing and found the same Mexican restaurant, Fiesta Mexicana, where we had dined thirteen years ago.

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That evening, around sunset, I had scheduled a scenic flight over Lake Powell with American Aviation Air Tours in Page.  A scenic flight was something we had not done on our previous trip to Page and something new to look forward to.  It was an old, well worn, Cessna that transported us upward and around Lake Powell.  Covid protocol imposed by American Aviation prevented Jane from occupying the co-pilot seat and required both of us to sit in the narrow back seats.  That meant that I could not move back and forth between windows in order to have the sun at my back for proper photographic lighting.  For this flight, however, photography was a secondary consideration and enjoying a scenic flight over an extremely scenic lake was the prime objective.

Images from the scenic flight can be found in the National Parks and Monuments Gallery under Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

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My diverse itinerary had us up early the next morning for a hike into Buckskin Gulch, reportedly the longest and deepest slot canyon on the Colorado Plateau.  I had arranged for a guide with Seeking Treasure Adventures, out of Kanab, to lead us to the slot canyon.  There are two primary trails to Buckskin Gulch, the Middle Route and the Wire Pass trail that was described as the moderate approach.  We met our guide, Hunter Bell, at Big Water, Utah, and he drove us to the trail head.  I had assured Jane that the Wire Pass trail would be easy and that we could always turn back when we had reached our hiking limit.  What I failed to understand was that the two trail heads do not start at the same location and that Hunter, not realizing that we had opted for the easy route, had taken us to the Middle Route trail head.

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After some discussion about the difficulty of the Middle Route, Hunter assured us that we were in good enough condition to take on this more challenging approach.  Of course how Hunter could tell we were in good enough shape, I don’t know.  In the end, we trusted his instinct as a guide and proceeded toward Buckskin Gulch.  In actuality there is no defined “trail” and Hunter guided us across open desert terrain.  The Utah tourist office web site describes the middle route as “a short, no-nonsense approach to the lower reaches of Buckskin Gulch – a cross-country and wash route - good route finding ability required - very strenuous - Class 3 and Class 4 down-climbing to enter Buckskin Gulch”.

After about an hour and half of hiking cross country we reached Buckskin Gulch.  The slot canyon appeared right in front of us one hundred feet below.  This is where all of Hunter’s encouragement, enthusiasm and guiding skill was needed to get the two of us down that last, extremely steep, one hundred feet.  He helped us find hand and foot holds carved into the sandstone centuries before by indigenous people that had used this exit from the slot canyon as an ancient trade route.  I don’t know how we managed, but with adrenaline flowing Jane and I both made it to the bottom and into Buckskin Gulch.  After spending some time exploring and photographing the slot canyon we returned to the dreaded one hundred foot cliff to start our ascent back up.  Our hearts were still beating by the time we returned to Hyatt Place.  We were full of excitement about what we had accomplished and surprised that we had the stamina and courage to do it.  Hunter had been correct that we were in good enough shape.

Images from this adventure can be found in the Buckskin Gulch Gallery.

 

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Fortunately my itinerary called for a late start the next day and we savored relaxing as we packed our bags.  Early that afternoon, the plan was to meet guides from Action Photo Tours at Big Water for an overnight trip to Alstrom Point on the north shore of Lake Powell.  In 2008 Jane and I had driven the 4Runner to Alstrom Point but only stayed a few hours.  We did not want to traverse the four-wheel drive track to return to Page in the dark.  This photo tour would allow us to be at this popular scenic location overlooking Lake Powell at both sunset and sunrise.  The downside was another night in a small tent.  We were rewarded, however, with the classic panoramic view of Gunsight Butte and Navajo Mountain at sunset.  I also got some good tips from the guides about night sky photography.  All I have to do now is learn Photoshop, not an easy task.

Images from Alstrom Point can be found in the National Parks and Monuments Gallery under Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

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The Alstrom Point photo tour returned us to Big Water mid-morning the next day. From Big Water we drove back to Hyatt Place to retrieved our stored bags, had lunch at our now favorite Mexican restaurant, and started our way back home.  On the way home, just before reaching Farmington, New Mexico, we achieved yet one more significant travel milestone.  To be correct it was the always faithful and dependable Toyota 4Runner that achieved this milestone as it clocked 225,000 miles on the odometer.  Since 2004 the 4Runner has been our companion on many memorable adventures.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/5/d-j-vu Fri, 28 May 2021 14:17:44 GMT
Exploring Southern New Mexico https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/5/exploring-southern-new-mexico An excursion to the southern part of our new home state was a pre-covid idea that finally became a reality.  On April 15th, Jane and I embarked on a long delayed nine-day road trip to southern New Mexico.  We journeyed from Albuquerque to Silver City, in the southwest corner of New Mexico to Carlsbad in the southeast corner.  Along our route we observed how severely New Mexico’s drought has impacted the landscape.  Vast areas of open range had only sparse stands of drought tolerant creosote bushes with little other vegetation growing in the bare desert ground.

The primary destination for this exploration was Silver City in Grant County.  During my research I had learned about several rock art sites in the Silver City area that I wanted to photograph.  However, I was unable to find any specific directions on the internet to locate these sites.  The general information I did find would have me searching a vast area of desert terrain without any assurance of success.  Eventually I stumbled upon the web site for the Grant County Archaeological Society and contacted them to see if one of their members would be willing to guide me to the rock art sites.

In a favorable response, Kyle Meredith, the Society’s president, indicated that he would be willing to guide me.  After several email communications, Kyle and I had decided on an itinerary and time frame to visit several rock art sites.  Best of all, it turned out that Kyle had a guest house where we could stay during our Silver City tour.  We arranged to lodge in Kyle's guest house for five nights giving us four whole days for exploration.

On our way to Silver City, Jane and I first stopped at The Very Large Array, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, located on the Plains of San Agustin, about 50 miles west of Socorro in central New Mexico.  This astronomical observatory consists of 27 radio antennas, each 82 feet in diameter.  The science about this facility is way, way over my head, but suffice it to say that the radio antennas can look into deep space and have enabled scientists to make many profound discoveries about the universe and our own Milky Way galaxy.  Due to covid the visitor center was closed but we could drive up to the gate and observe the antennas from the entrance road.

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From The Very Large Array, we traversed along U.S. Highway 60 to New Mexico Highway 12 and on to U.S. Highway 180, the long way to Silver City.  We made a slight detour to check out an alleged ghost town.  In the late 1800’s rich gold and silver veins were discovered in the area leading to the establishment Mogollon (pronounced mo-gie-yon), a wild-west mining town.  In its heyday, Mogollon hosted a population of several thousand.  Today only a handful of people reside in Mogollon and most of its wooden and adobe buildings stand abandoned.  We did not linger long and continued to our next objective, the Catwalk National Recreational Trail.

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The Catwalk was something we just had to see since our route to Silver City went right by it.  In the 1890’s an ore processing mill was constructed at the head of Whitewater Canyon.  To generate power and operate the mill a water pipeline was constructed down Whitewater Canyon and a wooden-plank boardwalk, was constructed over the pipeline.  That was the original catwalk.  As the mines ran out and the mill fell into ruin, the catwalk also disintegrated.  In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps was assigned the task of rebuilding the catwalk as a recreational attraction for the Gila National Forest.  The CCC catwalk was destroyed by a major flood down Whitewater Canyon in 2012.  Today’s catwalk is a modern, structurally sound, steel reconstruction that is cantilevered out from the steep canyon cliffs over Whitewater Creek.

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As we hiked back down Whitewater Canyon we noticed some lady birders with field glasses searching the distant trees for birds.  I could not help but ask what they had in their sights.  At the moment they were observing a yellow warbler but had recently seen an American dipper just downstream.  After getting directions to where the dipper had been seen Jane and I searched for it without success.  As we headed back to the parking lot, one of the birders called after us to say that the dipper was back.  We followed her back but I could not see the bird until she let me look through her binoculars.   Then I saw it but could not believe than an American dipper would be in this desert environment.  But there it was and I took several pictures.  Later, I checked the distribution of this bird and found that it is a year round resident in a few higher mountain locations in southern New Mexico.

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We arrived in Silver City around 5:00 PM where we met Kyle and were introduced to the guest house, Casa Otra, and to Kyle’s partner Josh.  Casa Otra was a comfortable, extensively modified, mobile home jam packed with a vast variety of knickknacks accumulated by Kyle and Josh over many years.  To welcome us, Kyle had prepared a chicken curry dish that the four of us enjoyed while getting to know each other. What a great way to start a four day exploration of the Silver City area. 

Our first outing was a day long trip to rock art locations in Frying Pan Canyon and Pony Hills in the remote China Draw area north of Deming.  Kyle and Josh had been out in these areas a number of times and they scouted ahead locating the best petroglyph panels for me to photograph.  It was at Pony Hills that Josh got the surprise of his life.  Leaning over one of several deep mortar holes ground into the bedrock by ancient people, he came face to face with a hissing rattle snake.  With an instant startled reaction, Josh bounded backward, high into the air, landing on a boulder several feet away.  Lucky for Josh he kept his balance but he was physically shaken by sight of the rattler.

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The next day was very windy so we decided to head north forty miles on Highway 15 to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  These cliff dwellings were built in naturally eroded alcoves around 700 years ago by the Tularosa Mogollon people.  Due to covid social distancing restrictions, we could not enter the dwellings and could only photograph them from the trail below.  That was a bit disappointing but gives us reason to return post-covid.  I did not add any images from the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to my galleries.

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The following day was still windy and we decided to spend the morning roaming the galleries of Silver City’s Historic District.  Most galleries were open, with capacity restrictions, and we enjoyed the variety of arts and crafts displayed.  Of course, you can’t view all this creative work without some temptation to purchase and, needless to say, we gave in to that temptation.  Later in the afternoon we headed south on Highway 180 to New Mexico’s City of Rocks State Park.  The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, eroded volcanic rock columns separated by trails mimicking city streets. Millions of years in the making, the City of Rocks was a fascinating place to visit and photograph.  Images from this “city” can be found in the State Parks gallery.

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Our last day in Silver City was again devoted to rock art photography.  This time Kyle and Josh guided us to Apache Flats and Apache Tank north of Interstate 10 along Doña Ana County Road 001.  Although there are some historic Apache petroglyphs, most are attributed to the Mogollon culture, one of the major prehistoric cultures, who occupied this region of New Mexico for over twelve hundred years.  Jane and I concluded that without Kyle and Josh’s knowledge about where to find the petroglyph panels we would not have found them by ourselves.  We treated our hosts to a farewell dinner at the Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery where we savored some locally crafted brews.  The rock art images from this trip can be found in the Rock Art gallery.

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Carlsbad Cavern National Park was our next objective.  From Silver City, the drive to Carlsbad is a reasonable six hours.  We chose to break up the drive with lunch in Cloudcroft, a small pioneer village nestled in the pine trees of the Sacramento Mountains at an elevation of 8,700 feet.  Dave’s Café was the only choice in Cloudcroft, so we munched on a tasty lunch there and then browsed some of the gift stores where Jane was able to replenish her supply of bulk teas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historically, the city of Carlsbad had an agricultural economy with the Pecos River providing needed irrigation water.  Today, the city’s economy is boosted by oil and natural gas production from the Permian Basin that underlies southeastern New Mexico.  The famous Carlsbad Caverns are located about thirty minutes south of town and provide a substantial tourist trade.  Much of what you see driving the main drag into Carlsbad has an older, industrial look.  So, Jane and I decided to take a spin off the main highway and discovered some affluent neighborhoods with very large, beautiful homes along the Pecos River frontage.

The caverns are spectacular and worthy of national park status. Current restrictions required that time specific entrance tickets be obtained on a first come first served basis.  I got our timed tickets in advance, on line, before leaving home.  To ensure sufficient time for photography in the cave, I had purchased tickets for two separate days.  Jane joined me for the first day but opted out to relax instead in our Candlewood Suites hotel room the second day.  I had plenty of time to photograph because once in the cave you could stay as long as you wanted, up to closing time.  Getting good images in the dark cavern with only scattered accent lighting was difficult.  Fortunately, tripods were permitted in the cave and that allowed me to take long exposure as well as HDR (High Dynamic Range) shots.  Still, the results were not great.  You can see images from Carlsbad Caverns in the National Parks & Monuments gallery.

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Before leaving Carlsbad, we made the one hour drive to Sitting Bull Falls.  The waterfalls and pools in this, U.S. Forest Service managed, recreation area are fed by springs and are a very popular attraction during the heat of summer.  In contrast, we were the only visitors in late April and I was able to photograph the falls without having to dodge kids playing in the pools.  The Sitting Bull Recreation Area is located in the Guadalupe Mountains area of the Lincoln National Forest. 

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The approximate five hour drive home from Carlsbad took us through Roswell where we stopped for breakfast at the local Denny’s.  Roswell has actively created interest in the alleged crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in 1947 and is home of the International UFO Museum.  We didn’t take time to visit the museum and we did not see any unidentified flying objects.  We did pass the Roswell International Air Center, however, where we observed hundreds of aircraft tail sections poised above the horizon.  I learned that the Roswell International Air Center was developed after the closure of Walker Air Force Base. In 1967 this base was the largest air base of the Strategic Air Command, covering 4,600 acres. Today, the Air Center is used to store, refurbish and dismantle airliners. Airline companies from around the world now store, repair and obtain parts from other aircraft at the Roswell International Air Center.

After breakfast it was Jane’s turn at the wheel and she had to buck strong head winds most of the way home.  We reached the house around 1:00 PM and by 1:30 Jane was soaking in a hot bubble bath.  Sorry, no pictures.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/5/exploring-southern-new-mexico Thu, 06 May 2021 00:28:48 GMT
Finally A Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/4/finally-a-road-trip Yes, finally Jane and I broke with the Covid-19 travel restrictions and ventured out for our first road trip of 2021.    We hadn’t prepared for a road trip in such a long time that packing for this trip took a bit longer than usual and required the use of an old packing list so we wouldn't forget anything. We headed south from Albuquerque to southern Arizona early on a Sunday morning in late March and it felt good to be on the road again for more than a few hours.  Our destination was The Pond At Elephant Head, a bird photography retreat owned and run by Daniel Grayson.  The Pond is situated about 30 minutes south of Green Valley, Arizona, where we met up with our San Diego friends Dali and Neil Solomon.

Early Monday morning the four of us met Daniel (who prefers Dano) and were shown around The Pond.  The pond is actually a small, shallow depression dug into the earth filled with water that attracts birds in the arid southern Arizona desert. In addition, around the circumference of the pond, Dano has placed numerous feeding stations and perches, mimicking the natural habitat of the Sonoran desert.    So this small desert watering hole, with its food and shelter, has been transformed into an oasis for birds.  Photography is accomplished from comfortable, although well used, blinds. 

One memorable photographic highlight was an encounter with a Cooper’s hawk.  This raptor preys on birds and was well aware that birds congregated at the pond.  According to Dano, this Cooper’s hawk makes routine visits to the pond.  We noticed that whenever this predator made an appearance, all the birds immediately disappeared into the undergrowth and a silent hush settled over the pond.  This happened several times while we were in the blind but we never actually saw the hawk.   One time, when all the birds vanished from view, in my periphery I observed some movement.  It was the Cooper’s hawk sitting on a stout branch in the brush next to the blind.  Apparently the hawk was so intent on looking for prey that it was unaware of me moving my camera around to grab a few shots of it.

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During my research about The Pond I had seen some really amazing roadrunner images that were taken there.  I asked Dano about the roadrunner and he very positively assured us that he could entice the bird with some wormy morsels to come within camera range.  I did not know, but roadrunners are monogamous, so when Dano called the roadrunner in, there were actually two of them, a mated pair.  We got some very nice frame-filling shots of the quick birds as they ran in for their worms.  Dano even got one of them to fly, and that it very unusual for a roadrunner.  By placing a worm high on a perch, the bird had to fly up to fetch it.

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The four of us departed The Pond late afternoon to caravan two and a half hours east to our next destination, the Battiste Bed, Breakfast and Birds, a B&B in Hereford, Arizona.  The B&B is hosted by Tony and Julie Battiste and is located in the lower Miller Canyon area of the Huachuca Mountains, famous for its spring and fall bird migrations.  Tony is an avid birder and an accomplished photographer and, like The Pond, has created a bird friendly environment in his garden with a water feature, plenty of feeders and perches.  For photographers, he built a blind from where migrating birds could be easily photographed.

At Tony’s, I tried capturing birds in flight with a special setting on my Olympus camera.  When my efforts proved futile I mentioned it to Neil.  After checking the camera manual and going through the camera’s special menus, we concluded that I did not have the camera’s latest firmware.  I aborted using the camera’s special setting, reverted back to using a fast motor drive, shooting in anticipation of the bird taking off or landing, and hoping for some reasonable results.  Upon returning home, downloading updated firmware became a high priority.

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After four nights at Tony’s B&B, we four intrepid travelers backtracked to the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon just southeast of Green Valley.  There we spent two more days photographing birds.  In theory, at the lodge, being situated at a higher altitude in Madera Canyon, there should have been a different variety of migrating birds.  We noticed, however, that the birds were pretty much the same and that, in general, the spring migration was not as plentiful as normal.  The variety of species and numbers of birds were far less than we have experienced at other times photographing in southeastern Arizona.  To make up for the lack of bird species, a coati came foraging through the cabin area where we were staying and moved just slowly enough for me to get a snapshot.

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Rather than staying in Madera Canyon photographing the same birds, Jane and I decided to drive to Tucson, about an hour north, to do some exploring there.  Neil had told us about Reid Park in Tucson where vermillion flycatchers were frequently seen and photographed.  We were told to look for flycatchers by the parking areas near the dog walk.  Of course we had no idea where that was.  The park is very large and includes the Tucson zoo.  We asked for directions to the dog walk at the zoo entrance and eventually found the dog walk area.  We sat in the car looking out the windshield a bit befuddled not knowing where exactly to start looking.  Then, there it was right in front of us, a bright red vermillion flycatcher foraging in the grass.  In addition to the flycatcher, I also happened upon a very small, pretty verdin darting around in an acacia tree.  The trip to Tucson turned out to be more rewarding than staying in Madera Canyon.

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On the way home we made one more stop.  I had read that late March was the time for wildflowers in the Organ Mountains and Las Cruces was the logical place to stay. We spent a day looking for wildflowers.  Unfortunately, there had been no late winter rain to germinate the seeds.  We did see a few scattered Mexican poppies along the shoulder of Aguirre Springs Road but not the blanket of color in the foothills that could be expected in a normal water year.  After a couple of nights in Las Cruces we turned north on I-25 for home and so ended our first road trip of 2021 with lots of bird pictures but not wildflowers.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2021/4/finally-a-road-trip Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:41:38 GMT
THE YEAR THAT WASN'T https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/12/the-year-that-wasnt The shortest day of the year is quickly approaching end temperatures along the Rio Grande rift valley have turned chilly.  The holidays will shortly be upon us.  Yes, 2020, the year that wasn’t, will soon be over.  Jane and I have come to grips with the travel constraints imposed on us by the pandemic.  Optimistically, we have re-booked our cancelled 2020 trips and have fingers crossed that we can travel to our chosen locations in 2021.  In the meantime, we have also started to prepare for the holidays.  We have assembled our artificial Balsam Hill Christmas tree and decorated it with many of the ornaments we have collected from our travels.  Jane has also decorated the house with all kinds of joyful yuletide displays.  Santa’s mail order gifts have started to arrive and are being colorfully displayed under the branches of the Christmas tree.

During New Mexico’s avoid-crowds-advisory, we have been day-tripping by ourselves to explore more of New Mexico’s diverse scenery.  We felt safe from potential Covid-19 infection with just the two of us confined in our own car.  Our destinations were to remote areas where we encountered only a couple of other people and were able to stay yards, not merely feet, away. With the help of several guide books, we scouted out several potential photo locations.  Early winter, with brown and dormant desert vegetation, is not the most scenic time for landscape photography, however.  My plan was to accumulate a list of places to return to in spring when new growth should make the desert appear green again.

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One location Jane and I scouted was the Ojito Wilderness area about an hour and half from home.  There are two established trails in this wilderness set-aside and we explored both.  Both trails were about two miles round trip with modest elevation gains.  The first trail led to some ancient petroglyphs situated on the edge of a mesa with a magnificent view of the surrounding terrain, eroded with deep washes and arroyos.  The other trail terminated at an area of colorful sandstone hoodoos.  The scenery and photo opportunities were compelling, so we went back for some photography a few weeks later.  Images from these trails can be found in the Ojito Wilderness Area gallery.

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The next area we explored was San Lorenzo Canyon, also about an hour and half from home but to the south.  The San Lorenzo Canyon hike was mostly in a wide, sandy wash with high, sloping escarpments on either side.  The guide book advised that this trail was about 4 miles round trip, but we encountered a substantial rock fall about half way that we did not attempt to scramble over.  There were some interesting rock formations along the section of the trail that we did hike and San Lorenzo Canyon is on my list to return to in the spring.

Cabezon Peak is a large, steep sided neck of volcanic rock, rising nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, and a well know landmark in northwest New Mexico.  This giant volcanic plug is visible for miles in all directions as it towers over the low lying Rio Puerco valley.  This was an obvious landscape feature for me to investigate and explore.  During my internet research, I discovered that there were also ancient pueblo ruins and petroglyphs in this area.  So, travel to Cabezon Peak became another day-trip away from urban crowds.  This trip was a bit longer, about two hours northwest of home, with an extensive stretch of dirt track.  Cabezon Peak was impressive but a cloudless sky and scarce winter foliage did not make for good picture taking.  This landscape was also added to my spring location list.

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Jane and I next ventured a bit further on this dirt track to the Guadalupe Ruins.  These ruins, constructed about eleven hundred years ago, are the easternmost outlier of the Chacoan culture that flourished in the southwest at that time.  The Guadalupe Ruins are situated on the edge of an isolated mesa about 200 feet above the valley floor.  The only access is along a short, but very steep, trail that we traversed with some difficulty.  The top of the mesa offered an amazing view of the Rio Puerco valley with its myriad gullies, ravines and volcanic plugs penetrating the horizon.   Since there were no clouds to add drama to the scene, I will have to return to this site and again climb to the top of the mesa in order to capture more compelling images.

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After taking a refreshment break and resting our legs from the steep descent, we attempted to locate the petroglyphs in Tapia Canyon a short stint further down the dirt road.  I had found longitude and latitude coordinates for the trail head during my research into this remote area of New Mexico.  The trail to the petroglyphs, although not strenuous, was a long two miles in.  After about a mile in, however, our legs started to complain and realizing how far we still had to go, and return, we aborted our attempt to reach the petroglyphs.  So, Tapia Canyon is definitely a location to return to next spring.

 

Bosque del Apache is a world famous New Mexico wildlife refuge that Jane and I had visited a number of times while living in San Diego.  Now this popular refuge, with its innumerable sandhill cranes, snow geese and other water fowl, is only a two hour drive south from home.  To continue our avoidance of crowds, in early December we decided on a day trip to re-visit Bosque.  Based on our previous excursions, we had high expectation about the wildlife photography opportunities.  Unfortunately, our optimistic outlook was not realized.  Whether a result of drought or refuge management, many familiar roosting ponds along the access road were dry.  Consequently the dramatic mass of snow geese ascending from these ponds that photographers yearn for did not occur.  The only mass ascension I was able to capture was one of red winged black birds, not snow geese.  Photo opportunities along the loop road were significantly less than on our previous visits to Bosque.  We toured Bosque for several hours and did manage to get a “keeper” or two before returning home.  These new shots can be found in the Bosque del Apache sub-gallery in the Wildlife Refuges main gallery.

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Although all our foreign travel was aborted in this coronavirus dominated year, Jane and I have managed to safely get out of the house.  Our recent local explorations have resulted in a list of photo sites to visit next spring.  We are optimistic about travel in 2021 and in the meantime we will be celebrating this year’s holidays with chilled bubbly from California.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/12/the-year-that-wasnt Sat, 12 Dec 2020 17:56:46 GMT
Visiting Familiar Places https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/10/visiting-familiar-places Long before this year, dominated by the coronavirus, began, Jane and I had planned and organized an incredible travel schedule for 2020.  Of course, none of those journeys materialized as we sheltered at home, wore masks and practiced safe distancing.  When we realized that our most anticipated trip to Europe was off the table, we anxiously explored other potential options.  We eventually settled on and patched together a long road trip to our timeshare cabin in West Glacier, Montana.

The cabin is a long 1,275 miles from home and we broke the twenty hour drive into shorter segments with stops in Moab and Brigham City, Utah.  The layover in Brigham City was planned to allow a visit with my 93 year old sister, Neli.  Traditionally, Jane and I have stopped to visit with Neli and her husband, Fred, on our way to or from the cabin.  Since we had not been to the cabin for many years it was a welcomed pleasure to visit with them again. We were both amazed on how sharp and witty both Neli and Fred were at their advanced age.

We arrived at the cabin only to find Glacier National Park and surroundings shrouded in smoke from the inferno of fires in Washington and Oregon.  We found ourselves for several days again “sheltering at home”.  The cabin is situated in the "satellite shadow" of some high mountains with very spotty internet access, so during those smoky days our time was spent reading and relaxing.  I had brought some bird feed that I spread along the wooden railing of the front porch and entertained myself with photographing small critters and birds that came in for the easy pickings.

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Jane came up the excellent idea to see if I could line up something with Triple D.  Triple D Game Farm, located in Kalispell, Montana, about 45 minutes from the cabin, provides “wildlife models” that keepers bring to natural settings for photography.  I was able to schedule a photo shoot and selected some small mammals to photograph, including a young wolf, bobcat, fox, badger and a couple of playful bobcat kittens.  The shoot at Triple D made up for the lack of picture taking in the park due to the smoky conditions.  

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Thankfully, after several days, rains came and cleared the air.  So during the last week of our two week stay we were able to venture out and enjoy the national park.  We had not been to Glacier National Park for about four years and were amazed at the number of people in the park.  In the nearly twenty years that we had been coming to Glacier, we had never seen so many visitors.  Perhaps it was a Covid-19 phenomenon with more people wanting to get out of the house and driving to national parks.  In Glacier, the result was that by about ten o’clock in the morning all the roadside pull outs, trail head parking areas and the large parking lot at Logan Pass were full.  Typically, Jane and I had to hustle out of bed at six in order to ensure parking at the trails we planned to hike.  Barring smoke and crowds, this alternative to our European trip was a welcomed two week respite from sheltering at home in Albuquerque.

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From the cabin we extended our road trip with a sojourn to the Slippery Ann Wildlife Refuge near Lewistown, Montana.  During the rut, the Slippery Ann Refuge is a popular elk viewing area along the Missouri River.  Jane and I had stopped here four years ago on a previous road trip. As in Glacier, there were many more “elk viewers” than we anticipated, but arrived early enough to obtain a parking area on the dirt track adjacent to the primary viewing area.  The elk wander out from the dense groves of cottonwood trees that line the Missouri River to graze in the meadows where they can be viewed.  In mid to late afternoon, the cows emerge first followed by the bulls who have gathered the cows into small harem herds for eventual mating.  The bull elk’s primary objective is to protect his cows from being pirated by other bulls.  As a result, skirmishes and clashes among the dominant males occur and those are what I hoped to photograph.  I was only able to capture one such joust.  It was a long distance from the car but I was able to create a descent image.

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Our next road trip stop was a three night stay in Jackson, Wyoming, a place dear in our hearts.  On August 31st in 1997 Jane and I were married at Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park.  We had not been back to the park since 2007 when we returned for our tenth anniversary.  We celebrated this return by staying at the Wyoming Inn, an upscale lodge in town with an outstanding and convenient in-house restaurant.  I had some specific photo locations in mind for this stop in Grand Teton National Park, including Schwabacher Landing.  One clear night I ventured out for some night sky photography while Jane stayed warm and cozy in our very comfortable hotel room.  Although the sky was clear there was also a full moon making it the least desirable night for star photography.  The long exposure required to capture dim star light made the moon illuminated foreground look like a day time shot.

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Moab, Utah, with easy access to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks was our last three night road trip stop before heading back home.  At Arches, I practiced some more night photography with similar results as those in Jackson.  Crowds were excessive in the national parks and weather did not cooperate for sunrise or sunset photography.  To escape the multitudes, Jane suggested we drive to Goblin Valley, a Utah state park about ninety minutes from Moab.  I had wanted to photograph at Goblin Valley and enthusiastically endorsed Jane’s suggestion and we added this location filled with sandstone hoodoos to our road trip.

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Grumpy Old ManGrumpy Old ManGrumpy Old Man Hoodoo, Goblin Valley State Park, Utah Grumpy Old ManGrumpy Old ManGrumpy Old Man Hoodoo, Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Discussions on the drive home were highlighted with the possibility of returning to Moab to enjoy the parks when less crowded.  About a six and half hour from Albuquerque, returning to Moab would not be a huge undertaking.  We will see.

          Images from this road trip are located in the following galleries:

          Animal Models > Mammals

          National Parks > Grand Teton

         State Parks > Goblin Valley

         Wildlife Refuges > Slippery Ann

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/10/visiting-familiar-places Wed, 14 Oct 2020 14:59:17 GMT
Escape https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/8/escape I call it an escape.  The “it” I refer to being a short, three day road trip to Taos, New Mexico, a few hours north of Albuquerque.  After months of home isolation, with only a few forays out for groceries and other necessities, going on an overnighter really did feel like an escape.  Jane and I had been itching to get out of the house for a few days and exploring New Mexico to the north of Santa Fe had been on our minds for some time.  We settled on Taos, a small village in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.   Neighbors had told us about a quaint B&B that they had enjoyed and we decided to make the Old Taos Guesthouse our home away from home for three nights.  Of course there were Covid-19 restrictions such as face masks, social distancing, and eating our gourmet breakfasts from take-out boxes in our room.

We packed our overnight bags, hustled up some picnic snacks for along the way, and headed out.  I had put together a route and itinerary that included several potential photography stops during our three days of exploration.  From Albuquerque we traveled north and east on I-25 to the Pecos National Historic Park; then further along I-25 to the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge; from there to Fort Union National Monument; and then on to the Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge. I had wanted to check out these wildlife refuges to see if photography at these would be as rewarding as at Bosque del Apache where Jane and I had been several time before.  I concluded that Bosque was a much better location for photography and much easier logistically. 

Pecos Mission ChurchPecos Mission ChurchOld Ruins of Pecos Mission Church at Pecos National Historic Park, New Mexico Pecos RuinsPecos RuinsOld Ruins of Pecos Mission Church at Pecos National Historic Park, New Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Old Wagons In Front Of Remnants Of Adobe Wall at Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Maxwell, a very small community with no visitor amenities, we continued back west over the Cimarron Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through the twisty and curvy Cimarron Canyon to Eagle Nest Lake and U.S. Highway 64.  We followed Highway 64 through more mountainous terrain and canyons to the Old Taos Guesthouse.  As our neighbors had described, the Old Taos Guesthouse was a quaint, picturesque converted hacienda in a very rural setting with eleven guest rooms.  Our room was spacious with the décor and charm of historic Taos.  We enjoyed our three nights there very much and savored breakfasts each morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grounds of the guesthouse were filled with a variety of trees and plants.  Among the plants were sunflowers with an abundance of interesting looking insects foraging among the yellow flowers.  I decided to practice taking close-up pictures of these bugs with my macro lens.  I don't get many opportunities to shoot with the macro lens, so this was a great time to use it.  I had no idea what bugs I was photographing and had to Google search to identify them.  These two are an Ambush Bug and a Soft Winged  Flower Beetle.

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The next two days we made day-trips from the Old Taos Guesthouse to scenic locations around the Taos area.  One day we ventured up to the Taos Ski Valley high on the north side of Wheeler Mountain, New Mexico’s highest at 13,159 feet, and also toured the mountainous Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway that circumnavigates around the Wheeler Peak wilderness areas.  The Rio Grande River flows just east of Taos and we spent time photographing the deep gorge resulting from the Rio Grande Rift that the river follows.  To the north we toured the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument and to the south the Orilla Verde National Recreation Area where we encountered some bighorn sheep on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Now that we have had our taste of traveling again, we look forward to visiting our “place in Montana” this fall.  Since we have cancelled our Europe travel plans we have decided to drive up to Glacier National Park to spend two weeks at our time-share cabin there in September.  There will be a blog about that trip, for sure.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/8/escape Sat, 08 Aug 2020 19:54:48 GMT
May 2020 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/4/may-2020 There is not much to “blog” about when one is sheltered at home.  So far this spring all travel plans have been aborted so there are no photo journeys to share.  Instead, Jane and I have been keeping busy with home projects.  I have been printing and framing some of my images to decorate the remaining bare walls in our new home while Jane has been working on long neglected sewing projects. 

Warmer spring temperatures have led to the revival of the plants in our new garden.  We thought many of our plants were pretty much goners, but no, new growth is all around our yard.  As spring slowly manifests its self, our brand new back yard has metamorphosed from a drab and bleak setting to an inviting ambiance.  Our current daily routine now includes checking rose bushes for aphids (very exciting).  For me, a special treat has been to watch our small hedgehog cactus plants sprout buds and develop bright red claret cup flowers.

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With a garden that could now be enjoyed we would love to spend time on our patio.  Unfortunately, we ordered new patio furniture just as stay-at-home and social distancing rules went into effect.  Although ordered in early March, we don’t expect delivery until late May or early June.  Oh well!!  On the brighter side, Jane and I were able to day-trip to some local national monuments before sheltering at home became the norm.  At Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument we hiked the two-mile round trip Canyon Trail through a slot canyon and then scrambled up rock falls to reach the top of a plateau for some spectacular views.

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Another short day-trip brought us to Bandelier National Monument west of Santa Fe.  Thinking that I could get a better perspective for some pictures, we ended up hiking one of the monuments steeper trails.  It was a good workout and also provided for some interesting shots.  Bandelier National Monument is a fascinating ancestral Pueblo village.  Here the ancient ones built their pueblo style community adjacent to cliffs of tuff, a relatively soft volcanic rock, in which the ancestral Pueblo people hollowed out caves for additional living quarters and storage areas.

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Images from these day-trips are located in the National Parks and Monuments gallery under Tent Rocks and Bandelier.  Hope you enjoy them.  Now, of course, we are patiently waiting for travel restrictions to be lifted so we resume our journeys near and far.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/4/may-2020 Thu, 23 Apr 2020 20:45:42 GMT
First Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/2/first-trip In mid-January, Jane and I ran away from the wet, cold winter weather in Albuquerque to escape to the warm, humid climate of Hawaii.  Through some unanticipated circumstances it appeared that I had several weeks of time-share trades available that I did not know about.  Fortunately for us, the time share trading company alerted us and we were able to book two weeks in Hawaii and a third week in San Diego on our way home.  So, 2020 started off with a relaxing two week get away to the Aloha State and a week visiting friends and hanging out at old haunts in San Diego.

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Our first week was spent at The Cliffs Resort in Princeville at the north shore of Kauai.  We had a second floor, corner unit with lots of windows for great views.  We slept with windows open to enjoy the warm island trade winds and were entertained by the early morning crowing of chickens that seemed to dominate the island.  Quickly we acclimated to the relaxed tempo of the Garden Island and felt the cares and woes of Albuquerque fade away.  With top down we toured Kauai in our rented red Mustang convertible visiting the Kilauea Lighthouse and Hanalei Bay.

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The concierge at the resort assisted us in finding other entertaining ways to spend our days.  Arrangements were made to sail to the Na Pali coast on a large catamaran that also offered snorkeling, although we declined that option.  We also joined a small tour group that explored some of the island’s ancient, but severely deteriorated archaeological sites.  The record breaking rainfall in 2018 damaged much of the public access to Ke’e Beach and Limahuli Botanical Garden and we had to avail ourselves with a public shuttle service to those remote areas.

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A week later we found ourselves on the Big Island with another rented Mustang convertible, this time white.  The Big Island is big, almost twice as large as all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.  Because of this great size, we spent a lot of time in the white convertible touring the island.  From our base at the Wyndham Mauna Loa Village, on the Kona side of the island, we pretty much circumnavigated the Big Island.  We crisscrossed among the three great volcanoes that created the island and visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Tops of the volcanoes are well over 13,000 feet in elevation and it got a bit chilly driving at high altitudes with the top down.

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After two weeks of sun worshiping, sightseeing, and many “happy hours” in Hawaii we made our way to San Diego.  Although much warmer than Albuquerque, San Diego was not as warm as Hawaii and we did not rent a convertible.  It had been just over a year since we moved from San Diego to Albuquerque and we enjoyed visiting with friends and going back to some of our old stomping grounds.  It seems that progress does not slow down.  Even after just a year we could see additions to the downtown skyline, not to mention cars on the freeways.  Oh, and by the way, I celebrated my birthday with dinner at Benihana's.  It was my 81st, for those of you who were curious.

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All in all this first vacation of 2020 turned out to be a great trip.  We had enough time to decompress, forget about the unfinished work on the new house, and enjoy just being tourists.  I will have to confess that pictures were taken and some of our time was focused on photography including an outing to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  I did not create a gallery of images from this trip on the web site but most of the significant pictures are included as part of the blog.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2020/2/first-trip Tue, 11 Feb 2020 23:28:11 GMT
Festival of the Cranes https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/11/festival-of-the-cranes Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is known worldwide for the winter migration of greater sandhill cranes and snow geese.  Thousands of these photogenic birds spend the winter months at the refuge where there is plenty of food and protection from predators.  Jane and I have traveled from San Diego to Bosque del Apache several times to enjoy and photograph the spectacle of these birds on the refuge.  Now, residing in Albuquerque and the refuge being only about a ninety minute drive from our front door, we decided to join the Friends of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  So this November we participated in the 32nd annual Festival of the Cranes that is sponsored and managed by the Friends.

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The Festival is a five day celebration with more than a 130 events, including tours, seminars, hikes, workshops and entertainment choices.  We picked 18 events and spent the next five days thoroughly absorbed with activities on and around the refuge.  Our memories of Bosque from prior visits included fiery sunrises and sunsets with tens of thousands of birds.  During the Festival, however, we were a bit disappointed with the weather and the number of birds.  We had overcast skies that prevented a night photography workshop I had signed up for.  Then we had a hard, cold rain to cope with.  And one morning we were greeted with a dense fog that prevented any meaningful photography.

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All was not gloom and doom, however.  We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves tremendously at the Festival.  Highlights included:  lectures on birding and bird photography; a night time owling expedition; several photography workshops; watching a falconer fly his raptors; and some night sky photography workshops.  The great thing about having this world renowned resource so close to home is that we can visit again and again whenever we want.

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Images from the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache are located in the Wildlife Refuges gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/11/festival-of-the-cranes Wed, 27 Nov 2019 22:12:56 GMT
October's Whirlwind Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/11/octobers-whirlwind-trip After enjoying a very scenic trip to Colorado’s San Juan Mountains in September, Jane and I spent only a couple of weeks at home before venturing out again.  This time, however, we took separate journeys.  Jane entertained her New York City girlfriend, Gigi, for about a week, including a short trip to Santa Fe, while I entertained my photo buddy, Bruce.  Bruce arrived in Albuquerque after Jane and Gigi had departed for Santa Fe and he and I left on our whirlwind photo tour before they returned.

I had developed a multi-stop itinerary for our photo trip that included some of northwestern New Mexico’s photogenic locations.  Our first objective was Valles Caldera National Preserve in the pine covered Jemez Mountains.  We arrived shortly after the Preserve’s 8:00 AM opening with the intent of photographing the colony of Gunnison's prairie dogs that reside there.  Checking in with the ranger we discovered that temperatures at the higher elevations of the Jemez Mountains had been unseasonably cold and that the little critters had started their hibernation early.  As a consolation, we did manage to photograph some distant coyotes and I managed to step into a camouflaged prairie dog burrow and ended up on my face in the prairie grass.

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After swallowing my pride for having stumbled so badly, we ventured forth to the Chaco Culture Historical Park where we photographed the ancient ruins of Pueblo Bonito and its iconic series of doorways.  From there we traveled to the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness Study Area.  This is a remote area of New Mexico badlands that invokes a fairyland feel with its numerous eroded hoodoos and mudstone spires.  We arrived at Ah-shi-sle-pah by late afternoon and photographed there till near sunset.

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Farmington, New Mexico, became our home base for various day trips over next few days.  However, the late October weather that had turned bitter cold was not kind to us.  The itinerary called for a very early departure the following morning to photograph the eroded volcanic remnant of Shiprock at sunrise.  When we peered out the window at 4:00 AM it was snowing and that cancelled our plan for a sunrise photo shoot.  It did, however, allow us snuggle back into bed for some more shuteye.  Eventually the day warmed up a bit and the sun broke through the clouds and we ventured out to photograph the Chaco outlier ruins at Aztec National Monument with its restored kiva. 

Then, after lunch at the appropriately named Aztec Restaurant, we decided to locate some Navajo rock art that dated from the 16th and 17th centuries.  I had found out about the petroglyph during my on-line research for this trip.  We were a bit concerned about driving the dirt roads after the snowfall.  However, by afternoon when we turned off the pavement the snow had all but disappeared and the dirt track was just moist enough to keep the dust down.  The Navajo petroglyph panels were particularly well executed and distinct.  As with most rock art Bruce and I have photographed, there was evidence of damaging graffiti scratched into the sandstone around the Navajo art work.

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For the next day I had arranged for a guided tour of natural arches around the area with Larry Beck, the current vice president and former president of The Natural Arch and Bridge Society.  Larry is far and away the local expert on arches and their locations.  He guided us to many of his favorite arches in the Aztec area and we finished our journey with him at sunset photographing Arch Rock.  Bruce and I agreed that without Larry guiding us we would never have found many of the beautiful arches we photographed.

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My alarm was set for an early start the next day.  Our target was the De-Na-Zin wilderness section of the Bisti badlands.  This was another remote and desolate area an hour’s drive south of Farmington.  The objective was to take advantage of early morning light on the eroded formations.  From my research we selected two areas of badlands to photograph, the “egg nursery” and “hoodoo city” for which we had GPS coordinates.  Needless to say, when traversing heavily eroded arroyos and steep sided washes, following a GPS direction can lead to much backtracking.  We explored the De-Na-Zin wilderness for nearly five hours and, according to GPS, hiked around the weird and bizarre formations for about six miles.  We started this trek bundled with multiple layers and a temperature of 20 º F and we returned to the 4Runner five hours later, just as bundled, when the temperature had reached all of 30 º F.

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Our next objective was the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park where we had arranged for several Navajo guided tours into the private areas of the park.  On the way to Monument Valley, however, we stopped first at Canyon de Chelley National Monument.  We arranged for a Navajo guide to take us into the canyon.  Because Navajo people still live in the canyon, access can only be obtained with a local guide.  One of the popular photo locations is Spider Rock, an enormous eight hundred foot tall sandstone spire, at the very head of the canyon and that was where we headed.  In addition to being an iconic geologic feature Spider Rock is also a cultural attribute.  Mythical Spider Woman lives on spider rock and she has a long history in Navajo folklore and oral traditions.  Our guide told us of stories his grandfather used to tell that Spider Woman would catch him in her web if he misbehaved.  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

At Monument Valley Bruce and I faced a dilemma.  We wanted a dynamic cloudy sky to accent the landscape during the day and clear skies at night for star photography.  Of course we could not have both.  Mother Nature decided.  We had clear skies both day and night.  Our Navajo guided tours included two nights of star photography as well as a sunrise and sunset tour.  Since there was no drama in the sky, we opted to skip the sunrise tour.  Photography can be a fickle hobby. During the first night of star photography there was a crescent moon that illuminated the foreground but obscured the Milky Way.  The second night we departed a bit later so there would be no moon light and the Milky Way was observable but the foreground was much too dark.  Oh well!

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To sum up, this seven day, eight stop whirlwind tour started at Valles Caldera and ended up at Monument Valley via Chaco Canyon, the Ah-shi-sle-pah wilderness, Aztec ruins, Navajo rock art, natural arches, the De-Na-Zin wilderness, and Canyon de Chelly.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/11/octobers-whirlwind-trip Thu, 14 Nov 2019 20:53:30 GMT
October 2019 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/10/november-2019 It is the first week in October, 2019.  Mornings in Albuquerque have turned brisk.   I enjoyed an early morning cup of coffee watching the sun come up over the Sandia Mountains in our nearly completed backyard.  We have now been living in our new home for two months and are loving it.  It has been a bit frustrating waiting for a lot of the finishing touches to be completed.  But now we are pretty much done.  Hurrah!!

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We have not let completing the house keep us from having some fun, however.  Last week Jane and I enjoyed a marvelous trip to the colorful San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado.  We stayed in the small community of Ridgway and day-tripped from there to explore the fall foliage that had reached its peak in color while we were there.  As a reminder, our move to Albuquerque was partially motivated to avoid southern California traffic when we traveled by car.  Well, to reach this breathtakingly beautiful area took all of six hours on uncongested roads.

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We started this little get-a-way by enjoying a morning ride on the historic Durango to Silverton narrow gauge railroad.  This was an excursion we had often talked about making and now, merely four hours from Albuquerque, it was a cinch.  This National Historic Landmark was originally constructed in 1881-1882 to support the lucrative gold and silver mining interests in the San Juan Mountains.  We opted to ride in the last car of the train that offered individual reserved seating areas from which we could admire the passing scenery.

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Another recent wildlife event we have witnessed was the emergence of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats from one of the lava tub caves in El Malpais National Monument.  This national monument is a mere hour and a half from our front door.  During summer months, at dusk, these bats leave the cave in swarms of thousands to forage for insects in the surrounding hills.  During the winter these bats migrate south into Mexico.

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During the summer months we have also participated on a number of outings with the Enchanted Lens Camera Club.  These jaunts have been helpful in learning our way around the Albuquerque area and getting to know other photographers.  Perhaps the most photographically interesting location was the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area in the high desert of northwestern New Mexico.  This is an area of badlands that is riddled with fascinating hoodoos. 

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We have some more adventures planned to end the year, including: a hot air balloon flight during the famous Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and participation in the Bosque del Apache Festival Of The Cranes. 

To view images from the fall colors in Colorado open the Autumn Colors in the San Juan Mountains gallery, for images of the badlands open the Ah-She-Sle-Pah Wilderness gallery, and for a couple of bat images open the El Malpais National Monument sub-gallery in the National Parks and Monuments main gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/10/november-2019 Thu, 03 Oct 2019 16:11:20 GMT
A Very Active April https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/5/a-very-active-april As construction of our new home continued during April, Jane and I took the opportunity to do some exploring.  Early in the month, we drove to Hereford, Arizona (near Sierra Vista) for some bird photography at Battista’s Bed, Breakfast and Birds.  We met Neil Solomon, an avid bird photographer from San Diego, at the B&B.  Tony Battista, the proprietor, experienced birder and photographer, has built a small water feature on the grounds of the B&B that attracts lots of local and migrating birds.  We spent many hours in the photo-blind next to the small pond photographing visiting birds.  Tony also guided us to some other birding hot spots in the area where we were able to photograph Harris’ hawk, elegant trogon and scaled quail.

 

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After returning to Albuquerque from this short jaunt, we prepared for a more extensive trip to southeastern Oregon to photograph greater sage grouse.  Photographing this iconic threatened bird of the western prairies had been on my to-do-list for a long time.  Planning the trip was more difficult than I had first imagined.   Greater sage grouse males congregate on leks and perform courtship displays to attract females and it is critical to select an active lek for photography.  I got a lead from Ken Archer, the photo guide that Jane and I had met on our trip to Nome, Alaska.  Ken put me touch with Andrew Shields, a biologist in charge of studying active leks on the Roaring Springs Ranch in Oregon.  This operating cattle ranch is huge, about one million acres of sage covered hilly terrain, and contains several remote greater sage grouse leks.

 

Like so many areas in the west, the Roaring Springs Ranch had received a lot of snow this past winter and early spring.  So, the lek Andrew had originally planned to take us, when we first made our arrangements, was still covered with two to four feet of snow when we arrived in April.  Fortunately, there was another active lek that Andrew had been monitoring as part of his research.  Getting to this lek, however, was problematic.  We had to be shuttled on all-terrain-vehicles (ATV’s) on a very boggy track.  In order not to disturb the birds, we had to hike the last quarter mile or so over soggy and rocky sage brush covered ground.  All this was happening in total darkness around four o’clock in the morning.  It was a total adventure!

 

 

The lek was very active with around twenty male birds performing their mating rituals and half a dozen females looking them over.  We also performed our ritual that consisted of rising at three-fifteen in the mornings, driving twenty minutes to meet Andrew, driving another forty-five minutes to where the ATV’s were parked, then fifteen minutes on the ATV and then a twenty minute hike to the blind.  The goal was to reach the blind around 5 AM, well before sun rise.  Each morning, the birds were already strutting and vocalizing on the lek when we arrived.  However, we had to wait anxiously for sufficient morning light to develop before we could commence with our photography.

 

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The Enchanted Lens Camera Club is a large club of photo-enthusiasts.  I joined the club shortly after arriving in Albuquerque.  During this very active month of April, Jane and I participated on a couple of the club’s field trips as part of our effort to explore New Mexico.  One field trip was a long weekend to the northwest of the state to photograph Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, the Bisti Badlands and Shiprock on the Navajo reservation.  These were all locations that had been on our minds to visit and it was great to be with others who knew the way.  

 

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If that were not enough, Albuquerque was host to the Gathering-Of-Nations Pow Wow at the end of April.  This is the largest pow wow in North America with nearly 800 tribes participating and it was an event Jane and I could not miss.  What an experience!  Lots of competitive drum music, singing in native languages, and dancing in elaborate feathered costumes.  Also, it was very much a family affair for the tribal participants with a tiny tot’s category of competition.

 

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At the end of the month, Bruce Hollingsworth and I attended a night scape photography conference in Moab, Utah.  We had both been looking forward to this conference because some of our photographic attention had started to focus on landscapes under starry skies and the milky way.  The conference was a sell out, so obviously we were not the only ones interested in milky way photography.  During the conference, however, it became very obvious that the two of us were novices at night sky photography.  We absorbed a lot of useful technical information and processes needed to pursue this part of our hobby.  But when it came time to practice our night sky photography, late at night in the national parks surrounding Moab, my skill lever was severely lacking.  I'll have to adhere to the adage, practice, practice, practice!  We were able to obtain some reasonable day-time images at Dead Horse Point state park under cloudy skies.

 

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I’d say that was enough activity for April.  May, however, will also be a busy month, but this time most of our activities will be planning, selecting and coordinating custom touches for our new home.  Selections for window coverings, closet and office designs all need to be finalized in May so that the work can commence immediately after we take possession of the house.

 

You will find images from the Oregon greater sage grouse trip as a sub-folder under the Birds gallery.  Images from the Gathering-Of-Nations Pow Wow has its own gallery and images from the Arizona bird photography trip are in the Birds Of Arizona sub-folder under the Birds gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/5/a-very-active-april Thu, 16 May 2019 20:38:47 GMT
News Update https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/4/news-update It has been several months since my last blog entry.  The delay is not because nothing has happened since our return from Madagascar.  On the contrary, too much has happened.  So here is the latest news update.

January 6, 2019

This morning we hitched a pre-loaded U-Haul trailer to the 4Runner and, with Jane in the Green Machine (our apple green Toyota Camry), the two of us started out for a grand, new adventure by moving lock, stock and barrel to a new domicile in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Our departure for Albuquerque had been preceded by a chain of events that culminated in this exodus.

Although Jane and I had on previous occasions mulled over the idea of leaving San Diego, it was not until we visited the Del Webb 55+ retirement community at Mirehaven, in Albuquerque, that a conclusive decision was made.  We made an exploratory trip to the Del Webb development in November.  We totally liked what we saw and entered into a purchase agreement that was contingent on selling our Mesa Madera house.

Making this extraordinary decision to purchase a home in a retirement community solidified our resolve to seek new adventures and signing the purchase agreement initiated an intense chain of events.  We had to (1) wire an earnest money deposit, (2) interview and select a realtor, (3) interview and select an interstate moving company, (4) return to Albuquerque to select design options for our new home, and (5) arrange to rent a furnished house to live in during construction of our new home.  Oh, and by the way, we still managed to spend a relaxing, long Thanksgiving weekend in Idylwild.

We selected Jennifer Blake, with Sotheby International, to be our real estate agent.  That turned out to be a wise choice.  Jenn guided us professionally through the stressful process of selling our house without a glitch.  She knew the Scripps Ranch real estate market and what selling strategy would garner the best sales result.  She recommended that we list the house shortly after the yearend holidays when there would be fewer competitive houses on the market and that the house be “staged” to attract the most buyers.

Those decision set off another chain of events.  Staging the house required that we would have to move all our belonging out in order for the staging to occur.  In order to be ready to list the house in early January all decision making had to go into high gear.  Allied Van Lines, our selected moving company, was notified and packing and moving was scheduled for January 3rd and 4th.  In the meantime, Sean Blake, Jenn’s husband and “operations manager” arranged for and supervised needed small repairs and painting.  Jane and I took care of last minute details, cancelling cable service and packing what we needed for the rental house in Albuquerque into the Green Machine and U-Haul trailer.  That brings the chain of events to January 6th when we departed Mesa Madera Drive for our new, exciting life in Albuquerque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 18, 2019

All minor repairs, painting, cleaning, staging, and marketing photography at the Mesa Madera house were completed and the property was listed and ready for its open house reception.  Multiple listings information had been submitted the previous Monday and by mid-week, several days before the scheduled open house we had received a bona fide offer.  Our counter offer was accepted and by January 18th, the theoretical sales kickoff, we had already opened escrow.  And, by January 18th Jane and I had also officially become New Mexicans with new driver’s licenses, car and voter registrations.

February 15, 2019

Today escrow closed and sales proceeds were wired into our bank account.  Now there is no turning back.  We now live in Albuquerque.  We have been living in our furnished rental for over two months and have become familiar with our new neighborhood.  Construction of our new home has been started.  Underground utilities are in and concrete foundations poured.  We make periodic trips to Mirehaven to check progress and are thrilled to see the slow emergence of our new house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 26, 2019

Construction of the house continues.  Framing has been completed and it is starting to look like a house.  Interior plumbing, electrical and HVAC have been installed the structure has been “wrapped” and windows installed.  Today we conducted an official inspection with Chris, the Del Webb construction coordinator.  The inspection was to ensure that pluming, gas lines, electrical outlets, cable outlets and other specifics were in conformance with our selected design options.  This was a milestone inspection, for now insulation can be placed and dry wall installed.  It now appears that construction may be a bit ahead of schedule.  Chris was not willing to give an estimate, but Jane and I speculate that we may be able to move in around end of July or August, about a month earlier than we had previously thought. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is much more yet to be accomplished and many details for us to take care of.  Those details are sort of fun to work out, like selecting window coverings, ceiling fans, home office details, new furnishings, and in general just getting very excited about the prospect of moving into a brand new house.

That completes the news update for now.  There will be more blogs as we explore our new home state and visit its natural and historic attractions.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2019/4/news-update Mon, 01 Apr 2019 19:06:08 GMT
Another Trip Of A Lifetime https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/11/another-trip-of-a-lifetime  

Jane and I have often wondered exactly how many trips of a lifetime someone can have.  We most definitely have had several and the most recent was our photo safari to Madagascar.  For two weeks (sixteen days actually) we were totally immersed in a uniquely different, foreign culture and environment.  Jane and I were two of the six travelers guided by Mike Byrne of Joseph Van Os, a worldwide expedition company from Vashon Island , Washington.  From San Diego, we flew to Atlanta, then on to Paris to finally land in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, where we started our adventure.

During our safari, we visited nine of Madagascar’s national parks and private reserves to photograph iconic lemurs and reptiles.  In Madagascar, one of the world’s least developed countries, roads are poorly maintained and on many occasions we flew on charter flights between locations.  Although shaped more circular, Madagascar is about the same size as Texas, and our tour concentrated on parks and preserves on the southern portion of the island.

Before heading off to our first preserve, we spent some time exploring around Antananarivo where about twenty percent of Madagascar’s twenty six and a half million people live.  Antananarivo is a high density, congested city with narrow streets packed with street vendors.  Mike guided us to a brick factory, an artisan metal shop and flower market.  At the brick factory we watched male workers pack clay into metal molds by hand to form bricks that were then stacked and air dried.  When these raw bricks were dry, young women and girls would carry them, stacked ten to fourteen at a time on their heads, to the kiln for hardening.  Various metal curios for sale in tourist gift shops and to decorate business lobbies were being created by artisans at the metal shop.  Small metal parts were cut and twisted by women, often assisted by their young children, to be welded and polished by men into artistic objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first charter flight was from Antananarivo to Morondava on the island’s west coast where the photo safari began.  Not far from Morondava we photographed the iconic baobab trees and survived our first harrowing drive on Madagascar’s unpaved, unmaintained, potholed, deteriorated road to the Kirindy Reserve.  The bumpy jolting ride to Kirindy was rewarded with our first encounter with lemurs, a chameleon, mongoose and Madagascar’s only predator the fossa.  Excitement ran rampant through our small group as we jostled for positions to photograph these endangered and endemic species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After traveling to several other preserves to photograph lemurs, we happened upon an open street market in Fort Dauphin along Madagascar’s south coast.  We wandered the crowded streets marveling at the diversity of fruits and produce displayed in the stalls by the numerous merchants.  Many villages are without electric power requiring that rural dwellers make almost daily trips to the market to obtain perishable foods, making the market a busy and congested place.  For a photographer not inhibited to take people pictures, the market provided a potpourri of opportunities.  I, on the other hand, am not so inclined and was challenged to get keeper people pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More national parks and reserves were visited after leaving Fort Dauphin, the last of which was Akanin’ny Nofy on the island’s east coast.  Here we were treated with very close encounters with a variety of lemurs.  Lemurs are a species of primate all of which are endemic to Madagascar.  We photographed about eight or ten of the many species that roam Madagascar’s forests.  By far the most difficult to photograph are the nocturnal lemurs, in particular the aye-aye.  The aye-aye is a bazaar creature, reminiscent of a star wars character.  The aye-aye has evolved to feed at night on larvae and grub found under tree bark.  In order to photograph this unique lemur guides have to lure this naturally shy animal to spots were photography is possible.  Guides do this by placing coconuts among low tree branches to temp the aye-aye and then shine flash lights on them so there is sufficient light for photography.

Akanin’ny Nofy nature preserve was our last stop before heading back home.  The journey back to San Diego was an arduous thirty hour ordeal.  Although pretty exhausted, we made it home without any major issues on route.  Our photo safari to Madagascar was fantastic and definitely another trip of a lifetime for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images from the Madagascar trip are located in the Madagascar gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/11/another-trip-of-a-lifetime Fri, 30 Nov 2018 23:53:27 GMT
An Historic Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/8/an-historic-road-trip Sometimes you have to go with the flow.  That’s what Jane and I did this summer.  Normally we would arrange a road trip before or after the summer break.  This year, because I wanted to photograph spring flowers at the high elevations of the Cascade Range, we traveled to Oregon and Washington during the high season.  Naturally, we paid the price in both congested highways and lots of people traversing the same trails we were hiking.  But what made this trip momentous and historic is that our faithful 4Runner turned 200,000 miles on the odometer and is still running strong.  When we returned home I treated the vehicle to a much deserved day at a car wash spa for full exterior, interior and engine detailing.

                                                                                              200,000 MILES

The itinerary for this road trip included visits to some of the major volcanic peaks of the Cascades.  We started at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon where Jane was able to reserve, nearly ten months in advance, the last available room in the park lodge.  From there we traveled to Mount Hood where we stayed at the Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark.  We continued our tour north to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington.  There are no accommodations in the Monument but Jane was able to secure a simple, but delightful little cabin at the Silver Cove RV Resort with all the comforts of home.  From Mount St. Helens we continued north to Mount Rainier National Park.  Unfortunately the Park lodge was being renovated and the only rooms available were with shared bathrooms.  We opted, instead, to stay at the Nisqually Inn in Ashford about a twenty minute drive from the Park entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As most of you know, all the western states have been plagued with wild fires this summer.  Oregon and Washington were no exceptions.  We encountered smoke most everywhere we traveled.  At Crater Lake the smoke was so severe that the lake water was frequently not visible from the rim trail.  Photographically, the smoke and haze was problematic only when composing distant landscapes of the volcanic mountain peaks.  For close subjects, like the many waterfalls we hiked to, the air was sufficiently clear for nice images.  I must admit, however, that I was disappointed with the adverse conditions and that I was not able to get nice clear images of Crater Lake or Mount Rainier.

To avoid the long, tedious drive south on Interstate 5 through Portland, Sacramento, the central valley and Los Angeles, I had planned a route that took us more easterly through Boise, Idaho, and then south on Highway 93 to Las Vegas and home on Interstate 15.  Along this obscure route home, on U.S. Highway 93 through Nevada, in the little hamlet of Alamo, we discovered a most auspicious and pretentious B & B, the Cowboy’s Dream.  Built by an extremely wealthy widow, this lodge and its décor are truly awesome.  Our room, the Duke Room, named and decorated in honor of John Wayne, was larger than our own living room.  We spent two delightful nights at the Cowboy’s Dream decompressing from our tour through the Cascades before heading home.  It was still a long, hot and hectic drive through Vegas, Victorville and the L.A. basin to reach San Diego. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images from this momentous road trip can be found in the National Parks Gallery under Crater Lake, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier.  Mount Hood and many of the waterfall images are located in the Oregon Coast and Waterfalls gallery. 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/8/an-historic-road-trip Wed, 29 Aug 2018 21:25:27 GMT
Above the Arctic Circle https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/7/above-the-arctic-circle  

The best way to start this blog is to be upfront and just say that the weather was challenging.  Our trip Above the Arctic Circle was a long one and as is usually the case, the adventure started out very innocently.  A fellow member of the Photo-Naturalists Camera Club had shown me images of a very unique and unusual bird, known as a ruff, he had photographed in Norway.  I was very impressed with the photographs and thought that I would also like to get images of these very picturesque birds.  So I asked Neil if he would ever consider going back to Norway for another chance to photograph these birds.  Neil didn’t hesitate one second in providing an affirmative response.  And that is how it all started, very innocently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working out the logistics for this excursion above the Arctic Circle took time and careful consideration.  As options for flying to Norway were evaluated, it was decided to use Iceland Air because this airline offered a seven day stay-over in Iceland on any ticket from the U.S. to Europe.  We liked the idea of spending time photographing Iceland’s famous waterfalls and landscape on our way to Norway.  So we enthusiastically added a week to the duration of the trip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane and I were aware of a ferry system that serviced the inaccessible villages along Norway’s northern coast.  In the past, this ferry service was the only lifeline to these remote fishing villages that dot the Norwegian coast.  Today, there are roads, bridges, tunnels and minor airports to support these small communities.  The ferry system still exists, but it has become primarily a tourist attraction and has turned into a lucrative cruise business.  Jane, during her trip research, found that the northern terminus of this ferry/cruise voyage was Kirkenes, the very town where we were going to be photographing.  It didn’t take us long to decide to add the voyage from Kirkenes to Bergen onto our itinerary, adding yet another week to our trip.  So this trip that started out so innocently to photograph the ruff in northern Norway had become a month long excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that you know the innocent genesis of this photographic sojourn, let me get to the challenging weather.  Our primary objective was photography and photography, in general, requires reasonably good weather conditions.  Instead, throughout the trip in Iceland, Norway and on the cruise, we encountered very challenging conditions, including heavy overcast skies, high winds, rain, hail, freezing temperatures and snow.  But let me not cast a negative aura over this adventure, which was, in fact, most exciting with lots of new experiences.  Just to see and photograph the ruff was sufficient reward for all the weather challenges we encountered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ruff is a smallish shorebird related to sandpipers.  It winters throughout much of Africa and comes to northern Eurasia, including the northern most areas of Norway, to breed in spring.  The male’s breeding plumage is extraordinary.  This extravagant plumage includes feathered head tufts, orange facial skin, and an elaborate array of feathers that create an ornamental ruff around its shoulders similar to those worn by nobility in the seventeenth century.  It is truly a bazaar and wondrous sight to behold.  We photographed the ruff from a blind at a lek where the males meet to show off their colorful costumes and compete for the opportunity to mate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regardless of the challenges of weather, we had some great and marvelous experiences photographing.  In Iceland we happened upon a large arctic tern breeding colony.  Although Jane and I have seen these amazing migratory birds before, we had never seen so many, so close and totally involved in the breeding process.  Also in Iceland, we photographed at a wetland preserve where we found a variety of birds including the very beautiful red-throated loon.  And, of course, we did find and photograph waterfalls during breaks in the weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above the Arctic Circle, in northern most Norway, the bird photography was awesome.  Neil had done his research well and we visited several sea cliffs hosting colonies of gannets, puffins, kittywakes, cormorants, razorbills, and a variety of guillemots.  Song birds were also sought out and one of the most difficult to locate and photograph was the bluethroat, a small, colorful bird in the flycatcher family.  Driving to and fro our bird photography locations, I was able to get in some memory shots of the Norwegian country side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our cruise from Kirkenes to Bergen was a singular adventure of its own.  The ship was very nice and the cabin compared favorably to those of cruises we had taken to the Arctic and Antarctic.  I tried very hard to obtain “keeper” shots of the various fjords we traversed but mostly the weather did not cooperate.  In fact, the captain presented us with a certificate authenticating that we had survived a summer arctic storm of hurricane proportion with 30 foot waves and wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour.  Do I need to say more about the weather?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still working on titles for the pictures, but in the meantime images of this month long adventure Above the Arctic Circle can be found in the Europe Gallery under Iceland and Norway.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/7/above-the-arctic-circle Tue, 10 Jul 2018 19:45:21 GMT
April Madness https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/5/april-madness The end of April was a bit hectic at our house.  Jane and I had both planned separate, but concurrent, trips.  But then, plans changed.  So I left a week prior to Jane’s trip and got home in time to take her to the airport for her journey to New York.  The day after dropping Jane off, I left for a second short a jaunt while she was having fun in New York City with her friend Gigi.  A week later all was normal again and life was back to its usual routine.

My first trip of April took me to Wisconsin and Minnesota to photography two different species of prairie grouse.  This trip was suggested by Neil Solomon, a Photonaturalist Camera Club friend, who had arranged for us to photograph from blinds set up at leks, specific locations where the male grouse come to display and compete to mate with females.  In order not to disturb the birds during their mating ritual, we had to be inside the blinds well before the birds arrived.  That meant getting up well before dawn in order to be in place as the birds gathered in the predawn twilight.

We first photographed sharp-tailed grouse in the Namekagon Barrens of Wisconsin.  The sharp-tailed grouse is a threatened species and their numbers have declined significantly as native prairie habitat has transitioned to agricultural fields.  The Namekagon Barrens has been set aside as a wildlife area by the Wisconsin Department Of Natural Resources and the blinds have been placed at the lek by the Friends Of The Namekagon Barrens specifically to facilitate viewing of the sharp-tailed grouse mating behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharp-tailed grouse were photographed on two successive mornings.  Only about twelve males appeared to compete and we only observed one or two females.   In general, there was not a lot of activity among the males on the lek.  Most of the interaction was limited to bluffing and intimidation with little combative behavior typical among competing males. The lake of females may have accounted for the low turnout of males.  Or, perhaps we simply missed the peak time of mating behavior for this specie.

 

The second photo stop was at the Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area, in Minnesota, a preserve established by the Nature Conservancy.  There, again we photographed on two successive mornings.  Here we photographed the greater prairie chicken, another species of prairie grouse.  Activity was much greater with an estimated 50 or more birds, including numerous females, on the lek.  Competition was much more intense among the males as the females strutted through the lek making their decisions as to whom to mate with.  Among the younger males there were continual challenges to obtain access to the more central portion of the lek where the females congregated to select mates, resulting intense sparring and jousting with combatants flying into the air.  Consequently, the viewing and photography at the Bluestem Prairie Reserve was much more intense and challenging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After returning home from this short bird photography sojourn, and taking Jane to the airport, I departed early the next morning for another short trip to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.  This trip was made with another photo friend, Bruce Hollingsworth.  The Petrified Forest National Park had been on my mind for some time as a photography destination.  I had never photographed there and it is reasonable close to home, about a day’s drive, and April is a good time, temperature wise, to be in the desert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through the Petrified Forest Field Institute I had made arrangements with a local guide, David Behar, to show us the more photogenic location in the Park.  Bruce and I spent our first day with David becoming familiar with the Park’s attractions.  The next few days we explored the Park by ourselves re-visiting areas David had shown us as well as other locations we discovered on our own.  The weather turned rather nasty on us with cold temperatures, rain and extremely strong winds that was not conducive to photography.  After the cold front passed we did enjoy a final day of photography with balmy conditions and puffy clouds in the sky.  On this last day we also discovered a little visited section of the Park, with lots of petrified wood, right below the Jasper Forest view point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see images from the these two short April trips, go to the Prairie Grouse gallery sub-folder in the Birds gallery folder on the home page and go to the Petrified Forest National Park gallery sub-folder under the National Parks and Monuments gallery folder on the home page.

 

ENJOY !!!

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/5/april-madness Wed, 16 May 2018 23:08:51 GMT
Five Days In The Desert https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/3/five-days-in-the-desert My latest jaunt was to explore the Borrego Badlands in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  Again, for this exploration my friend Bruce came along.  Bruce has more experience navigating with GPS instruments than I have and that proved to be indispensable.  We headquartered in Borrego Springs at the Oasis Inn.  When Jane and I had stayed there a few months ago, when we were in the desert to photograph the Orionid meteor shower, we had a mouse in the room that kept us on edge most of the night.  This time, Bruce and I were not bothered by a mouse but instead a noisy ceiling fan kept us from a restful slumber.

From the Oasis Inn, we day-tripped to various locations in the Park.  Typically, we left before sunrise, returned during mid-day, and ventured out again to capture sunsets.  Photographers are an odd lot.  For sunrise and sunset we want high, wispy cirrus clouds to capture the sun’s color, but at night we want clear skies to capture dim star light.  The rest of the day we want dramatic cumulus clouds to intensity arid desert scenes.  Well, of course, we could not have it all go our way.  Star photography was spoiled by dark layers of low, stratus clouds and some days the desert sky was devoid of any clouds.  There was sufficient variety in cloud cover, however, to make the exploration worthwhile.

In preparation for this trip, I had made a list of the areas in the Park I wanted to photograph.  We were able to find all the sites in the north portion of the Park but will have to revisit the Borrego Badlands to photograph sites in the southern portion.  A mix up with our reservations at the Butterfield Ranch RV Resort caused us to miss that part of the explorations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the sites we visited to photograph were in remote areas of the Park, accessed by way of unimproved, dirt trails.  We had good maps and for many locations also had coordinates.  That is where Bruce’s experience with navigating with global coordinates was essential.  With his GPS device he was able to not only point us in the right direction, but could also keep track of our route so we could find our way back.  Irrespective of this technology, at times we struggled big time to find our way.  This was especially the case when we decided to take a short cut to the Pumpkin Patch from Split Mountain Road through the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area.  This is a vast area of the desert where ATVs, quads and dune buggies can drive wherever they want and as fast as they want.  The entire area has been traversed by recreation vehicles and established trails only exist on paper, like our map.  Since we could not discern an actual dirt road, we just followed the most likely tracks and that got us a bit lost.  Thanks in part to some helpful campers, we eventually found our way but could not really vouch that we found a short cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So not only was this an exploration of the Borrego Badlands it was also an adventure in navigating the dirt tracks and always being grateful that we found our way.  Some of the off-the-beaten-track locations we photographed were The Slot, Rainbow Wash, Hills Of The Moon Wash, Pumpkin Patch, Split Mountain, the Elephant Tree, Seventeen Palms Oasis, and the dry lake bed of Lake Clark.

Images from this trip can be found in the State Parks gallery under Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/3/five-days-in-the-desert Fri, 23 Mar 2018 22:22:38 GMT
First Trip Of 2018 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/3/first-trip-of-2018 Twenty-eighteen is off to a fantastic start.  I just returned from my first photo trip of the year.  Some time ago, perhaps a year or two, I came upon a description of a very unique and interesting location to photograph.  Located in a very remote and desolate area, in the far southeast section of Nevada, near the Arizona strip, and two hours south on dirt roads from Mesquite, is a section of red, eroded Aztec sandstone called Little Finland.  The name is derived from the way the sandstone has eroded into many fin like features.  I had wanting to venture out to this area after learning about it and seeing images by other photographers.  So in mid-February my photo-buddy Bruce Hollingsworth and I set forth to explore Little Finland.

Armed with maps, written directions and GPS coordinates, we started out from Mesquite full of enthusiasm and great expectation.  At the outset, the road was paved but so full of potholes it was rougher than the subsequent dirt tracks we followed.  Have you ever noticed how, in an unfamiliar setting, the way out always seems longer than the way back?  Well that is what we experienced.  It just felt that we had gone for miles and miles without reaching a recognizable waypoint on the map.  Little Finland is situated in a recently created national monument, so when we came upon the large Bureau Of Land Management sign indicating we had entered the Gold Butte National Monument, we knew we were on the right road.  It was a long, bumpy two hours, however, before we reached our final destination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is difficult to describe the intricate and bizarre sandstone shapes we found in Little Finland.  Mother Nature really demonstrated some of her most creative erosional work here.  With a little imagination, we could see all sort of creatures, some rather ghoulish, emerge from the sandstone.  Another name for Little Finland is Hobgoblin’s Playground and that more aptly describes the area.  Bruce and I enjoyed our foray into this strange and fantastic playground.

To find images from this trip, go to the National Parks and Monuments gallery and look for Gold Butte National Monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To cap off this trip, we also spent a couple of days photographing at the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park.  Bruce had not been there but Jane and I had photographed there a couple of years ago.  You can see images from the Valley of Fire in the State Parks gallery.  I have only included a few shots from this trip to add to the images already on the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, on January 31 of this year, there was a lunar trifecta, a full moon, blue moon and blood moon (as a result of a total lunar eclipse).  The phenomenon was observable in San Diego, so Jane and I got up very early that morning in order to be in position to photograph the event.  The image below is the result of that early morning effort.  Only the first half of the eclipse is shown, from full moon to blood moon.  The second half of the eclipse, from blood moon to full moon, occurred as the sun was rising and images from that portion of the eclipse did not blend well with the others.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2018/3/first-trip-of-2018 Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:46:10 GMT
Last Entry Of The Year https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/12/last-entry-of-the-year It is the last week of 2017 and I’m composing my last blog about our adventurous travels for the year.  This narrative is about our very exciting trip to New Zealand. It has been nearly a month since we returned and I’m finally putting my memories down on paper (so to speak).  The trip to New Zealand was such an amazing experience that, even now after nearly a month, Jane and I will stop what we are doing and reflect on the wonderful time we had.  So let me begin this tale at the beginning.

New Zealand had been on our unofficial “bucket” list for some time.  There is just something mystical about New Zealand.  Anyway, about a year ago I happened upon a New Zealand photographer’s website that offered a fifteen-day guided photography tour of New Zealand’s south island.  After some discussion and a review of our finances, Jane and I decided to go for it.  The entire trip, from when we left home and returned home was 22 days.  New Zealand is a long way from San Diego.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour started in Christchurch.  We arrived a day early, in case of unanticipated travel delays, and enjoyed sightseeing around Christchurch.  There was still plenty of residual earthquake damage to be seen around town although much reconstruction has occurred since the devastating earthquake of 2011.  We sauntered about town to take in the sights and spent an enjoyable afternoon in the botanical garden, after all we were in the southern hemisphere and it was late spring in New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our photographer guide was Petr Hlavacek, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, who has made New Zealand his home.  Petr resides on the west side of the south island and specializes in panoramic landscape photography.  Since landscape photography has been a challenge for me, this tour was a perfect opportunity to both savor the scenic beauty of New Zealand and attempt to capture it in photographic images.  Jane and I were not disappointed!  Petr guided us to some of the most amazingly scenic locations on the south island and helped me tremendously in visualizing panoramic compositions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We photographed at six of the south island’s nine national parks.  Even though all the parks had stunning landscapes, Petr let us know that there were three outstanding locations which he referred to as the “three jewels” of his tour.  The three jewels were a stay on Fox Glacier, an overnight on Doubtful Sound, and a visit to Mount Cook Village.  Mount Cook (renamed Aoraki/Mount Cook) is the highest mountain in New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fox Glacier

The sojourn to Fox Glacier involved a helicopter flight and was totally weather dependent.  Fortunately for us, New Zealand was experiencing a warm dry spell and we experienced no inclement weather during our entire stay.  So, the helicopter flight to the Fox Glacier was on.  Briefly, this first “jewel” of the trip involved an afternoon flight up to a mountaineering hut on Fox Glacier, an overnight stay at the hut, a flight the next morning to a lower portion of the glacier, and then a final flight back down the mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flight up the mountain was an exciting experience as the helicopter hugged the mountain side on its way up the glacier.  After only a few minutes of noisy flight, there was nothing but snow and ice below us.  The Fox Glacier icefall (where the underlying bedrock steepens causing the glacial ice to flow faster and chaotic crevasses form on the glacier surface) was a majestic and unforgettable sight.  All too soon we arrived at our destination, the Pioneer Hut, situated on a steep ridge high atop the Fox Glacier névé (the snow field at the ahead of the glacier).

Pioneer Hut is a Spartan mountaineering shelter at the head of Fox Glacier operated by the New Zealand Alpine Club.  The hut has bunk beds that can accommodate up to 16 people.  Counting our party, the hut was fully occupied with mountaineers.  Some of the men were eating, or studying their maps, and others sleeping in preparation for their treks onto the glacier.  Going onto the glacier was not a simple matter, as we learned firsthand.  You don’t traverse the glacier on your own.  Even hiking the short distance from the helicopter landing area to the hut, we needed to fit into climbing harnesses and be tied to each other with ropes.  Snow shoes kept us from sinking into the snow as we trudged, single file, to the hut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside, the hut was austere with an outer anteroom for storing boots and hiking gear, a long cooking counter, a small eating area with a table and bench seats, and taking up most of the space were the bunk beds.  The bunk beds, however, were not individual bunks.  They were bunk platforms with each platform having space for four people to sleep.  So Jane and I found ourselves huddled together sleeping with two other mountaineers on our shared platform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is difficult to describe the sense of isolation and awe generated by being on top of a living glacier.  Jane and I were enthralled with the experience and captivated by the scenic beauty of shear mountain peaks protruding above the glacial snow.  In the afternoon we were harnessed, tied together, and shod with snow shoes by our mountaineer guide and led onto the glacier for sunset photography.  The sun cast long shadows of our small group that were mere specks on the vastness of the Fox Glacier névé.

As a glacier is slowly pulled down a mountain valley by gravity, the snow that caps the glacial ice is slowly melted away at the lower elevations.  This results in hard, glistening, blue ice being visible at the surface of the glacier.  That is where we were transported to next.  After some early sunrise photography at the hut, the helicopter returned to relocate us lower on the glacier to photograph ice caves.  This time we were shod with steel crampons to secure our footing on the hard and slippery ice.  Our mountaineering guide shepherded us cautiously around dangerous crevasses and weak arches in the ice.  Keeping our footing, even with the steel crampons securely fastened to our boots, was a challenge as we attempted to photograph the colorful blue ice caves.  After a couple of hours scrambling over the hard ice, the helicopter returned to take us back down the mountain ending our unique adventure on the Fox Glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubtful Sound

The second adventure in Petr’s jewelry case was an overnight expedition on Doubtful Sound.  This was a more civilized “jewel” with an all-inclusive menu and bar.  This adventure began at a small village on the eastern shore of Lake Manapouri where we boarded a ferry to transport us across the 55 square mile lake.  At the western side of the lake, we disembarked and were loaded onto coaches that carried us some thirteen miles, over the Wilmot Pass, from Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound.  There we boarded the Fjordland Navigator for our overnight expedition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, Doubtful Sound is not a sound (arm of a sea) at all.  The waterway is a deep and narrow glacier-formed fjord.  Our ship navigated through these steep, u-shaped, canyons quietly.  The canyon walls were densely covered with rain forest vegetation and rose abruptly from the calm waters of the fjord.  Clouds of mist shrouded the high peaks, adding mystery and drama as we ventured farther and farther towards the Tasman Sea.  Calm winds and mild temperatures made our trip, and photography, most enjoyable.  The food was good, the wine tasty, and this time we only had to share our cabin with two others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we neared the end of the fjord at the Tasman Sea, we encountered a small colony of New Zealand fur seals basking and frolicking on some rocky outcrops.  Here photography was more difficult as the swell from the sea was more severe and the seals were some distance away.  And, on our way back to the head of the fjord, the on-board naturalist announced the spotting of the rare and endangered Fjordland Crested Penguin.  Fortunately, I had the proper lens on my camera and was able to get a few images before the birds wandered into the dense undergrowth where their burrow was hidden.

Mount Cook

Petr’s third tour jewel was Mount Cook.  Mount Cook is New Zealand highest mountain at just over 11,200 feet and is where Sir Edmund Hillary honed his climbing skills prior to ascending Mount Everest.  Like Mount Denali in Alaska, Mount Cook is frequently hidden from view due to storm clouds coming from the Tasman Sea.  Mount Cook is a sacred mountain in Māori culture.  So, like Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) the mountain’s name has been changed to Aoraki/Mount Cook.  For us, the good weather we had experienced so far in our trip held and we able to see and photograph Aorkaki/Mount Cook from afar and close up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only was Aoraki/Mount Cook one of Petr’s jewels, this majestic mountain is also the crown of New Zealand’s Southern Alps.  During most of our photography tour we traveled along the west side of the south island parallel to the Southern Alps.  Aoraki/Mount Cook and the Southern Alps, though not extremely high compared to the Rocky Mountains, are snowcapped and very rugged.  The Rocky Mountains are, in geologic terms, rather old and eroded.  The Southern Alps, on the other hand, are geologically very young and erosion has not rounded their peaks or filled their valleys with sediment.  Glaciers left over from the last ice age are still present in large numbers in the Southern Alps, unlike Glacier National Park in Montana where glaciers have almost totally disappeared.  For anyone who loves mountains, the Southern Alps and Aoraki/Mount Cook evoke a deep sense of wonder and awe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the photography tour with Petr Hlavacek, Jane and I rounded out our New Zealand adventure with a short side trip to Dunedin on the southeastern side of the South Island.  We had learned from friends in San Diego that Dunedin was the location where some of New Zealand’s most unique wildlife could be photographed.  Before leaving home, we arranged with Elm Wildlife Tours in Dunedin to visit an albatross colony and observe endangered yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula.  Sunny skies again favored us as we boarded a sightseeing boat, sailed past the Taiaroa Lighthouse and into the calm water of the South Pacific Ocean.  From the boat we were able to photograph several species of ellusive albatross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow-eyed penguins spend most of their day foraging for food in the ocean, coming ashore only in the evening to spend the night in their burrows.  Our Elm tour naturalist brought us to a permanent wooden blind from where we could see the penguins, one by one, waddle up from the ocean onto a sandy beach and make their way slowly to the grassy slopes where their burrows were hidden.  Penguins are a delight to watch and the yellow-eyed ones were no exception.  Just the way they sway side to side while strutting across the sand makes me smile.  Negotiating an obstacle, or jumping among boulders, with their short, stubby legs, the penguins seem totally uncoordinated, yet they always manage not to fall over.

With the frolic and humor of watching rare and endangered yellow-eyed penguins, our New Zealand adventure pretty much came to an end.  All that remained was the long, long flight home.

Images from our New Zealand adventure can be viewed in the New Zealand gallery.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/12/last-entry-of-the-year Sat, 30 Dec 2017 00:50:02 GMT
A Consolation Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/10/a-consolation-trip Normally, around the end of September Jane and I would find ourselves up north in Montana enjoying the grandeur of Glacier National Park.  This year, however, we were forced to make a last minute decision to cancel that autumn trip due to the devastating wildfires in and around the Park.  The consequence of that unfortunate cancelation was that we now found ourselves in the unaccustomed situation of being at home for a bunch of weeks rather than traveling and photographing.  What was I going to do with all that unexpected time on my hands?  I’m not terribly good at being at home for too long.  Not that there are no “projects” to be done around the house, it is just that I’m not a handyman and rather good at procrastination.  So, as Jane watched me get more and more bored and restless, she came up with a brilliant suggestion.  Why don’t I try and get a timeshare trade somewhere so we can take a bit of a trip?

That is how our consolation trip to Sedona, Arizona, came about.  Turned out we were able to get a last minute timeshare trade to Sedona for the first week of October.  The long way to Sedona, up U.S. Highway 95 from Yuma and over the mountains through Prescott and Jerome, is only about a day’s drive from San Diego.  So the consolation trip to Sedona was an easy one week vacation and, needless to say, I was a happy camper to be on another journey.  Sedona is surrounded by picturesque red rock formations and I looked forward to making some panoramic landscape images.  In addition, it turned out that the 2017 Harvest Moon, the full moon nearest to the start of fall, or autumnal equinox, was to occur during the first week in October.  That meant some more moon photography practice for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a consolation trip, this short hop to Sedona turned out to be a truly astonishing junket. The timeshare unit was spacious and homey, there was a wide variety of restaurants to choose from, and numerous trails to hike.  We enjoyed all of it, eating sleeping and hiking.  We also explored some of the backcountry on dirt tracts to ancient Hopi cliff dwelling sites.  All in all, we much appreciated this last minute consolation trip to Sedona.

I have not made a separate gallery for this trip to Sedona, so don't worry if you can't find any additional images from this trip.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/10/a-consolation-trip Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:03:36 GMT
Solar Eclipse https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/8/solar-eclipse What can be said about the great American total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, that hasn’t already been voiced all over the internet, television and printed media?  This spectacular astronomical phenomenon, visible across the entire nation, from coast to coast, was indeed all it was forecast to be.  Jane and I traveled from San Diego to Rexburg, Idaho, to be in the middle of the “totality” experience.  The accolades expressed by the pundits from NASA, the Science Channel, and NOAA for this unique interaction between the sun, moon and earth were confirmed by us for the two minutes that we observed the magic of the sun’s corona erupting into space.  Being awash in the darkness and chill of a total solar eclipse, while captivated by the dancing light of the sun’s coronal flares discharging from behind the moon into the atmosphere, was an exhilarating and exciting event.

2017 Solar Eclipse2017 Solar EclipsePanoramic Composition of the 2017 Solor Eclipse Photographed at Rexburg, Idaho

Astronomers predict another solar eclipse will travel through the middle of the country, from south to north, in 2024.  Who knows, perhaps we will travel to Texas to catch that one also.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/8/solar-eclipse Sun, 27 Aug 2017 23:36:01 GMT
Denali National Park & Preserve https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/8/denali-national-park-preserve August found Jane and me in Denali National Park and Preserve.  We took advantage of an Alaska Airlines two-for-one ticket deal.  I had wanting to go back to Denali National Park to try for some of the iconic wildlife to be photographed there.  The last time Jane and I were in Denali I was still photographing with film, so you can imagine how long ago that was.  Anyway, after the high peaks of the Colorado Rockies and Ancient Puebloan sites of Mesa Verde, we packed our bags for a short trip to Alaska’s premier park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From previous trips to Denali, we knew that access to the interior of the park was restricted to busses only, no private vehicles beyond Mile Marker 15.  There are a variety of bus tours available and our strategy was to use the Shuttle Bus that allowed passengers to get off and then get back on another Shuttle Bus, provided that there were seats available.  We purchased Shuttle Bus tickets that allowed us to travel to the end of the line, some 85 miles and five hours one way, into the park, on three separate days.  We left on the early morning bus each day but our strategy of getting on and off did not work out as anticipated.  For one, the weather was always threatening and it rained pretty much every day, although not continuously throughout the day.  Then, even though the bus left each morning with plenty of empty seats they were quickly filled by campers picked up along the way.  We feared that once we got off the bus, it would be difficult to get back on another without having to wait a long time, potentially in the rain.  So we pretty much rode the full busses from beginning to end each day, photographing from the bus as best we could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the Shuttle Bus rides took all day, we had allowed a couple of days for exploring on our own.  Those explorations proved to offer some fairly good photo opportunities.  At Horseshoe Lake we encountered a beaver that had just felled a branch from a birch tree and was dragging it from the forest to a small pond where he commenced eating the fresh green leaves.  We found a colony of pika near the Savage River Loop Trail head and spend lots of time watching and photographing these small little rodents as they foraged among their rocky habitat.  Further along the Savage River Loop Trail we noticed arctic ground squirrels digging for roots and eating seeds from wilted flower stalks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though we had gotten glimpses of Mount Denali from the bus, the high mountain peaks were obscured by clouds and overcast skies most of the time.  Consequently, we decided to treat ourselves to a scenic flight thinking that the plane would be able to fly above the overcast and allow us to experience the grandeur of Denali.  Our thinking turned out to be correct.  Taking off under cloudy conditions, with not much prospect of clear skies at all, when we approached the mountain we were above the clouds and Mount Denali appeared in all its glory as if floating on billowing cushions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To view images from our Denali trip go to the National Parks and Monuments gallery and then find Denali National Park and Preserve.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/8/denali-national-park-preserve Thu, 24 Aug 2017 23:10:53 GMT
Toot My Horn https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/7/toot-my-horn It is not often that I get to toot my own horn, but here goes.  Nature Photographer magazine, my favorite for finding great photography locations, has recently published three articles I had written about great photo locations in Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.  The Wyoming article featured the wild horses of McCullough Peaks near Cody, Wyoming.  The Utah article highlighted the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument established in 1996. The Grand Staircase is often overlooked by photographers in favor of the more famous parks in Utah, but it has some really outstanding photo locations.  Finally, Great Basin National Park was the topic of the Nevada article.  It is a wonderful park to visit in the fall when the aspen trees are in blazing colors.

You can probably find the magazines at Barns & Noble, or perhaps online. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/7/toot-my-horn Mon, 31 Jul 2017 21:37:16 GMT
Rocky Mountain High https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/7/rocky-mountain-high Jane and I, along with our photo buddy Bruce, spent the last week of June in the rarefied air of Colorado’s high Rocky Mountains.  Since there were three of us traveling, and since it was a photography journey, there was too much luggage for the back of the 4Runner.  This trip required use of the “Thule”, a rooftop cargo carrier.  The Thule had been patiently waiting in the garage for the next trip it was needed.  We last used the Thule on our Alaska Highway adventure in August 2013.  So the Thule and the three adventurers were looking forward to another great sojourn.

We stayed at a vacation rental cabin just outside Idaho Springs along Chicago Creek.  Doesn’t sound like Colorado from these names, but we were definitely in the high Rocky Mountains.  From the relatively low elevation of 7,600 feet at the cabin, we made day trips to the top of Mount Evans at 14,000 feet.  Why, you ask, would we deny ourselves the dense, thick air of sea level?  The answer is to photograph mountain goat families that forage near the summit of Mount Evans.

From our rental cabin, the trip to the top of Mount Evans takes about an hour along a paved, winding, steep and narrow, two-lane, roadway.   The scenery along the way was stunning with dense, healthy stands of conifers.  Above timberline, the road traverses subarctic rocky tundra with a myriad of delicate, small wildflowers.  Above timberline, the road also becomes steeper with numerous switchbacks, limited sight distance, and no guardrails along the steep downhill side of the road.

We typically made this trip early most mornings in order to be at the summit of Mount Evans with good morning light and to maximize the possibility of sighting wildlife.  We were not disappointed with these early departures.  Every trip to the top resulted in our being able to photograph mountain goat nannies with young kids playing along the boulders, yellow bellied marmots soaking up the warm sun, and small pika, the most elusive of our targets.  When not looking through the camera viewfinder, we were entertained by the antics of the energetic young mountain goat kids.  At this early age of their lives, they were already pushing and shoving to show who was boss.  Their favorite game was to play “king of the boulder” with as many as five or six of the lively white fur balls vying to be the last one remaining on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As can be expected on top of a 14,000 foot mountain peak, the wind was ubiquitous, cold and blistering.  We had to seek shelter in the 4Runner on several occasions.  We were also not alone on the mountain top.  Other photographers and wildlife enthusiasts were there to appreciate being so near to these wild animals.  During one of our forays to the protection of the vehicle, Jane engaged a fellow photographer in some shop talk.  She found out there was a lake some distance north of Idaho Springs that was a sure bet for photographing moose.  That night we Googled the location, found directions and decided to head there the next day.

Brainard Lake was nearly a two hour drive from the cabin.  In order to ensure good lighting for photography, we were up at 4:30 AM, out the door at 5:00 AM and at Brainard Lake at 7:00 AM.  Of course, we had no idea where to look for the moose.  After parking the 4Runner in the day-use parking area, we just headed towards the lake.  Not knowing where to go, we turned right at the lake’s edge where we ran into another photographer we told us we were heading in the wrong direction.  We turned around and hustled over to a dense area of willows behind a stand of pine trees.  Jane, our premier spotter, was first to see the moose.  We crept through the stand of trees and counted four big male moose with outstanding racks covered in velvet browsing on willow shoots.  By about 8:30 AM the sun was getting hotter and the moose wandered off into the cool, dense forest.  What an extraordinary experience that was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To complete our Colorado adventure we spent the first week of July at Mesa Verde National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Although over 7,000 feet in elevation, Mesa Verde is far enough south to result in temperatures much higher than the cool atmosphere of the high Rockies.  We changed to cooler attire and put away the long telephoto lenses in favor of the shorter wide angle ones.  The popularity of this unique archaeological area has resulted in the Park Service limiting access to the most outstanding cliff dwellings only by Ranger led tours.  Fifty tickets are available for each tour and could only be purchased up to two day in advance.  We were in the Park long enough to be able to get tickets for all three of the Ranger led tours.

 

Photographing the Ancient Puebloan ruins was a challenge.  It is not like photographing wildlife where the unique characteristic of the animal carries the image.  This is landscape photography where the need for a dynamic composition, exceptional lighting and a dramatic sky are mandatory.  All I can say in my defense is that I tried.

You can be a judge.  The images from Mesa Verde are located in the National Parks and Monument gallery.  Images from Mount Evans and Brainard Lake are located in the Mount Evans 2017 gallery for the time being.  I will probably be moving them to the Hooves, Antlers and Horns gallery and the Young Animals gallery in the future.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/7/rocky-mountain-high Tue, 18 Jul 2017 23:54:34 GMT
A Tropical Adventure https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/6/a-tropical-adventure How can one possibly describe three weeks in the highlands of the Central Andean Mountains and the low rain forests of Amazonia, other than simply unforgettable.   Over a year in planning, this unforgettable adventure turned out to be ever so much more than Jane and I had envisioned.  It started out simply enough as a two week bird photography tour to Peru, but then we extended the trip with an additional week of bird photography in Ecuador.   We rationalized the additional week to maximize the adventure since we would already be in South America.  All in all, we were gone nearly a month when you throw in travel time.

We commenced our travels by flying from San Diego, via Dallas/Fort Worth, to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  As is our custom, we arrive a day before the start of the photo tour and experienced a hasty exploration of Quito’s historic district, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Founded in 1534 by Spanish conquistadors, on the ruins of an ancient Inca city, Quito has one of the best preserved historic centers of Spanish America, according to UNESCO.  Situated at over 9,000 feet in elevation, we experienced our first signs of breathlessness as we wandered along the steep, narrow streets of Quito.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Monday morning there is a changing of the guard ceremony in front of the presidential palace in Quito.  This ceremony includes a lot of pomp and circumstance with a military band and mounted soldiers in elaborate, historic uniforms.  We stumbled upon this festive celebration during our exploration of the old city center.  The Plaza Grande, filled with locals and tourists alike, was inundated with scores of street vendors hawking their trinkets and treats.  After the ceremony, and away from the crowded plaza, Jane consummated some intricate negotiations with a street vendor for several colorful scarves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we met up with David Hemmings of Nature’s Photo Adventures (www.naturesphotoadventures.com) to start our Ecuador bird photography tour.  Our first destination was the Tandayapa Bird Lodge located about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Quito.  By car, this trip took about 2 hours and that should give some idea about driving conditions in and around Quito.  In general, streets in all metropolitan areas we visited are narrow, with limited sight distance, and extremely congested with people and cars.  Streets are aligned in a random, haphazard grid system dating back to a time when there were no cars.  Drivers compete fiercely for any space between vehicles, much like bumper cars, particularly as multiple cars and buses attempt to make turns onto the many one-way streets.  That is why you need a local driver who knows the rules of engagement and shortcuts to avoid the most congested areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived frazzled but without incident at the Tandayapa Bird Lodge to enjoy our first foray into photographing the unique hummingbirds of Ecuador.  The Tandayapa Bird Lodge is located in the rain forest and we certainly had our share of rain during our brief visit.  Several times we had to retreat inside to avoid the worst of the rainy weather.  We surmised that we experienced more rain during our two days at Tandayapa than during the entire San Diego rainy season.  The chef made up for the inclement weather by creating some extraordinary deserts for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Tandayapa, we traveled to the Cabanãs San Isidro, located about 187 kilometers (115 miles) to the southeast.  Unfortunately, that meant we had to go back through the labyrinth of streets in Quito again.  Scenery along the way, however, was fantastic and more than made up for this inconvenience.  We journeyed through narrow, winding canyons with high, steep towering mountains, covered with pristine, verdant rain forest vegetation.  Gigantic waterfalls were encountered dropping hundreds of feet from the steep mountain sides.  We also crossed over one of Ecuador’s highest Andean mountain passes, Papallacta, at over 13,000 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of the lodges we visited in Ecuador, Cabanãs San Isidro was by far the most luxurious.  Our room was like a large sun porch, spacious with a huge bed and tall, floor to ceiling, windows on three sides.  Lodge facilities were some distance from the main, dirt track leaving us with the feeling of being absorbed into the rain forest.  The grounds had abundant, vividly colored native flowers, hosting butterflies that fluttering from flower to flower collecting nectar.  We also encountered some unique bird species at this lodge that were a challenge to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Cabanãs San Isidro we backtracked about 50 kilometers (30 miles) along the paved highway to the Guango Lodge.  This time we did not have to traverse all the way back to Quito.  Guango is a large property and we ventured out on several trails along the Rio Quijos looking for birds to photograph.  Although the lodge is popular with birders we were the only overnight guests at Guango during our two day stay.  We did have a few birding groups stop by to share the spectacle of feisty hummingbirds competing for sugar water at the many feeders scattered throughout the property.  Jane added a few new species to our bird list while we were at Guango.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guango Lodge was our last bird photography location in Ecuador.  From there we traveled back to Quito and then flew to Lima, Peru, for the next phase of this unforgettable adventure.  In Lima, we met Dali and Neil Solomon who joined us for the two-week Peru portion of the photography tour.  We did not dawdle in Lima but continued on to Cusco the gateway to Machu Picchu.  Far from being the quaint and charming small village we imagined, Cusco was a sprawling, bustling city with nearly half a million people and its own congested maze of streets and byways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Cusco we continued on to Machu Picchu.  That excursion turned out to be a unique adventure of its own.  By car (with a driver guide) we maneuvered through the hectic traffic jams of Cusco and through the high and dry Andean highlands from an elevation of over 12,000 feet down to the small village of Ollantaytambo at 9,000 feet where the habitat begins its transition to rain forest.  At Ollantaytambo we boarded a train that follows the Urubamba River down to an elevation of 6,700 feet at Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo).  The train ride was a pleasant, relaxing break from the tense, “back seat driving” along the busy, two-lane highway from Cusco.  All in all, by car and train, it took most of the morning to arrive at our destination in Aguas Calientes even though the overall distance is only about 120 kilometers (75 miles).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aguas Calientes is a hodgepodge of buildings built on steep mountain sides.  There is no vehicular traffic in the town.  All provisions, supplies and construction material arrived by train and are transported by hand, mostly in wheelbarrows, from the train depot to final destinations.  The town subsists on tourism and is crowded with inns, hostels, B & B’s, lodges and restaurants of assorted price range and quality.  Our lodge, the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel was one of, if not the, best in town.  It was a pleasure to stay there, removed from the hustle and bustle of the main village.  The gardens are well tended with hummingbird feeders strategically located throughout.  We were able to photograph some very colorful species of tanagers that were feeding on bananas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu requires a bus ride from town up to the citadel. Bus tickets and departures are carefully monitored to control the total number of people entering this historic icon of the Inca civilization.  We visited the Inca ruins twice, once on the afternoon of our arrival in Aguas Calientes and again the following morning.  Each time, the entrance gate was crowded with visitors queued to gain access.  Once inside the historic site, however, the crowds quickly dispersed into the vast area of this ancient Inca city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Machu Picchu did not disappoint.  Even after seeing many published pictures of the ruins and reading about the Inca civilization, being there and seeing this magnificent edifice with its many buildings, temples and terraces was indeed a gratifying and humbling experience.  Sitting quietly on the same bedrock that the citadel is built upon and contemplating Inca life at this remote location, deep in the rain forest jungle, it was not difficult to develop a deep appreciation for the ingenuity, creativity and vision of the people living and worshiping here.  Visiting Machu Picchu had been a long time “bucket list” item that has now been realized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the majesty of Machu Picchu and the ambiance of the Inkaterra Hotel, we continued with our Peru bird photography tour.  We journeyed back to Cusco and then on to Peru’s Manú National Park and Biosphere Reserve.  According to our guide Steve Sanchez (www.perubirdingexpeditions.com), the park is as large as Switzerland.  To put that in a context familiar to us, Manú is twice the size of Yellowstone National Park and about three times larger than the state of Delaware.   It is a big, remote, rugged place! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We approached the park from the south, a long 150 kilometer (93 mile) drive from Cusco.  Most of the approach to the park was on a rough graded, dirt track that became even rougher, muddier and slower as Juan, our driver, maneuvered the many switchbacks and drainage dips within the park.  Rain also hampered our progress as we were blocked by a substantial mud slide that has washed out a portion of the track.  Fortunately, we were able to backtrack to our first accommodation in the park, the Wayqecha Cloud Forest Biological Station.  That is when we came to appreciate how remote and primitive lodges in Manú National Park are.  The room was small, rustic with few amenities, but in general adequate.  The downside was the lack of hot water and electricity.  The biological station created its own electric power with a generator, but only ran the generator for three hours in the evening from 6 to 9 PM.  During our stay, there was a generator failure and power did not commence until about 7 PM, about an hour after sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we left the Wayqecha Cloud Forest Biological Station, the mudslide area had been sufficiently restored to allow us to slowly and cautiously pass over the damaged roadway, and we proceeded to the Cock-Of-The-Rock Lodge, just 35 kilometers (22 miles) further into the park.  Here our room came equipped with candles to light the cabin when the generator was not operating.  Hot water, however, continued to elude us when we learned that the water supply to the water heater had been damaged by recent, heavy rains.  Regardless of these little setbacks, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Cock-Of-The-Rock Lodge.  In addition to hummingbird photography, this is where we encountered a Woolly Monkey troop that liked to raid the dining hall at the lodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The national bird of Peru is the Andean cock-of-the-rock and only a 15 minute drive on the Manú Road from this lodge was an Andean cock-of-the-rock lek, a traditional place where male Andean cock-of-the-rock birds assemble during the mating season and engage in competitive displays that attract females.  The best time to observe this display ritual was during the late afternoon hours, which in a dark rain forest is not the best for photography.  We visited the lek twice and observed the birds perform their competitive displays from a crudely built, wooden blind.  It was most fascinating and intriguing to watch.  Several males would swoop in from the dense forest and perch on tree branches where they could be observed by females and competitors.  The birds would then proceed to show off their bright red plumage by bowing, jumping along their perches, spreading and flapping their wings, all the while vocalizing loudly with sharp calls.  Then, as if an alarm had sounded, they one-by-one disappeared back into the dense forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as we assumed our adventure had reached its peak, we departed the Cock-Of-The-Rock Lodge for the Amazonia Lodge.  This required not only another 45 kilometers (28 miles) of navigating the treacherous Manú road but also a 20 minute ride in a long, narrow, wooden boat on the Madre de Dios River.  Just this voyage was sufficient reason to rate this trip as an unforgettable adventure.  The photography at the Amazonia Lodge was challenging but had its rewards with some unique species, including the rufous crested coquette hummingbird and the prehistoric looking hoatzin, added to our bird list and portfolio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Amazonia Lodge, it was a long haul back to Cusco where we dropped David Hemmings off at the airport for his flight back to British Columbia, Canada.  Dali, Neil, Jane and I spent another day and half in Cusco where we enjoyed some guided tours provided by Tours By Locals (www.toursbylocals.com).  After that, it was a flight back to Lima and then home via Miami.  Nearly a month from start to finish this will always be remembered as one of our incredible journeys.

Images of the many birds photographed can be viewed in the Ecuador Birds and Peru Birds galleries.  Images of Machu Picchu are in that gallery.

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/6/a-tropical-adventure Fri, 16 Jun 2017 16:41:32 GMT
Spring Break https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/4/spring-break Following the March Madness of Death Valley, I looked forward to Spring Break.  For our spring break Jane and I traveled to Tucson, Arizona, for some photography in the Sonoran Desert.  My primary objective was to find and photograph the fragrant white blossoms of the saguaro cactus.  By all accounts, I knew that it was early in the season for saguaro blossoms, but early April fit into our overall travel schedule.  So we packed our bags (mostly my bags stuffed with photo gear) and headed east to Tucson where Jane had found a quaint, out-of-the-way casita to rent.  The location, like the casita itself, turned out to be perfect.  We were only ten minutes from the Saguaro National Park visitor center and about fifteen from the Arizona – Sonora Desert Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met some friends from the Photonaturalists Camera Club, Neil and Dali Solomon, who had been photographing birds near Sierra Vista, and spent our first day with them.  Together we toured the Arizona – Sonora Desert Museum in the morning and enjoyed a night sky program at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.  Neil is an avid bird photographer and his images can be found at www.nsolomonphoto.com.  The program at Kitt Peak was fascinating and was highlighted with night sky observations through a telescope.  Pretty neat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were definitely too early in the season for saguaro blossoms.  The forest of tall, tree-like saguaro cactus with arms growing in all directions, displayed many buds but no flowers.  Many other cacti, however, were in bloom, particularly at the desert museum cactus garden.  There we found some extraordinary hybrid cactus varieties with huge, colorful flowers.  Although disappointed that there were no saguaro blossoms to photograph, Jane and I discovered a tall saguaro with nesting northern flicker woodpeckers.  Best of all, this saguaro was located only about a quarter mile from the casita, along the dirt driveway to the main road, and we visited that cactus on several mornings.  Another serendipitous discovery was a single blossom on a saguaro located right next to the casita.  This blossom was a favorite attraction for gila woodpeckers and we spent a lot of time watching and photographing, with coffee mugs in hand, the comings and goings of these striking birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saguaro SilhouetteSaguaro SilhouetteVertical Composition Of Saguaro Cactus Arms Silhouetted By Orange Sunset Sky, Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona

 

                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One afternoon we made a day trip to two local, old Spanish missions.  The first mission we visited was Tumacácori, a National Historic Park, about an hour south of Tucson.  The mission was originally founded in 1691 by a Jesuit missionary from Spain.  By 1848, after decades of hardship the mission was abandoned.  On our way back to the casita, we stopped at Mission San Xavier del Bac, a historic landmark.  This mission was founded in 1692 by the same Jesuit missionary as Tumacácori.  The current church was completed in 1797 and has been in continuous operation since.  Mission San Xavier del Bac is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona.  The inside of the chapel is exquisitely decorated.  The original mural paintings are beautiful and the altar and statues amazingly detailed.  Our visit to these old, original national historic places well worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This spring break trip was also planned to coincide with the full phase of the moon.  I wanted some more practice with night sky photography after only mediocre results in Death Valley.  My ability to locate where the full moon would appear in the sky was accurate, but the timing between moonrise and sunset was off.  The location I selected had a high mountains ridge in the foreground that resulted in the moon showing its face much later than I had anticipated resulting in a foreground too dark for proper exposure.

 

Even so, we had a great time and on the way home we decided to put the casita in the pending travel file for a possible future visit.  From the casita we were able to make early morning visits to the Arizona – Sonora Desert Museum where we were rewarded with some outstanding photo ops with only a few visitors to contend with.  One morning, we had the hummingbird aviary almost to ourselves.  The woodpeckers flying back and forth to the saguaro next to the casita gave me plenty of opportunities to photograph birds in flight.  And last, but not least, was the relaxing atmosphere of this quaint, out-of-the-way casita where we watched the sun come up from the front patio with our morning coffee and go down from the back patio with our glass of wine.

Images from this spring break journey can be found in the National Parks, Monuments & Historic Landmarks gallery.  Look for the Mission San Xavier del Bac, Saguaro National Park and Tumacacori National Historic Park sub-galleries.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/4/spring-break Tue, 18 Apr 2017 18:53:25 GMT
Two Short March Trips https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/3/two-short-march-trips My March “madness” consisted of trying, for me, a new aspect of photography.  I traveled to Death Valley, during the full moon, to try my hand at “moonscape” photography, that is, photographing iconic locations in Death Valley by moonlight.  March is high season in Death Valley and I had made reservation at Furnace Creek Ranch far in advance of my trip.  It was good I did.  The valley was filled with tourists, speaking a wide variety of different languages, and Furnace Creek was totally booked.  Many of these visitors were also photographers that I ran into as I attempted my moonlight photography. Perhaps the most iconic landscape location in Death Valley is Manly Beacon at Zabriskie Point and that is where I concentrated my efforts and met fellow photographers from as far as Germany.

I was accompanied on this new adventure by Bruce Hollingsworth.  We like to travel and photograph together and he was also game to try something new.  I had researched the internet for information about how to go about this unique type of photography.  What I discovered was that reading about how to obtain well executed moonscape photographs is so much simpler than actually implementing the process during the dark of night.  Although my planning and preparation for obtaining moonscapes was good, my ability to create “keeper” images left a lot to be desired.  Obviously, much more practice will be needed before I can brag about my moonscapes.  I also attempted photographing the full moon.  Looking at my results from that endeavor, full moon photography is also a skill I will need to work on.  It is not that my attempt at this night time photography was a complete bust.  The resulting images were just not up to my expectation and standard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All was not lost, however.  There was a killer sunset in the valley that I was able to photograph and get some decent images.  Also, during a telephone call with Jane, I learned that the Anza Borrego Desert State Park was experiencing the best spring wildflower display in ten or more years.  So a short jaunt to Borrego Springs was called for.  The wildflower bloom was pretty impressive with flower displays in areas I had not seen any flowers before.  Of course, with this kind of colorful flower exhibit, and the associated publicity, hundreds of other people had also ventured to Borrego Springs to experience the remarkable phenomena.  I did manage to obtain some images without extraneous people in them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My two short trips in March provided ample photographic challenges and demonstrated the need for more practice.  That means more trips!

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/3/two-short-march-trips Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:51:49 GMT
Hawaiian Vacation https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/2/hawaiian-vacation Jane and I started twenty-seventeen with a super “vacation”, two weeks in Hawaii.  Jane and I have a special definition for “vacation”, it is a trip without any photography gear and all photos are taken with either a cell phone or small snap shooter camera.  We have lots of other trips in store for this year, but these two weeks were a “vacation”.  We were fortunate in being able to arrange a time-share trade for two consecutive weeks, the first week on Maui, the Valley Isle, and the second week on Kauai, the Garden Isle. 

 

We flew non-stop from San Diego to Maui and enjoyed the first week of our vacation in a one bedroom condominium at the Maui Schooner Resort in Kihei.  Jane was able to score a great price for an off-airport car rental.  Anyway, that is what we thought.  The price was really good, at least one hundred dollars less for the week than a convertible from the major car rental companies at the airport.  But the good price was not because of the location, it was because the cars were old and a bit beaten up.  Before departing the rental agency, we thoroughly inspected the vehicle and noted all the dings and scratches on our rental form.  You know how it is with car rental companies, they will charge through the nose for any little thing they can get away with.

So we were more than a bit shocked and concerned when a large, fresh ding appeared on the driver side door.  It was really bad looking, deep and with paint from the culprit vehicle embedded on our door.  Then, as I pulled out of the parking space at the resort, we heard a loud scraping sound coming from the front of the car.  We quickly got out of our seats to inspect what was causing this horrible noise. Turns out the front bumper assembly had become dislodged and the entire fiberglass unit was hanging down and scraping on the ground.  Immediately we could see the insurance deductible becoming part of our vacation cost.  We were able to, sort of, wedge the unit back into place, although we had to do that several more times over the next few days. 

Before returning the vehicle to the rental company we cleaned up the ding with cleaning solvent from the condo to where it looked as old as all the other dings on the door.  We also manipulated the bumper assembly back into place as best we could and started feverishly thinking of ways to avoid paying for damages.  When we got to the rental place we were hyped and ready to do verbal combat with the agent.  When we explained about the bumper, the agent casually told us “you should have called and we would have replaced the car.  These are old cars and we know things can go wrong”.  What a relief that was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise, our week on Maui was very relaxing.  We had a pool-side unit and spent a fair amount of time in the Jacuzzi and lounging around the pool.  One of the other guests at the Schooner Resort told us about Polo Beach and the ocean front walk in the area.  We enjoyed that hour-long walk along the swanky hotels and apartments several times.  We also followed up on suggestions from friends at home and snorkeled around Molokini Island with Trilogy Sailing and watched a slight-of-hand magic show in Lahaina.  Of course we could not return home from Maui without having made the drive up to the Haleakala volcanic crater (although we did not do the sunrise thing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next week was spent at the Cliffs Resort in the planned community of Princeville, along the north shore of Kauai where we enjoyed the comfort and space of a large one bedroom, two bath unit.  Princeville is a bit remote from other population centers on Kauai so we planned most of our activities in and around very upscale Princeville.  For Kauai, Jane had arranged much better transportation.  We enjoyed top-down touring in a new, bright yellow Mustang convertible.  No problems with this vehicle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to exploring the beaches at Hanalei Bay and Wainiha Bay we also imbibed happy hour drinks at the Hanalei Bay Resort, about a half hour’s walk from the Cliffs.  We toured the entire island of Kauai via Sunshine Helicopters right from the Princeville airport.  The flight included Waimea Canyon, Na Pali Coast, and now famous Manawaiopuna Falls, aka “The Jurassic Falls”.  The bird’s eye view of the island’s steep, vegetation covered terrain from the comfort of the helicopter was very cool! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another very cool experience was our three hour tour of the Princeville Botanical Gardens.  The botanical garden was actually developed by a couple from San Diego, Bill and Lucinda Robertson, who had intended to retire on Kauai and instead spent years creating a fantastic garden.  Our guide, Harald, a former children’s book publisher from New Mexico, was extremely knowledgeable about all the various varieties of trees, plants and flowers encountered along the tour.  One of the tour highlights was a presentation of how cacao beans are processed into chocolate that included tasting samples of chocolate with varying cacao amounts.  We also found, by word-of-mouth, a five mile hiking trail through a mahogany plantation.  The area had previously been a sugar cane plantation and the trail took us past an old stone dam and canals built to float the cane to the processing plant.  Rain pelted us as we hiked back to the canary yellow convertible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concierge at the resort offered us a two-for-one price for a very expensive, all inclusive (open bar and shuttle service to and from), luau for agreeing to sit it on a timeshare presentation.  The sales person tended to be a bit narcissistic and talked mainly about himself and that he did not care whether or not we purchased a timeshare since he was retired and did not need the commission.  So after a half hour we let him know that we were not interested, and since he didn’t care, we should cut the sales session short.  That proved to be a very profitable half hour for us as we had a lot of fun at the luau and enjoyed several Blue Hawaiian cocktails (with Vodka instead of Rum).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a wildlife enthusiast like me, one of the more fascinating experiences in Princeville was our encounter with the Laysan Albatross.  It seems that the cliffs along the north shore of Kauai are the ancestral nesting sites for the Laysan Albatross and other sea faring birds.  Now, these birds instinctively continue to come to these cliffs to raise chicks even though the area is covered with million dollar homes.  The albatross have adapted well to their new surroundings.  We observed them exhibiting their natural behaviors in people’s front yards as we strolled through the neighborhood streets.  In addition to the albatross, we added several new bird species to our list.  The most common bird encountered was the red junglefowl, ancestral to the domesticated chicken.  They were everywhere on Kauai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, all great “vacations” must come to an end and after our week on Kauai we headed back to San Diego.  Upon arriving back on the mainland, we learned that San Diego had experienced more rain during the time we were gone than in any other similar period in the city’s recorded history of rainfall.  That news made our two weeks in Hawaii even more special.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2017/2/hawaiian-vacation Fri, 03 Feb 2017 17:11:55 GMT
Year End Blog https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/12/year-end-blog December saw the last of my 2016 photography trips.  Jane had work commitments, so I traveled with my photo friend, Bruce Hollingsworth.  Bruce had wanted to return to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico for another opportunity to photograph the migrating sandhill cranes and snow geese.  Jane and I had traveled to Bosque several times in the past and, in fact, Bruce and I had been there several times as well.  Since this was about my fifth or sixth trip to Bosque del Apache, I didn’t want to return with images that I already had in my portfolio.  So, this time I planned on obtaining some new, unique images by concentrating more on environmental compositions using shorter range focal length lenses rather than close range images using long telephoto lenses.  I also attempted to obtain more abstract images using a slow shutter speed while panning birds in flight. 

Normally, birds in flight are photographed at pretty fast shutter speeds, over 1/1,000 of a second.  I was attempting to photograph the cranes and gees at around 1/50 to 1/100 of a second.  When successfully executed, the image should result in the bird’s head being in focus, its wings slightly blurred, and the background an abstract blur of colors.  Sounds easy, but it is not.  Thank goodness for digital photography and an infinite supply of pixels.  I made several hundred attempts for each image that approached the standards I expected to achieve.  I had to sort through thousands of totally out of focus shots to find the very few keepers I was satisfied with.  Hope you agree with my choices.  You can view them in the Wildlife Refuges gallery and then clicking on Bosque del Apache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home, Bruce and I stopped for more photography at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.  Rather than wildlife as at Bosque, White Sands is a landscape photography location and I have always found landscapes to be extremely difficult to compose.  Landscape photography requires a serious amount of scouting to find an interesting combination of foreground, middle-ground and background.  My lack of landscape photography experience showed as I wandered aimlessly among the white gypsum sand dunes looking for that perfect landscape combination.  By the time the soft light of sunset arrived, I just ended up doing the best I could.  Same thing occurred the following morning.  It was dark when we arrived so finding a perfect location was out of the question.  Again, I reverting to doing the best I could with the potential compositions I stumbled upon.  My saving grace was a beautiful sky with colorful light and great clouds.  Images from White Sands are located in the National Parks and Monument gallery under White Sands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            WISHING ALL WHO READ MY BLOG

                                                                     A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/12/year-end-blog Fri, 23 Dec 2016 19:31:13 GMT
Autumn Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/10/autumn-road-trip This blog is a bit longer.  Our autumn road trip turned out to be over four thousand miles and traversed the length and breadth of six states, not counting California.  It was an invigorating and, at times, exhausting month long excursion with stops at nine separate accommodations along the way.  Since the blog is long, let me say at the beginning rather than the end, that the images from this trip are located in the “2016 Road Trip” gallery.

To avoid some of the heavier commuter traffic in Los Angeles County, Jane and I left San Diego at 4:30 in the morning bound for our first destination, Great Basin National Park in Nevada.  After the, now routine, six boring hour drive to Las Vegas, we left Interstate 15 and headed north on U.S. Highway 93, the Great Basin Highway.  Approximate 18 miles north of Caliente, we stopped at Cathedral Gorge State Park.  On previous trips, we always bypassed this small Nevada state park due to time constraints.  But on this road trip, we had time to investigate this off-the-beaten-path attraction.  Just a short mile or two off Highway 93, and hidden from view, was a spectacular geologic display of erosion carved cliffs and spires.  We did not spend a lot of time at Cathedral Gorge, but enjoyed very much marveling at the intricate features eroded into the soft rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in Baker, Nevada, gateway to Great Basin National Park by mid-afternoon.  We stayed with Magaret Pence at her “bunkhouse”, a rustic but charming and cozy accommodation (www.greatbasinbunkhouse.com).   Staying at the “bunkhouse” turned out to be far more than just a nice place to sleep.  It was like an affable family affair as we enjoyed Margaret’s hospitality.

Great Basin National Park is situated in the southern portion of the Snake Mountain Range and contains Nevada’s second highest mountain, Wheeler Peak, at just over 13,000 feet.  Jane and I were hoping for our first glance at fall colors here.  We were not disappointed as we hiked park trails through great groves of golden, quaking aspen trees.  The Wheeler Peak Scenic Highway was ablaze with color as the sun backlit the aspen leaves into a luminous glow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of days hiking and exploring Great Basin National Park, we packed the 4Runner, hugged Margaret farewell, and started the drive to our cabin at West Glacier.  Our selected route through Idaho took us past Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.  Again, we had passed this landmark on previous trips and not stopped.  So, with time on our hands, we made a short detour to enjoy this unique landscape.  This area of small craters and black fields of lava started forming only about 15,000 years ago when lava issued from a series of deep fissures, the last eruption occurring about 2,000 years ago.  That is pretty recent in geologic time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the lava fields we continued to West Glacier where we spent the next six days at our familiar, secluded haunt in the woods (www.glacierwildernessresort.com).  We used the cabin, with its homey feel and hot Jacuzzi on its deck, as home base, and day-tripped into Glacier National Park.  Weather was an issue that limited our hiking to just a couple of days.  We did hike to Avalanche Lake, a roundtrip of six miles and lots of elevation gain.  And, yes I’m bragging a bit.  Of course, we could not really complain about the rain, since we had not seen much of it in San Diego.

 

We are always sad to leave our cabin but we had to move one since we were not even at the midway point of our road trip.  Our next objective was the Slippery Ann Elk Viewing Area at the Charles M. Russel National Wildlife Refuge, along the Missouri River.  On the way, we stopped in Great Falls to visit the Charles M. Russel Museum, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and the great falls that Lewis and Clark had to portage around during their expedition of discovery.  The Charles M. Russel Museum was excellent with its informative exhibits illustrating the life of “Charlie” Russel and life on the western frontier in general.  The gift shop had an extraordinary selection of artistic items created by local artisans.  Jane found an item to bring home that would enhance our collection of southwest artifacts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lewistown, smack in the middle of Montana, was our next destination.  There Jane had found a wonderful B&B for us to stay.  The Symmes/Wicks House was a totally restored Craftsman house located in a quiet neighborhood with huge, colorful maple trees bordering the streets (www.symmeswickshouse.com).   Carol Wicks, who had overseen the restoration and performed much of the grunt work herself, was our hostess and provided great conversation and scrumptious breakfasts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Slippery Ann Elk Viewing Area lived up to its reputation to not disappoint.  During the annual rut, scores of elk congregate in the cottonwood trees along the Missouri River and emerge onto the meadows to feed in late afternoon.  Elk viewing is a popular activity with dozens of cars lined up along the dirt track adjacent the meadow area where elk forage in plain sight, paying no heed to the myriad of sightseers of all ages.  Numerous six and seven point, testosterone driven, bulls were competing for cows.  However, the iconic image of bulls with locked antlers escaped me.  It was not for the lack of trying, but the desired action of big bulls jousting was always too far away or hidden by shrubbery for a decent "shot".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our action packed visit to Slippery Ann (you have to wonder where that name came from, don’t you) and delightful stay at the Symmes/Wicks House, we continued on across Montana and into Wyoming to explore Devil’s Tower National Monument.  We made the hamlet of Hulett our home base for this part of our journey.  Exploring this National Monument was almost relaxing.  We toured the scenic route in the 4Runner and hiked the Tower Trail from where we watched several groups of climbers ascend the near vertical tower.  I tried my hand at night sky photography once more with very little success.  The sky was filled with brilliant stars and the Milky Way was overhead, but I was not able to create an image to my liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Custer State Park in South Dakota is just across the border from Devil’s Tower and that was our next destination.  The objective at Custer State Park was to photograph the annual bison roundup, an event that draws visitors from across the U.S. and world.  It certainly was an event to remember, but relatively short for the time expended to experience it and less dramatic than expected.  The roundup is conducted to gather the bison into corrals to test for disease, inoculate, brand calves and cull the herd by auctioning off sufficient animals to keep the size of the heard balanced to the available food supply on the Park’s range. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on our inquiries from locals, we learned that to secure a decent spot in the viewing area in the Park we had to leave Custer at around 4:30 in the morning.  And, that is what we did.  At that ghastly hour of the morning, we joined the long queue of vehicles meandering slowly through the Park to the viewing area.  After more than an hour, we eventually reached the parking area where we joined hundreds of others to search for a spot to place our folding chairs during the dim, morning’s first light.  By around six we were snuggly settled with a blanket around Jane to keep out the chill.  The roundup, however, did not start until nearly ten and the most exciting part, bison stampeding across the prairie, lasted only about 45 minutes.  Although a tiny bit disappointing, it was exhilarating to be part of the throng participating in this uniquely American event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were in Custer nearly a week staying at a new and very comfortable vacation rental home on the outskirts of town where white tailed deer and wild turkeys roamed the yards.  While in Custer we assumed the role of typical tourists going on day trips to explore the scenic areas of the Black Hills, including Spearfish Canyon with its outstanding fall colors and waterfalls, the Cathedral Spires area where we encountered a lone mountain goat, Chief Crazy Horse monument, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial where we had lunch in the cafeteria where Gary Grant got shot in the movie North by Northwest.  While in Custer we also spent a pleasant evening with Bill Howard, an old acquaintance from years gone by, and his friend Shirley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a touristy stay in Custer, South Dakota, we set out for home, the long way.  On our 22nd day on the trip we drove across Wyoming’s barren and desolate prairie to Rock Springs, and the next day across the eastern edge of the Uintah Mountains of Utah, past the Flaming Gorge reservoir and dam to Vernal.  While in Vernal, we made a short trip to Dinosaur National Monument.  We were pleased to learn that the Quarry Exhibit Hall, with its thousand dinosaur bone fossils still imbedded in a natural sedimentary rock wall, was again open after extensive structural repairs.  Fossils excavated from these Jurassic period beds now grace many natural history museums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Vernal we set our sights on Richmond, Utah, where my sister Neli and husband Fred, reside.  To get to Richmond, we crossed over some high mountain passes where we encountered our first snow of the year.  The scene played out beautifully as we ascended higher up the mountain.  Patches of yellow from brightly colored quaking aspen trees, the symbol of Utah, were interspersed among the dark green conifers with white snow covering the branches and ground.  It was awesome.  All too soon we were back to lower elevations with green alfalfa fields, grazing cattle, and opulent ranch houses.

A visit with Neli and Fred is always entertaining as they recount memories that I was too young to remember.  We had a great visit with lots of cheerfulness, goodwill and laughter.  I will certainly remember one profound observation by Neli.  She confided that “you know you are getting old when your daughter becomes a grandmother”.  Neli and Fred are great-grandparents many times over.  After bidding goodbye to Neli and Fred we made a serious dash for home.  We stopped only in Mesquite for a night before droning on down Interstate 15, arriving back to San Diego, pretty much wiped out, after 26 days on the road.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/10/autumn-road-trip Sun, 16 Oct 2016 18:37:09 GMT
Two Weeks In Oregon https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/8/two-weeks-in-oregon For some years the allure of Oregon’s waterfalls and ocean vistas had been tugging at my camera bag.  So it was with much satisfaction that Jane and I finally made the trek up Interstate 5 over the “grapevine” and through the Central Valley, to Oregon.  The plan was to spend about a week in the Columbia River Gorge photographing the numerous waterfalls that descend from the Cascade Range into the abrupt and steep gorge created by the Columbia River.  Then, we would venture to the coast for another week of exploring and photographing along the northern portion of Oregon's 363 mile coastline.

Our first “home” was the Comfort Inn in Troutdale.  Troutdale is situated at the west end of the Columbia River Gorge and it made a convenient location from which to make daily trips into the Gorge.  Troutdale also provided the many urban conveniences (restaurants, galleries, gift shops and grocery stores) needed to make our trip more enjoyable.  There are a number of very attractive waterfalls within about 30 miles of Troutdale and we attempted to see them all.  Of course, we did not realize, while optimistically planning this photo adventure, that all these glorious waterfalls start at a significant elevation above the Columbia River Gorge and that we had to hike up to them.  Some of these hikes were strenuous and exhausting, but the rewards of majestic, thundering water falls were ample.  Suffice to say that we got our daily dose of exercise during our visit to Oregon’s waterfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oregon coast is extensive and we planned to visit only the northerly portion.  Unlike the waterfalls, there was not a single, central location from which to day-trip.  Instead, we selected several advantageous locations along the coastline where the most scenic spots were to be found.  Jane found some great places that served as short term locations for our day-trips.  We stayed three nights each in Arch Cape, Tillamook, and Newport and found some very scenic areas to photograph.  Along Oregon's coastline, forested headlands terminated at wide, sandy beaches with jagged, photogenic sea stacks just offshore. 

Weather along the Oregon coast during our visit was similar to San Diego’s, lots of marine layer and overcast.  Those conditions made for cool days and drizzly nights but did not provide a very interesting backdrop for coastal photographs or sunsets.  We were disappointed several times as we waited patiently for sunset to occur only to find the sun obscured by overcast skies.  Not all was bad, however, and some memorable moments were experienced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After being immersed in nature for two carefree, tranquil weeks we faced the unpleasant task of heading home.  The journey home was a hard fought battle on Interstate 5 back to San Diego.  We paid the price of living in “America’s Finest City” as we toiled in bumper-to-bumper traffic, mile after arduous mile, with nary any relief until we left the freeway at our Scripps Ranch exit.

You can view images from this excursion by going to the Oregon 2016 Gallery.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/8/two-weeks-in-oregon Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:53:26 GMT
If This Is Tuesday, We Must Be In . . . https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/7/if-this-is-tuesday-we-must-be-in Perhaps this familiar saying is better phrased as “If this is June, we must be in Europe” because that is where Jane and I found ourselves for most of June.  Planning for this journey had been in the works for many, many months and finally the day arrived that we headed for Europe again.  It was an ambitious plan, starting with a visit to family in Rotterdam and from there to Vienna, Swiss and Bavarian Alps, and various other stops along the way.

We had been diligently saving our airplane mileage points and were able to obtain round trip business class tickets to Amsterdam.  I don’t mind telling you, business class was a mighty fine treat, especially for the long flights across the Atlantic.  The overall tone for the trip was set with a very pleasant and relaxing sojourn to the Delta lounge at Lindbergh field for coffee and croissants, where we awaited our first flight.  We were full of excitement and anticipation for this odyssey to explore new portions of Europe.  Let me just say at the outset that all our objectives of this trip were realized and none of our misgivings materialized.  In short, it was a fabulous adventure.

We arrived in Amsterdam the following morning where my nephew Wim was waiting to welcome us to Holland.  He drove us to his home in Rotterdam where we stayed with him and Verula, his girlfriend.  Wim and Verula hosted us for several days guiding us to some unique places in Holland we had not experienced before.  They are also urban city dwellers and loved showing us the new and old of Rotterdam.  We visited a vast, modern, mixed use, market hall as well as the historic Delft Harbor from which Puritans migrated to the America.  Of course the highlight of our visit to Rotterdam was seeing my spry, 91 year old, brother and spending some quality time with him.  I sure hope to have inherited the same genes he has, because he is in seriously good health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our most enjoyable stay, Wim drove us back to Schiphol Airport for our KLM flight to Vienna.  As always, Jane had found us a wonderful little hotel right on the pedestrian-only, inner circle of Vienna. The Pension Aviano  served as our home base for nine days as we roamed the narrow streets and boulevards of Vienna. We marveled at the old gothic and baroque architecture of its historic buildings and visited castles, palaces, chateaus, parliament, and city hall.   We also enjoyed the cultural side of Vienna with the Vienna Boys Choir at their special venue The Muth, a Mozart string ensemble performance at the renowned Palais Auersperg, a presentation of Der Rosenkavalier at the old Vienna opera, and, last be not least, the Lipizzaner stallions at the historic Hofburg Palace.  In addition to all that, we also tasted the epicurean delights of Vienna, including scrumptious deserts, at such old and famous cafes as Café Central, The Landtmann, Tivolerhof, and Café Mozart, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armed with GPS, Google Maps and hard copy paper maps, we left Vienna in our rental Europcar VW diesel, and headed for the Bavarian Alps.  On our way, we followed the Danube River through the picturesque Wachau Valley, visited the Melk Abby, and spent a couple of days in Salzburg enjoying some more Hapsburg history and Mozart music.  Eventually, although not without some navigation issues, we found our way to Schwangau, Germany where we spent some days visiting and touring Ludwig II of Bavaria’s Romanesque, Neuschwanstein castle.  Reportedly the inspiration for Walt Disney, this fairyland castle is one of Germany’s most visited tourist attractions, for which we can definitely vouch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Bavaria, we traveled to the majestic Swiss Alps.  After lunch in Luzern we arrived at the Hotel Staubbach in the mountain village of Lauterbrunnen.  It is difficult to describe the grandeur and splendor of this region.  Lauterbrunnen is situated at the head of a very narrow, steep sided, glacial valley with more than 70 waterfalls thundering from the snow clad mountains above to the verdant valley below.  The view from our hotel room window included Staubbach falls, one of the Alp’s tallest waterfalls.  Surrounding the valley are some of Switzerland’s most famous mountains, including the Jungfrau, MÖnck, and Eiger, renowned for its challenging and dangerous north face. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We explored the Lauterbrunnen area for four days and then continued our travels over the snow covered Sustenpass and Passo San Gottardo, two of Switzerland’s highest highway passes, to Samedan in the Engadin valley.  There we explored numerous quaint villages, enjoyed lunch in St. Moritz, and rode several high speed gondolas to view the Bernina mountain range with its many glaciers and Mount Bernina, the highest peak in the eastern Alps, at over 13,000 feet.  After 3 days in the Engadin valley, we reluctantly started back to Vienna to return the car and catch our flight back to Amsterdam and home.  About half way back to Vienna, we stopped for a night in Hallstatt Austria, a World Heritage Site, where salt has been mined by the Celts since the early Iron Age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an extraordinary vacation for us.  From the historic culture of the Hapsburg Empire to the serene alpine setting of green pastures and snow capped mountains, we will remember this trip always.  After a month’s travel, however, it felt good to be home again, with its familiar daily routines.  Although this was a non-photography vacation, we obviously ended with a lot of pictures from the smart phone and snap-shooter.  You can see more images if you go the Europe 2016 Gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/7/if-this-is-tuesday-we-must-be-in Sun, 17 Jul 2016 01:15:49 GMT
April Spring Break https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/4/april-spring-break If it is April, it must be spring break time.  And where does one go for spring break?  Florida of course!  That is exactly what the three of us did.  The three of us being Jane and me plus our photo buddy Bruce Hollingsworth.  We flew from San Diego to Miami for three weeks of bird photography and some sightseeing in the Sunshine State. 

A quick recap of the itinerary goes something like this: three days in the southern portion of Everglades National Park; three days in Naples to photograph at the Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and the Big Cypress National Reserve; then three days in Bradenton to photograph at a small mangrove island rookery in the Braden River, stopping in Venice on the way to visit the Audubon’s Venice Rookery; some touristy stuff followed with a two-day visit to the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral; a quick tour of Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and then four days in Sebastian to photograph osprey at Blue Cypress Lake, snail kites at Lake Kissimmee, and other birds at a small mangrove island at the end of the Fellsmere Grade Road, near Stick Marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, we did have time for lunch and dinner.  Not so much breakfast, however, as we were on the road at dawn each morning to get that sweet early light.  Jane had done a superb job in arranging our VRBO accommodations.  There was plenty of space at each location for us to hang out and relax after our exhausting days.  Bruce is a bit of a gourmet cook and we let him practice his art at preparing some great dinners for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photography started out a little slow, actually.  Turns out that the El Nino storms that should have come to San Diego may have ended up in Florida.  Florida reportedly had the wettest winter in decades.  All that rain water, on the flat terrain, ended up flowing south to the Everglades.  That in turn made it possible for birds to forage and feed throughout the park, as opposed to a few “water holes” during a normal dry winter.  We were very disappointed as all park rangers and local birders told us “you should have been here last year”.  We did get a few good shots in the Everglades, including some interesting shots of baby alligators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography opportunities improved as we traveled north.  Shooting at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island was a turning point with a higher number of birds, although still less than during a normal dry winter.  Although the birds were not as plentiful, the no-see-ums were out in force.  Even though we were lathered up with repellent, we all ended up with numerous bites that turned into nasty pocks.  Non-the-less, we were able to enjoy the antics of a reddish egret as it danced around with spread wings to spot and catch its meal.

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary was also disappointing.  The Audubon volunteers were very apologetic and directed us to the most likely locations to photograph birds.  One bright spot were the feeders just outside the visitor center.  There both the painted and indigo buntings posed for pictures.  It also turned out to be the only location where we were able to catch a little blue heron in conditions suitable for photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way to Bradenton, we stopped at the Venice Rookery administered by the Venice Area Audubon Society.  The rookery is situated on a small mangrove island in a small lake in the middle of an urbanized area.  The birds did not seem to mind to the hustle and bustle of commercial and residential developments around them.  Here we got our first real opportunity to see and photograph Florida’s famous bird population at a rookery.  There were egrets, heron, spoonbill, and ibis nesting on the small island, many with chicks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Bradenton, we had arranged three photography charters with Captain Bob Salyers (www.bobsalyers.com) on his photography friendly boat at a mangrove island rookery in the Braden River.  That also turned out exceptionally well with lots of birds in the air, on the nest, preening and courting.  In particular, the courtship and breeding behavior of the wood storks was intriguing and fascinating to observe.  While other birds were already raising their young, the storks were still engaged in their intimate mating ritual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We next traveled to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.  There we spend a couple of fun days touring the space center and reminiscing about the space age and man walking on the moon.  Jane had arranged for special tour tickets in advance, so we did not have to stand in long lines to get into the visitor center.  All three of us were impressed with the quality of exhibits, displays, and tours.  One of our tours included a visit to the actual control center that got the shuttle missions into the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next, and final, stop on this Florida expedition was Sebastian where we had arranged for four days of charters with Whistling Wings Photography (www.whistlingwingsphotography.com).   Before leaving Cape Canaveral, however, we made a slight detour to photograph at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  Early in the morning of our visit, on the Black Point Wildlife Drive, there was no wind and water on the adjacent ponds was still and dark.  These conditions made for some very strong reflection shots, especially of a reddish egret foraging on the pond.

From Sebastian, Ron Bielefeld, of Whistling Wings Photography, took us to some very interesting locations to photograph from his boat.  We made several trips to Blue Cypress Lake, home to hundreds of nesting osprey.  He also guided us to Lake Kissimmee, about an hour and half from Sebastian, to photograph the endangered snail kite.  My understanding is that only a few hundred breeding pairs of these birds are left in the U.S.  At Lake Kissimmee, where we photographed the kites, Ron estimated that there were only about six or ten pair.  Since the number of birds hunting for snails was small, our “keeper” rate was commensurately low, and most of the birds were female.  I had my heart set on some great in-flight shots of the slate-blue males.  But that was not to be.  The birds kept too far from the boat for good in-flight shots and even the perched birds were just out of range for full frame images.  We also photographed at a rookery on small mangrove island at the end of the Fellsmere Grade Road, near Stick Marsh.  That provided another opportunity to find birds on nests with eggs and young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sebastian we traveled back to Miami to end our birding journey to Florida.  We choose Highway 1 in order to do some sightseeing along the way, traveling through Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood on our way to the Miami airport.  We were in awe with the number of high rise condos and resorts along the way.  It was enough to convince us that Florida was not the place for us, even though there is a Walgreen or CVS drug store on nearly every corner.

Images from this trip our located in the Florida Birding gallery.  Enjoy!

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/4/april-spring-break Thu, 28 Apr 2016 15:24:25 GMT
The Super Bloom https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/3/the-super-bloom According to the Death Valley National Park Service, it occurs about every ten to fifteen years.  The last one was in 2005.  We are talking about a “super bloom” of desert wildflowers.  Being one of the driest places on earth, there is precious little rainfall in Death Valley to germinate wildflower seeds.  But every decade or so, there is sufficient rain, at the appropriate time of year, to create a super bloom.  When I found out that this year was expected to be an outstanding year for wildflowers in Death Valley, I had to go.  Jane agreed that a super bloom was not be missed and came along as did my photo buddy Bruce Hollingsworth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time I found out about the explosion of wildflowers in Death Valley, the event had already made national news, and I could not get reservations in the Park.  We ended up staying in Beatty, Nevada, and made daily excursions from there into the Park.  That turned out well for us since there were spectacular displays of wildflowers along the Beatty Cutoff Road in the Park.  The preponderance of flowers was the Desert Gold Sunflower.  This plant has a single stalk with multiple blight yellow flowers and grows in a scattered pattern.  When seen from a distance, however, the multitude of yellow flowers form vast golden fields of color on the desert floor.

The super bloom was a heyday for botanists since many species of plants only germinate during these epoch events.  We observed many varieties of plants and flowers, but many were so tiny that we could not photograph them effectively.  That did not stop us from trying, however, as we pulled out all our various photographic equipment “toys” (including cell phones) and totally emerged ourselves into the experience of photographing this unique event.  Images from this trip can be found in the National Parks gallery under Death Valley National Park.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/3/the-super-bloom Mon, 07 Mar 2016 23:10:38 GMT
Chasing The Iconic Image https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/2/chasing-the-iconic-image I don’t know about other photographers, but I am always impressed with special, unique images that I also want to have in my portfolio.  In that sense, you could call me an “iconic image” chaser.  One of those iconic images is Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park.  When evening sunlight illuminates the 3,000 foot high granite monolith called El Capitan, yellow and orange light is reflected back into the falling water of Horsetail Fall mimicking a lava flow.  That special condition can only occur when three natural elements come together.  First, the sun has to be in the proper location on the horizon.  That only occurs twice a year, once for about two weeks in February and again in October as the sun cycles through the seasons.  The sun's position is highly predictable.  What is not predictable is if the sky will be clear of overcast or clouds that block sunlight from reaching El Capitan.  So, the second condition is a clear sky.  The final condition is that there has to be water flowing off El Capitan to create Horsetail Fall.  Normally that only occurs in February when winter snow melt creates the waterfall.  In October the ephemeral flow does not occur.

Last year I was gung ho to photograph the “fire fall” and made reservations to stay in Yosemite National Park for several days during February when Horsetail Fall would light up.  It was a disappointing venture.  Due to the continuing drought in California, there was no water flowing from the small watershed atop El Capitan to create the fire fall.  With double the enthusiasm, I traveled to Yosemite again this February to chase the iconic image of Horsetail Fall on fire.  I had called a Park Ranger ahead of time and knew that water was flowing in Horsetail Fall.  With reassurance that the critical element of water was present, I had only to hope that the sun would not be obscured by clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, lucky me, for two of the four evenings that I was in position to take my iconic shot, all the elements worked in my favor.  I was at the right place, at the right time, the sky was clear and Horsetail Fall flowed like lava.  It was a very special feeling to see this unique, natural phenomenon let alone photograph it.  But let me also mention, that I was certainly not the only one experiencing this rare event.  There were throngs of photographers and onlookers.  To be set up at a location from which the waterfall could be photographed required an arrival at least three hours before sunset.  I brought a sandwich and folding chair to await the golden hour and got my iconic shot.  Images of the fire fall are located in the National Park gallery under Yosemite National Park. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/2/chasing-the-iconic-image Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:04:56 GMT
February In Barrie, Ontario, Canada https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/2/february-in-barrie-ontario-canada  

Yes, Jane and I ventured into Canada during the dead of winter.  We traveled to Barrie, Ontario, to photograph and video snowy owls.  The owls were obviously smarter than we were.  They came south for the winter from the extreme cold of the arctic tundra.  We, on the other hand, left the warm climes of San Diego to experience the cold north.  Average temperatures in Barrie during February range from 29 to -11 degrees Fahrenheit.  Average snowfall is about 15 inches in February.  With some trepidation, Jane and I packed all the warm clothes we had and loaded up on chemical hand warmers to stave off the expected cold temperatures and snowy conditions.  The weather, however, turned out far less extreme then we had anticipated.  Temperatures were balmy, by Canadian standards, and snow had pretty much melted away while we were in Barrie.  Temperatures were actually in the low 30’s and 40’s during the day and snow was only found in patches on the fields where the snowy owl hunt. 

The unusually warm weather created some problems for our photography.  Without a cover of snow, the owls were able to find plenty of prey among the open farm fields and were less inclined to be in the open where we could find and photograph them.  Above normal temperatures had warmed the plowed farm fields, turning the furrows into soft, spongy clay that stuck to our boots like glue.  Considering that weather conditions could have been much worse, Jane and I did not complain too much about the mild temperatures.  We brought most of our chemical warmers back home, ready for a future cold country adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our local guides had scouted the farm fields before we arrived and knew where some the snowy owls had established territories.  However, the milder conditions meant we still had to diligently search for them, traversing miles of back roads to locate the few cooperative owls.  Most of the photography was “birds in flight”, one of my more challenging endeavors.  None the less, I did manage to bring home some keepers and you can see those in the Snowy Owl Gallery.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/2/february-in-barrie-ontario-canada Mon, 08 Feb 2016 23:26:56 GMT
One Trip Two State Parks https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/1/two-state-parks We did not waste any time in starting our 2016 travel schedule.  Early on New Year's Day, January first, Jane and I headed north on Interstate 15 to photograph at two separate state parks.  The first was the Valley of Fire in Nevada and second was Snow Canyon in Utah.  The Valley of Fire proved to be a fun place to hang out and explore.  With the help of a newly acquired Garmin GPS from Santa and coordinates found on the internet, we were able to find and photograph many obscure arches and colorful eroded formations.  In addition to amazing geologic features, we also encountered a small herd of full-curl bighorn sheep.  Although pretty shy, they did allow us to approach close enough for some good images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our explorations in the Valley of Fire, we headed further north to St. George, Utah, and Snow Canyon State Park.  In St. George, the weather turned on us and we had to cope with several days of dark, rainy skies.  Rain turned to snow at higher elevations and we were able to capture snow on the Red Mountains surrounding Snow Canyon.  By the way, Snow Canyon was named for Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, early Mormon pioneers in the St. George area.  It actually seldom snows in Snow Canyon.  So, even with inclement weather we were able to make pictures of a unique and seldom seen setting.  We also had an opportunity to photograph some Ancestral Puebloan rock writing among the rocky ledges adjacent the Santa Clara River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from this trip are located in the State Parks group under Valley of Fire and Snow Canyon.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2016/1/two-state-parks Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:11:04 GMT
End Of Year Hurrah https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/12/end-of-year-hurray Twenty-fifteen was a most successful year with lots of wonderful travel experiences and, let me not forget, a total backyard redo.  It is hard to say which we enjoyed more.  The backyard is a pastoral sight to behold each time we look outside.  Since we really are home more than away (hard to believe), that investment will be appreciated many years into the future. 

To celebrate the end of 2015, we decided to enjoy a long weekend visiting museums and attractions in Los Angeles.  Some might say that it is not possible to have an enjoyable stay in busy Los Angeles, but Jane and I did very much enjoy our exploration of the City of Angels.  Our home-away-from-home for this long weekend get-away was the Hotel Angelenos, just off the I-405 at Sunset Boulevard.

We did have some specific objectives.  First, we wanted to tour the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and enjoy a performance in this acoustically excellent venue.  Our second objective was to spend some time at both of the J. Paul Getty museums, the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.  Other than that, we meandered about a bit, visiting the La Brea Tar Pits, Santa Monica, downtown, and Larchmont Village where we had an excellent lunch at Louise’s Trattoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

User comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For night time entertainment, we ventured to the nondescript Gardenia Room Restaurant and Lounge.  This little know gem of entertainment is a classic piano bar lounge where we enjoyed the musical production “Little Things You Do Together” performed by Vincenzo Lodato, Angela Wolcott, each of whom have performed in numerous Broadway productions, and Nancy Dussault, perhaps better known as Murial Rush from the TV series “Too Close For Comfort” and an original co-host for the Good Morning, America program.  I go for this kind of up-close and personal style of entertainment, just three vocalists and a piano.  

To cap off 2015, Bruce Hollingsworth and I traveled to Morro Bay on California's central coast.  Our objectives were to photograph migrating monarch butterflies at a grove of cypress and eucalyptus trees in Pismo Beach and giant elephant seals at their Piedras Blancas colony.  Morro Bay is situated about half way between these photo locations.  

Early morning light was best for photography at the elephant seal colony and late morning light best at the monarch grove when the sun was able to penetrate the tree canopy.  Our days were planned around these time sensitive events.  We were up before dawn to be at the seal colony when the sun broke over the distant hills to the east.  Then, an hours's drive back south to Pismo Beach to catch sun lit clusters of monarch butterflies clinging from eucalyptus branches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoons were spent looking for photo ops around Morro Bay.  There we found a long, wide, sandy beach filled with shorebirds and we were able to creep close enough to capture images of the diminutive sanderling.  We also photographed along the Morro Bay State Park boardwalk.  There we photographed the even smaller blue-gray gnatcatcher.  Our leisurely stroll along the boardwalk included a surprise when a cautious coyote came sauntering towards us through the sparse brush adjacent the boardwalk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hunting CoyoteHunting CoyoteHealthy Adult Coyote Hunting Through A Thicket Of Brush Blue-Gray GnatcatcherBlue-Gray GnatcatcherBlue-Gray Gnatcatcher In Winter Plumage Perched On Flowering Bush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a short, five day, trip, this turned out to be a productive venture.  I certainly added some "keepers" to my collection of images.  Images from this trip can be found in the Piedras Blances gallery in the Wildlife Refuges group and the Butterfly gallery.

BEST WISHES FOR ALL IN 2016

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/12/end-of-year-hurray Thu, 24 Dec 2015 18:07:18 GMT
If This Is October, We Must Be In Costa Rica https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/10/if-this-is-october-we-must-be-in-costa-rica October found Jane and me in the high altitude cloud forest of Costa Rica.  We were on a hummingbird photography tour with David Hemmings, a Canadian wildlife photographer (www.naturesphotoadventures.com).    Neil Solomon, a fellow photographer from the Photonaturalists Camera Club, had turned me on to this opportunity to photograph some new species of hummers and he and his spouse joined us on this adventure.  Gene Davis, an old photo-buddy, had also signed up.  So it was almost like a private group of friends enjoying the remote outback of Costa Rica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the trip highlights was a peak at the caldera of an active volcano.  Before heading to our photography destination, we made a side trip to the Poás Volcano.  It is only one of Costa Rica’s many active volcanoes along the Ring Of Fire.  Fortunately, only steam was escaping from this caldera during our visit, although there were many signs giving evacuation advice should a more serious eruption occur.

 

 

Most of the photography was accomplished at and around the Paraiso Quetzal Lodge (www.paraisoquetzal.com) located at nearly 9,000 feet in the cloud forest.  Dave set up his multi-flash equipment at one of the lodge's hummingbird patios where we were able to get some pretty fantastic shots of hummingbirds feeding at various flower arrangements that were part of the setup.  My favorites were when several hummers were photographed together in one shot.  Suffice to say that I was able to add several hummingbird species to my list of bird photographs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weather did play a role during this photo tour.  Several times the morning clouds were so low that photography was not possible and in the afternoon, rain played a similar role.  Never the less, trudging through steep, muddy terrain, with heavy telephoto lenses on tripods, and hampered by slick exposed roots creating constant trip hazards, we were able to locate (with the help of two exceptionally talented local guides) the very photogenic Resplendent Quetzal.  This colorful red and green trogon-like bird with its long tail feathers prefers to perch deep in the shelter of moss covered foliage of Costa Rica’s rain forest.  This, of course, made locating and photographing this target birds a real challenge.  One morning, we intrepid photographers, under the guidance of our talented local assistants, were able to scramble along an extremely steep, slippery hillside to photography the elusive bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane and I very much enjoyed our stay in Costa Rica.  I had been once before, but this was the first for Jane and she’s game for going back at some future time.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/10/if-this-is-october-we-must-be-in-costa-rica Wed, 21 Oct 2015 21:18:21 GMT
September Road Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/10/september-road-trip Three thousand five hundred miles and twenty days, that was our Montana/Wyoming road trip for September.  It was a very diverse trip with stops at several wildlife locations for photography.  During the journey we enjoyed seeing a wide variety of wild animals and birds, including: big imposing bison, delicate pronghorn, big eared mule deer, white tailed deer, big-rack elk, full-curl bighorn sheep, high altitude mountain goats, nervous prairie dogs, free roaming wild mustangs, a scurrying black bear, nesting bald eagles, migrating Canada geese and sand hill cranes, noisy Steller’s jays, a lone burrowing owl, chirping meadowlarks, a cautious muskrat, tiny painted turtles, an unexpected osprey, elegant trumpeter swans, a fleeting Clark’s nutcracker, a colorful varied thrush, the aquatic dipper, fishing mergansers, along with various ducks and other LGB’s (little gray birds).  It was quite the menagerie of American wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was in rural Charlo, Montana where we had rented a small, remote cabin (www.vrbo/3435680).  From there, we day-tripped to the surrounding wildlife habitats, Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge, Kicking Horse Reservoir, McDonald Lake, and the National Bison Range.  We spent most of our time at the Bison Range (www.fws.gov/refuge/national_bison_range) because it had by far the most photogenic subjects.  There were bison, of course, but also pronghorn, deer, and elk, all fairly close to the road.  At the Kicking Horse Reservoir we unexpectedly encountered some muskrats in a small pond adjacent to the reservoir.  From a distance, through the field glasses, we could see them clearly swimming in the pond.  When I got closer to photograph them with the long lens, they quickly headed for their shore-line burrows.  I managed only one keeper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also at this small pond, and others, we noticed several little snouts sticking up out of the water.  After several careful observations, we concluded that they belonged to small turtles.  Some further research yielded a surprise.  It was not any run of the mill turtle, but what we found was the small, painted turtle. indigenous to western Montana.

From this remote retreat in the Mission Valley, west of the Mission Range and south of Flathead Lake, we headed to our own cabin in West Glacier, Montana (www.glacierwildernessresort.com) from where we day-tripped into Glacier National Park, but mostly just kicked back and relaxed for about nine days.  In Glacier, I concentrated my photography on panoramas.  I wanted to practice to see what makes the best panoramic composition.  My conclusion, I need more practice.  I did learn a lot and that always means I need to purchase more gear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left our place in Montana and drove to Wapiti, Wyoming to spend a few days with Don Getty and Joan to photograph the wild mustangs at the Bureau of Land Management, McCullough Peaks Wild Horse Herd Management Area.  Don had assured me that he had never been skunked photographing the wild horses there.  Well, he was not skunked this time either.  We went out to the Management Area on three separate days and saw horses each time.  The second day out, however, proved to be a trying one.  We did not spot any horses until we had been driving on bumpy and dusty dirt tracks for nearly four hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wild Horse Herd Management Area is immense, nearly 110,000 acres.  I don’t really know how big that is, but it sounds big and we spent hours driving the dirt tracks looking for horses.  Finding them we did and the photography was great.  There are suggested rules about keeping an appropriate distance from the wild horses so as not to impact their natural behavior.  The horses, evidently, don’t know about those rules because they came so close to us, that we had to change our behavior.  The photography was good and the companionship with Don and Joan was outstanding.  Jane and I shared a wonderful time with them.  Inevitably, however, it became time to head back to San Diego so we embarked on the long, two day drive home after an all-around great road trip.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/10/september-road-trip Thu, 15 Oct 2015 17:28:22 GMT
Silver Salmon Creek Lodge – Déjà Vu https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/8/silver-salmon-creek-lodge-d-j-vu This August Jane and I found ourselves once again at the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.  It was Déjà Vu all over again.  We were there in 2013 and decided to make a return visit.  Dave and Joanne Coray and their friendly staff are outstanding hosts and we had a wonderful stay at this cozy lodge.  Access is by bush plan from Anchorage with a landing on the beach along the shores of the Cook Inlet.  The journey started with adverse weather conditions in Anchorage resulting in our flight being delayed several hours.  After arriving at the lodge, however, we enjoyed several days of sunshine.

As it was in 2013, the objective of this short, 5-day jaunt, was to photograph the Alaska Coastal Brown Bears, aka as grizzlies.  In August there is a Silver Salmon run which draws the bears to the creek for some high energy fishing.  Salmon migrate from the Cook Inlet to spawn along Silver Salmon Creek and its tributaries.  This time bears were not as numerous as during our trip in July, 2013.  But there was plenty of photo action with bears splashing after the swift fish.  We also were able to observe and photograph young cubs play-fighting as their mother fished for their dinner.  As always in the Alaskan wild, Jane and I had a great time enjoying the diversity and beauty of nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On this trip, there was also the opportunity to sail out to Duck Island on the lodge motorboat.  Duck Island is very small, about the size of a city block in San Diego.  Small as it may be, it is a haven for seabirds, particularly horned puffins.  Photographing from the boat, with substantial surf and swells, proved to be difficult resulting in only a few keepers.  After landing, some good shots of puffins perched near their burrows, doing what puffins do, were possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the images from this return trip to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge as much I enjoyed obtaining them.  You can also refer back to the 2013 gallery to see what difference a month makes in the life of a grizzly.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/8/silver-salmon-creek-lodge-d-j-vu Mon, 24 Aug 2015 22:43:08 GMT
July Doldrums https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/8/zen-test If it’s July it must be home improvements month.  Yes, most of July was spent redoing our backyard.  The project started June 15th, right after we returned from Montreal and the Canadian Grand Prix, and was completed on July 23rd.  It all began when one of the pipes to the pool sprung a leak and we had to tear up some of the backyard hardscape for the repair.  Never hesitating to make a big project out of a little one, we opted to just redo the entire yard.  The final results are wonderful, and breathed new life into our enjoyment of the backyard.  It was a comprehensive project and included replacing the wooden, termite infested, patio cover with an aluminum one; replacing cracked pool coping and tile; and installing artificial turf to replace the aged hardscape.  And last, but not least, we also decided to add air conditioning to our home.  We are loving it all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography wise, things were a little slow in July.  One bright spot, I was published again.  Nature Photography ran my story about the Black Bears of Anan Creek and Watching Backyard Birds choose one of my images for its August cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did manage to get some night photography practice.  I call it practice because my images don’t quite come out the way I would like.  First, I wanted to get a full moon setting over the ocean.  In San Diego, with its almost perpetual evening marine layer, that turned out to be a bust.  Then, when I tried for a full moon rising over the city skyline, the morning was overcast.  So those ideas were a total flop with no actual shots at all.  I did make it out to Borrego Springs, with its dark night sky, for some Milky Way photography.  I considered the results mixed so I will try that again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, in early August, I did get some nice images of butterflies in the wild when I went out with the Photo Naturalists Camera Club to the Bird and Butterfly Garden at San Diego County's Tijuana River Valley Regional Park.  It's amazing what I will photograph when I'm hard up.  Can you believe spiders and grasshoppers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the July doldrums are over, I’m looking forward to a more robust photography schedule for the remainder of the year. That will start soon with another trip to the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska. 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) backyard butterflies construction milky way photography publish remodel travel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/8/zen-test Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:07:13 GMT
Grand Prix of Canada https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/6/formula-1-in-montreal June found us in Montreal, Canada.  Jane and I had become interested in Formula 1 car racing some years ago.  Our good departed friend, Lee Robinson, was an avid fan and got us interested.  Each Formula 1 season, as we watched races on television, we would daydream about actually going to a race.  That dream came true this June.  We chose the Grand Prix of Canada because we longed for that international flavor that is Formula 1.  We certainly got that in Montreal where the primary language is french.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time browsing the restaurants and sights of Montreal.  But, of course, the real treat was going to our first Grand Prix race.  We had purchased weekend tickets for Friday practice, Saturday qualifying, and Sunday racing.  Jane, the travel wiz had found comfortable accommodations near a metro stop that went directly to the race course.  We had not been in crowds like that since we were at the Fourth of July near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.  We had a hoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane and I each have our favorite drivers.  Jane favors Sebastian Vettel, who drives for Ferrari.  My unsung hero is Valtteri Bottas, driving for Williams.  We both like Fernando Alonso.  He was previously with Ferrari but now drives for McLaren with a car that is not competitive.  Unfortunately, none of our favorites did well in this race with the exception of Valtteri Bottas who finished third and made it onto the podium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Canada Formula 1 Grand Prix Montreal cars racing https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/6/formula-1-in-montreal Wed, 24 Jun 2015 19:34:37 GMT
Great Basin National Park https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/5/great-basin-national-park Little did I know, before embarking upon my latest photo journey, that there was another great desert in the western United States.  I have frequently photographed in the iconic areas of the Mojave and Sonora deserts, and the desert-like Colorado Plateau.  But I had never thought of the area between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountains as a desert.  But that vast geographic area, defined as the Basin and Range Province, is known as the Great Basin Desert and that is where I spent the first week in May photographing.

Tourist accommodations and facilities are few and far between in this inhospitable and isolated area.  U.S. Highway 50 traverses this ocean of ranges and basins and is known as the “loneliest road in America”.  My destination was Great Basin National Park (www.nps.gove/grba), the only national park in Nevada.  I had never been there and was motivated by its remoteness and the potential of photographing inside Lehman Caves that are included in the park.  The first week in May turned out to be a bit early to visit Great Basin National Park.  One of the park’s primary attractions, Wheeler Peak, is some 13,000 feet high and the road up to the high elevation trail heads had not been cleared of snow.

This was a photo excursion that was shared with Bruce Hollingsworth.  Plans for the trip had been made well in advance and I had arranged to stay at the “Home On The Range” in Baker, Nevada (www.endofthetrailer.com) only about six miles from Great Basin National Park.  For the area, this was by far the best accommodation available, two bedrooms, full kitchen, super-fast wifi, and a wonderful “trail boss”, Margaret Pense.  Since we were early in the season and the high elevation roads were not open, Margaret had great suggestions for other day trips which Bruce and I gladly accepted.  So besides photographing in the park, we also explored Cottonwood Wash, an area of Desert Archaic petroglyphs on the National Register of Historic Places, and Crystal Peak, a white, volcanic, rhyolite tuff, mountain in the Wah-Wah Wilderness Area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best tip Margaret had given me, though, was that the Park Service offered private, after-hours, photo tours of Lehman Caves.  I had submitted an application, paid the fees and Bruce and I were escorted into the cave, with tripods and flashes, after hours, by Dustin our assigned Park Ranger.  We spent three hours with Dustin photographing to our heart’s content.  WOW!!!  How fun was that?  All in all, we had so much fun that Bruce and I discussed the possibility of a return trip to this isolated part of the American west.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Crystal Peak Great Basin Desert Great Basin National Park Lehman Caves Nevada Wah-Wah Wilderness Area Wheeler Peak https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/5/great-basin-national-park Sun, 10 May 2015 00:44:09 GMT
Grand Staircase - Esacalante https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/4/grand-staircase---esacalante In 1998, some seventeen years ago, Jane and I rented a four-wheel drive Blazer in San Diego and spent two weeks touring the backroads of southern Utah.  That vacation included travel through the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, created less than two years prior to our trip.  Recalling the adventure and the amazing scenery of that first journey, I had wanted to revisit and photograph the landscapes and arches of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.  And, that is exactly what I did in April, 2015.

The original plan was that Jane would join me on this excursion.  Then, while I was deep into planning the routes and photo locations, Jane had a change of heart and decided she would prefer to stay home.  Bruce Hollingsworth, who frequently joins me on photo trips, had commitments that prevented him from coming along.  During my research I had come across Jens Munthe, the author of a book descibing many of the arches found in the Monument and that I wanted to photograph.  Since I did not think it wise to wander in the desert looking for arches by myself, Jens kindly offered to guide me to the photo sites I had selected.  In the meantime, Bruce had cleared his calendar and was able to join me after all.

The Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument is a vast, 1.9 million acre, wilderness.  There are only a few washboard encrusted dirt roads.  For our excursion into this immense, remote area, I had selected to stay four days in the small community of Escalante and concentrate photography along the primitive Hole-In-The-Rock Road.  Accommodations were at the Circle D motel (www.escalantecircledmotel.com) a very nice, refurbished property with a very energetic and helpful host.  After exploring along the Hole-In-The-Rock Road, we moved to an even smaller community, Cannonville, to photograph along the Cottonwood Wash Road for three days and stayed at the Grand Staircase Inn (www.grandstaircaseinn.com).  Also an adequate accommodation but don't stay on the third floor if you have a lot of gear like we did.  There was no elevator but the staff was very helpful and informative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so grateful to Jens for all his advice and help during the planning and implementation of my trip.  Even though there were now two of us, Bruce and I concluded that we would not have found all the arches and slot canyons we photographed if it had not been for Jens.  On our very first day out, Jens led us to three very photogenic arches that had not even been on my radar.  The most fascinating site we visited, however, was the Peek-A-Boo slot canyon.  This excursion began with a moderately challenging hike along a poorly cairned trail.  Thanks to Jens, we had no trouble locating the slot entrance.  The difficulty was in actually entering the canyon which required scrambling up a steep, 15 foot, slick-rock dropoff.  After some hardy attempts, none of us could struggle our way up the dropoff, especially with camera gear, even though handholds had been carved in the slick-rock sandstone.

Fortunately, Jens knew of a back way into the canyon and that is where we ended up entering it.  Peek-A-Boo is not a very long canyon but it is a very, very narrow one.  Even turned sideways, there were spots where we had to push and scrape ourselves through the confining red, sandstone walls of the canyon.  The ultimate reward for all this strenuous effort was the ability to photograph a double arch inside the slot canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As per usual, not everything was perfect.  We had several days of very strong winds with gusts up to 45 MPH creating dust and aggravation as we hiked along sandy trails or attempted to set up for a photo shoot.  We tried as best we could to protect our camera gear from the swirling sand and dust but still had to use compressed gas in a can to blow the grit off the cameras, lenses and tripods.  We also had snow.  Not much, but enough to keep us off some of the dirt-clay tracks we had to traverse to reach our photo sites.  None-the-less, the venture into the canyons of the Grand Staircase was amazingly successful with new discoveries and amazing photo ops every day.

Images from this journey can be found in the Grand Staircase - Escalante gallery.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Cannonville Cottonwood Wash Road Escalante Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Hole In The Rock Road Utah arch arches natural bridge slot canyon travel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/4/grand-staircase---esacalante Sun, 26 Apr 2015 22:37:39 GMT
Eagles & Aurora https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/homer-and-fairbanks  

For a southern California boy, it was extremely cold during my recent trip to Homer and Fairbanks, Alaska.  Homer was my destination for photographing the iconic American Bald Eagle.  Day time temperatures were in the low to mid-teens.  I was bundled to the hilt and loaded with chemical warmers.  I had come on a 5-day photo workshop with Dale Franz (www.franzfoto.com) and four other wildlife photographers.  The objective was to photograph eagles in their winter range along the southern end of the Kenai Mountains, across Kachemak Bay from Homer.  Each morning and afternoon the six of us we would depart from the boat harbor, at the end of the Homer Spit, and motor across Kachemak Bay in the utility landing craft “XTRATUFF” piloted by Captain Kevin, to China Poot Bay for two to three hours of photography.  Our photo sessions were controlled by weather, primarily wind.  The crossing to China Poot Bay normally took about twenty, or so, minutes when conditions on the bay were good.  The ride was rough and longer when the tide and wind were against us.  Dale and Kevin always worked hard to position “XTRATUFF” in good light for photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beluga Lake Lodge (www.belugalakelodging.com) was our home for the duration of the workshop.  We spent a lot of time in our rooms.  Typically we were up and out for breakfast by 7:00 AM, then back to the room for added layers and hand warmers for a departure from the dock around 9:00 AM, depending on whether it was sunny or cloudy.  We would return from the morning shoot around one, remove some layers before heading to lunch and then back to the rooms for downloading and napping until about three or four before heading back out for the afternoon shoot.  March is still the off-season in Homer and many establishments were closed so our lunch and dinner choices were limited but Fat Olive’s was my personal favorite for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Initially we had some great sunny weather with fantastic early light and a great sunset.  Our last two sessions, however, were aborted due to heavy winds and rain.  By then temperatures were more tolerable but we could not cross the choppy and white-capped Kachemak Bay, even in the XTRATUFF.  Consequently, we spent a lot more idle time in our rooms.  By then most of us had at least ten thousand images saved on our hard drives and we spent that idle time reviewing the results of our efforts and deleting thousands of unacceptable shots.  I don’t mind confessing that I had started with over 11,000 raw images and ended up with about 2,000 after deleting out-of-focus, clipped wing, and butt shots.  You will be happy to know I whittled those down to about 35 true “keepers” that are in my gallery.

After Homer, I was off to Fairbanks for the aurora borealis.  I have long had a desire to try my hand at photographing the northern lights and, since I was already in Alaska, took advantage of the opportunity.  Fairbanks is in the auroral zone and known for good northern light displays.  There are a number of photographers that conduct aurora workshops in Fairbanks.  I had arranged with Ron Murray (www.ronmurrayphoto.com) for three nights of aurora photography.  In Fairbanks, like Homer, I also spent a lot of time in my room at the Westmark.  The drill was a bit different, however.  Here Ron and his wife Marketa would pick me up around 10:00 PM and we would head off, with the other photographers in his group, to a remote location outside Fairbanks to photograph the northern lights.  Usually, by about 11:00 PM we would set up and wait for the “show” to begin.

During our first night out there was a spectacular aurora display.  The green waves of light filled the sky, weaving, dancing and pulsating above us.  The results of the solar winds were all around us.  I was constantly changing camera positions to capture the ever changing display.  It was not easy photographing in the dark.  Although the green aurora light was bright enough to cast a light shadow onto the ground, it was still too dark to easily compose a picture through the viewfinder.  Difficult or not, I was happily taking as many shots as I could and not caring too much about composition.  The aurora display ebbed and flowed throughout the night and culminated in a magnificent finale with green and maroon lights streaking across the sky.  That night I was returned back to my hotel room at 5:30 in the morning.  What a night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many more aurora displays over the next two nights, but none could compare with the first night.  I concentrated more on composition on the following nights and even attempted some star circle exposures.  Those were also difficult due to wind, which caused the pine trees to sway back and forth and be fuzzy in the final stacked image.  Because the green aurora light was relatively bright, the stars are dim and do not stand out sharply against the sky.  It was fun trying and that’s what it is all about.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alaska American Bald Eagle Fairbanks Homer aurora borealis eagles northern lights https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/homer-and-fairbanks Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:16:29 GMT
Quick Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/quick-trip I have been planning a trip to Homer, Alaska, to photograph bald eagles for some time and that trip is now just around the corner.  So, my thoughts had been focused on getting ready for that new adventure.  Meanwhile, a note on my calendar reminded me to check how the spring wildflower bloom was proceeding.  Normally that bloom would occur in late March or early April and I had somewhat planned on going to the desert to photograph wildflowers at that time.  Much to my surprise, then, I learned that the rains we enjoyed in February, followed by the warm spell, had resulted in early germination of wildflower seeds and that the desert around Borrego Springs was actually starting to bloom.

Obviously I could not wait until I returned from Alaska to photograph these emerging desert spring flowers.  I had to do it now, before leaving.  A quick trip was called for.  So, I packed my camera gear and headed for Borrego Springs early last Friday for just one day of shooting.  The quick trip turned out better than I expected.  Over the last few years, I had become conditioned to the lack of spring flowers in Borrego so seeing the pallet of color that confronted me along Henderson Canyon Road was a wonderful surprise.  This quick, one day trip resulted in some very nice images as can be seen in my latest gallery.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/quick-trip Sun, 08 Mar 2015 21:10:28 GMT
Yosemite & Sequoia https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/yosemite-sequoia The fire fall eluded us.  We had ventured to the Yosemite Valley to photograph the "fire fall" made famous by renowned photographer Galen Rowell.  During the later part of February, on clear evenings, when the sun sets at the proper longitude, its golden rays illuminate the granite wall of the El Capitan monolith in Yosemite National Park.  In turn, the alpenglow from the rock is reflected into the watery spray from Horsetail Falls that cascade down the face of El Capitan.  This February, however, mother nature conspired against us.  It requires a clear sky to trigger the fire fall effect.  Our fear was that skies would be overcast.  Not so, we had sparkling clear skies to the west.  But, there was no water draining from the top of El Cap and, consequently, no waterfall and no fire fall.

In the hope of replicating Galen Rowell's famous photograph, Jane and I had planned a week's vacation with Bruce Hollingsworth and his wife Debbie to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.  We had planned to be in Yosemite for several days to maximize the chance of clear skies.  The thought that California's drought would dry up Horsetail Falls never occurred.  Making up for this disappointment, the four of us enjoyed an expensive night out at the Ahwahnee Lodge.  Bruce and I did pursue some photography in the valley but our hearts were not in it.  In February, Yosemite needs snow to create interesting photographic compositions and there was none.  Along the Merced River, with its low-water cascades and rocky shoreline, we did find some interesting scenes to photograph.  Since there was no water to generate Horsetail Falls, we spent our time instead photographing Half Dome at twilight.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After three days we left the warm, snow-less Yosemite Valley for the higher elevations of Sequoia National Park.  Jane and I have fond memories of a previous visit to Sequoia when there had been lots of snow.  Although cooler than Yosemite, Sequoia also offered no snowy compositions.  The long term weather forecast predicted an approaching storm that could bring snow.  The front desk clerk at the Wuksachi Lodge did not express much confidence in the veracity of the forecast.  Much to our surprise, however, it began to snow on our second day and it snowed almost continuously for some forty-eight hours, accumulating more than two feet of dry, fluffy snow.  The ghost trees, that Jane and I had hoped to see during our January trip to Yellowstone, we found instead in Sequoia.  With all this snow, we decided to stay an extra day to soak in the beauty of this newly created winter wonderland.  Unfortunately, Bruce and Debbie had commitments in San Diego and could not stay.  After installing chains on Bruce's vehicle, they headed down the mountain as Jane and I enjoyed libations and watched big snow flakes float down from the grey sky through the large lounge windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) El Capitan Half Dome Horsetail Falls Sequoia Yosemite snow winter https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/3/yosemite-sequoia Sun, 01 Mar 2015 17:32:40 GMT
Yellowstone In Winter https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/2/yellowstone-in-winter  

Yellowstone In Winter

Déjà vu, all over again.  That’s how it was in Yellowstone National Park this winter.  Jane and I had been to Yellowstone in the winter of 2011and here we were again, in 2015, all bundled up and ready for the cold.  We had come on a photography workshop with seven other hardy folks led by Charles Glatzer, a most energetic and enthusiastic photographer (www.shootthelight.com).  As in 2011, we had a wonderful time exploring the winter wonderland of Yellowstone, although this time the weather was milder with less snow than we had hoped for (it's all about climate change).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter in Yellowstone is a big tourist draw and there were lots of people at the lodges we stayed.  Some were cross-country skiers, others wildlife enthusiasts, and still others came for the wolves.  And let me not forget to mention the myriad of snowmobilers plying the snow packed roads of the park.  Of course, there was also the van with seven intrepid photographers holding up traffic as they scrutinized the landscape for photographic potential.  Under the leadership of Charles and our Park Service certified guide/driver Wim, our small, congenial group concentrated on photographing the winter wildlife in Yellowstone.

Using the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel as our base, we started with two days of scouting and shooting in the Lamar Valley.  The Lamar Valley is known for its wolf packs, and although we did not see any wolves within photographic range, there were lots of folks with telescopes searching the far distant hills for the packs.  We did spot a lot of coyotes, some elk, a moose (back-lit and not really photographable) and a bachelor herd of bighorn sheep.  One unique and exceptional find was a recent wolf kill of an elk.  We were not the first upon the scene but were able to find some spots to place our tripods in the congested pullout.  From a ranger, we learned that the wolves had already gorged themselves and had wandered off out of sight.  The carcass was some 200 yards off, but near enough for photography with a long telephoto lens.  With the wolves gone, the carcass was left to Yellowstone’s scavengers.  We first saw two coyotes feeding on the kill and later eagles swooped in from above, including a golden eagle.  At one time there were four bald eagles, three adults and one immature, jostling for their share of the bounty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our journeys into the Lamar Valley, we traveled south to the Old Faithful geyser area.  Using the Snow Lodge as a base, we traversed the interior of the park seeking out wildlife and scenic photographic opportunities.  There, with the help of some strategic intelligence from one of Wim's guide buddies, we located a bobcat.  Bobcats are not uncommon in Yellowstone but it is rather uncommon to find one within photographic range.  We watched the small cat disappear into a forested area and after some sleuthing for an advantageous vantage point, we positioned our tripods where we anticipated the bobcat to emerge from the trees.  Charles and Wim did a good job in choosing our location because we were rewarded with some amazing photography of an elusive animal (see the Winter In Yellowstone Gallery for images of the trip).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After eight fantastic days enjoying the beauty of Yellowstone National Park in winter, it was time to pack up the long-johns, fleece liners, warm gloves and socks and put away the photo gear and head home.  We bade goodbye to our new made friends at the Bozeman airport, with some sadness, as we each headed to our respective abodes. 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Yellowstone National Park bighorn sheep bobcat cold coyote elk moose snow winter https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2015/2/yellowstone-in-winter Tue, 03 Feb 2015 16:21:40 GMT
December With Bighorn Sheep https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/12/december-with-bighorn-sheep If you have read my “National Geographic” experience blog, you will know Don Getty (www.dongettywildlifephotography.com). Don and I first met on a photo trip to Costa Rica.  Then, as you have read, Don was one of the six intrepid photographers on the African Photo Safari.  Well, after the African adventure, I invited myself to spend a week with Don and his wife Joan at their home in Wapiti, Wyoming, to photograph Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.  Actually, Don had been bragging about how easy it was to photograph bighorn sheep along the North Fork of the Shoshone River near his home.  When I told him I wanted to come and photograph the sheep he invited me stay with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typically the period of high sexual tension and excitement among male bighorn sheep, known as the rut, occurs in late autumn.  As winter approaches, the big, testosterone-driven males retreat from their high alpine territory to mate with receptive ewes at lower elevations.  That is what occurs in December in the canyon forged by the north fork of the Shoshone River.  The dry grasses along the canyon bottom provide ample fodder for numerous foraging ewes, lambs and immature rams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don and I spent five days, from first light to twilight, cruising up and down the canyon in his Jeep Rubicon photographing bighorn sheep.  Sheep were found incredibly close to the road.  We observed and photographed scores of sheep.  The most excitement was generated when one or more ewes excreted sexual pheromones that the rams sensed through their flehmen response.   It would not take long for a group of competing rams to sniff out a receptive ewe and attempt mating while having to fend off rivals.  This was when savage fights among equally matched males would erupt with ferocious pushing, shoving, kicking, and high velocity head-butting.  These sexually driven encounters were exciting to watch but difficult to photograph.  I was lucky to get some keepers.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Cody Shoshone Wyoming bighorn photograph photography river rut sheep https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/12/december-with-bighorn-sheep Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:32:56 GMT
National Geographic Moments https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/12/national-geographic-moments It was ever so much a “National Geographic” experience, three whole weeks in the east African savanna on a photographic expedition.  It all started when I agreed with Bruce that I would go to Africa if he would organize the trip and all I had to do was show up.  Bruce rose to the challenge and, soliciting the assistance of Don Getty, our acquaintance from the Costa Rica adventure (now close friend Don Getty after three weeks in the veldt) put together a three week safari itinerary that even National Geographic would envy.  There were six adventurers that embarked upon the journey, Bruce Hollingsworth and Don Getty (the organizers of the trip), Mike McDermott (who Bruce and I met on our Costa Rica trip), Sharon Ely (a new traveler friend) and Jane and I. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a long haul from San Diego to Nairobi, Kenya, where our adventure began.  We arrived in Nairobi in the evening and spent the next day adjusting to the time change and rearranging our packing to prepare for the photographic adventure ahead.  Bruce and Don had obtained the assistance of Stu Porter in South Africa to arrange for our transportation, guides and accommodations.  Stu is the proprietor of Wild 4 Africa Photographic Safaris (www.wild4photographicsafaris.com) and did an outstanding job taking care of the expedition logistics. 

Stu arranged to have two large four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser safari vehicles, with driver/guides, available for our transportation and game runs.  Each Toyota had three rows of seats enabling each of us to have our own row for stowing camera gear and shooting.  The vehicles were modified to have a removable top so we could easily stand to photograph as well.  These modified Land Cruisers are not the most comfortable vehicles, but after three weeks of game runs on rough graded, dirt roads, we adapted to their various quirks and concentrated on the task at hand, photographing African wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In all, we photographed in five major parks in Kenya and Tanzania.  In Kenya, we first traveled north from Nairobi to the Samburu National Reserve, then on to Lake Nakuru National Park in the Rift Valley and finally the Maasai Mara National Reserve.  From the Mara, we traversed the long way to Tanzania to explore Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area.  Although the Maasai Mara and Serengeti are adjacent parks separated by the Kenya-Tanzania border, we could not drive directly from one park to the other because there is no official border crossing station for customs and immigration control in the park.  Traversing the “long way” between these two contiguous parks provided us the opportunity to experience, through the windows of our Land Cruisers, the hustle and bustle of remote villages and towns along the way.

In the outback of Kenya and Tanzania there are no shopping centers and all commerce is carried out, pretty much, by individual vendors with portable stalls or small store fronts along the main highway.  As we drove through the villages we passed colorfully dressed women selling bananas, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, charcoal, and sugar cane stalks from their roadside stands.  Carts, pulled by donkeys and oxen, and small motor cycles were loaded to capacity with fire wood, water barrels, tobacco leaves, corn stalks, long wooden poles and planks (to build scaffolds for construction projects), and all matter of household furniture.  The motor cycles were also used as taxis to transport people and it was not uncommon to see three people straddling the buddy seat behind the driver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting back to our “National Geographic” experience, the game drives were phenomenal.  To catch the soft, early morning light, we six intrepid photographers were in the Land Cruisers and on the “road” by six.  We brought snacks for breakfast in the veldt and typically returned to the lodge around one for lunch.  Then, out again by three-thirty for some more shooting and home by the six o’clock park curfew at twilight.  The wildlife encounters were incredible, like “living” a wildlife film.  We were there when a cheetah brought down a Thompson’s gazelle and watched the suffocating bite to the throat.  We were there when a young male lion snapped the neck of a Cape buffalo calf and drug it off.  We were there when a throng of Nile crocodiles savagely tore apart a wildebeest and voraciously consumed it in the Mara River.  We were there when a cheetah called her cubs to a kill and watched the cute little tikes gorge on the carcass with bloody jowls.  We were there when spotted hyenas harassed hooded and white-backed vultures to steal the remains of a lion kill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the gentler side, we watched massive African elephant cows huddle protectively around diminutive calves as the herd foraged across the savanna.  We watched as a colorful adult bee-eater swooped from its perch to catch bees and feed them to its young chick.  We watched female baboons carry young on their backs as they fed among the flowering shrubbery.  We watched weaver birds build and repair their nests.  We watched warthog sows, long skinny tails extending straight up, with its tufty end waving like a cavalry flag, protectively herding their gang of piglets away from danger in a hastened trot.  These were “National Geographic” moments to be savored and relished.  

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Africa Crater Kenya Lake Mara Masai Nakuru Ngorongoro Samburu Serengeti Tanzania expedition safari travel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/12/national-geographic-moments Sat, 27 Dec 2014 20:52:30 GMT
Coronado's Inland Empire https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/10/coronados-inland-empire In late February of 1540, nearly 500 years before I was born, a band of Spanish conquistadors, under the command of Francisco Vázquis de Coronado, left northern Mexico in search of the legendary “Seven Cities of Gold”.  Driven by the thoughts of Inca-like gold and silver, the conquistadors reached the Zuni pueblos of New Mexico in the summer of 1540 where, much to their distress, they found no riches.  In their search for the fabled treasure, however, Coronado and his men became the first Europeans to traverse the great American southwest, exploring the vast Colorado Plateau with its remarkable scenic treasures more than three hundred years before John Wesley Powell’s great exploration of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon .  These intrepid conquistadors and subsequent Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to colonize the Santa Fe region of New Mexico.  A wonderful description and account of these exploits can be found in Stewart L. Udall’s book “Majestic Journey – Coronado’s Inland Empire”.

Jane and I recently ventured into Coronado’s Inland Empire to savor its rich history and experience its iconic characteristics.  Our first stop was the “Sky City” pueblo of the Acoma culture.  This pueblo was the second that Coronado and his troops encountered on their quest for riches and is considered the oldest, continuously inhabited settlement in North America (www.acomaskycity.org).   Archaeologists estimate that “Sky City” had been occupied since the early 1100’s and that the Acoma were descended from the Ancestral Pueblo culture of Mesa Verde in Colorado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Acoma,we drove on to Santa Fe where Jane had arranged one of her superb VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) accommodations.  It was a delightful little renovated casita near the heart of Santa Fe’s museums and galleries.  We used our quaint little casita as a home-base and day-tripped through the area from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of our day trips took us deep into Georgia O’Keeffe Country, including a tour of her home in the village of Abiquiu and a short visit to the Ghost Ranch (www.okeeffemuseum.org).  O’Keeffe was a fascinating artist and her work full of the vibrant colors of the New Mexico landscape.  Our tour was led by a knowledgeable artist who had interesting stories and anecdotes that made us appreciate Georgia O’Keeffe’s life and contributions even more.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed at her home and studio, so no pictures in the blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another day trip brought us to the Taos pueblo along the scenic “high road”.  Along the way we stopped at artist workshops/galleries; toured several small villages first settled in the 1600’s by Spanish and Mexican pioneers, including Chimayo, Truchas (where Robert Redford filmed the “Milagro Beanfield War”), Las Trampas and Rancho de Taos;  and stopped to photograph multiple churches designated  National Historic Landmarks due to their antiquity and classical Spanish colonial architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ultimate objective was Taos (www.taospueblo.com). Taos is by far the most visited pueblo in New Mexico.  These multistory pueblos, with their thick adobe walls, are the largest surviving structures of their kind.  We spend one afternoon photographing these picturesque buildings with their colorful door and window frames.  Coronado and his conquistadors also visited Taos pueblo in 1540 and their journals describe the multistory, stacked adobe buildings.  Taos pueblo also hosts a National Historic Landmark church, the San Geronimo de Taos Mission Church.  Originally built under direction of Spanish friars around 1620, construction of the chapel created cultural conflicts with the native peoples who resisted conversion and destroyed the building on two separate occasions.  The church was again destroyed during the Mexican-American War of 1847 and the current structure was rebuilt in 1850.

All of New Mexico’s pueblos celebrate various feasts throughout the year.  Taos pueblo is no exception and while we were there, San Geronimo Day was celebrated.  San Geronimo (Saint Jerome) is the Taos pueblo patron saint.  The ceremony involves a group of clowns, men with alternating black and white stripes painted on their bodies and dried corn leave headdresses.  These clowns play tricks on pueblo residents and we observed several small children being dunking into the small stream running through the pueblo by the clowns.  The kids certainly did not like it nor did their mothers but on this day the clowns were in control.  The climax of the ceremony occurs when one of the clowns successfully climbs a very thick, tall pole that had been erected in the central plaza of the pueblo and dislodges various foods from atop the pole, including a dead sheep.  The whole affair is shrouded in their ancient religious tradition and the meaning is kept secret.  During my diligent pre and post trip research, I could not discover any hint of the hidden meanings related to the clowns and pole climb.  All I could discover was that the ceremonial meaning is a secret.  Again, unfortunately, no photography was allowed during the celebration, so no photos in the blog or gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final destination for this excursion was the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  So after six days of day-tripping and photography in Santa Fe we journeyed to this high profile, extremely popular and colorful event.  We favored driving the back roads to reach Albuquerque and ventured past the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.  No,I had never heard of this unique place either but it was on the map and on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting the balloon fiesta was a memorable event with extreme crowds, and a lively, vivacious “midway” full of food vendors hawking their deep fried chips and fries, corn dogs, burritos, and funnel cakes.  On Saturday morning we strolled among the hundreds of hot air balloons readying for their mass ascension into the Albuquerque air.  As crews and pilots filled their balloons with hot air from their burners, we watched the colorful envelopes take shape and slowly stretch and rise into the morning air taking gondola and crew with it.  It all seemed to go in slow motion until suddenly the entire sky was filled with balloons of every imaginable shape and color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Sunday, we had arranged to go up in one of the Rainbow Ryder’s balloons (www.rainbowryders.com).  Filled with anticipation of an exciting experience, we arrived at the check-in booth early.  On the field, we waited impatiently with our pilot for the “all clear” from the weather forecasters.  It never came!  It appeared that the winds were too strong and we remained stranded, with all the other balloons, firmly on the ground.  What a disappointment to head home without the exhilarating experience of a hot air balloon ride at the famous Albuquerque festival (www.balloonfiesta.com).

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/10/coronados-inland-empire Tue, 14 Oct 2014 20:25:00 GMT
Dog Days of Summer https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/8/dog-days-of-summer This year, August in San Diego was sultry and hot.  What does that say about San Diego's "Goldilocks" weather?  It was downright blistering.  To escape these stuffy and sweltering conditions, Jane and I headed to the higher and cooler elevations of the Grand Canyon's north rim.  There we found solace in the peaceful surroundings of the Kaibab National Forest and high altitude of the canyon rim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our room could have been a bit more spacious, but it was comfortable and quiet.  Not that we spent a lot of time in the room, mostly we were on the go.  Up early for sunrise shots and out late for some night sky photography.  We also spent time traversing Forest Service roads to explore the Kaibab forest with its great stands of ponderosa pine and quaking aspen.  The high alpine meadows were a sea of bright orange, purple and yellow wild flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had never before attempted to photograph the Milky Way galaxy.  But, at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the galaxy with its milky clouds of stars was so inviting, I had to try.  After sunset, the evening turns dark quickly and we could easily see and photograph the Milky Way by nine o'clock.  Jane thinks the results were remarkable, and I have to agree that the images exceeded my expectations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

                                                        

Photographically, my highest hope was to get "keeper" images of the celebrated Kaibab squirrel.  This little rodent is found only in the forests along the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  The difficulty, of course, is to find the little critters in the vastness of the forest and then to have it pose for a picture.  I started my quest by asking several park rangers where I should go for best results and did not receive much encouragement.  However, I struck pay dirt with the third ranger I approached.  This ranger volunteered, after I explained my objective of photographing the Kaibab squirrel, that she had seen three of the tufted-eared, white-tailed mammals in the tree in front of her cabin and provided detailed directions of how to get to the cabin.

Upon arriving, Jane and I quickly discerned movement in the ponderosa pine in front of the cabin.  We maneuvered to obtain a better, unobstructed view and observed a white tail dangling among the dark pine branches.  Eventually, we discovered a nest made of pine branches and needles built high up in the ponderosa tree.  We visited this pine tree with its nest several times and were surprised to discover that there were three young Kaibab squirrels residing in the nest.

                                                           

 

                         

 

                       

 

 

Finding this exceptional place to leisurely photograph these energetic rodents was definitely a high point of our short sojourn to the Grand Canyon.  Other memorable experiences included our drives into the lush, dense forest, marveling at the intensity of the stars overhead, and peering into the colorful, eroded depth of the canyon. 

   

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Arizona August Forest Service Grand Canyon Kaibab Milky Way forest night north rim pine ponderosa sky squirrel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/8/dog-days-of-summer Sun, 24 Aug 2014 16:58:44 GMT
A Great July https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/7/a-great-july July started off with a bang, literally.  Fourth of July fireworks over San Diego Bay was my first photo outing of the month.  I had wanted to create images that would emphasize the comprehensive scale of the fireworks display.  To achieve that objective, I decided to shoot from Lucinda Street with its grand view of San Diego Bay.  It must have been an excellent idea since there were score of like-minded photographers crowding the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July continued to be special, very special.  My article about bird photography in the Prince William Sound and Potter's Marsh, near Anchorage, Alaska, appeared in the July/August issue of Bird Watcher's Digest.  Then, to make July even more special, my article chronicling our trip to the Yukon was published in the summer issue of Nature Photographer.  What a marvelous month July was turning out to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also contributing to the distinct special nature of July was a long-awaited photo excursion to the Palouse region of southeastern Washington state.  A photo trip to the Palouse had been on my to-do list for many years.  I had seen other photographer's images of the area and have long had a desire to try capturing the unique landscape of this area myself.  The Palouse is a vast agricultural region of some 6,000 square miles.  The prairie like terrain was formed by fertile loess dunes created during past ice ages.  The resulting smoothly rounded knolls and dales have created a picturesque quilt work of cultivated fields that are a challenge to photograph.  You can see the results of my efforts in the Palouse Gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Hollingsworth was my photo-buddy on this trip and en route to the Palouse we spent some time capturing images at Mono Lake and the ghost town of Bodie.  It was fascinating to learn how the chemical reaction of calcium rich spring water with the carbonate composition of the saline Mono Lake created the unique tufa formations.  We were up early and out late attempting to photograph the tufa towers in the magical light of sunrise and sunset.  See the photo Gallery for the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old gold mining ghost town of Bodie was a stark change from the natural formations of Mono Lake.  This ghost town is being preserved as a California State Historic Park in a state of "arrested decay".  It was equally fascinating to capture images of the old abandoned homes and businesses in Bodie.  Most of the original buildings have been destroyed by fire, but in the late 1880's Bodie had 10,000 inhabitants and was as bad a place as any of its contemporary gold rush camps.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) agriculture bodie ghost lake mono palouse photography town travel tufa https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/7/a-great-july Wed, 23 Jul 2014 20:53:38 GMT
Nome, Alaska https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/6/nome-alaska In June, Jane and I had a most extraordinary photo safari on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska.  We had signed up with Trogon Tours (www.trogontours.net) for six days of bird photography.  Ken Archer (www.kenarcherphotos.com) and Roy Priest, both exceptional birders, were our guides.  Using Nome, Alaska, as our base, we traversed the only three roads on the peninsula scouting for and photographing birds, and any other wildlife cooperative enough to be photographed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our first photo safari experience this far north during the long days of summer.  The schedule, dictated by the rising and setting of the sun, was brutal.  Up super early to catch warm morning light and out way beyond our bedtime to catch twilight.  The red glow of sunset was captured around one-thirty in the morning.  On good days (read easy schedules) we had time for a quick shower and afternoon nap before hitting the dirt roads again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every town has its story but few stories are as varied as that of Nome, Alaska.  Some 20,000 years ago the Seward Peninsula was an integral part of the Bering Land Bridge (Berengia) that allowed human migration from Asia to North America. Ancient Inupiat Eskimos might very easily have hunted and bivouacked in the Nome area.  Nome' story turns more notorious when gold was discovered in Anvil Creek, a few miles north of the current town of Nome, during the summer of 1898.  News of the discovery reached the lower forty-eight that winter and the gold rush was on.  Nome's population exploded from and few hundred to around ten thousand by the summer of 1899 and was estimate at more than 20,000 after gold was discovered in the beach sand along the shoreline of the Bering Sea around Nome.  In the early 1900's, Nome was the largest, and most notorious, town in the Alaska Territory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As thousands of fortune seekers panned the creeks and dredged the beaches for gold, crime, corruption, and vice prevailed.  Nome was one wild and wicked town.  Claim jumping, murder and political corruption was so prevalent that the U.S. Army was sent in to police the area. Wyatt Earp owned a saloon in Nome and allegedly contributed to the mayhem.  It only lasted a few years.  By 1910 most of the easy gold had run out and Nome's population had fallen back to about 2,600.

Compassion and heroism are also part of Nome's story.  In 1925, the "Great Race of Mercy" delivered diphtheria serum to Nome by dog sled and stayed a diphtheria epidemic.  That Race of Mercy is now commemorated each year as the 1,050 mile Iditarod Trail dog sled race that terminates in Nome.

Last Train To NowhereLast Train To NowhereRusty Remains of Abandoned Steam Locomotives Near Nome, Alaska

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tenure on the the Seward Peninsula, although brief and hectic, was most remarkable.  Jane's tally showed that we had seen fifty different bird species.  Regrettably I was not able to photograph all of them.  However, I was able to get a very nice and extensive collection of new bird images.  You can see them in the Nome Gallery.  My favorite bird was the elegant and stately Red-Throated Loon followed by the delicate and flighty Red-Necked Phalarope.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/6/nome-alaska Sun, 29 Jun 2014 21:45:03 GMT
Photographing Wild Rhododendron https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/6/photographing-wild-rhododendron It is early morning.  The forest is calm and tranquil.  The musky scent of pine and redwood fills the air.  We are the only ones there.  It is peaceful and serene.  The giant redwoods surround us.  We are in awe as we soak in the grandeur of these commanding, ancient trees. The panorama is ever changing as we leisurely explore the old-grove trails.  Here and there a colorful Varied Thrush or the diminutive Pacific Wren would flutter among the fallen tree trunks and forest floor grubbing for their favorite morsels.  We are fully immersed in the ambiance of nature's majesty.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it was for our photo trip to California's old-grove redwood forests.  The scattered old-groves, along northern California's Highway 101, are consolidated into the Redwood National and State Parks system.  We started this journey in Crescent City, some eight hundred miles, and fourteen hours, north of San Diego.  We called Crescent City home for four days and then leisurely meandered to Garberville for two more days of exploring and photographing the redwoods.  The trip was timed to coincide with the spring bloom of wild rhododendron in the redwood groves.  

Our timing was excellent and we first sighted the colorful "rhodies" along Highway 101 in the Del Norte Redwoods State Park some fifteen miles south of Crescent City.  Although we attempted to photograph the rhodies there, shooting alongside busy Highway 101 was extremely distracting.  Our most satisfying rhododendron photography occurred along the much less traveled, dirt track to the Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  Here we found numerous opportunities to photograph rhodies and made several early morning jaunts there during our stay in Crescent City.

You can see the results of our efforts in the Redwoods Gallery and why we love nature photography.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/6/photographing-wild-rhododendron Sun, 01 Jun 2014 16:39:47 GMT
First Real Trip of the Year https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/5/first-real-trip-of-the-year I was starting to exhibit symptoms of "cabin fever".  It had been several months since the adventurous Patagonia trip and, even though I had been playing around with some local beach and night-sky photography, I was ready for a real photo trip.  So it was that Bruce and I ventured to Big Sur to attempt some landscape photography along the rocky central coast.  If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know who Bruce is.

We stayed at the Big Sur River Inn (www.bigsurriverinn.com) that is conveniently situated about midway along the picturesque coast and various State Parks where we planned to photograph.  The Inn lacked some essential amenities, such as a fridge, that required us to purchase a Styrofoam cooler to store our breakfast and lunch supplies.  The remoteness of the Inn meant there was no cell service and that required a 55 mile round trip to Carmel to make calls home.  The weather, although a bit cooler, was much like San Diego with a morning marine layer and an afternoon fog bank out over the Pacific.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We explored Big Sur from Point Lobos to the North and McWay Cove to the South.  We photographed the rocky shore line of Soberanes Cove, Garapata Beach, Bixby Creek bridge, Pfeiffer Beach, and McWay falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had conceived a couple of special photographic experiments to try on this trip.  The first failed miserably.  I wanted to photograph a moonset over the Pacific ocean.  That special experiment failed because we failed to select a suitable location to photograph from.  The moon set behind a hill before it approached the horizon over the ocean.  The second experiment had better, although not fantastic, results.  We were in Big Sur during the April 14/15 lunar eclipse and I wanted to create a "stacked" image of the moon as it was swallowed by the earth's shadow.  My timing and location were accurate.  We got an unobstructed view of the moon disappearing into the earth's shadow.  Unfortunately, as the eclipse evolved, thin high clouds started to float in front of the moon making it extremely difficult to focus properly.

Lunar EclipseLunar EclipseSeries of Stacked Images of Moon as it Approaches a Full Eclipse within Earth's Shadow California condors have been reintroduced into the remote back country of Big Sur.  My pre-trip research led us to a turnout along Highway 1 were the birds have frequently been spotted.  The area has steep cliffs that rise abruptly from the ocean and provide the dynamic uplift the large condors need to soar and search for food.  We started our vigil with extreme optimism but after an hour or so that optimism started to wane.  We had no idea if the birds would appear.  But then, just as we contemplated returning the the Inn, two condors came soaring by.  By that time we were so distracted and inattentive that we missed our opportunity to photograph these large vultures.  We watched dejectedly as the condors landed in a pine tree too far away to photograph.  Much to our delight, the condors left their tree and came soaring back by us and this time we were ready.  Bruce and I let them have it with our eight-frames per second motor drives.

                                   

 

Before and during the Big Sur trip, I had been checking to see if the late February and March rains might have resulted in an unexpected wildflower bloom.  I typically check the desert wildflower web site (www.desertusa.com) and the California Poppy Reserve (www.parks.ca.gov)  .  Much to my surprise the reserve web site indicated that there was a late poppy bloom and that the peak was anticipated to occur during the Big Sur trip.  To take advantage of this surprise development, we decided to leave Big Sur a day sooner than planned and spend the time in the Antelope Valley photographing poppies instead.  That turned out to be a very wise decision.  The fields and hills around the poppy reserve were carpeted with bright orange poppies.  We spent hours meandering along the unpaved roads of the Antelope Valley exploring and photographing various fields of poppies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS:  For those of you who may be interested in the condor reintroduction program, you might want to check out www.condorspotter.com.  I identified the condor I photographed by the Number 4 on his radio transmitter.  Turned out it was a male named Amigo born at the San Diego Safari Park.  You can learn more about him on the referenced web site.  He has rather an interesting history.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/5/first-real-trip-of-the-year Thu, 01 May 2014 14:47:54 GMT
Biding My Time https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/3/biding-my-time  

Here I am biding my time waiting to depart for my next photo trip.  Winter is always a slow time of year for photography.  Unless, of course, you like cold, snowy winter scenes, or you head to the southern half of the world where it is summer.  But not this year.  I am patiently waiting for spring and my trip to the Big Sur coast in central California.

Although I am biding my time, I have also been keeping my photo gear limber by doing some shooting along the coast in La Jolla.  I have been patiently waiting for those times when the tidal conditions and sunset colors collide to make for "keeper" images.  There was some success but it took several trips to the beach.

I have also been experimenting with some night sky photography.  My first attempt was to get an image of the full moon rising over the visitor center at the Tijuana Estuary.  That's a pretty specific mission, I know.  But, being a volunteer photographer for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex, I had been requested to see about some unique shots of the refuge and I had thought a moonrise over the visitor center would be "unique".  To prepare, I researched when a full moon would rise with sufficient ambient light to properly expose the visitor center. 

Next I wanted to learn how to photograph the really dark, night sky with stars.  After much reading, I decided that the Anza-Borrego desert would be a good place to try star photography.  So my photo-buddy Bruce and I spent a couple of night in Borrego Springs trying to practice what we had learned about taking pictures of the stars.  I was particularly interested in getting "star trails", not just the static stars.  Getting good star trail images requires hours of exposures, making for late nights.  Fortunately, this early in the year the sky is dark enough for star photography fairly early and we were back at the motel long before midnight.

In early April, Bruce and I attended a Night Sky Photography workshop sponsored by the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park (www.joshuatree.org).  The workshop was conducted by Dennis Mammana (www.dennismammana.com), an astronomer, night sky photographer and author.  Dennis was very passionate about teaching proper techniques and procedures to obtain sharp focused and correctly exposed images.  During the late night hours we practiced what Dennis had admonished.  On one evening, we were visited by the Space Station which traversed through the sky where we were practicing.

Star CirclesStar CirclesJoshua Tree National Park

Star CirclesStar CirclesArch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a lot of fun trying these night shots and it has given me enough confidence to try again.  Hopefully the night sky in Big Sur will not be too foggy or cloudy to shot the stars while I'm there.  The plan is to try for a moonset over the Pacific Ocean.  There is also going to be a full lunar eclipse at that time that I will be trying to photograph.  Good luck with that!  I'll let you know how that worked out when I return from Big Sur.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Desert Institute Joshua Tree National Park big dipper night north star sky https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2014/3/biding-my-time Sun, 23 Mar 2014 19:11:35 GMT
From North to South https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/12/from-north-to-south Our last trip of 2013 was a doozy!  We traveled nearly as far south as we had traveled north in September to an area of vast proportions, unique wildlife, diverse environments and incomparable landscapes.  Jane and I joined a small group of avid photographers to explore remote Patagonia and Easter Island.  The tour was sponsored by Michael Francis (www.michaelfrancisphoto.com) and the in-country guide was Rex Bryngelson (www.patagoniaphoto.com).

We flew from San Diego, via DFW, to Santiago, Chile and on to Hanga Roa, the only community on Easter Island.  Hanga Roa, with a population of about 3,800, is allegedly the world's most isolated village, located about 2,500 miles from continental Chile and 2,900 miles from its Polynesian neighbor, Tahiti.  Easter Island was discovered by Dutch explorers on Easter Sunday in 1722, hence its name.  On world  maps it is also named Isla de Pascua, the Spanish translation of Easter Island.  The Polynesian name preferred by the islanders is Rapa Nui.

The island is small, about 63 square miles, a mere spec in the vast southern Pacific Ocean.  Its history is unique, controversial and makes for great reading.  Rapa Nui has a vast concentration of prehistoric archaeological artifacts causing the entire island to be declared a World Heritage Site in 1966. The moai are Rapa Nui's most unique archaeological attraction and these iconic stone statues are what we had come to photograph.  See the Rapa Nui gallery for images from Easter Island.

                                                  

 

 

 

                                                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Hanga Roa, it was back to Santiago and on to Coyhaique, Chile, to start our Patagonian adventure.  Shared by Argentina and Chile, Patagonia is a vast 403,750 square mile geographic region stretching from Atlantic to Pacific oceans and from Cape Horn in the south to approximately latitude 40 degrees south.  Patagonia is big, huge, enormous and spectacular.  Imagine this, a region 115 time the size of Yellowstone National Park, 3 times the size of the Colorado Plateau, 1.5 time the size of Texas.  Patagonia is also remote and solitary.  There are more sheep than people.  The population density is about one person per 130 acres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting in the north at Coyhaique, we traversed some 1,000 miles in 15 days along the mid-section of Patagonia south to Punta Arenas.  We lodged in old style, family estancias, quaint B&B's, and some stylishly modern inns.  Lunches were served picnic style from the back of our vans between photo shoots.  After all, this was a photo tour.  We photographed at many of Patagonia's national parks and numerous spots in between.  The most notable were Parque Nacional los Glaciares in Argentina and Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in Chile.


 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We encountered a few surprises along the way.  First, I'd guess that a good 85% of our travel, that is 850 miles, was on graded gravel roads, with varying amounts of bouncing, jouncing and rattling about.  That made for difficult cat-napping as we wended our way through the seemingly endless pampas of the Patagonian steppes.  The second surprise was the arid nature of the terrain.  Most of the Patagonia steppes we traversed, with the exception of the areas near the Andes mountains, consisted of undulating plains, much like the great plains of North America, however, almost bare of any vegetation.  Even along mighty rivers emanating from the Andes, there were no trees.  These plains, or pampas, are in the rain shadow of the Andes and receive relatively little precipitation.  The soil supports various native grasses such as bunch grass.  But throughout our journey we observed no extensive agricultural development, only sheep and cattle grazing.  Finally, in the realm of unexpected surprises, let me mention the wind, the incessant wind, the perpetual wind, the unremitting wind, the unceasing wind, the knock-you-to-the-ground wind, the why-would-anyone-live-here wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first night was spent at the Estancia del Zorro (what are the chances of that?) and photographed Chilean Flamingos feeding in a small pond near the ranch house.  The next day we explored the Estancia Punta Monte searching for Andean Condors.  The condors are attracted to potential sheep carrion and we found a large group of condors soaring along a steep cliff on the ranch.  Fortunately we were able to navigate within a few hundred yards of the top of the cliff where we were able to photograph the condors as they floated on the wind nearly at eye level.  So our adventure in Patagonia began.

Another memorable photo shoot was at the Cuervas de Marmol (Marble Caves) along the shore of Lago General Carrera (you have to admire a general named after a Porsche).  These caves were formed by 6,000 years of waves washing up against the marble (calcium carbonate) peninsula projecting into the lake and creating intricate, swirling tunnels and colorful columns, enhanced by the emerald blue reflection of the lake water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some fantastic photography at the marble caves we sojourned at Valle Chacabuco.  The Lodge at Valle Chacabuco was recently constructed in the old, elegant style of the great railroad lodges of the west.  The lodge was built on an old estancia that is being transitioned to be a future Chilean national park by the Conservacion Patagonia organization.  This conservation group was started by Kristine Tompkins, the former, long time CEO of the Patagonia clothing company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we traveled from Lago General Carrera to Valle Chacabuco, we would occasionally see guanacos that I was anxious to photograph. On each occasion Mike Francis would dissuade me with assurances that there would be ample other, and better, opportunities to photograph guanacos.  In fact, he boasted that we would photograph so many guanacos that I would be satiated.  Doubtfully I acquiesced to his assurances.  At the end of the tour, however, I found that I had photographed as many of the adorable mammals that I wanted and found myself, in fact, not caring to photograph any more. 

We left the elegant ambiance of the Lodge at Valle Chacabuco in Chile for the home-style milieu of Estancia la Oriental adjacent to Francisco P. Moreno National Park in Argentina.  Here we were treated to a sumptuous evening meal, served family style, of roasted lamb, red beats, potatoes, vegetables, bread and a cheery wine.  The lamb was culled from the herd that day and roasted on a a rack in an open oven adjacent to the dining area.  What a feast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My original interest in Patagonia stemmed from its breathtaking mountain scenery.  Images of Torres del Paine and Monte Fitz Roy were my inducement to sign on with Michael Francis for this memorable tour.  Turns out that Patagonia is much, much more than just world class mountain landscapes.  Jane and I so much enjoyed Patagonia's vastness and diversity.  We watched new born guanaco chulengo taking their first staggering steps, we observed black-necked swans protect their young cygnets, looked into the eyes of condors, chased a hairy armadillo, were fascinated by the behavior of rheas, and marveled at the wonder of the Andean peaks.  What a marvelous adventure this turned out to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Andes Argentina Chile Easter Island Mount Fitz Roy Patagonia Rapa Nui Torres del Paine black-necked swan guanaco moai oyster catcher pampas penguin rhea https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/12/from-north-to-south Wed, 25 Dec 2013 18:54:56 GMT
North To The Yukon And Back https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/10/north-to-the-yukon-and-back Where to begin?  You know you've been on a long trip when you get a haircut and oil change en route.  North to the Yukon and Back was a long trip, a very long trip, seven thousand five hundred and thirty road miles and thirty seven hours on Alaska's famous Marine Highway ferries.  But what an adventurous trip it was.  No wonder I don't know where to begin this blog.

So I will start at the beginning.  This trip was conceived to combine two long-delayed travel goals into one extended trip.  These travel goals were to explore southeast Alaska's Inside Passage and to tour the historic Alaska Highway.  Exploring the Inside Passage implied maximizing opportunities for wildlife and nature photography and making as many stops along the Marine Highway as possible.

A cursory check of various maps and publications confirmed that this concept was feasible.  We could sail the Inside Passage on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system and drive the Alaska Highway from Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, to Dawson Creek in British Columbia.  From there getting back home to San Diego would be a "snap".

After several months of internet searches, emails and numerous telephone calls, I had a complete and detailed itinerary for this monumental excursion.  Jane and I partnered up for this adventure with Bruce Hollingsworth, our good friend and photo buddy.  On August 12, with Willie Nelson singing our road trip theme song "On The Road Again", we three adventurers headed north to the Yukon on Interstate 5 from San Diego.  All the planning was now behind us and ahead lay the exhilaration of a fantastic photo journey.

As with any journey of this magnitude and complexity, there were times of elation when expectations were fully attained, and those low, dispirited periods when all went awry.  At Prince Rupert, gateway to the Inside Passage, I had arranged for two days of chartered whale photography with Foggy Point Charters (www.foggypoint.com).  Rodney, caption of the Orca Breeze, was excited about taking us to where he knew with certainty the whales would be.  All the enthusiasm and excitement dissipated as the weather turned blustery and the whales were not to be found.  The second day was cancelled due to high winds in the Chatham Sound.  Thus were my high hopes and expectations of breaching whale images dashed.  Not only at Prince Rupert, but also Ketchikan, Wrangell and Gustavus where the Icy Strait is know for its predictable population of humpback whales.  It was a major disappointment of the trip.  At Wrangell, however, I had scheduled two days of black bear photography at the Anan Wildlife Observatory that turned out to be a truly memorable part of our adventure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ketchikan was our first stop along the Marine Highway.  It is also a major port-of-call for cruise ships plying the Inside Passage.  Five massive cruise ships disembarked their thousands of passengers while we were in town.  Needless to say, streets were jammed with shoppers and local attractions packed with sightseers.  We did manage to find solace at Totem Bight, a small Alaska state historic park some ten miles north of Ketchikan (www.dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totembgh.htm).  This quiet little enclave has an impressive collection of restored and re-carved totem poles representing Tlingit and Haida cultures.  In Ketchikan we also got away from the crowds with two days of flightseeing with SeaWind Aviation (www.seawindaviation.com) to the Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness and to Traitor's Cove Bear Observatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next destination was Wrangell and Wrangell was a total delight.  No flocks of tourists to contend with here, just friendly locals and a handful of adventurous independent travelers like ourselves.  Not all was perfect, of course.  We did lose out on a whale photography charter due to high winds out in the Sumner Strait.  But our two charters to the Anan Wildlife Observatory turned out wonderful.  All our charters in Wrangell were booked with Alaska Charters and Adventures (www.alaskaupclose.com).

The Anan observatory is about 30 miles southeast of Wrangell, that is, the way the crow flies.  The trip is a bit longer by boat.  Brenda Schwartz, one of the principals at Alaska Charters and Adventures, piloted her high powered jet-boat smoothly and quickly through the Eastern Passage and Blake Channel to get us to the Anan Creek trailhead.  There we were met by U.S. Forest Service rangers who, together with Brenda and her "bear gun", guided us to the observatory.  As we hiked along the trail, we observed plenty of evidence (scat) that this was bear country.  The observatory was a newish, wooden structure constructed above Anan Creek from which bears could be observed while sheltered from rain.  Below the observatory, almost at creek level, was a canvas covered photo blind where the three of us spent most of our time photographing the black bears of Anan Creek.  I have created a gallery just for the Black Bears of Anan Creek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gustavus was next on our itinerary.  This tranquil community of about four hundred year-round residents was a delight to visit.  Talk about friendly people!  A wave of the hand, or a warm "good day", was obligatory when passing people on the street or in their cars.  Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park, but no cruise ships stop here.  There is no infrastructure to accommodate these mega-ships and the throngs of passengers they carry.  Instead, cruise ships bypass Gustavus, sail pass Bartlett Cove into the Silakaday Narrows, and on to the glaciers in Glacier Bay.

The weather and an early migration conspired against our last quest for breaching and bubble feeding whale images.  We had three days of whale photography arranged with Glacier Bay Sport Fishing (www.glacierbaysportfishing.com).  Although we actually did get on the "Stoic" with Mike Halbert each day, they were not productive photo sessions, with high swells, fog and rain in the Icy Strait.  The best we could conjure up were some whale tail shots and a pass along a Steller's sea lion colony.  Mike speculated that warmer than normal ocean water had created an over-abundance of plankton.  Being low man on the food chain, this high concentration of feed stock resulted in the whales fattening up earlier in the feeding cycle and starting their migration south several weeks ahead of their normal start.  Irrespective of this disheartening reality, no great "money" shots of whales breaching, we enjoyed immensely our stay in Gustavus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we sojourned to Haines, leaving the quietude of Gustavus behind.  From now, there would be no more frustrated attempts at whale photography.  We were back on the mainland and the famous Alaska Highway beckoned.  At Haines we concentrated on landscape photography and a stop at Steve Kroschel's Wildlife Center (www.kroschelfilms.com).  We had arranged for local photography guides with Rainbow Glacier Adventures (www.rainbowglaciers.com).  Weather continued to plague us in Haines.  The ice fields of the Chilkat Range created dense low clouds that obscured picturesque peaks and hanging glaciers.  Rain and fog made photography of the colorful, autumn-colored, tundra difficult along the Chilkat and Three Guardsmen passes in the foothills of Nadahini Mountain.  Bad weather also confronted us at Steve Kroschel's Wildlife Center.  We arrived early in the morning with a dense overcast and light rain, resulting in low-light wildlife photography.  Not good!  Steve raises "wild" animals for his film projects.  Joe Ordonez, of Rainbow Glacier Adventures, had arranged a private photo shoot at Steve's menagerie.  I was able, under difficult conditions, to obtain some images that would be impossible to obtain in the wild, including a pine marten, lynx and wolverine.  See the Other Wildlife gallery for images from Steve's place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Haines, it was North To The Yukon.  We drove the Haines Highway to Haines Junction, at historic mile 1,016 of the famous Alaska Highway, in the Yukon Territory.  This was our most northerly penetration and from Haines Junction our journey continued southeast along the Alcan to Dawson Creek, mile zero of the Alaska Highway.  It was a four day journey with stops at Marsh Lake, Watson Lake, Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek.  At Watson Creek we left Yukon Territory and entered British Columbia.  With embarkation onto the Marine Highway ferry in Prince Rupert, some twenty-five days earlier, and arrival at Dawson Creek, the primary goals of the adventurous expedition had been realized.  Now, we just had to get home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We traveled home at a leisurely pace with sojourns in Jasper, Kananaskis Village and Many Glaciers.  Jane and I had visited Jasper in the past and thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance of this tidy community.  For our travel home, therefore, we included a four day respite in Jasper.  We savored its restaurants, pubs, shops and, of course, its grand and spectacular scenery.  We departed Jasper well rested as we headed for Kananaskis Village along the Icefields Parkway, through Lake Louise, Banff and Canmore.  On the way, we took advantage of the many scenic photo opportunities the northern Rocky Mountains offered.  See the Scenes Along the Way gallery for impromptu images taken along our route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Kananaskis Village, our last stop in Canada, the weather delivered an unexpected surprise.  After a blustery and rainy day, we were greeted, the next morning, with a light dusting of snow on the high mountain peaks surrounding the village.  This "terminal dust" portends the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.  For us, having a dusting of new snow on the jagged, craggy mountain peaks offered a welcomed enhancement to the beauty of photographing the scenic environment of Kananaskis Country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our last coffee stop at Tim Horton's in Pincher Creek, Alberta, we crossed into the U.S. at the Chief Mountain border station.  We were most relieved that we were allowed back into the country.  From the Chief Mountain entry, it was a short jaunt to the Many Glaciers section of Glacier National Park in Montana.  We overnighted in the park lodge at Many Glaciers, something Jane had wanted to do for some time.  This venerable old lodge lacked many of the hotel amenities we now take for granted.  However, the historic elegance of this majestic and grand eighteenth century lodge more than made up for its understandable shortcomings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now our monumental odyssey North to the Yukon and Back draws to a close.  After Many Glaciers, we three intrepid wanderers stowed our gear and prepared to head home.  Bruce departed via Delta Airlines from Kalispell while Jane and I enjoyed some additional days of solitude with hot Jacuzzi soaks at our Glacier Wilderness Resort timeshare.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alaska Highway Gustavus Haines Inside Passage Jasper Kananaskis Ketchikan Prince Rupert Wrangell travel vacation https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/10/north-to-the-yukon-and-back Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:18:51 GMT
Silver Salmon Creek https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/7/silver-salmon-creek  

WOW!!!   What an adventure it was!!!

There we were, in knee-high Mug boots, at low tide, on Alaska's Cook's Inlet mudflats, photographing brown bear sows teaching their cubs to dig for clams.  And that was just the very first morning!  We had flown with Tim Smith, in his small, but juiced up, Cesna (www.alaskasmithair.com)  from Anchorage to the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge (www.silversalmoncreek.com) that morning.  After landing smoothly on the beach, we were transported to the lodge, located on the shore of Cook's Inlet, by an all terrain vehicle (ATV) pulling a small trailer with us and our bags aboard.  After a quick, informal check-in that included a warm welcome from our host Dave Coray, an introduction to our personal guide, Brian, and a familiarization tour of our very comfortable cabin, the Puffin Perch, we were off before lunch photographing Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears on the mudflats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concept for this photo adventure was conceived more than a year ago.  I contacted the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge because so many bear photography workshops are conducted there.  I specifically asked Dave Coray about the best time to photography first-year cubs.  That's how Jane and I ended up in Alaska again (this was our sixth time), at this amazing location within the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (www.nps.org/lakl), in mid-July for an exciting four day stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The question often asked about our wildlife photographs is "how close were you?".  Well, at Silver Salmon Creek we were very close.  It was not uncommon for us to be within about ten yards of the bears.  The coastal bears at Silver Salmon Creek have contended with photographers for several bear-generations and have habituated to the presence of photographers and wildlife enthusiasts.  Even though we were in very close proximity, mother bears with their cubs were extremely tolerant and exhibited no signs of stress as we watched and photographed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The images in the Silver Salmon Creek gallery tell the story.  We delighted in watching female bears teaching their young to clam on the mudflats, chuckled at cubs cavorting and playing in the meadows, were impressed with the energy and power of immature bears posturing and play-fighting, and enjoyed tender moments as sows nursed their cubs.  Of course there were many hours of trudging the landscape and waiting as the adult bears lazily grazed the meadows and the tuckered out cubs napped.  But ....

 WOW!!!  What an adventure!!!

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alaska Lake Clark National Park and Preserve Silver Salmon Creek Lodge bears cubs photography travel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/7/silver-salmon-creek Fri, 19 Jul 2013 23:15:59 GMT
Cedar Mesa Adventure - A New Quest https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/6/a-cedar-mesa-adventure  

Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah is a 400 square mile plateau riddled with a maze of steep, eroded canyons, arroyos and washes.  It is also peppered with archeological sites of Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings and rock art.  My new quest is to create a portfolio of outstanding images of these long abandoned, ancient ruins.  So, after considerable and detailed planning, Jane and I packed our proverbial bags and headed for Indian country.  Our friend and photo-buddy Bruce Hollingsworth signed-on to join us on this expedition.

For those impatient souls who just want the highlights, here is a brief recap of our adventure.  We left San Diego on May 26th bushy-tailed, bright-eyed and full of vim and vigor.  We returned on June 6th travel weary, fatigued with blisters on our feet and faces adorned with big red, itchy gnat bites.  In between we had an exciting, thrilling and stimulating quest.  In addition to seven days exploring and photography on Cedar Mesa, our stops along the way included Wupatki, Navajo, Hovenweep and Canyon de Chelly National Monuments as well as a tour of Navajo Tribal Park, Monument Valley.

Now for the particulars!

Our first stop after leaving San Diego was Wupatki National Monument (www.nps.org/wupa) just north of Flagstaff, Arizona.  This national monument includes several impressive ancient pueblo sites.  We photographed at the main Wupatki Pueblo, the Box Canyon dwellings and Lomaki Pueblo.  The pueblos at Wupatki National Monument were built and occupied about 800 years ago.  For fun, Bruce and I tried to photograph moon rise with Lomaki Pueblo in the foreground.  We had stopped to purchase some large flashlights in Flagstaff to "light-paint" the pueblo from the front.  I won't show the results as they were dismal.  But, it was fun trying.

Wupatki Pueblo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, on our way to Blanding, Utah (www.blanding-ut.org) , we stopped briefly at Navajo National Monument (www.nps.org/nava) , just long enough to for some distant shots of Betatakin Dwellings from the overlook on Sandal Trail.  We reached our final destination, Blanding, later that afternoon.  There we settled into our cozy suit at Craig and Kathy Simpson's Stone Lizard Lodging (www.stonelizardlodging.com) and shopped  at Clark's grocery store for supplies.  Each morning of our weeklong stay started early with a cold breakfast, preparing lunches for the day, filling water bottles, loading camera gear, setting GPS coordinates, and applying generous portions of bug spray.

Betatakin Dwelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our experience on Cedar Mesa was not that of a typical, run-of-the-mill photo trip. Using the Stone Lizard as our "base camp" we day-tripped to the mesa each day.  I had created an itinerary that allowed travel to two or three archeological sites per day.  Typically, from the Stone Lizard it required anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours to reach the dirt road turnoffs that lead to the trailheads.  Some of these dirt access roads required some serious four-wheel drive maneuvering.  After reaching the trailhead, the real work started.  I had selected sites that were within no more than a mile and a half from the trailhead.  Even with the GPS coordinates I had obtained, it was difficult to find our way to the cliff dwelling sites.  Many wrong turns were made as we followed poorly marked trails over slick-rock or were fooled following trails created by free ranging cattle.  Hiking the trails required scrambling up precarious sandstone ledges and trudging through dry sandy washes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In all, we were able to visit 14 separate archeological sites during our exploration of Cedar Mesa and make a day trip to Hovenweep National Monument (www.nps.org/hove) to photograph the well preserved ruins there.  One of our favorite Cedar Mesa ruins was River House.  It was in this vicinity, along the north bank of the San Juan River, that the "Hole-In-The-Rock" pioneers bivouacked before ascending Comb Ridge.  The reallife story of these heroic pioneers is truly inspirational.  Another favorite ruin was Moon House.  The trek to this cliff dwelling was by far the most difficult.  The trail down the south rim of McCloyd Canyon descended steeply along precarious sandstone ledges to the slick-rock bottom of the canyon.  Only Jane and I made it to the bottom.  Bruce opted out after seeing the ruin on the north rim and anticipating the steep descent and climb back up.  Jane made it as far as the last scramble up the final jumble of boulders to the ledge with the Moon House ruin.  The last few hundred feet were nearly vertical and required full use of both hands to pull and maneuver through the rock fall.

River House Ruin Moon House Ruin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monarch Cave Ruin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a week of jarring four-wheel drive excursions and slick-rock scrambling, we were ready to head back to San Diego.  Satisfied with our accomplishments we bid adieu to Craig and Kathy at the Stone Lizard, taking our sore muscles, blisters and bug bites in stride.  Being the intrepid photographers we are, however, we could not go all the way back to California without stopping at the Navajo Tribal Park, Monument Valley (www.navajoparks.org)  and Canyon de Chelly National Monument (www.nps.gov/cach).  These stops were brief, but long enough to start us thinking about our next Indian country adventure.

Spyder Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to check the Cedar Mesa gallery for images from this adventure.  Also, if interested, I wholeheartedly suggest you read about the "Hole-In-The-Rock" expedition (www.nps.org/glca/historyculture/holeintherock.htm) .  It is a tale of true endurance, fortitude and perseverance.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Ancestral Puebloan Blanding Bluff Canyon de Chelly Cedar Mesa Hovenweep Monument Valley National Monument Navajo Utah Wupatki cliff cliff dwelling dwelling expedition exploration explore four wheel drive hike petroglyph photography pictograph pueblo rock art ruin ruins travel https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/6/a-cedar-mesa-adventure Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:43:33 GMT
Imperial Valley Revisited https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/5/imperial-valley-revisited In the March Madness blog I shared my experience photographing the little burrowing owls of the Imperial Valley.  Although I had seen several single birds, most of the owls I photographed at that time were mated pairs perched near their burrows.  That got me thinking that the breeding season was underway and perhaps there would be chicks in the near future.  To follow up on that hunch, I returned to the valley in early May.  This time Bob Miller of Southwest Birders (www.southwestbirders.com) joined and guided me through the maze of dirt tracks that crisscross the agricultural fields of the Imperial Valley.  After many hours of searching we had found many burrows and spotting fifty or more birds, but not chicks.  Finally, as our frustration and disappointment peaked, we stumbled upon a burrow with chicks.  With relief, using the vehicle as a blind, the two of us relaxed and watched very young birds slowly and tenuously emerge from their nest.

The next morning I returned to the burrow by myself and spent three hours, parked about 30 feet in front of the nest, watching and photographing.  The evening before, Bob and I had seen four chicks, but this morning only three came out of the nest.  They were roly-poly little balls of yellow down with a squatty heads accentuated by big, bright yellow eyes and a stubby beak.  As they emerged from the burrow, they were unsteady on their disproportionately long legs and stumbled about, flapping wings that exhibited only a hint of the feathers yet to develop. 

Three hours of watching the interactions of this owl family was exhilarating and exciting.  Of the three owlets, there was certainly an "alpha" chick who was normally first in line when the female brought a morsel of food to the burrow.  I suspect that the fourth owlet was the runt of the brood and not brave enough to venture from the underground nest chamber yet.  I watched as the female foraged for creepy-crawly things and brought them back for the chicks.  At one time she was only a few feet from the vehicle, totally involved in chasing down a tidbit.  During the entire three hours, the male owl only appeared once.  When he did, he came flying in with a loud alarm call that sent the three chicks scrambling back into the burrow.  The male and female stood guard in front of the burrow.  I could not determine the cause of the alarm, although I did notice a turkey vulture soaring low over an adjacent wheat field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have included the images from this photo shoot in the Burrowing Owls gallery.  I hope you enjoy them.  These images would make really fun photo-greeting cards.  Let me know if you would like some.  Just click the blue "send message" button to email me.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/5/imperial-valley-revisited Tue, 14 May 2013 18:52:44 GMT
Three Weeks - Three Countries : A Birthday Wish https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/5/three-weeks---three-countries How long ago was it?  I don't really remember, but quite some time ago I had told Jane that for her birthday, she could pick anywhere she wanted to go and it would just be a vacation, no photography.  I must have had a streak of guilt to make such an offer.  On the other hand, it was one of those significant birthdays that end in a zero and something special was called for.  It took her about a nanosecond to come up with Paris.  So Paris in April it was and Jane put her heart and soul into planning the details of the trip.

This is what she came up with. Fly to Paris, rent a car, drive to Lisse Holland for the spring flower exhibit.    Then visit with my brother in Spijkenisse after which we would drive to Bruge, Belgium, for a few days.  After Bruge it was onto France with short stays in the Mont Saint Michel area and the Bayeux area with a day trip to the Normandy D-Day beaches.  The trip would end with a week in Paris.  Jane worked out the entire itinerary, researched "must see" attractions, found excellent accommodations, highlighted the Michelin Maps with our route, and printed out detailed Google maps with directions to our lodgings.  The coup-de-grâce of the entire plan was that Jane managed to obtain roundtrip business class frequent flyer tickets from San Diego to Paris.

Holland

We left the house with our carry-on luggage at 4:15 AM on Tuesday, April 9th, arrived at Charles de Gualle airport in Paris as scheduled on Wednesday, April 9th ,around 11:00 AM.  After concluding the rental car transaction, we headed north to Holland.  The rental car was a two-door, European sized, diesel powered, Peugeot with a standard transmission.  With Jane navigating, using all the navigation aids available (paper maps, an iPad map ap, and GPS) we arrived in Lisse in time for dinner around 6:30 PM Wednesday evening.  Our home in Lisse was De Duif Hotel (www.hoteldeduif.nl) where we enjoyed a junior suite with plenty of space to spread out.  After dinner at La Fontana, just around the corner from the hotel, it was early to bed.  We had nine hours of jet-lag to make up.

Sleep did not come easily.  When we finally did fall asleep it was already late morning in Holland.  We did not roll out of bed until around noon on Thursday and spent the rest of a rainy day exploring Lisse.  First action of the day was lunch at the Vrouw Holle restaurant for some pannekoeken (pancakes).  I had mine with smoked salmon and mushrooms while Jane had hers with brie cheese.  These were not your typical Bisquick pancakes.  After lunch we headed for the Black Tulip Museum (www.museumdezwartetulip.nl) to be out of the rain and wind.  This museum is dedicated to preserving the history of Dutch flower-bulb agriculture.

The weather on Friday was not much better but early in the morning we drove to Aalsmeer to visit Flora-Holland (www.floraholland.com), the world's largest trading center for plants and flowers.  Here they auction about 12.5 billion plants and flowers annually.  Flora-Holland uses the "Dutch" auction method that is based on an auction clock.  The "bidding" starts at the top of the clock with the highest price, then the bid decreases as the price circulates counterclockwise around the clock.  If a bidders wants the lot, he is inclined to bid high in order to secure the lot.  It is all somewhat counter intuitive but moves lightning fast with the use of an electronic bid board.  In just tenths of a second, lots of plants and flowers of various sizes are traded and global prices are established.  The floor of the trading center is a beehive of activity as growers bring their flowers to the auction and bidders obtain their lots.  The flowers are physically there and are moved from seller to buyer via a complex system of carts and wagons that swarm all over the warehouse floor.  It was an astonishing sight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keukenhof (www.keukenhof.nl), the world famous bulb garden of Holland, was only a fifteen minute walk from our hotel in Lisse.  After the visiting the flower auction, breakfast and a short nap, we were ready to visit Keukenhof where bulb growers display their various hybrids to the public in a garden like setting.  In anticipation of some bad weather during our trip we had packed some slip-on rain pants.  Well, the weather was not too bad as we started to walk to the garden.  However, by the time we arrived, it started to rain.  We quickly ducked into the restrooms and slipped on our rain pants.  So, equipped with suitable rain gear and umbrellas, we ventured into the 80 acre park accompanied by rain, hail pellets and thunder.  The cold, late spring in Holland had not been kind to the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.  These flowers were just coming out of the ground.  Only the crocus were hardy enough to bloom.  All was not lost, however, the various pavilions provided not only shelter from the foul weather, but exquisite flower displays.  Blame it on our giddiness from jet-lag, but despite the unfavorable weather we thoroughly enjoyed Keukenhof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we drove from Lisse to Spijkenisse to visit with my brother, Dick.  For an 88-year old, he is in excellent health and mentally fit.  We had a lovely visit and were joined by his son, my nephew, Wim and his girlfriend, Verula.  During the day we did some sightseeing along the Europort harbors, one of the world's busiest marine ports.  Dutch civil engineers have recently completed a new port project that reclaimed 5,000 acres of land from the North Sea (www.maasvlakte2.nl).  That evening, the five of us enjoyed a chatty family meal at De Waal Restaurant (www.dewaalrestaurant.nl) in the outskirts of Rotterdam.  It was a long day and Jane and I were happy to get back to our hotel, the Carlton Oasis (www.carlton.nl) since we were not quite over the jet-lag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belgium

After a farewell breakfast with Dick on Sunday, Jane and I turned the Peugeot south to Belgium.  On the way we drove along the Delta Works, declared as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.  The Delta Works were initiated after the North Sea flood of 1953.  This disastrous event was caused by a high spring tide and a severe storm over the North Sea.  The storm resulted in 2,551 people losing their lives, 30,000 animals being drowned, and nine percent of all farmland in Holland being flooded.  Fortunately for us, the weather had improved and there were no severe storms in sight.  Our drive to Bruge through the low lands of Holland and Belgium was serene.  We arrived at the Hotel Adornes (www.adornes.be) in late-afternoon with ample time to stroll the streets of Bruge and enjoy some famous Belgian beer.  We explored this old city for several days, marveling at its ancient buildings, visiting its museums and relishing its seafood cuisine.  We especially savored the mussels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

France 

Our next destination was Châteua de Boucéel in Vergoncey near Mont Saint Michel in Normandy France, our third country.  Our host was Count Régis de Roquefeuil-Cahuzac.  His family has owned the estate since the 15th century when his forbearers were granted the property by the Duke of Normandy, Richard III.  It was truly a grand experience staying in this old, historic châteua.  Visit www.chateaudebouceel.com to learn much more about this romantic get-away.  Régis shared many intriguing stories about his family and the château.  One particular story touched us deeply.  There is an American Cemetery in the nearby village of Saint James and Régis has volunteered stewardship of one soldier's grave.  Once a week, or so, he places a bouquet of flowers on the grave.  Since we were planning to visit the cemetery and memorial (www.abmc.gov), he asked us to do that for him.  It was a very emotional experience for us to be at the grave to pay our respect and place a bouquet of red camellias on George Mick's grave site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the château, it was a short drive to Mont Saint Michel, one of France's most iconic tourist sites.  Jane and I spent the most part of a day exploring the narrow streets and steep stairways leading to the monastery and church that were first established in the eighth century.  The island is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  In the 14th century, during the Hundred Years' War, a small number of French knights successfully defended Mont Saint Michel from the English siege.  Some of these knights were Régis' ancestors.  Their loyalty to the French king was rewarded with the land grant that established the estate.

 

Bayeux was our next stop.  In addition to having its own old medieval charm, Bayeux is the gateway to the D-Day beaches of Normandy.  We visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer a short distance from Bayeux.  Like the cemetery in Saint James, this memorial was also immaculately maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.  Reading the heroic stories about the soldiers who perished on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was a humbling and heartrending experience.  We also drove to Pointe du Hoc Monument that honors soldiers of the 2nd Ranger Battalion who scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to disable German artillery aimed at Utah and Omaha beaches.  In all, we spent most of three days in Bayeux.  The village itself, although only a few miles from the allied invasion, was spared major war damage and has a bounty of medieval buildings and churches.  The most significant medieval artifact in Bayeux is the 70 yard long by 20 inches high tapestry (actually an embroidery) created around 1070.  The tapestry tells the story, in "picture form", of how William the Duke of Normandy defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings to become William the Conqueror and King of England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paris was next on Jane's itinerary.  After nearly two weeks on the road we were heading for Jane's week in Paris.  What can I say about Paris that Rick Steves has not already said?  It was beautiful, it was charming, it was captivating, it was cosmopolitan, it was sophisticated, it was international, it was ours for a week.  Jane's navigation skills got us arriving at Gare du Nord to drop of the Peugeot an hour ahead of schedule.  From there it was the Number 4 Metro line to Saint-Germain-Des-Prés on the "left bank" and our apartment at 1 Rue du Dragon.  We had an absolutely fabulous and enchanting time visiting museums, sipping coffee at sidewalk cafes, and walking the busy avenues and narrow side streets of Paris.  The parks and gardens were outstanding.  The warm, sunny spring weather in Paris had brought budding leaves to the sycamore trees along the boulevards and blossoms to the cherry trees in the parks.  Students were lounging on the steps of the Sorbonne and Pantheon.  Families were picnicking and playing in Parc du Champ de Mars in front of the Tour Eiffel. 

Oh what a delightful, exhilarating time we had exploring the iconic and obscure sites of Paris!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all folks.  After a week of the hustle and bustle in Paris, it was back to quiet San Diego for us.  With a tinge of depression and sadness, we boarded our Delta flight back home.  The saving grace was that we flew in business class and fully enjoyed all the privileges that were bestowed upon us during the flight.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) American Cemetery Belgium Bruge Brugge D Day FloraHolland France Holland Keukenhof Lisse Mont Saint Michel Netherlands Normandy Omaha Beach Paris Saint James Spijkenisse birthday travel trip vacation https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/5/three-weeks---three-countries Fri, 10 May 2013 21:33:21 GMT
March Madness https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/4/march-madness

Oh, but what a month is was! Truly madness was in the air at our house during March.  Lots of little annoying things going haywire and costing money, like traffic school for me and a root canal for Jane.  Glad March is history and now Jane and I have (hopefully) only good times to look forward to.  Of course, that is not to imply that March was a total loss.  I did manage to do some photography.  Early in the month I headed to Imperial County, around Brawley and Calipatria, to photograph burrowing owls.  I knew that the agricultural area of Imperial County was a hot spot for these cute little owls.  Having photographed a captive burrowing owl at the Chula Vista Living Coast just last month, I was anxious to photograph these owls in their natural habitat.

To maximize the probability of finding the owls, I had contacted Bob Miller, a local Imperial birding guide at Southwest Birders (www.southwestbirders.com), for advice.  He was very helpful and provided several potential locations for me to check.  I talked my friend Bruce into joining me for this exploration.  The Imperial Valley is a big place and our expectations of finding the small owls amidst this vast agricultural haven were subdued.  Nevertheless, we ventured forth to the areas Bob had suggested.  We were very pleasantly surprised at the results.  We found several pairs of burrowing owls at three of the four locations provided by Bob.  The owls are really rather small, about the size of a slender quail, but when standing tall and looking at you with those big yellow eyes, they are adorable little creatures. 

Burrowing Owl Owl At Burrow Entrance

 

We stumbled upon some more Imperial County surprises as we explored the area around the Salton Sea.  First, we happened upon commercial flower fields similar to the ranunculus fields of Carlsbad.  There were acres and acres of colorful stock flowers ready to be harvested.  Pickers were already in some of the fields cutting the flowers and getting them ready for transport to flower markets.  If you are familiar with stock flowers you can appreciate not only the variety of colors displayed for us but also the very pleasant aromatic scent in the air.  Bruce and I spent quite some time photographing the multi-colored fields.  Composition, which is my photographic nemesis, was the biggest challenge in photographing the flower fields.
Stock Flowers Fields of Stock Flowers

 

Driving along the dike bordering the Salton Sea we also encountered a variety of birds that occupy the fringe areas along the shore of the lake, including double crested cormorants, horned grebes, white pelicans, egrets, numerous great blue herons, and an occasional sandhill crane.  The large flocks of snow geese that migrate through Imperial County had already left for their northern breeding grounds.  We photographed  along the dike as opportunities presented themselves.  As ever, the blue herons were the most skittish and always took to the air as we got our big lenses out.  However, near Obsidian Butte, adjacent to the Salton Sea, we actually came upon a blue heron rookery.  A large number of herons were roosting in dead trees about a hundred feet or so from shore.  Several of the birds were sitting on nests, presumable incubating eggs.  Knowing these canny birds do not like people, we parked some distance away and approached cautiously on foot.  Stopping at a considerable distance from the nests, we used our long telephoto lenses with tele-extenders to photograph the roosting herons.

 

Double Crested Cormorants Heron Nests
In summary, our expedition to Imperial County turned out to be more productive than we had originally anticipated.  Photographs from this trip can be viewed in the Burrowing Owl gallery.
March Madness continued with a trip to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park for the butterfly exhibit.  There it was truly madness as the small exhibit area became inundated with families and school groups and noise levels exceeded our ability to endure.  Again, Bruce joined me on this photo shoot and we arrived when the exhibit opened.  The first 30 to 45 minutes in the enclosure was enjoyable as there were only a few diehard photographers to share the area with.  Although there were plenty of butterflies, a lot of patience was required to either find, or wait for, a situation where the butterfly was properly positioned to obtain maximum sharpness with an appropriate background.  In any regard, the trip to the butterfly exhibit, although a bit hectic and claustrophobic with the crowds of people, provided a good opportunity to practice our patience and use of our photographic equipment.  Images from the Safari Park butterfly exhibit are in the Butterfly gallery. 
Giant Owl Bllue Morpho Butterfly
Postman Butterfly Paper Kite
To finish the March Madness month, Bruce and I ventured to the Anza Borrego desert for wildflower photography.  Unfortunately, there had not been sufficient rain for any kind of wildflower bloom.  My on-line research had forewarned me of that probability.  However, it was March and I had an itch for some more photography.  You can call that madness if you must.  Poor Bruce, I conned him into coming along on this unproductive shoot.  We headed east out of San Diego on I-8 to Ocotillo.  There we discovered a vast, newly constructed, wind farm.  It was a bit of a shock to come off the Jacumba Mountain grade into Imperial Valley and see so many of the huge, white windmills.  As we drove through the wind farm on County Road S-2 the enormous size of these gigantic structures became obvious.  People, cars, even large cranes appeared miniscule compared to the towers and blades of the windmills.
Ocotillo in Bloom Buckhorn Cholla

 

Photography wise, we found that in limited areas ocotillo and some cacti were in bloom.  For the most part, the desert appeared dry and brown with very little evidence of living plants.  We did the best we could under the circumstances and ended up a bit giddy about the whole experience making fun of ourselves for stooping so low as to photograph a single ocotillo bush multiple times.  There was a full moon the nights we were in Borrego, but the sky was overcast and no photography was possible.  Can you believe that?  It was madness!  We did spend some enjoyable time at the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association gift shop (www.abdnha.com).  The shop carries my photo-greeting cards so be sure to stop there whenever you visit Borrego Springs.

 

Desert Scene

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(Rinus Baak Photography) anza-borrego burrowing owl butterfly cormorant desert great blue heron imperial owl rookery roost stock flower wind-farm windmill https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/4/march-madness Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:15:52 GMT
President's Day 2013 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/2/presidents-day-2013 It is President's Day and the mechanical humming of paint spraying equipment penetrates from outside my window.  We are having the house painted today and new windows installed next week.  It's not as exciting as a photography trip to some exotic location, but it takes care of a major "to do" for this year.  Getting the painting and windows out of the way clears the calendar for more adventurous undertakings in 2013.  But, let's not get too far ahead.  After all, it's only mid-February.

So far our travels have been more vacation than photography.  Early in January, Jane and I enjoyed a ski vacation with Joy and Jon Eaton at Park City, Utah (www.parkcitymountain.com).  We thoroughly enjoy skiing at Park City.  It feels like the slopes were designed and groomed to our level of skiing ability.  Over the years, this was our fifth time at Park City and the third with Joy and Jon, we have been able to hone our skills and now feel extremely comfortable paralleling down the slope.  We have found our "grove", one might say.  Of course, this is all limited to the trails with Green Circles.  We totally loose confidence when the Blue Squares appear and panic should a Black Diamond loom ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a lot of fun.  That is, untill Jane twisted her ankle on the sidewalk coming home from dinner one evening.  We had all devoured some savory buffalo burgers at the No Name Saloon (www.nonamesaloon.net) and were on our way back to the condo.  Walking from the shuttle stop, she stepped off the sidewalk onto a large break in the gutter, twisted her ankle and when down to her knees.  A visit to urgent care the next day revealed a small crack in a bone in her foot.  So, poor Jane was relegated to wearing a foot boot and using crutches for the rest of our stay.

Jane is a trooper and was ready to travel again in early February to our next destination, Whistler, Canada, (www.wistlerblackcomb.com) for some more skiing.  Our lodging was a most comfortable timeshare condo at Northstar Creekside.  All of Whistler Village was an easy walk from there and what fun it was to stoll along the shops and restaurants all bundled up on our winter wear.  At night the Village was singularly vibrant with colorful, sparkling lights illuminating the pedestrian concourse.  Adding to the ambiance of the Village were the multitudes of people coming and going in their showy, multicolored ski outfits.  The Village is large and easily accommodated the crowds with its abundent shops, restaurants and bars.  We loved it and became part of the crowd finding a different restaurant for dinner each evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The skiing experience, however, is a different story.  To begin, the weather did not cooperate with us.  By even the most conservative definition, we are fair weather skiers.  A stormy overcast and light rain in the Village kept us cozily sitting by the fire reading our books for the first few days.  The wait payed off.  After a few days we were treated to blue skies and high clouds and ventured out to experience Whistler Mountain.  The mountain was magnificent, the snow plentiful and scenery breathtaking.  The gondola ride from the Village to the top of the mountain is a stunning twentyfive minute sensory adventure.  The snow capped peaks of the coastal range surrounding Whistler Mountain provided a stunning 360 degree vista.  There are two major ski areas, Whistler and Blackcomb, seperated by the Fitzsimmons Creek canyon.  A peak-to-peak gondola has been constructed connecting the tops of two ski areas.  Jane and I rode this amazing peak-to-peak gondola to experience the spectacular scenic beauty of the area.

Returning to our skiing experience, let me merely recount that not all Green Circles are created equal.  The Green Circle ski runs at Whistler are reminiscent of the Blue Square runs at Park City.  Both Jane and I were more than a little intimidated by the steepness of the slopes marked with the Green Circles.  In addition, at Park City we are accustomed to packed groomed ski runs.  At Whistler the runs were loosely groomed causing the snow to billow into small mounds and moguls as more and more skiers moved the loose snow around.  Needless to say, we lost some of the cockyness we acquired in Park City but still enjoyed the challenge of Whistler Mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just because there were two consecutive ski-vacation trips does not suggest that my hankering for photography diminished.  My photo-buddy Bruce Hollingsworth joined Jane and me for an exploration of The Living Coast (formerly The Nature Center) at Gunpowderpoint in Chula Vista.   Thanks to Sherry Lankston, Guest Experience & Marketing Coordinator at The Living Coast (www.thelivingcoast.org) we were treated to some one-on-one photo ops with three of their birds on exhibit.  The birds were displayed for us by Lindsay Bradshaw one of The Living Coast avian curators.  We were able to get some charming closeups of a burrowing owl, barn owl and female kestrel.  These birds were not able to be returned to the wild and so are on perminent display at The Living Coast.  Getting portrait style closeups of birds in the wild is nearly impossible so this was an exceptional opportunity for us to obtain some very detailed images.

Burrowing Owl Barn Owl Female American Kestrel

So far, a very good start to the 2013 travel season, two ski trips and some awsome bird shots.  Once the house painting is complete and new windows installed, we will go into extreme research mode as we contemplate and plan where we will go this year.  It will be difficult to replicate last year's great trips, but we will certainly give it a try.  Please come back occasionally to check the blog and catch up on our travel experiences.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Canada Chula Vista Gunpowder Point No Name Saloon Park City The Living Coast Utah Whistler avian barn barn owl burrowing burrowing owl curator gandola kestrel owl peak-to-peak ski skiing village https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2013/2/presidents-day-2013 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:56:18 GMT
End Of The Year Blast https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/12/end-of-the-year-blast I ended 2012 with a Blast!  Not the fireworks kind, but a great photo trip to Costa Rica.  I signed up for Greg Basco's workshop, Biodiversity of Costa Rica, and had a most enjoyable and challenging time photographing that diversity (www.fotoverdetours.com).  There were ten participants in the workshop and I was truely impressed with the photographic skills and accomplishments of the group.  One of the great outstanding features of this workshop was the teaching ability demonstrated by Greg.  For every major shoot, he would inform us of the basic setup and how to prepare for it.  He also would go over the composition and exposure alternatives so that we could achieve the best photographic results.  In the darkness of the rainforest much of the photography required suplemental flash, an area of particular weakness for me.  With Greg's assistance, however, much of the mystery of flash photography was clarified.

 

                                                     

The itinerary was also outstanding.  We started and ended our adventure at the Bougainvillea Hotel on the outskirts of San Jose (www.hb.co.cr/). From the Bougainvillea we traveled first to the Selve Verde Lodge (www.selvaverde.com), then to the Bosque de Paz Biological Preserve (www.bosquedepaz.com), and finally the Arenal Observatory Lodge (www.arenalobservatorylodge.com), each for three nights.  Side trips were made to photograph macaws, iguanas, hummingbirds, a variety of snakes, lizards and frogs, and a large variety of small birds.  Images from this last adventure of 2012 can be viewed in the Costa Rica galleries.  I will leave it to each of you to decide on the most intriguing, interesting, humorous, or revolting images.  As I said, it was a Blast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this end of 2012, Jane and I wish all our friends and acquaintances a safe, healthy and happy 2013.  As a sign at the Arenal Observatory Lodge proclaimes, "Leave Only Footprints; Take Only Pictures; and Kill Only Time".  Happy trails to all of you. 

Our plans for 2013 include some more exciting trips.  Hopefully, there will be lots of new images to share.  Check back every once in a while for new blog entrees. 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Arenal Observatory Lodge Bosque de Paz Costa Rica Foto Verde birds bougainvillea hummingbirds iguana photography snakes workshop https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/12/end-of-the-year-blast Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:43:47 GMT
Anniversary Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/10/anniversary-trip How do you begin a Blog about a monumental, month long, 5,300 mile, fifteenth wedding anniversay trip?  Do you begin with the grand scenic places we visited?  The unique inns and lodges we called home along the way?  Or, the intimacy of sharing new exciting experiences?  I'll begin with a quick recap of this exciting odyssey and then share some of the details that made this fifteenth anniversary uniquely special.

 

As much as Jane and I travel, there are still places and adventures we muse about experiencing.  One of those was to drive U.S. Highway 395 from its origins in San Diego to its terminus at the Canadian border (www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/organization/old395.html).  Well, we did that!  Another was to stay at a high, remote alpine lodge in the Canadian Rockies.  Well, we did that too!  Although we had been to Lake Louise before, we had not hiked the longer alpine trails around the lake.  Again, we did that!  Finally, we finished our trip with a stay at "our place in Montana", Glacier Wilderness Resort for some needed rest and relaxation.

 

From San Diego to Hesperia, U.S. Highway 395 has been replaced by Interstate 15.  Although there were several signs along I-15 referring to Old Highway 395, it was at Hesperia that we actually exited the Interstate to begin our Highway 395 sojourn.  There was not much scenic beauty to rave about until we reached Lone Pine, six hours, or so, from home.  From Lone Pine to Lee Vining, our first overnight, we paralleled the east side of California's majestic Sierra Nevada mountains.  We had time for some unplanned sightseeing including Mammoth Mounain ski area, Mono Lake and its tufa outcroppings (www.monolake.org) , and the ghost town of Bodie (www.bodie.com).  Leaving Lee Vining, we made a mental note that this area would make a great fall photography location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next destination required a slight detour from Highway 395.  At the recommendation of our friends Jon and Joy Eaton, we had placed Crater Lake National Park on our list of must stops.  So, from Lee Vining we headed for Klamath Falls, Oregon.  There, we happened upon a local newspaper that headlined a warning about a midge irruption.  Neither Jane or I had ever heard of a midge, but we encountered them big time the next day on our way to Crater Lake.  Swarms of small, mosquito like, insects irrupting from Upper Klamath Lake, formed massive dark clouds over the road (www.craterlakeinstitue.com).  Needless to say, the 4Runner was covered with thousands of the little midges.  This fatal attraction necessitated an emergency stop at a service station to clean the winshield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jon and Joy for their recommendation.  We enjoyed Crater Lake immensely and would recommend a stop there to anyone traveling in that direction.  The crater, formed by the collapse of an old volcano caldera, was immense and the lake water a stunning deep blue.  We had time to enjoy a short hike to Plaikni Falls and buffalo burgers in the lodge.  From Crater Lake, we traveled to Bend, Oregon for our third overnight.  From the lake, the terrain transitioned from mountainous, wooded forests to open plains of agricultural fields with their unique geometric patterns.  We continued along the same landscape to Spokane and on to Golden, British Columbia, Canada, (www.tourismgoldern.com) by way of Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.

 

Heading north out of Coeur d' Alene, we traveled between the Purcell Mountains on the west and the Kootenay Range in the east.  The route was sprinkled with quaint little communities, like Kimberly, Canal Flats, Invermere, and Edgewater, as well as a multitude of resorts, like Fairmount Hot Srings, Windermere, and Radium Hot Springs.  Near Canal Flats, we drove along Columbia Lake, the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River.  Our destination was Golden, confluence of the Kicking Horse and Columbia Rivers, and our point of departure for the Purcell Mountain Lodge (www.purcellmountainlodge.com).  This remote, alpine lodge is accessable only by helicopter from Golden.  We spent our fifth overnight at the Kicking Horse River Lodge, a very nice and comfortable accommodation (www.khrl.com), prior to our rendezvous with Alpine Helicopters for our ascent to the lodge (www.alpinehelicopter.com).

 

If ever I scored big on selecting an anniversary location, this was it.  Starting with the thrill of the helicopter, with Jane in the "second", co-pilot seat, and ending with melancholy goodbyes and hugs, this was by far the best celebration we have experienced.  To start, Purcell Lodge, a member of the Unique Inns group, was an exquisitely stunning accommodation.  Immaculately maintained, spotlessly clean, comfortably furnished and appointed, the lodge provided a serene environment for our fifteenth fete.  Upon landing, we were met by our guide, Kevin, and cheff, Stephane, and that is when the adventure began.  The daily routine consisted of a hardy breakfast, packing a lunch, four to six hours of leasurely hiking, pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres, and a sumptuous evening meal.  There was a bit of a ritual associated with the dinner call.  Stephane would pick up his guitar, find a comfortable spot on the couch, and proceed to sing the menu to us.  His performance was always a much enjoyed preamble to a delectable dining experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The daily hikes took us on various trails on the Bald Mountain meadows surrounding the lodge.  Kevin lead the way, always offering several alternative routes and Jane always choosing the most strenuous.  The views were extraordinary.  Sunrise at Mount Sir Donald was especially memorable.  Kevin and I would leave the comfort of the lodge before sunrise to arrive at the edge of the meadow and watch the pre-dawn sky over Sir Donald turn a rosy crimson and light up the glacier-covered mountain peak with alpenglow.  At other times we hiked the alpine meadow, filled with autumn heather, dwarf willow, paintbrush, pearly everlasting, mountain groundsel and broad leaved arnica.  During our stay, in early September, the western anenome flowers had turned to seed leaving showy "hippie stick" pods in vast numbers all along the trails.  Wildlife is not abundant on the meadow.  There is not sufficient feed to support the larger ungulates such as deer and elk.  At the low end of the food chain are the Columbia ground squirrels.  These rotund and nervous rodents provide an adequate food source for red-tailed hawks and the "resident" bear, Bella.  Although sightings of Bella and her cubs are not infrequent, we did not see her during our stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All too soon our interlude at the comfortable Purcell Lodge came to an end.  The helicopter flight back to Golden was bittersweet.  We hated to leave the lodge, yet looked forward to rest of our journey.  From Golden we drove the Trans-Canadian highway to Lake Louise for the next chapter of our anniversary trip.  Along the way, we stopped for a picnic and hike around Emerald Lake with its aquamarine waters surrounded by glacier-capped mountains.  We also took in Takakkaw Falls that plunge 1,250 feet from the Daly Glacier to the valley floor.  The drive to Lake Louise followed the Kicking Horse River, flowing west to the Columbia River, and then over Kicking Horse Pass, crossing the continental divide, into the Bow Valley.  Jane and I have been in these Canadian Rockies three times now and the intimate grandeur of their glacier-clad peaks and tranquility of their pine covered valleys continue to create a sense of awe and reverence in our spirits.

 

At Lake Louise Village we spent four nights at the Paradise Bungalows in a well appointed and cozy log cabin, along the main road to the lake (www.paradiselodge.com).  The last time Jane and I journeyed to Lake Louise, the weather was nasty and we only stopped for a quick lunch and gas for the car.  This time the weather was sublime, by Lake Louise standards.  We enjoyed a very pleasant day photographing and hiking around Moraine Lake.  This has to be, in my opinion, one of the most scenic lakes in the world with its dazzling blue water and glacier carved peaks erupting around its edge.  Another very scenic hike we enjoyed was to the cascades and falls of Johnston Canyon.  Parks Canada (www.pc.gc.ca/) has constructed a steel catwalk along this trail that is cantilevered from the shear rock walls of the canyon.  At times we were actually walking above the roaring river.  The most memorable hike, however, was to the Plain Of The Six Glaciers Teahouse.  It was along this seven mile, roundtrip, trail that the fickle nature of high alpine weather became apparent.  As we reached the end of this 1,230 foot elevation gain trail, grey clouds obscured the mountain peaks and a sprinkling of rain started to spit down on us.  By the time the Teahouse was in sight there was a constant light rain and we decided not to dally but to retrace our steps down the trail.  As we began the descent, rain turned to snow.  Big, massive, watery flakes fluttered from the sky creating a fairyland effect that we ignored as we stoically trudged back to the trailhead.  Our cosy cabin was a welcomed retreat as we warmed ourselves and dried boots and raingear in front of the pot-bellied stove. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the homey warmth of the Paradise Bungalows cabin, we headed south to "our place in Montana".  Our place in Montana is the Glacier Wilderness Resort timeshare cabin where we have the last two weesk in September (www.glacierwildernessresort.com).  The bright yellow fall colors of cottonwoods and quaking aspen usually peak during our time there.  The resort is adjacent to Glacier National Park and we spent some time hiking and photographing there.  At Many Glaciers, we had the opportunity to  watch a mother brown bear teach her cubs the art of berry picking.  It was facinating to observe the cubs using their tongues to manipulate the berries into their mouths.  We also endeavored a long hike to Iceberg Lake but only made it to Ptarmigan Falls, still a daunting effort considering the elevation gain.  At the Many Glaciers Lodge we boarded a tour boat on Swiftcurrent Lake to shuttle us Lake Josephine and an easier hike to Grinnell Lake.  While we were at the cabin there were a number of forest fires, some as far away as Idaho, that created a smokey haze over the mountains and deterred us from other hikes.  Instead, we explored the Flathead Valley along the Mission Mountain Range, including the National Bison Range and Mission St. Ignatius. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our cabin provided quiet solitude and relaxation that was much welcomed after our adventurous stays at Purcell Mountain Lodge, Lake Louise and Many Glaciers.  So what did we do at our secluded retreat in Montana?  Soaked luxuriously, with a glass of wine, in the hot water of the Jacuzzi on the front porch of the cabin and planned our next trips, of course.  For example, as we drove from Lake Louise through Kananaskis Country, south of Canmore in Alberta, we found the Rockies there to be of exceptional beauty.  So we spent time in the hot tub plottng when we might return there.

 

For more images from this amazing trip, see the Anniversary Trip gallery.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) alberta bodie british columbia canada crater lake emerald lake glacier wilderness resort golden johnston canyon klamath falls lake louise mammoth mountain midge montana moraine lake paradise bungalows parks canada purcell mountain lodge takakkaw falls https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/10/anniversary-trip Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:17:13 GMT
A Summer Potpourri Of Pictures https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/8/a-summer-potpourri-of-pictures Jane and I scheduled a major bathroom remodel project to start after our return from Colorado in late June.  The contractor, Rancho Kitchen and Bath (www.ranchokb.com), started work on July 2nd.  We can't say enough good things about Rancho.  The workmanship was outstanding, the workers friendly, the work finished ahead of schedule, and most importantly on budget.  That means construction will be completed well in advance of our fall trip.  Of course, I could not wait two months before taking some more pictures.  So, Bruce Hollingsworth and I made a couple of short trips to while away the time.  First, we plied our skills at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach, California (www.bolsachica.org).  From there we came back to San Diego for some shooting at Santee Lakes and the Tijuana Estuary.  At Bolsa Chica we met some other wildlife photographers and one of them, Patrick O'Healy (www.ohealyimages.zenfolio.com), joined us at Santee Lakes (www.santeelakes.com) and the Tijuana Estuary (www.tijuanaestuary.com).  After that, Bruce and I spent a few days further afield photographing Bristlecone Pines in the White Mountains and the Alabama Hills adjacent to Mount Whitney.

For me, Bolso Chica was a bust.  This was partially due to my lack of skill in photographing small birds in flight, but mostly due to the lack of birds.  The photographers we met at Bolsa Chica had come specifically to photograph black skimmers and they were pretty much skunked as well.  It was pretty much the same at the Tijuana Estuary.  We attempted to shoot some snowy plovers, but they are very small and difficult to approach for full frame shots.  Our best bird shots, although not numerous, were at Santee Lakes.  There, we spent some time photographing male and female wood ducks.  In July, the males were not sporting there colorful breeding plumage, but were, nevertheless, very attractive birds.  A little chumming with cracked corn brought the ducks within easy range for full frame shots.  We also practiced our patience waiting for a perched osprey to spead its wings and fly off.  It paid off!  We had waited about 30 to 45 minutes, when it finally took flight.  We got some decent images from that little trip.  We concluded, however, that most southern California bird photography locations are best during the winter months when birds are migrating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To set the stage for our next trip, I need to tell you that the Bristlecone Pine forest in the White Mountains is a long 50 minute drive from Big Pine (www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5129900).  That meant early morning and late everning photography required an extensive drive up and down a steep, narrow and twisty mountain road in the wee hours of the morning and evening.  Not only that, there are two major bristlecone pine groves.  The second grove is an additional half hour on a steep, dirt tract.  I convinced Bruce that it would be best if we were to camp out at the Grandview Campground (www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/recreation/camping.../recarea/?...29) about five miles from the first grove.  Bruce was up for it and had all the necessary camping gear we needed for our stay on the mountain.

 

I would say that our trip to the Bristlecone Pine forest was a success.  The weather cooperated by supplying a very threatening stormy sky without actually raining on us.  Both Bruce and I got some very attractive images of the trees.  I won't go into detail about the age and hardiness of the bristlecone pine but only direct you to my images in the Summer Potpourri of Images gallery.  The images did not come without a price, however.   Bruce and I hiked at least a total of eight miles carrying are photo gear up and down the trails at elevations ranging over 11,000 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the campground, we chummed in some forest critters with bird seed.  After some time, the critters became habituated to our presence and we spent several hours sitting comfortably in our camp chairs watching and photographing them.  First came the golden-mantled ground squirrels.  They would scurry around, squabbling with each other, and stowing away the seeds in their expanding cheeck pouches.  There were also some much smaller Uinta chipmunks around.  But these were shy, timid, aloof and never within camera range.  That's when I decided it was time for the ultimate critter attractor, peanut butter.  I pasted some of the nectar on the branches of a Utah Juniper tree and waited for the elixir to work.  It did not take long.  First, the golden-mantled ground squirrels availed themselves of the goody.  Then came the Uinta chipmunks.  These nimble creatures took a more direct route jumping from low ground bushes onto the branches of the juniper.  It was quite a circus to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last stop on our trip to the Owens Valley was Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills (www.blm.gov/ca/bishop/alabamas.html).  I don't mind telling you that I find landscape photography very challenging and the Alabama Hills are doubly so.  With the exception of the Mobius Arch, we concentrated most of our time on photographing Mount Whitney at sunrise and sunset.  On the second day of shooting, we were again fortunate to have billowy clouds over the mountain both in the morning and evening.  The morning alpenglow shots turned out particularly well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see images from these trips in the A Summer Potpourri Of Pictures gallery.  And here is my commercial announcement: you get order prints of any image on my website directly using the "buy" link after selecting the image.  If you would like blank photo-greeting cards of any images, please contact me via the "send message" link under Contact.

Jane and I are now looking forward to the completion of the bathroom remodel and our upcoming trip to the Purcell Mountain Lodge in the Canadian Rockies.  Tell you about that adventure when we return.

 

 

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alabama Hills Bolsa Chica California Grandview Campground Mobius Arch Mount Whitney Rancho Kitchen and Bath Santee Lakes Tijuana Estuary Uinta White Mountains bristlecone pines chipmunk" golden mantled ground squirrel osprey photography wood duck https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/8/a-summer-potpourri-of-pictures Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:13:38 GMT
A June Two-Fer https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/7/a-june-two-fer June was an exciting month with two great trips.  It wasn't guite a two-fer since both trips had their own costs.  First, Alaska!  We boarded an Alaska Airlines flight from San Diego to Anchorage where we rented a car and headed to Whittier.  Whittier is one of those Alaskan towns where the weather is as independent and varied as its people.  We were to go out with Gerry Sander on his boat, the M/V Sound Access, for two days of pelagic wildlife photography (www.soundecoadventure.com).  Well, the weather was most uncooperative and the best we could do was one day, which turned out to be rather nice, by Whittier standards.  We stayed at the Inn at Whittier, a very nice hotel located on a rocky ledge overlooking the bay (www.innatwhittier.com).  Much to our surprise at breakfast one morning, there was a huge cruise ship docked just a few hundred feet away.  A behemoth like that makes everything else look very small, especially our four story hotel.

Gerry guided us through Prince Williams Sound to several islands with kittiwake and puffin colonies, including Fool Island, Naked Island, and Smith and Little Smith Islands.  Photography was best for us at Tree Island, a small rocky outpost of the Dutch Group of Islands.  Tree Island has a shallow soil layer on top of the bedrock.  Puffins have dug their burrows into the soil right at the contact zone.  Jane and I were able to photograph a mated pair in front of their burrow.  Kittiwakes and gulls nested along the rocky ledges and cliffs of the tiny island and were much more numerous than the puffins.  We also encountered several groups of humpback whales but were only able to get fluke shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My original impetus for the trip to Alaska was to photograph the famous white, Dall sheep at Windy Corner along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage.  My research had suggested that these sheep frequently ventured close to the road and could be easily photographed.  So we changed accommodations from Whittier and moved to Girdwood, at the Alyeska ski resort.  Jane had arranged for a nice vacation home rental through Alyeska Accommodations (www.alyeskaaccommodations.com).  Unfortunately, like the weather in Whittier, the Dall sheep had different plans.  Yes we saw some, but they were very high up on the rocky cliffs above the highway and much too far for photography.  After hiking the trail at Windy Corner without any sightings, we abandoned plans for sheep photography and headed to Potter Marsh for potential waterfowl shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potter Marsh is a well know birding area and on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game viewable wildlife list (www.adfg.alaska.gov).  Jane and I thoroughly enjoyed strolling the boardwalk and photographing from the highway pullouts.  I did not realize how closely the Arctic Terns nested to the pullouts and was noisely attacked by an aggravated tern while getting my tripod from the trunk.  It's nest was only a few feet from the car.  To my surprise, the tree swallows that swarmed around the marsh were very habituated to people and we were able to photograph the little swallows from close proximity.

Our last stop of our Alaska venture was at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (www.alaskawildlife.org).  I have had an urge to photograph musk oxen for a long time and the conservation center had a small group of these prehistoric looking beasts.  In addition to the musk oxen, the center also had Alaska's famous brown bears and herds of wood bison, elk and reindeer.  The wood bison and elk had a large number of newborn calves which were fun to watch and photograph.  Jane particularly enjoyed the visitor center/gift shop.  We found it best to be at the center early in the morning before the tour busses arrived from Anchorage with their loads of sightseers.  From our observation, the Center appeared to be well managed, operated and maintained.  The animal enclosures were very large and natural allowing the animals to roam freely over a large area of varied terrain.  Photography through the fences was challenging, but could be accomplished with a little effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second June two-fer trip was to Mount Evans in Colorado.  Mount Evans had also been on my to-do list for a long time.  It was the mountain goats that roam the fourteen-thousand foot heights of Mount Evans that I wanted to photograph.  Jane and I drove from San Diego to Idaho Springs where we stayed for five nights.  The house Jane had rented was right on the road to Mount Evans so our "commute" to the top was fairly easy, although it still took about 45 minutes to drive to the top.  We arrived in Idaho Springs on a Sunday afternoon and decided to drive to the top for some reconnaissance and familiarization.  I'm glad we did because the road to the top was narrow, steep, with numerous switchbacks and sheer drops, in short hair-raising.  The recon trip prepared us for what to expect and our subsequent trips to the top were not as scary.  On Sunday afternoon we were also plagued with hundreds of sightseers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next two mornings we were up at 5:00 AM and out of the door by 5:30.  Getting to the top was no problem and at the top we encounted only a few other hardy souls.  It was cold and windy on top.  Did I mention it was windy?  Each morning, we were buffeted by strong gusts that about blew us over.  In order to take photos, we had to wedge behind large boulders and position ourselves behind other potential windbreaks.  These distractions did little, however, to lessen the delight of sharing the mountain top with several families of mountain goat nannies and their kids.  At times there must have been close to fifteen adult goats and six or so very young kids.  The kids stole the show as they played among the boulders, jumping sure-footed from one to another.  Sometimes three or more youngsters would be on the same boulder, pushing and shoving each other for "king-of-the-hill" honors.  It was shear pleasure to be part of their world for a time.  For the most part, they paid little attention to the nearby photographers clicking away.  As the goat families roamed about on top of Mount Evans, licking minerals from the rocky soil, they would often pass within a few feet of us.  I'll have to admit it made me a bit nervous as the adults with their sharp horns entered my "space". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although mountain goats were the objective, we also did the tourist thing.  We visited Breckenridge, Leadville, Aspen (via Independence Pass) and Marble.  We pretty much got our fill of steep, narrow and twisty mountain roads.  The scenary was beautiful, although that nasty bark beetle has taken its toll.  We concluded that another trip to Colorado was needed, but in the fall with the aspen trees in their glory.

You can see images from these two trip in the Varied Wildlife of Alaska and Mount Evans Cuties galleries.

 

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center Gerry Sander Idaho Springs Mount Evans Potter Marsh Prince Williams Sound Whittier alaska colorado goats kid kids mountain mountain goats musk ox pelagic photography wildlife https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/7/a-june-two-fer Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:36:25 GMT
White-Water Thrills https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/5/white-water-thrills  

Well, we did it.  After nearly a year of planning and anticipating, Jane and I white-water rafted down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  What an exciting adventure!  Six exhilarating days meadering and splashing through the grandest of canyons, hiking its remote trails and marveling at its beauty.  We arranged our expedition with Arizona River Runners (www.raftarizona.com).  They provided most everything from knowledgable and skilled guides, pontoon rafts, cots, and sleeping bags to three squares a day.  We merely had to show up, be "in the moment", and partake in the fun, comradery and exhilaration of the canyon experience.

The rafting expedition started at the Lees Ferry launching ramp in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area about 15 miles below Glen Canyon dam.  We met our guides, Kenny, Riley, Easy and Sheila at the Marble Canyon Lodge (www.marblecanyoncompany.com).  After roll call, there were 27 of us intrepid traverlers, and brief introductions we loaded our ample gear into vans and headed for the launching ramp.  There we received our personal dry-bags, life preservers and final safety briefing.  By that time we were all anxious to scramble onto the rafts and head down river.

 

For six awesome days we marveled at the Grand Canyon's iconic beauty and were doused by the Colorado's cold rapids.  After six exhilarating days, no single experience stands out.  Instead, it was a continuous kaleidoscope of bright colored cliffs, foaming white water, vivid watery reflections, exhausting hikes, turquoise tributaries and bright sunny skies.  Some of the outstanding canyon activities we enjoyed included: a stimulating hike up North Canyon through its wave like slot canyon walls; a respite from the hot sun at the shady Redwall Cavern; a steep strenuous scramble to ancient Anasazi graineries high up the canyon wall; floating carefree like a kid in the turquoise waters of the Little Colorado; a brief rocky scramble up Blacktail Canyon for a refreshing splash under its waterfall; a harrowing hike along steep ledges to the "patio" above Deer Creek Falls; and a treacherous docking and hike along narrow ledges to the turquoise and travertine laden waters of Havasu Creek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the wonder and excitement of the canyon came to an abrupt end at Whitmore Wash, river mile 187.  There, after breakfast, breaking camp and a group photo, we were helicoptered some half mile vertically out of the Grand Canyon to the Bar 10 Ranch (www.bar10.com).  At the ranch, our now extended "family" of 27, bid each other adieu as some flew home through Las Vegas and others via Marble Canyon.  The memory of this extraordinary trip through crashing rapids and majestic scenery will linger in our memory for a long, long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fantastic white-water river trip was a vacation and not a photography outing.  Therefore, you will not find a Gallery on the web site with images from the trip.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Arizona Arizona River Runners:, Bar 10 Ranch Canyon" Colorado Colorado River Grand Canyon Havasu Havasu Creek Marble River adventure exhilarating expidetion pantoon raft rafting rapids scenery travel white water https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/5/white-water-thrills Sat, 26 May 2012 23:33:42 GMT
End Of An Era https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/4/end-of-an-era  After nearly a decade of selling my photo-greeting cards and fine-art photographs at art and craft shows, I have decided to "move on".  It was 2003 when I first obtained my reseller's permit from the state of California.  I honestly did not remember it was that long ago.  Time flies when you are having fun.  For about the last five years, I have sold exclusively at the Bernardo Winery art and craft shows in Rancho Bernardo.  That was close to home and I enjoyed working with Veronica and her crew.  The surroundings there were comfortable and inviting resulting in crowds of visitors enjoying the ambiance and entertainment of the venue.  But, quite frankly, after ten years it got a little old setting up and tearing down for each of the shows.  Plus, I wanted to travel and photograph more and the show dates started interfering with that.  So, with some regret, I am going to concentrate on selling my photo-greeting cards and fine art prints at retail outlets and online.

 

 

For my past and potentially new clients, I now offer the convenience of online shopping right here on this site.  I have priced my prints to be competative with art and craft show pricing.  By following the various links you can choose print size, cropping, mat color and frame style.  Then, most conveniently, the framed and matted print will be delivered right to your home, or any alternative location you may prefer.

For those of you who have purchased my photo-greeting cards, and there were many of you, and would like to continue doing so, please "contact" me using the link on the web site.  To ensure quality, I personally make the cards and can arrange to make them for you if you send me an email request.  If you reside in the San Diego area, you can also purchase my cards at the following retail outlets: 

          Callifornia Backyard Birds in Encinitas www.californiabackyardbird.com

          The UPS Store on Highway 101 in Solano Beach www.theupsstorelocal.com/0746/

          The Birdwatcher in Julian www.thebirdwatcher.net

          Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association  in Borrego Springs www.abdnha.org

I have appreciated your past patronage and hope you will continue to consider my photography for your personal use or as gifts.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Bernardo Winery art craft fine-art photo-greeting cards prints retail sales selling set-up https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/4/end-of-an-era Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:43:14 GMT
Birds of Southern Arizona https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/4/birds-of-southern-arizona  

Southern Arizona is a national hotspot for photographing migrating birds, that is, when the birds are migrating (www.tucsonaudubon.org).  Bruce Hollingsworth and I just returned from a photo trip to southern Arizona and discovered that timing is everything.  Everywhere where we attempted to photograph birds, we found that we were to early and that the "real" migration hadn't started yet.  It is true that, although the winter had been mild, spring turned out cold and late.  Bruce and I commented, as we drove to the birding hotspots, that the terrain still looked like winter.  Desert shrubs were still without leaves and there were no sping flowers anywhere, except peoples' yards.  We had planned an extensive itinerary, three days around Green Valley, three days around Patagonia, and three days around Sierra Vista.  We had taken our own photo-blinds hoping for opportunities to set them up at strategic locations for some close-up shooting.  All in all, the venture was only partially successful.  We did not capture as many images as we had hoped and only had a few new species to add to our portfolios.

Gila Woodpecker

We started our trip at Bill Forbes' "The Pond At Elephant Head" in Amado, Arizona (www.phototrap.com).  We spent a day and half shooting at Bill's place.  Keeper images there are almost guaranteed.  Bill has set up shooting blinds around a very small watering pond and has spent years habituating the birds to his feeders and perches.  Gambel's Quail, Orioles, Thrashers, Cactus Wrens and a variety of finches and sparrows are regular visitors to the feeders at the pond.  We had also hoped to shoot in Madera Canyon where Bill has another setup for shooting hummingbirds from blinds.  The target species was the Magnificent Hummingbird.  Unfortunately, Bill was the first of many to tell us that the birds had not yet arrived.  I'll have to go back in the future to get my Magnificent.

 

 

From Amado, we traveled to Patagonia.  All the birding guides rave about the Patagonia area.  We explored Patagonia Lake State Park, Paton's backyard, the Nature Conservancy's Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, and the area around our B&B (Cross Creek Cottages).  The story was much the same, birds had not arrived yet.  At Patagonia Lake State Park we carried our heavy equipment along the wooded lake trail and steep chaparral covered hillsides looking for shooting opportunities.  This of course, was an exercise in futility.  Without a well established feeding station and blinds, photographing birds is a fruitless effort.  But as luck would have it, we did have some success.  As I was carrying my gear up a steep, brushy trail, Bruce spotted a Gila Monster.  It was big, ugly and scary!  We had an exciting time trying to get good images as it lumbered along in the weeds and brush.  The other success at the state park was a Vermillion Flycatcher.  We had spotted the bright red bird perched in a tree, but way to far for a shot.  Then it toyed with us as it fluttered, back and forth, overhead only to perch again out of range.  We had given up and were heading back to the car when we stumbled upon some Pipits.  The little birds were foraging on the ground among the old leaves and grasses.  The Pipits were so preoccupied that we had time to set up our tripods with 500 mm lenses.  Just then the Vermillion Flycatcher swooped in and perched on an old tree snag not far from us.  Although still very small in the view finder, we did get some keepers.

Due to the overall lack of birds, we left Patagonia a day earlier than originally planned and headed for Siera Vista.  There we explored several birding hotspots, including Huachuca Canyon, the Nature Conservancy Ramsey Canyon Preserve, and San Pedro House, in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (www.sanpedroriver.org).  In al those well known hotspots, there were very few birds and no real photo opportunities.  We ended up arranging with Tony Battiste to shoot from blinds at his B&B (www.battistebedandbirds.com).  That proved worthwhile and emphasized again that you need well established feeding and watering stations and blinds for productive shooting.  Morning light was best at Tony's, so we photographed there two mornings.  I got some new species to add to the portfolio, including a Bewick's Wren, Inco Dove, Audubon's Warbler, and Lucy's Warbler.  Not bad, considering it was an off-spring for bird photography.  Tony invited us to come back in the evening to photograph an Elf Owl pair that has a nest on his property.  However, that turned out to be a unproductive.  Although we saw the owls swooping around the trees in the darkness of late twilight, the birds did not perch in the open area we were prepared for.

 

 

Images from this trip can be viewed in the Birds of Southern Arizona gallery.  Bruce also keeps a blog and you can read his version of the trip there (www.logofspartina.blogspot.com).

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Amado Battiste's Bed and Birds Bewick's Wren Bridled Titmouse Bullock's Oriole Cross Creek Cottages Gambel's Quail Gila Monster Hooded Oriole Inco Dove Ladder-Backed Woodpecker Lazuli Bunting Lucy's Warbler Mockingbird Northern Cardinal Patagonia Pyrrhuloxia Siera Vista The Pond at Elephant Head Yellow-Rumped Warbler birding hotspots photography southern Arizona https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/4/birds-of-southern-arizona Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:03:27 GMT
More About Hummers https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/more-about-hummers Not because I got skunked at Miramar Lake, but because I just wanted to get some good Anna's Hummingbird images, I signed up for a hummingbird workshop with Neil Solomon (www.nsolomonphoto.com).  Neil conducts his workshops in Alpine, California (www.alpinechamber.com).  That is just a forty minute drive from home and too good an opportunity to pass up.  The target workshop species in Alpine are the Anna's, Costa's, Ruffous and Black Chinned hummers.  During the workshop, it was predominantly the Anna's that buzzed around the feeders and flowers.  A Ruffous and Black Chinned showed up occasionally, but I failed to get images of those.  Since my objective was to get some good Anna's images, the workshop turned out great for me.

Neil is a true professional.  His setup included five flashes, a variety of backgrounds and native flowers right out of the yard.  Since his equipment and my camera were all Canon, the whole setup was triggered wirelessly by my 550 EX Speedlight flash with its wireless selector switch on the "master" setting.  We had to experiment a bit on the appropriate exposure settings.  Once that was fine tuned, the rest of the shooting was almost automatic.  Since it is nearly impossible to focus on the flittering hummers, the camera was pre-focused on the area where the birds were expected to feed and set on manual focus.  I still ended up with hundreds of out-of-focus shots.  That was OK since I filled four 8 GB cards during the two day workshoop and had plenty of in-focus images to work with.

The birds seemed to follow a pattern of all showing up at the same time and then disappearing for a while.  At times there were as many as five or six hummers pushing, shoving, intimidating and chasing each other around the feeder.  It got nasty at times and the clashes could easily be heard.  During the lulls, Neil and I had plenty of time to swap stories and get to know each other.  Turns out, we have photographed at many of the same locations.  Neil's specialty is definitely birds and he responds immediatly when he hears of any special bird photography opportunities.  Most recently, he flew to Seattle in order to take advantage of the Snowy Owl irruption resulting from too many young birds for the available northern food supply.  To learn more about bird irruptions or explosions check out these sites www.birdsource.org and www.ebird.org.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the two days I spent with Neil photographing hummingbirds in Alpine.  You can see the results of the workshop on my website in the Alpine Hummingbird Workshop gallery.  Most of the images are of the female Anna's with its freckled throat and golden and green back feathers.  My personal favorites are the male Anna's with there bright, irredescent red gorgets.  There are also a couple of Costa hummingbirds with their purple gorgets. 

 

A few years back, I participated in a hummingbird workshop with John and Barbara Gerlach (www.gerlachnaturephoto.com) at the Bull River Guest Ranch (www.bullriverguestranch.com).  During that workshop I was able to capture many Rufous and Caliope hummingbird images.  You can see those on my Hummingbirds gallery.

 

If you care to leave a comment, let me know what you think of the silhouette images.  They were actually a bit of a mistake in lighting.

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Alpine Anna's California Canon explosion flash setup hummer hummingbird photography workshop https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/more-about-hummers Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:49:50 GMT
A Humming Surprise https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/a-humming-surprise To help stay in reasonble shape, Jane and I like to walk around Miramar Lake (www.sandiego.gov/water/recreation/miramar.shtm).  Some years ago, quiet a few actually, when the City still had money (in the form of land developer donations to obtain favor from elected officials) the road around the lake was paved and extended over the dam to make a five-mile loop.  Jane and I try to walk this loop about three or four times a week.  A few days ago, while walking around the lake (actually one of the City's water supply reservoirs), Jane spotted a tiny hummingbird sitting on its nest.  How she was able to spot the little thing is a mystery to me.  It was well hidden among the leaves on a tree branch near the side of the road.  The nest was wedged between a couple of thin branches and only about two inches tall and in diameter.  The miniscule hummer was sitting "V" shaped on top of its nest with its tail skewed up in one direction and its face in the opposite, presummably incubating her eggs.

Well, this was a great find that I had to try to photograph.  I checked the incubation and fledging period for Anna's hummingbirds to get an overall idea for a plan of attack.  Although a hummer on a nest is a nice shot, I really wanted to try for some chicks in the image.  Anyway, I went back early the next morning with my telephonto lens.  There were already more people out on the loop road than I had expected that early in the moring but none stopped to see what I was up to.  I took some security shots just to make sure I had something and then started monitoring the nest every few days as I walked around the lake.  To the best of my recogning, I had about 10 days or so before there would be any sign of life.  But that was not to be.  We had a cold rainy weekend and after that the little bird had abandoned the nest.  Jane and I walked by the nest several days in a row to find the nest sans any sign of the adult hummer.

Finding the hummingbird nest was serendipity.  To find more dependable shooting I visited Santee Lakes (www.santeelakes.com).  Santee Lakes can be counted on for ring-necked and wood ducks.  Of course, you have fight off the ubiquitous mudhens.  This time of year the wood ducks are typically in a very amorous mood.  Mate selection is in full swing and couples are exploring nesting site.  As a public service project, boy scouts have placed a number of nest boxes amount the trees around the lakes.  As I was photographing, I found several wood duck couples romantically engaged in the sycamore trees.  So, my disappointment of missing hummingbird chicks was soothed by the colorful wood ducks and their amorous antics.

You can see more of these images in the Santee Lakes gallery on my web site.

 

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) amorous anna'a chick ducks fledging hummingbird incubation mating miramar lake mudhens nest nest box photography ring-necked ducks romance san diego santee lakes wood wood ducks https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/a-humming-surprise Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:48:15 GMT
2012 First Photo Trip https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/2012-first-photo-trip On February11th, Bruce Hollingsworth and I ventured out to photography bald eagles in Utah.  I had learned that Utah was a primary destination for bald eagles during the winter.  The wildlife refuges around the eastern corridor of the Great Salt Lake provide the safety and food they seek.  Reportedly, it is common to see, and photograph, bald eagles on the shalow, frozen waters of the refuges as they compete for the plentiful carp in the deeper, unfrozen water.  Bruce and I had high hopes. Unfortunately our expectations were not be realized.  Due to the unusual warm winter, the eagles had not migrated as far south as the Great Salt Lake.  We did see a few eagles but they were far away and out of range of our large lenses.  The Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area (www.wildlife.utah.gov/habitat/farmington_bay.php) was our primary destination.  It has the best reputation for being able to photograph the eagles.  Several photographers lead workshops to Farmington Bay in the winter for an eagle shoot.  I suspect that there were some disappointed clients.  The irony was that February 11 was Bald Eagle Day in Utah.

In additiona to Farmington Bay, we also checked out Antelope Island State Park (www.stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island) and the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (www.fws.gov/bearriver/) for photographic opportunities.  We spent most of the day Sunday scouting these areas for possible wildlife.  The weather was not cooperative with a very low and dense cloud cover and drizzle.  Out of desparation we photographed some shy, Pied-billed Grebes.  Even shooting out of the car window with the 500mm lenses, they were mere specs in the view finder.  But when you have driven 900 miles, you want to photograph something, anything! 

We also happened upon an American Kestrel that had snagged a rodent of some kind and had perched on a roadway sign to consume its catch.  We made a U-turn after passing the bird and slowly worked our way back along the shoulder of the road to get closer to the preoccupied Kestrel.  The setting was not wonderful, but we got some decent images.  However, since the wildlife action was not enough to keep our interest we decided to head south to Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks.  The forecast for Monday was snow and we were hoping for snow covered red rock as we headed south.

We arrived at Ruby's Inn at Bryce Canyon National Park (www.nps.gov/brca/) by mid-afternoon on Monday the 13th.  It was overcast, cold and snowing lightly.  After checking in, we drove into the park using 4-wheel drive on the snow packed road.  We walked out to several of the view points to determine where we wanted to set up, if weather permitted.  Althought it had snowed overnight, Tuesday was one of those dramatic mostly cloudy days with scattered sunshine.  There was no typical sunrise color but plenty of light and shadow on the snow covered, fairy like hoodoos of Bryce Canyon.  We photographed mostly from Sunset Point and Bryce Point.  I'm personally a bit intimidated by Bryce Canyon.  There is so much landscape to see that I have trouble isolating a dramatic composition in the viewfinder.

We had to cut our photography short that afternoon because it started to snow again.  The next day was the same, snow.  So we checked out of Ruby's and headed to Zion National Park (www.nps.gov/zion/).  It snowed on and off along the way, but as we got into the lower elevations it stopped.  We spotted several bald eagles in the bare cottonwood trees along the Sevier River as we headed for Zion.  It was a short couple of hours from Ruby's to the Zion Canyon Lodge and the snow covered landscape along the way was beautiful.  As we did at Bryce Canyon, Bruce and I spent Wednesday afternoon exploring Zion Canyon for potential photo spots.  The weather forecast for Thursday was for sunny skies and we were excited about the prospect of finally having some good light.  That night, however, it snowed again, big, wet, fluffy flakes.  That dampened our spirits a bit.

At six the following morning, with the temperature well below freezing, I stepped out onto the patio of our room to check the weather.  After my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could clearly see the big dipper overhead.  The sky was clear!  This meant we had to layer up, gather our photo gear, and head out into the cold.  During our reconnaissance we had determined that we needed to be at the Towers of the Virgin for runrise.  That is where we headed and we were not alone.  We were the first, but within about 15 minutes several other photographers appeared.  Some were local, from St. George, Utah, while others were from as far afield as Minnesota.  This location, directly behind the Zion Human History Museum, is a must for great sunrise images.

After a full, hearty breakfast, that was included with the room, we hiked the Emerald Pools Trail.  The trail, although not long, had some icy spots that made the hike somewhat challenging, as did the weight of my camera backpack.  The pools were small, but each had a waterfall feature.  Composition wise, I found these falls and pools difficult to photograph.  That did not prevent me from taking lots of shots.  I particularly liked the vistas that opened occasionally along the trail. White snow on red rock is what we had hoped for and it is what we got.  The next day, we hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail.  This one was about half the length of Emerald Pools Trail but twice as steep.  The trail is mostly fenced with long drof-offs and ends at a spectacular overlook of Pine Creek Canyon and lower Zion Canyon.  A challenging trail with a big payoff.

After two days of photography in Zion National Park, we started the arduous drive home.  Furtunately it was Saturday and traffic from Las Vegas to the Los Angeles basin was tolerable.  Still, it is a long, boring drive.  A book on CD helps alot.

You can see additional images from this trip in the Bryce & Zion National Parks in Winter gallery on my web site.

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) american kestrel antelope island state park bald eagles bear river migratory bird refuge bryce canyon national park bryce point canyon overlook trail cold composition emerald pools trail farmington bay waterfowl management area great salt lake grebe hoodoo hoodoos photography pied-billed grebe pine creek canyon ruby's ruby's inn snow sunset point towers of the virgin travel utah zion canyon zion human history museum zion lodge zion national park https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/3/2012-first-photo-trip Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:18:04 GMT
Good News from Birdwatcher's Digest https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/2/good-news-from-birdwatchers-digest Got some good news in the mail yesterday.  The March/April issue of Birdwatcher's Digest arrived and it had my article about the northern gannet colony on Bonaventure Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Percé, Québec, Canada.  Jane and I visited there to photograph the gannets several years ago.  Yes, it takes some time to get articles pubished.  The editors and I agreed that the article should appear in the early spring, in time for anyone to make plans to be on Bonaventure Island during the early summer mating period.  It is always a nice surprise, however, to pick up a magazine and see your own article and photographs.

It was rather an arduous journey when we visited the gannet colony.  The trip started with a flight to Boston where we celebrated the 4th of July.  We enjoyed the Boston Commons, Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill, Faneuil Hall, and visiting "Old Ironsides" (USS Constitution).  To top off our visit, we got reservations at the Community Boathouse for the Boston Pops performance.  Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with cannon and fireworks was a very special treat.

In Boston we rented a car and toured along the Atlantic coast to Jonesport, Maine, to photograph puffins on Machias Seal Island.  We stayed at Narda Dadis' vacation rental.  A spick and span small small home with all the conveniences a traveler needs.  We picked Narda's place because she was related to the skipper that took us to the island.  Jonesport is one of the launching points for tour boats to Machias Seal Island, catering to naturalists, birdwatchers and, of course, photographers.  Puffins colonize the small island in early summer for mating and raising their young.  Weather is always of concern going the Machias Seal Island.  If the winds are too strong, you cannot disembark safely with high swells.  That's why Jane and I stayed in Jonesport for four nights.  The number of people allowed and the time on the island are limited.  So to maximize our photography opportunity, Jane and I had made reservations to go out twice, which we did but not on consecutive days.  We got weathered out one day.  The puffins were a frantic and noisy bunch.  Whipping in from the sea and jumping among the boulders where their burrows were located.  Their hectic activity was definitely a photographic challenge.

From Jonesport, we ventured further north to the most northeasterly point of the U.S. and then on to Percé through New Brunswick and Québec.  Along the way we visited the old Roosevelt summer estate on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada.  In the early 1880's Sara Delano and her husband James Roosevelt Sr. built their summer home on Campobello Island and Franklin D.Roosevelt spent most of his childhood summers there.  It took us two days to drive from Jonesport to Percé.  Once there, it was the same drill with multiple trips to Bonaventure Island to beat the weather.  The gannet colony on Bonaventure is more accessable then the puffins on Machias Seal Island.  Large tour boats bring visitors from Percé to the island.  The gannet colony is on the side opposite the landing dock so a healthy hike across the island is required to see the gannets up close.  And I do mean up close.  Once at the colony you are no further then a few feet away from the rambunctuous birds.  The photography was phenomenal!

Then, from Percé we traveled to Québec City and stayed an enjoyable few nights at the Hotel Chateau Laurier within walking distance of old Québec.  If you have not been to Québec I strongly suggest you go there.  What a quaint, old, historic place to spend a few days.  We walked our tails off and still signed up for a walking tour.  The tour was particularly interesting because of the history lessons that came with it. Québec is one of the oldest settlement in North America having been originally founded as a fort back in 1535.  That's old!  From Québec we flew back home after a two week photo and travel vacaction.

You can see more puffin and gannet images in my Puffins & Gannets gallery and you can read my article at www.birdwatchersdigest.com.  (You may have to subscribe to the magazine, but it will be well worth it.)

 

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(Rinus Baak Photography) Bird Watcher's Digest Bonaventure Island Machias Seal Island article boston canada gannet jonesport percé photography publish published puffin québec roosevelt travel writing https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/2/good-news-from-birdwatchers-digest Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:21:00 GMT
2012 https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/2/2012 Here we are in 2012!  Last year was a great year for travel and photography, but Jane and I are already looking forward to the new year.  Already, in January, we enjoyed our annual ski trip to Park City, Utah.  No picture taking, just "downhilling" on the intermediate blue diamond runs.  We just love the runs off the Bonanza lift, Homerun and Claim Jumper were are favorites.  We stayed at the Sweetwater Lift Lodge a short 5 minute walk from the main Park City Mountain Resort lifts.  Like most western ski resorts, the snow was wanting at Park City. We, however, had a wonderful time on the groomed slopes.  A good start for 2012.

I'm looking forward to several photo trips in next couple of months.  I will keep you posted.

Rinus

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(Rinus Baak Photography) bonanza claim jumper lodge park city park city mountain resort photography skiiing sweetwater lift lodge https://www.rinusbaakphotography.com/blog/2012/2/2012 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:23:36 GMT