BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #346  November 10, 2010

 

Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245  4041 Granada Drive, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855.  Telephone: 863-692-0906.  Computer fax: 877- 265-6955

 

Visit: www.BIRDSASART.com

 

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The BIRDS AS ART BLOG: Great info with a personal touch, great images, great lessons, and our legendary BAA educational captions.  

 

FEATURES:

 

GREECE/DALMATIAN PELICANS

Thanks to Jari Peltomäki

PHOTO EXPO WEST APPEARANCE

Brutus Östling

Chris Klapheke Outdoor Photographer Article

PLEASE: If you are responding to a Bulletin via e-mail please take the time to delete all irrelevant text and images.  Thanks.  

 

 

Dalmatian Pelicans, "Pelican Pack," Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Jari Peltomäki/Wild Wonders of Europe

 


Canon EOS-1D MIII with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens at 95mm.  ISO 800.   1/2000 sec. at f/10.

 

Congratulations to Jari!  This image was highly commended in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. You can check it out here and see links to all of the winners here.

GREECE/DALMATIAN PELICANS

 

Six folks are invited to fly to London on FEB 26, 2011 and continue on to Lake Kerkini in northern Greece on the 27th to photograph the spectacular Dalmatian Pelicans in breeding plumage for six 1/2+ full days with Robert O'Toole and me.  (We may get to do some photography on the afternoon of the 27th and will have a short session on the morning of March 5.  We will also get to photograph a large cormorant species--it looks a lot like our Great Cormorant--also spectacular in full breeding plumage.  Likely also will be a small selection of landbirds.  After the trip we fly to London on February 6th, overnight there, and continue home on the 7th.   Happy campers only please.  Photographers from Europe will enjoy shorter flights Smile emoticon 

 

Dalmatian Pelican Exploratory IPT.  FEB 27-MAR 5, 2011: 6 1/2+ Full Days of Photography: $2499.  Co-leaders: Arthur Morris, Robert O'Toole, and Yannis Arvanitis as our bi-lingual guide.  Limit: 6/Openings 5.  Payment in full is due immediately.  Please call to hold a spot pending the arrival of your check made out to "Arthur Morris."  Europeans please e-mail for wire transfer details.  No discounts at present other than $200 off each fee for a couple or for folks registering with a friend.

 

We may be hiring small boats at times but most of the best pelican photography will be from the shore.  We will be feeding the pelicans to maximize flight and point blank opportunities. (The birds are fed regularly by the local fisherman.)  The birds, as you can see above and below, are spectacular.  The fee includes the cost of the ground transportation, the boat and the fish.  And the instruction.  With two folks per leader there will be lots of instruction.  And we will be doing tons of image sharing and Photoshop during the downtime. Air fare, hotels, and meals are on you.

 

For the very serious, here are my air tickets:

 

Flight number BA2036, From Orlando to Gatwick (London).  Depart 26 Feb 2011 18:30.  Arrive 27 Feb 2011 07:30. British Airways.   
Flight number BA2642, From Gatwick (London) Terminal N to Thessaloniki, Greece.  Depart 27 Feb 2011 08:45.  Arrive 27 Feb 2011 14:00.  British Airways.

  
Flight number BA2643, From Thessaloniki to Gatwick (London).  Depart 6 Mar 2011 14:55.  Arrive 6 Mar 2011 16:25.  British Airways.  (Bags will be checked thru.)

Overnight: Sofitel London, Gatwick Airport:  Check-in: 6 Mar 2011; Check-out: 7 Mar 2011.   
Flight number BA2037, From Gatwick (London) Terminal N to Orlando.  Depart 7 Mar 2011 11:40.  Arrive 7 Mar 2011 16:25.  British Airways.

 

Again, payment in full is due immediately.  Please call to hold a spot pending the arrival of your check made out to "Arthur Morris."  Europeans please e-mail for wire transfer details.  No discounts at present other than $200 off each fee for a couple or for folks registering with a friend.

 

Learn more about Lake Kerkini here.

 

 

Dalmatian Pelicans, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Jari Peltomäki/Wild Wonders of Europe

 

Canon EOS-1D Mark III + 500 mm f/4L IS lens, ISO 800:  1/1000 sec at f/13. 

 

Here Jari has created a pleasing juxtaposition.     

Thanks to Jari Peltomäki

 

For allowing me to use his images here.   Jari is a fine photographer.  I had the pleasure of meeting him when I traveled to Finland to speak a few years back.  Learn more about Jari here and check out his 2011 Wildlife Photography trip schedule here.   Jari has had three images honored in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competitions.

 

 

Dalmatian Pelicans, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Jari Peltomäki/Wild Wonders of Europe

 

Canon EOS-1D Mark III + 500 mm f/4L IS lens, ISO 800:  1/2000 sec at f/14.

 

It was no easy trick getting sharp focus with this image.  

 

PHOTO EXPO WEST APPEARANCE

 

For the third consecutive year, I will be appearing at Photo Expo West, my visit sponsored by Canon USA's Explorers of Light program.  Delkin Devices, who makes the 32gb e-Fil Pro compact flash cards that I use and depend on every day, is the event organizer.

 

I will be doing slide programs and Live Demos on both Saturday and Sunday.  It is a great event with lots of great speakers and vendors.  You will find details and the schedule here.  
 

 

Dalmatian Pelican, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Brutus Östling 


The pelicans nest on a large platform and the boat will bring us right up to it.

 

 

Dalmatian Pelican, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Brutus Östling 


I just love this high key landing image.  

 

 

Dalmatian Pelican, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Brutus Östling 


 There seems to be a bit of a dispute....  Brutus e-mailed and said that the birds "were resting" but I would need to see that to believe it....

 

 

Dalmatian Pelican, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Brutus Östling 


 I love the landing pose and the dark storm cloud background here.

 

 

Dalmatian Pelican, Lake Kerkini, Greece

Image courtesy of and copyright: Brutus Östling 


 I am thrilled at the thought of being so close to so many large, beautiful birds.  As you can see here, Brutus has a keen eye for the unusual composition.  This image is the cover of his latest book.

Brutus Östling

 

Brutus, who attended several IPTs when he was a beginning photographer not that many years ago Smile emoticon, is widely recognized as Sweden's best bird photographer and as one of the best in the world.  A book publisher living in Sweden, Brutus has had a hand in many well-received ornithological books; he does the photography and teams with a noted natural history writer.  Brutus is one of only twelve Ambassadors for Canon Europe (that somehow includes Africa and the Middle East....)  You can learn more about this program here and here.

 

Thanks a ton to Brutus for sharing his wonderful images with us in this Bulletin.  You can learn more about Brutus here.  The site, which is scheduled to be updated today, is in Swedish but Google Chrome does a fair enough job with the translation.   

 

Chris Klapheke Outdoor Photographer Article

 

Check out Mike Stensvold's article, "On the Wing" about my friend Chris Klapheke.   Chris attended a Bosque IPT a loooong time ago; several of his images that illustrate the piece were created on that trip.  

 

Here is a (paraphrased) excerpt from the article:

 

"When casual viewers see a good bird image, they don’t realize the planning and effort that went into getting that image,” Klapheke continues. “Arthur Morris was the

first to introduce me to the role that light direction, wind direction, temperature, species habits and other important factors play in creating a successful image.....  Some people might think that going from practicing law and running regional retail chains to being a photo workshop cook is going in the wrong direction, but I think it’s just fine!” 

 

You can find the text and photos on the Outdoor Photographer site here.

 

IPT UPDATES

 

BOSQUE del APACHE 2010 IPT: “The Complete Bosque Experience.” NOV 20-26, 2010.  Slide program on the evening of Friday, NOV 19.  7-FULL DAYS:  $3199.  (Non-refundable deposit: $500; see details below.) Limit: 10/Openings: 1. Co-leaders: Robert O’Toole, Jim Heupel, Peter Kes, and Denise Ippolito.  Live, eat, and breathe photography with one of (if not the) world's premier photographic educators at one of his very favorite locations on the planet.  Plus great co-leaders and top-notch Photoshop instruction. Please see terms and deposit info below.  

 

A BLURRY DAY in BOSQUE del APACHE 2010 IPT:  NOV 27, 2010.  Slide program on the evening of Friday, NOV 26.  1-FULL DAY:  $399.  (Payment in full due upon registration.) Limit: 15/Openings: 10.  Leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris. Learn to create a variety of pleasingly blurred images of Bosque’s geese and cranes.  Techniques covered will include pan blurs, subject motion blurs, flash blurs, zoom blurs, sunny day blurs, and lots more.

 

SAN DIEGO IPT: JAN 19-23, 2011.  Slide program on the evening of JAN 18.   5 Full Days: $2399 (Limit 8/Openings 3).  Co-leaders Tim Grey and Todd Gustafson.  See the blog for a discount on this IPT.  Brown Pelicans in spectacular breeding plumage with their bright red bill pouches, Wood and Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Western, California, and Heerman's Gulls, Marbled Godwit, and lots, lots more.  Please see terms and deposit info below.  

 

SW FLA IPT: FEB  9-14, 2011.  Slide program on the evening of FEB 8. 6 Full Days: 2899.  (Limit 10/Openings 4).  Escape winter's icy grip to enjoy a wide array of Florida's tame birds: herons, egrets, Wood Stork, shorebirds, gulls, terns, skimmers, raptors, and more.  Please see terms and deposit info immediately below.  

 

Terms and deposit info:  

 

A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to hold a spot on the above IPTs. Deposits may be paid by check, PayPal, or credit card.  Payment in full (by check or money order only) is due four months before the start of each trip and is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out.  You will be required to sign a statement of understanding to this effect.   Travel insurance is of course highly recommended.  Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options.  Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options is Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to an infinite list from a sudden work or family obligation to a simple change of mind.  My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel.  You can learn more here.   Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card.  Travel insurance protects you against unexpected developments, injuries, or illnesses.  We regret that we must implement this new policy but we have been plagued by last minute cancellations that make it impossible for others to participate and deprive us of essential income.

 

Important note: please print, fill out, and sign the registration and release forms and include them with your deposit check (made out to "Arthur Morris." )  If you use a credit card to register, please fill out, sign, and mail the forms asap.  Your registration will not be complete until we receive your paper work.  You can find the forms here.  

 

Best and great picture-making,

 

artie

 

Note: Arthur Morris has been a paid Canon contract photographer, part of the Explorers of Light program, since 1996 and continues in that role today.  Hunt's Photo of Boston, MA is a BAA sponsor as is Delkin Devices.