Tag: nature photography

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Flickr a Day 255: ‘Polyphemus Moth’

The nature shots from the photostream of Stan Lupo are so fantastic, I wrongly wondered if he reposts images from National Geographic. Choosing one is a nearly impossible task. Being his work is so exceptional, today’s selection is a bit unfair. But the insect is one of my all-time favorites, and our Day Taker emphasizes the importance of shooting with what you got, not what you want. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/151 sec, 4.1mm.

Stan used iPhone 5 to capture this Polyphemus moth, hence the self-title, on July 11, 2015. “A first for me”, he says, “and I only had my iPhone with me. The best camera is the one you have with you”. True that. 

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Flickr a Day 252: ‘Happy Hour’

The animal parade continues, and choosing wasn’t easy. Ingrid Taylar presents a National Geographic-like menagerie of beasts and birds that captures character and detail. Self-titled “Happy Hour”, which she shot on May 31, 2013, takes the Day for being interesting. How often do you see something like that? Ingrid used Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm lens, because “my workhorse, the Olympus E-3 is in the shop”, she says. Vitals are not available.

From San Francisco, Calif., but living in Seattle, Wash., Ingrid is what I call a “lifer”. She joined Flickr in August 2004, about six months after the service was founded. Her blog, “The Wild Beat” is a real treat,

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Flickr a Day 213: ‘Cecil’

There are few events to take the Internet’s attention hostage like this week’s outrage over the death of a 13 year-old Zimbabwean lion. Vince O’Sullivan photographed the proud animal one year ago today—Aug. 1, 2014. He updated the caption to add context better coming from him than me.

“This is, of course, ‘Cecil’—the lion famously shot and wounded by crossbow fired by American dentist Walter Palmer in July 2015 and then shot, killed, skinned, and beheaded for trophies two days later”, Vince explains. “Living in a nature reserve, Cecil was completely inured to people in vehicles that didn’t interfere with him or his prey. So approaching him closely was never difficult, a daily occurrence for him and something he paid no attention to”. 

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Flickr a Day 204: ‘Planking’

Some fads are short-lived, while others you wish hadn’t been even that long. There is my reaction to planking four years ago. I was oblivious to the thing until someone commented on a pic of our cat Kuma posted to my social network. For fun, and no other reason, we begin three days of selections searched using the “P” word.

First up, from Patricia van Casteren, is the appropriately self-titled “Planking”, which she shot on June 21, 2011, using the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 210mm. “Even the polar bears are totally hooked on planking these days”, she says, providing reference to a Wikipedia article for folks who don’t know what the hell the thing—also known as the “Lying Down Game”. I am surprised to see the origins go back more than three decades, given the sudden surge in popularity four years ago.