travel

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Of Alligators, Ducks, and a Sunset

Brazos Bend State Park is roughly an hour southwest of Houston, Texas. In this park are many alligators, which is surprising to many people. After all, this is Texas, home of cowboys and The Alamo…

Actually, there are alligators all along the Texas coast, from Louisiana to Corpus Christi, but this State Park may have the largest population per acre in the state. They’re in the lakes and swamps, and they love to lie in the warm sun on the trails.

Gayle looks forward more to photographing the alligators than the birds in the park – and this is one of the best places I’ve seen for birds!

On this trip, we had just arrived, and as soon as we were settled, we headed out to the trail around Elm Lake. Gray clouds filled the sky, and although not dark, they weren’t the kind you wanted to have behind your subject. As we walked the trail, I saw several Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in a dead tree not too far away. I stopped and took some photos, trying to silhouette the ducks against the gray clouds.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in a dead tree, silhouetted against gray clouds, Brazos Bend State Park, Texas

Gayle had kept going down the trail, but she was within my sight. After I took a few photos, I headed her way. When I was close enough, I could see she was set up near an alligator…

Gayle, photographing an alligator, Brazos Bend State Park, Texas

She got some pretty good images, including this one.

Brazos Bend Alligator

Alligator at Brazos Bend State Park, by Gayle Millican

After photographing the gator for a while, I saw that the clouds were beginning to break up. I dragged Gayle away from the alligator, telling her that we were about to be blessed with a great sunset. We headed back to the spot where I had photographed the ducks earlier.

Sure enough, after we had barely set up our tripods, the sun began to make its appearance.

Gayle’s first photo of the sunset, her zoom lens set to about 200 mm

We each took about 20 photographs, then it was over…

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks at sunset, Brazos Bend State Park, Texas

Lessons learned: Keep your eye on the sky, and always be ready, for anything!

Cameras used were Sony Alpha, with Tamron lenses.

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Butterfiles along the Cossatot

Driving the backroads within the Cossatot River State Park & Natural Area, it was warm, dry, and dusty.  I was exploring, and watching for interesting subjects.  Alongside the road was a patch of thistle, the flowers in full, fresh bloom.  Swallowtail butterflies were swarming the blooms – yellow tiger, spicebush, and two-tailed swallowtails were everywhere.  They were in a feeding frenzy, and paid little attention to me and my camera.  Again, I had the 70-210 f/4 Minolta lens mounted on the camera; a long enough lens that I could reach the butterflies without being too close to cause them discomfort, but short enough that I could find them in the viewfinder quickly.  I set the aperture to f/4, with a fast shutter speed of 1/1500 sec to freeze their movements.

Here are a couple of photos.  Butterflies, flying flowers…

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio [Pterourus] glaucusEastern Tiger Swallowtail

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About “The Wall”

In 1968, we still believed, for the most part, that our country was right to be in Vietnam.  We were helping protect the world against communism.  At least in Oklahoma, we still believed.  My duty was to serve my country.  I still would.

At that age, I was still searching for myself.  (Yes, I know some people think I still am!)  But after spending the summer working, my cousin Ron Gifford convinced me I should join the Marines.  And in doing so, I did him a favor, because he got an extra 5 days or so leave because he referred me to enlistment!  🙂  At that time, I could enlist for a 2-year commitment, and I did.  Went to San Diego for boot camp, then on to Camp Pendleton for infrantry training, and artillery fire direction training.  Came home for a couple weeks, then back to California, and on to Vietnam.  By that time, our thoughts were not so much of glory, but fear and hoping to stay alive…

I did my year in country, and came home safe.  (By the way, I never gave much thought, I’m ashamed to say, about how this affected my mother – until my son, Ryan, was deployed to Kuwait a few years ago.)  A chapter in my life closed.  I never forgot my “tour of duty” but it did not occupy my thoughts either.

In 1992, we visited daughter Michelle in Indiana.  On the trip home, we detoured through Springfield, Illinois to see Abraham Lincoln’s tomb.  Glad we did, but in the same cemetery is the Illinois State Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  We had no ties to Illinois, but forgotten emotions came up, and I began to realize how much so many of us gave.  I came back, but 58,000 others did not…

The next year, we visited Washington, D.C., and The Wall – the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  To stand there, and look at the names, to listen to the silence, to see people “rubbing” a pencil copy of someone’s name, to see the momentos left behind, again I thought, “I came back.”

So, this photo.  Not a great job, but I believe I took it at the right angle – to see the 3 Servicemen watching the visitors at The Wall.

This photo was shot with film, scanned with a Kodak CD scanner.  Wish I could do it over with digital… and I may some day.

Today, I put a crop from this on my Facebook Timeline, and several people have already noticed it, “liked” it and commented.  This is my backstory.  Sorry to be so long-winded; hope you read this, and understand…

The Wall

September, 1993

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Dogwood Blossoms

After photographing the cattle in the morning fog (see “Pastoral Morning“), I continued south on Highway 71.  But, since I had a late start – at least, later than intended – and I had stopped for the cattle photos, I knew I wouldn’t have the good early morning light on the Cossatot.  So, I decided to explore a bit.  (Exploring is good!)

Despite having driven this way many times, I had never been to Lake Hinkle, near Waldron.  I took the road to Hinkle Dam, and found it a very pleasant & pretty drive, with a stream alongside the road much of the way, farms and farmland, and woodlands with dogwoods blooming.

After visiting the dam & the lake, I stopped on the return trip near a patch of dogwoods.  From the road, there was a slight slope down to the stream, so the dogwood trees were at eye level or slightly below.  Perfect!  In addition, most of the area was in shade.  I couldn’t have asked for much better conditions.

Here are a couple of the dogwood images:

“Dogwood Parade” looks like the blossoms are lined up ready to say “look at me!  look at me!”  I like the dark background, but wish the stems & branches behind the blossoms weren’t so noticeable.

by the numbers:  Sony Alpha 77, Minolta 70-210, f/4 @ 1/200 sec, ISO 200

The next image, “Dogwood Song”, really does sing to me – or maybe makes me want to sing, which is not a good thing.  I shot again at f/4, to limit the depth of field, leaving the most predominant blossom the sharpest, and the others gradually getting softer.  Camera & lens the same…

Feel free to offer your opinion as to which you prefer.  Comments are certainly welcome…

Next time, we’ll discuss another image from another time…

Larry

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About “Pastoral Morning”

The destination that morning was the Cossatot River State Park and Natural Area.  The Cossatot River is well known for its scenery and challenges to floaters, canoeists, and kayakers alike.  I was anxious to be there, but as I drove by a pasture in a valley along US Highway 71, I saw this scene.

An ordinary morning for many farms, cattle gathered near a pond with misty fog surrounding the area, and backlit by the sun.  I drove past it, thinking how nice a little picture it was. Then, about two miles down the road, at the highway 23 junction rest area, I turned around and went back…

Fortunately, there was enough shoulder on the road that I could park the car safely, get my camera and trusty old Minolta 70-210 lens, and look for a vantage point to create a photograph that captured some of the magic of the moment.  I shot verticals; I shot horizontals.  I moved up and down the road; I moved closer.  I set exposure, with the idea of showing the light in the fog, and letting the cows become shadowy silhouettes.  The image shown here is actually a horizontal crop from one of the verticals shot.

Tech stuff:  Sony Alpha 77, Minolta 70-210 f/4 lens, ISO 200, 1/1500 sec, f/11, focal length 105mm.  The date was March 29, 2012 – check back for more photos from that day; I did eventually make it to the Cossatot.  🙂