Jake Peterson’s Blog

Well it’s been a few days now and they have been busy ones. I feel kinda bad though that i didn’t get this up sooner but it is what it is. The Reno Air Races practice runs last week were awesome. The people i met there were great. People like Scott Diussa, Richard Small, Richard VanderMeulen, Joe Glyda and Bill Fortney. It was such a change going from photographing wildlife to airplanes. The panning technique is the same but the speed in which it must be applied is so much faster. The nice part is that every plane goes on a course so we know exactly where to pan from.

The unlimited class were among my favorites mostly because of the challenge they posed. In order to get the planes looking like they are moving we have to blur the props which means the shutter speed has to be low. Of course the lower shutter speed means much better panning technique in order to get a sharp image. The jets are much easier because we can be at a much faster shutter speed that can stop the motion.

Besides the challenge, the unlimited are just cool to see. A lot of these planes were made back during WWII, seeing them here doing laps is just exciting. Not to say that the jets aren’t but something makes the unlimited better. Probably something to do with the prop spinning, in my opinion.

Before i went out there my Dad said one very simple thing, “If u get addicted to this, it’s not my fault.” Throuhgout the week he said those words a number of times. Didn’t work, his fault. I say that because now i really want to get back in September for the real races. My thanks goes out to all those at PRS for getting me out there, along with the genreous people at Nikon, and of course my parents.

Images captured with D3, 200-400, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

Wow where should i start. The family is up in Reno Nevada for the Reno Air Races practice school.  The pilots that will be flying in the races themselves in September are out here now not only practicing but qualifying for the coarse. The is the first time i have ever photographed anything like this. It is so way cool. Yesterday Dad and me got up early and went to the airfield where we shot the planes when they were on the ground static. This is one of those, P40 i think.

The whole day was one long photo shoot, never left the field until the evening. Each aircraft is put inot a specific field depending on size, weight, powere, and speed. First up was the sport class planes. These are the ones that you see being flown around privately by millionaires. Next up are the unlimited class. These are really something to see. This class has the old vintage planes in it, like here is a P40, P51 Mustang and a T28 Slug.  It is indescribable the feeling u get when one flies over head and knocks that whoosh against you.

The jet came after the unlimited, which just scream. These things hull ass, no doubt about it. The after was a repeat, kinda, of the morning. The same craft coming out in basically the same order. This is one of the ones that came out in the afternoon and gave us one really good show. This is a P51 modified Mustang that screams by us. The pilot knew we were out there at one of the pylons and decided to fly right over our heads and give us just an incredible feeling. It was loud, windy, and exciting. I have two more days here and i can’t wait to go back out.

Images captured with D3, 500f4 Vr, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

The three of us are here in Missoula for a couple of days in accordance with a weather problem. The original plan got canceled because of the rain and thunder so we decided to spend our time doing some shooting outside of town. There are some great birding places that we took advantage of. The Yellow-headed Blackbirds were busy chasing each other, at least the males were doing some chasing, and so they continually were posing for us on top of the reeds and cat tails. The blackbirds are very addictive to photograph, the yellow on them just kinda sucks u in.

One of the birds that we first got photograph in South Dakota, the Eastern Kingbird, were all over the place. These guys are so cool. The pose like no other on the barbed wire and are very expressive. With there pointy crown and white tipped tail, the kingbird is definetely one worth photographing. With one more day around in Montana, i look forward to getting in a little more time with the critters.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, TC-14E, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

Base Camp ended like every other one it seems, without a photographic bang. At least this is what we thought before we started down the road. Before leaving Glacier we ran into a group of Mountain Goats. We didn’t count them because in our excitement  and eagerness, it never really occurred to us until after we left them. The group was a bunch of nanny’s and kids. The one that we seemed to photograph the most was a nanny with one kid and a broken horn. She appeared to be the alpha female. They moved from the higher down to the shade, and then surprising enough the river.

This was the first time that i not only got to photograph the goats but also the first time that i ever saw them drink. These guys, or gals, are designed to not have to drink. They can survive in the cliffs without having to come down, unlike the sheep that have to come down once a day. Unfortunately they picked the worst possible time to come down, when the sun was directly over head and no cloud cover. That’s wildlife for ya.

After the drink the nanny and kid went back up to a cliff halfway between the shade and the river, where the nanny layed down and the kid bopped around for a while. One of my main goals for this past week was to be able to shoot the Billy Goats, and although the rest of the group was unable to, which sucks, Dad and me did get this lucky break. These couple hours definetely make me want to work with these interesting critters even more.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, TC-14E, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

Yesterday was the first day we actually got to photograph wildlife since we’ve been here at Glacier. It’s not because we haven’t seen any here, cuz we have. So far we’ve seen everything from White-tailed Deer to Grizzly Bears. With wildlife photography we have the pleasure of being skunked, a lot! It’s all good though, the beautiful landscapes are making up for anything being missed. But boy did it feel good to finally be able to shoot a critter. These little guys are the Columbian Ground Squirrels that are found up north as you head till Canada. I love working wiith squirrels and prairie dogs. They always do something just hilarious or cute that ya just mkaes you smile. After the afternoon session we starting having some fun. This one mound had three individuals on it that i was watching during the afternoon session which instantly drew me to it. It seemed to be a great mound cuz everyone else in the group starting coming over, which is meant some instruction.

Working with shy subjects, like the squirrels, with four people around isn’t easy. It takes time for the critters to get used to you before they will start behaving like normal. Patience is a big part of this game especially with littel guys like these. At first they only would stay up at the mound covered with ugly grasses and working through them was a challenge. So many shots annoyed me because there was alywas one grass that was just in the wrong place. But, the clouds lifted and one little guy was such a character that he would graze far to the right where the grasses were great. I say character because he would eat only the leaves on the ground and would eat for about five minutes, then run across to the tress behind the grasses where he would wait and watch us for a while. After a while he would come back and do the same thing again. He made that 20 minutes of shooting in the grass, 2 hours of waiting on the mound, totally worth it.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, TC-14E, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

What better way to start the day then with a lovely drive over to a beautiful lake surrounded by gorgeous mountains covered in fresh snow? O yea, did i mention we had to leave at 4am! It sure seems like every great shoot is always the one that we have to not only drive too but also are bloody tired at. Thankfully i wasn’t driving, always a plus with those early days. But i did get to enjoy the light show that present.

The light was great all morning, but wouldn’t u know the clouds didn’t move into until later in the morning after initial sunrise.  It was one of those mornings with a great reflection, no wind making a wonderful stillness. I couldn’t decide if i wanted to go close up with the 70-300VR AF-S or wide with the 24-70 zoom. I was tempted to go close with some of the peaks but kept wide to try and get more reflection. Only thing is i didn’t like the reflection that was being reflected. Wasn’t interesting enough i guess. Anywho, it was  a good morning with a promising afternoon so keep ur fingers crossed.

Images captured with D3, 24-70 zoom, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last Base Camp and man time just flies. Dad and me have been down in Texas for a week, then home for a week and now we’re up in Montana, with Mom and the kiddies . Glacier National Park, a truly beautiful place with some great critters and even better scenery. We took advantage of the greatness yesterday. The weather was very uncooperative, with snow flurries and rain most of the day. The wildlife were not at all considerate of us photographers and decided to show up when we really could not do anything about it. O well it happens.

This particular pullout was a great chance to tryout the 24-70 zoom that i borrowed from the goodie locker back home. I gotta say its really fast, very sharp and so far I’m liking it. The mountains of the park greatly makeup for any missed photo opps with the critters. We stayed at one pullout for a couple hours yesterday for sunset and man the clouds just kept performing. Thankfully the snow stopped right before we went out otherwise we would not have gone. It was a good end to the first day of the week, can only hope the rest of the week is just as good.

Images captured with D3, 24-7o zoom, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

I’m back home now and going through images. The joyous part of every trip is at the end having to go through all the images on the externals and filling them on my non travel hard drives. This past week was awesome. I have never photographed more bird species then i did at the Bentsen and Jackson ranches down at Texas. It got to the point that there were so many species to process when we got back to the room i was too tired to blog. So i thought i would put one up today. Before going down to Texas my Dad said that it would be hot, just hot. Boy were we in for a surprise when we got there. Not only were most days not hot but it humid and rather comfortable. It even rained when we were there which is great for them but not for us.

The reason we were there in late May was because it was hot. The heat is supposed to force the birds to the water holes setup with photoblinds. It worked but not to the extent we were looking for. We came back with 40 different species of birds so not complaining. Like the Pyrrhuloxia at the top and the Couch’s Kingbird just above. Two really great birds that i loved too photograph. The Kingbird wasn’t as cooperative as the Pyrrhuloxia. The kingbirds would show up briefly and leave suddenly, so we didnt get much time to play with them. The Pyrrhuloxia on the other hand would come in and pose for us.

One of the best things about these ranches is that there are many different bird species requiring different types of compostion. What i mean is the Pyrhuloxia and Couch’s Kingbird would always land ontop of the Mesquite Trees or on some branch. The Scaled Quail would never do this. The quail would be ground level so instead of shooting up we would be shooting down. This gave us the opportuntiy to photograph everything from ground level to tree tops. Doesn’t seem like a big deal but when there a five different speceis of birds at the water and you want shots of all of them this thinking comes into play.

Of course there was the raptor blind as well and it just blew away anything that i have ever down before with raptors. The last day we were in the blind in the afternoon and it was busy. We had four Harris Hawks, which is what this is, and at least four Crested Caracara individuals possibly more. The challenge with this blind was getting the birds as they flew in. They would normally come from the left but they came in low behind the brush line making it harder to get a good shoot as they came out. Of course in order to get the hawks in the frame without cutting of the wings the teleconverter had to be off, and then to get the hawks looking the best in the frame when on the perch the teleconverter had to be on. So Dad and me were going back and forth switching on and off the teleconverter. The results are great so all the waiting, sitting and sweating was worth it. Can’t wait to go back to Texas for more birds. Special Thanks to Steve, Hardy, Nora, and Richard for making it possible for Dad and me to have this opportunity.

Images captures with D3, 600f4, TC-14E, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film