I flew to Louisville, KY to photograph Blue Jays at my friend Neil Kaufman's home last month.  I taught Neil a lot and learned a lot as well.  Neil and his wife Sharon were most generous hosts.  When I arrived Neil had about a zillion really ugly perches set up and the whole feeding station was a cluttered mess.  We spent a few hours walking in the woods and found a few perches with some character.

After taking down just about every one of Neil's perches I put up a few select ones, being careful to place each perch in front of a pleasing, distant background and making sure that none of the perches merged with each other, thus teaching Neil the principle of "shooting down the slots. "   By utilizing only a very few attractive perches you increase your chances of making great images: in a perfect backyard set-up, you will have a good chance each and every time that a bird lands!  You will need to work hard by eliminating the lousy landing spots...

Study the bird photographs made from inside Neil's gazebo blind and see if you are able to figure out which perch is depicted in the image.  By doing so, you will come to understand the principle of "shooting down the slot" and will be able to make your backyard or feeder set-up  "a better place to be." (Apologies to the late Harry Chapin.)

BLUE JAY B&B

Neil Kaufman is opening his home to bird photographers who wish to photograph Blue Jays in his back yard or mallards and other ducks (later on in the season) from the two blinds on his pond.  In addition to the Blue Jay there may be Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Tufted Titmouse, and several woodpecker species among others.  White-throated Sparrows and several additional species will be present during the colder months.  The big negative is that if you get a clear sunny morning the jays will be directly backlit...  Using flash at zero in this case may yield some nice rim-lit images.

Here are the rates

Full day of photography: $75

Morning of photography: $40

Luxury lodging with private bath and three meals (dinner,breakfast, and lunch): $100

Contact Neil via his cell phone (leave a message if no answer):  502-741-9568

Neil is also offering similar opportunities to photograph ducks (from hunting blinds) on his farm in western Kentucky... His "wildlife refuge" farm attracts more ducks than any other location in western KY and his censused twice weekly by the KY fish and game folks by aircraft!  Contact Neil as above for details on the duck photography.

 

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