Posted on by Anne Sandler · 58 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #306: Habitat

My disclaimer: I’m really not a wildlife photographer because I don’t have a lens with extraordinary reach, and I’m not fast to react. But, isn’t there always a “but,” I do enjoy going out to our local wildlife areas a couple times a year. Usually, I get lucky and come home with a few good pictures.

So for Tina’s Habitat challenge, I’m sharing some pictures taken at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and Gray Lodge Wildlife areas. I usually tag along with my friend Laura who is a true and great wildlife photographer.

You never know what you’re going to see when you visit these wildlife areas. And, it’s hit or miss. I enjoy these outings and their challenges anyway.

So enjoy these pictures which are mostly from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

There is a funny story behind the eagle image: To photograph this eagle, I had to climb through Laura’s sunroof (waist high). Now you know why the eagle is looking a me with a surprised stare!

Thanks Tina for prompting this wonderful journey back in time. When you respond, please remember to link to Tina’s post and use the Lens-Artist tag in the reader. And thank you Egidio for another educational challenge. Now I’m seeing rectangles everywhere!

While the Lens-Artists team takes some time off during July, we have amazing guest hosts to lead our challenge:

July 13: Leanne of Leanne Cole explores TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

July 20: Elizabeth of Albatz Travel Adventures leads us with PAIRS

July 27: PR of Flights of the Soul presents BALCONIES

Patti will be back to lead our challenge on August 3rd. Until then stay safe and healthy.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

When Mother Nature makes shooting tough: Gray Lodge and Sacramento National Refuge Wildlife areas

Sometimes photography can be a challenge, especially in fog and overcast skies with only a 300 mm lens! That’s what we were shooting in when we went up north to the wildlife areas to catch the birds in action. Not only was the weather bad, but there wasn’t much water and the bird population was way down.

Usually at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, you can see a few bald eagles. We didn’t see one! One photographer in the meetup did capture one and his image was great. I’m thinking that he was using a longer lens. It was very disappointing.

Further west, the Gray Lodge Wildlife area was not much better. There were enough birds for the hunters to shoot, but not the numbers we normally see. But we did have fun.

When you travel to these meetups with other photographers, they don’t mind stopping and shooting something ineresting that may have nothing to do with your original purpose. We made a couple of those side trips–three of us in the car. Plus we had the extra joy of having the GPS get us lost.

All in all, it was a fun 12-hour day. I hope you like these fogged and overcast images! This will be a two-part post.