Conversations with Frogs

A wonderful, early surprise presented itself this evening: The spring peepers began to truly sing for the first time this year just as I arrived home. In their excitement, the boys had convinced their mother to leave the front door open so they could hear the tinkling, amphibian music inside. Those apples didn't fall very far from the tree!

Although we still may be in for more winter weather later during the week, this briefest glimmer of spring has lifted my spirits greatly. When it is still cool at night, the first peepers start out very hesitantly but it doesn't take long for more and more to join in until the night sounds almost bowl you over with their intensity.

Occasionally I can get the whole group going myself during a quiet spell by whistling out a poor imitation of their tune. It is an awesome feeling to be the 'lead frog' in a choral swell! Although this has been a wonderful winter, I cannot help but anticipate the adventures that await me when the warmer weather returns. Now, if I can only get the Pickerel Frogs going I'll be in business!

Country Life, Quiet???

My family and I moved out to the country three years ago. There were lots of reasons that my wife and I wanted to get away from downtown city-life: More room for our children to play, more subjects for my photography, closer to mountains and a little something called, "Peace and Quiet." I am very happy to report that all of these objectives have been realized with one exception: The Quiet. And, just in case anyone who knows where I live is wondering, it is not just because we are about a mile downwind from the local racetrack.

Springtime in the country has to be one of the loudest, initially most unexpected phenomena that I've ever encountered. The first night in our home, we sat in bed and listened to what sounded like Wallstreet for wildlife. Bleeps, screams, echoes, plops, plucks, tremors; you name it, we had it all. And then the Fowler's toads started and it was as if we had been immersed in a scene from 1970s horror-flick (quick pans and running trips not-withheld) . Oh and did I mention the chuck-wills-widow? This bird is like a whip-poor-will on steroids. Get two of them going at once and you really do have something special!
When that first autumn finally arrived, and the last katydid had silenced its mesmerizing tune, the world did go quiet for a bit, and I found it to be too much. So much so, in fact, that these days we all bend our ears for the first spring peepers and check each night for the familiar 'Chuck-Wills-Widow, Chuck-Wills-Widow,' which seems to at first arrive very small and far away; growing a little closer over the following nights. This past week the bird finally materialized and this time, it brought a competitor who can match 'our' little nightjar, note-for-note. We sure are glad. As it turns out, 'the quiet' is very overrated.

Froggy Went'a Courtin'

I've really been having a lot of fun experimenting with wide-angle macro photography this spring. Although I'm still striving to get more depth-of-field in my backgrounds, I like the direction that this series is going in. These two photos are of one of the many spring peepers (Hyla crucifer) that have been singing for weeks around the pond behind our place. These very diminutive tree frogs are a perfect subject for my current set-up because they are so very small (max. 1.5" snout to vent) and therefore are able to fall completely within the sharp area of the image.

One of my friends recently commented that these images look fake, or almost like they were made on a set or with post-processing. I must admit that I know what he is alluding to. However to me, this strange juxtaposition of the foreground and background is what makes this technique appealing. I should say that I am, in fact, doing all of this in-camera just in case any of you were wondering as well. The addition of off-camera fill-flash on the subject certainly adds to the surreal quality or 'museum display' feel of the photograph.
I like this approach to macro-photography because it allows the viewer to see some of the subject's environment, which is an important element for natural history photography and certainly something that is quite often lacking in macro imagery.