After our grand adventure west we have pretty much stayed home or visited family. There is one good about this apartment complex and that is of course the pond. It has been a great source of entertainment and education. I taught my son the life cycle of frogs through real life observation. He has also been learning a bit about migration. Geese come through here every spring and fall. This fall we could hear the geese honking their arrival in the morning. I could peak out of the window and watch them sleeping and eating on the pond and lawn. When we finished our homeschool day it was time to go outside and play. I of course took my favorite toy, my camera! Mid afternoon some of the geese were still resting but most were either feeding or preening. As the evening approached more and more of the geese would wake and start swimming about more. Of course our presence would also push them around a bit too. We observed an increase in preening and stretching of there wings as the sun sank in the sky. Then it seemed like they would separate into groups with one goose honking signaling its family to swim to the north end of the pond. The amount of honking would increase as most of that group would swim around the north end. This event would occur earlier and earlier each day as the days were growing shorter. Then all of the sudden the leader would start to take off and the rest of its family would rise up taking flight simultaneously behind it.. It looked like utter chaos through the lens water and wings everywhere. Sometimes a flock or even one or two would go north but then they would circle back around for their nightly quest to find warmth in the south.
Now photographing them taking off and flying away was a bit of challenge. They are fast and you need to pan and focus on at least one goose in the group. Groups were of usually twenty to fifty geese, and most of the time the pond held at least three groups. I normally use aperture priority mode and let the camera figure out the shutter speed in the changing light. Once I locked on to a goose I would pan along with it all the while using the spray and pray method. I wound up with lots of photos to delete as you can imagine. One mistake I made was not increasing the ISO. It had been set at 1250 which equated in tons of motion blur. I expected the background and even some of the geese to be blurred but eye of the bird I was shooting or focused on should have been tack sharp. I tried again with an ISO of 3200 with another flock of geese with slightly better results but of course there was more noise. The geese were noisy taking off, but I am referring to the photo. Another challenge is that the geese were taking off to migrate south at sunset which doesn't leave much light for the lens to suck in. I was using an aperture of f5.6 the lowest setting my 400mm lens will go. Another challenge has been I have no image stabilization with this set up and I have to handhold it as my tripod is not built well enough for such a heavy lens. Anyways, below is what I managed to capture on several different late afternoon walks around the pond. Ever wonder, hey Julie how did you get into photography? Maybe you have or maybe you have not. If we go way back, my little sister was allowed to handle my parent's camera first. Being much older I did not think it fair. For a while it was her thing. Dad let her use his camera often. I wanted to but no one ever offered to let me use it. The camera until then was something breakable and only for adults. I finally got my start as a wedding photographer at about age ten. You see by this time I was taller than my mother and could shoot above the heads of the other wedding guests! Yes, I finally got a chance! Unlike my mom I did not cut the heads off of the people I photographed, so she had me take more photos at other weddings we attended. Now these were not great or fantastic shots. They were taken with a simple point and shoot camera with a flash bulb. Then one Christmas my sister and I each got Kodak point and shoot cameras. I was thrilled. I mostly photographed our dogs, family and friends. In high school one year I joined the photography club along with my cousin and a couple of friends. The guy who ran the club worked for the local newspaper. Unfortunately even though we had access to a dark room the club was completely broke. All we did was chat and try to come up with ideas of things to do. I learned a little bit about photography but not enough to really say so. I didn't rejoin the following year since we didn't take or display or process any photos. I would have had more photographic experiences if I had joined the Yearbook club. I loved art as a child and my first art teacher was very encouraging. Then he disappeared one year and I struggled after that. It seems as if my painting and drawing skills are stuck in fourth grade.. I was always trying to draw horses, dogs and forest scenes. I can remember classmates making fun of my drawings in junior high. I gave up on my dreams of being an artist. I still drew and colored from time to time but it was more therapeutic and not really anything to share. I would like to think I do better painting by capturing light with a little magic box. In college I was determined to become a Veterinarian. Suddenly the science that had been so easy in high school was difficult and riddled with math. Turns out my advisor didn't think I would make through freshmen year and was shocked to see me actually graduate. I am not sure if her comment was meant to be praise or a slap in the face! My GPA was not high enough to be able to pursue a career in Veterinary Science.. Strangely I was mandated to take at least one course in art. My professor was wonderful and encouraging and I actually received an A for a grade. It was just a very general course in art. I did consider adding a photography course but my academic load was already a bit much to bare and I still had to have enough time to work too. Not to mention I don't think my little point and click would have worked out well for class. So photography got put on hold again. Looking back now it should have been my major or minor mixed with a business degree. My cousin had majored in photography in a local college. She was pretty smart. Check out My Story Photo by Sonia Hernandez if you get a chance, she is pretty amazing! I was a mess after college for many reasons. I tried and failed at a few jobs and eventually went back to retail, and substitute teaching. I saved up money for a decent camera and went to Ritz Camera one day. There they let me handle a few cameras and gave me some advice. I chose the Canon EOS Rebel 2000 as it was on sale and the manual focusing felt more natural to me than the Nikon. I've been with Canon ever since (my husband is a Pentax fan.) Now I had a way to create the photos especially of those things I could never draw or paint. Maybe I could learn to take photos as beautiful as the ones in Grandma's collection of National Geographic Magazines. Okay, well I am still not up to that caliber. I bought books and subscribed to Outdoor Photographer Magazine. I headed out into the woods and chased down waterfalls. I picked up tips from other photographers and even entered a few Photo Contests. I actually won one once . After that honorable mention I worked my way up to second place and then First in color one year at the show put on by the Rome Photo Shoppe. The winning photo is the one I use as my logo! Photography has turned from a hobby to an obsession. I am constantly trying to do better. It offers a different way to see the world or a way to get closer, more intimate with things most people either don't notice or take for granted like a simple leaf in a stream. It is beautiful, you could inspire a poem or a story with a photo. (I was told that when I was little if I came across a book without pictures I would throw it across the room.) I love wildlife photography for it's intimacy and challenge. Those few precious seconds shooting a bird in flight or deer fleeing across the field, or that buffalo you encountered on the trail that made you pray to be ignore and not charged. Photography is an adventure and or a way to document adventure whether it is a hike in the woods, capturing the love in a new marriage or the essence of someone. Photography can speak volumes without a word, perhaps that is why I love it!
Oh and in case you are interested I have joined up with Fine Art America to sell my photography. I have prints, canvas, metal prints, framed prints, notebooks, stickers, beach towels, face masks, tote bags, phone cases, mugs, shower curtains and even Yoga mats available. Just click on Prints and Gifts above and it will take you to Julie Metott.pixels.com which is where my free account up to twenty five photos is located. So if you need a gift for a little something for yourself please keep me in mind! At this point I intend all income from sales to be saved in order to help in the cost of a home so every purchase is more than greatly appreciated. I am going to give this a trial period before upgrading the site to allow posting more photos and personalization. If you see a photo on social media that you are interested in and it is not on my sale page, please contact me and I would be more than willing to add it for you. Thanks, and I hope you have a great day! Fifteen years ago I was living at my parents home, recovering from an abusive relationship. As means of healing or searching for some peace in my life when not at work I would immerse myself in photographing the great outdoors. In fact at the time I had just finished a photo project for the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce thanks to the recommendations of a couple of family friends. Anyways I had gained a tiny bit of confidence in my photography and decided to enter the Rome Photo Shoppe's photography contest. To my surprise I was called and left a message requesting my presence at the opening night as I had won an honorable mention. I was surprised, thrilled. and very nervous. I went to the show alone. The upstairs room of the Rome Arts Center was filled with people chatting in small groups. I felt really awkward and very out of place. I wandered the large room looking at the photos alone in a sea of people. Waterfalls were one of my favorite subjects to photograph and there was a photo of Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca on the wall that kept drawing my attention. I thought for sure it had placed. When the awards ceremony started everyone stood with their friends and family and yet were gathered in a big group. I felt very out of place but I stepped into the middle of the crowd and stood next to a tall thin guy with brown hair and glasses. At the time I felt the need to apologize for standing next to him. Little did I know I would be standing next to or trailing behind him for the next fifteen years and hopefully more. There was a bit of polite clapping as I accepted the ribbon for my photo of which I can honestly say I can't remember which one it was. I returned to where I was standing and admired that guy next to me although I figured he was probably already married. After the awards and photos everyone returned to mingling and enjoying refreshments. The room slowly emptied as I kept being drawn back to that photo of Buttermilk Falls. The last time I looked at it before leaving I overheard the conversation between the man I had stood next to and an elderly couple. They too were surprised the photo had not placed. Evidently he was the one who had created the image that had captivated me. As I was getting ready to leave I was surprised as the man came over to me and struck up a conversation. He had noticed that I had checked his photo out like three or four times. I can't remember what was said. I remember being nervous and yet drawn to him at the same time. We chatted for what seemed quite some time and ended up exchanging phone number to coordinate shooting waterfalls together sometime. I believed he called it networking. The Art Center was closing as we went our separate ways. I grabbed my belongings and headed towards the exit and wound up following him out the door. "Great," I thought "now he is probably going to think I am a crazy stalker or something." To my surprise this waterfall photographer I met that night named Christopher Metott did call me about a week later. I had secretly hoped that he would call but had very much doubted it. That next weekend we photographed Pixley falls in the snow and traversed an icy trail to photograph several smaller but equally beautiful waterfalls. Two and a half years later we were married right there at Pixley Falls State Park. I think 85% of our dates had been going on hikes and photographing nature! I am so thankful I went to that Photo Show, I didn't know it at the time but I won something much more precious than an honorable mention that night! I got the blessing of a lifetime! Here is to hopefully finding a new home soon! Wedding Photo Credits go to Jolene Tarkowski. |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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