Monthly Archives: February 2012
Whooping Crane Festival
The annual Whooping Crane Festival was held in Port Aransas, Texas over last weekend. Unfortunately…the weather didn’t exactly cooperate. It rained….winds howled…and it rained some more…
My good friend John Martell was an exhibitor at this festival. I went over to Port A with him on Thursday and helped him get his booth set up. Sharon and I went back over on Saturday to see how he was doing. Since it was POURING outside, the exhibit area was PACKED! John (the handsome man in the center of this poor image) did well at this show. I drove back over there on Sunday and helped John pack everything up. It was interesting…
I had planned to exhibit at the Rockport Market Days on Saturday. I wasn’t even out of bed yet before I knew it just wasn’t going to happen for me. Market Days happen on the last Saturday of each month. This was the second “no go…no show” for me in two months. Maybe it’s just not meant to be for me! I WILL try again…
I did have the opportunity to meet with a gallery owner from Corpus Christi, Texas. We discussed the possibility of Stephen Fisher Photography exhibiting in her gallery. I sent her an email with several of my images that are representative of my art. This would be an awesome opportunity for me. Cross your fingers…SEF
AFLAC!
I recently drove over to the Hermann Park Conservancy in Houston to try and find some Wood Ducks. A friend of mine down in Rockport had heard they were hanging out in one of the ponds.
Long story short…there were ZERO Wood Ducks there. All I saw that day were a bunch of American Coots and some Domestic Ducks of ALL types. Talk about a shallow gene pool…
I did see this one fairly normal looking Domestic Duck (I think it’s a Pekin) bathing and generally cutting up. I started shooting and was pleasantly surprised to find this image while post-processing. It made me laugh…SEF
Gallery Updates…
I’ve been pretty busy trying to download more images to my website galleries. I think I’ve FINALLY locked on to a decent system…we’ll see!
This is a pretty little Black-Throated Sparrow that I photographed a couple of months ago down at the Santa Clara Ranch. I’ll be heading back down there at the end of April for another shoot.
Just had a busy weekend down in Rockport, TX. I tried to get out both Saturday and Sunday mornings to shoot, but just didn’t find anything happening. I watched a really nice Kingfisher work for a while, but couldn’t get a decent image made.
Met with the owner of a nice gallery/restaurant on Saturday night. I’d really like to get some of my images exhibited there. We also discussed another potential opportunity that I can’t discuss right now. It is potentionally VERY exciting.
OK…Please take a look at some of the new galleries. Let me know what you think…SEF
What! No Birds…
I’m trying something new. Not really new…but different.
I just got back to Houston from being down in Rockport. The weather has been very difficult for photographing birds. High winds (35+ mph) and LOTS of rain have all of the birds hunkered down. I tried every one of my “favorite” spots on Saturday and just couldn’t find anything to shoot.
These pilings are just off of Water Street in Rockport, TX. I always thought that if I could catch a real foggy morning I might be able to make a decent image. At one time these pilings had a deck attached making it a fishing pier. Obviously the deck is long gone…but the remaining pilings intrigue me. The image needs some more work, but I like it.
I received a call today from the Rockport Center for the Arts. I had dropped off an 11×14 matted print and a photo note card to the Gift Shop Committee for consideration. They are going to let me bring in some prints and cards to sell in the gift shop. Every little bit helps!
Whooping Crane / White-Tailed Buck…
I was post-processing some images I made at the Crane House Retreat about a month ago. Actually I had forgotten about this shoot, and was PLEASANTLY surprised when I pulled up the project in Aperture 3. This image intrigues me on several levels. I always like to try and get multiple species together in an image. It’s pretty common and easy to get several different species of birds together in an image. But a Whooping Crane…an endangered species…with a big mammal is special.
I made it back down to Rockport late yesterday. It’s still very overcast and squally here. NO…I’m not complaining about the rain. I will NEVER complain about rain EVER again. We still need more rain to make up for the extreme drought conditions that have plagued Texas for the last few years. I’m starting to see a lot of the wetlands around Aransas Bay filling. Mother Nature seems to always heal herself…
Hope to get some shooting in this weekend. I think tomorrow’s forecast is promising. We’ll see…SEF
Pelicans
I posted a Brown Pelican image to my personal Facebook page a couple of days ago. I’m SLOWLY…and maybe not so surely…adding images to the gallery section of the Stephen Fisher Photography website. I had just added two Brown Pelican images and wanted to let the folks know…
One of my friends…Sherrill Lanthier…immediately replied to my posting with “Where are the WHITE pelicans?”. Well Sherrill…here you go. A couple of White Pelicans just for you!
I’ve been down in Rockport for the weekend. It has been raining off and on…mostly on…for a while. After the drought conditions we’ve had here in Texas, I’ve sworn NEVER to complain about the rain again. I’m sticking to my guns on that…but we’ve had LOTS of rain.
There was a reception last night at the Rockport Center for the Arts. Jim Bob Salazar was displaying some of his amazing pottery. I don’t know much about pottery, but his work is impressive. In spite of the weather, there was a very good turnout. (Maybe the wine and snacks help!)
I found a TINY window of opportunity to make a few images yesterday morning. I’ve had my eye on a long row of pilings setting out into Aransas Bay. The decking of the pier had long ago disappeared, and all that was left were the pilings. I made about 15 images in the fog and think I may have a keeper or two. We’ll see…