Wild Cats - Is the zoo the only place we'll be able to witness them?

 Caracal - 

Info: Caracal caracal / Carnivore / 24" to 42" long / 25 to 40 pounds

Current population:  Unknown (www.nationalgeographic.com)

Low concern (at this time) on the extinction listing.

This medium-size wildcat roams the savannas, deserts, and forests of much of Africa and parts of the Middle East.

The fastest of the smaller African wildcats, caracals are supreme hunters. Their sandy-colored coats provide camouflage, and stiff fur cushioning their footpads makes them nearly silent stalkers.

Threats: These include habitat destruction due to agriculture and retaliation killing, as caracals will hunt small livestock if given the opportunity.

Why do I post this?  Like millions of us I will most likely never see one of these beautiful creatures in the wild.  Mostly because of the expense to get to their native areas.  Although listed as low on the extinction listing, their numbers are unknown and if history as taught us anything.  We will destroy much of which is an inconvenience in the eyes of humans.  It also doesn't help that our world population continues to expand and put pressure on so many different animal and plant species and their natural ecosystems.

The photos was taken while on a field trip to the Portland Zoo (OR)with special needs students back in 2016.  It is a cheaters pic, but most likely the only one I'll get!

Think about your actions and choices and how they affect the balance of our world. 

 Seven years and seven months since I last posted anything on this blog.  Who will read it?  If no one does, that is okay as I need to find release and escape in things other than teaching.  Yes, I have my coaching and that is good, if we ever get to have a season, damn you Covid-19!  But as a photographer I am breaking away from what little ways I made money.

I no longer will pursue the portrait photography, it's over, done and most anyone with a camera thinks they might be the next Annie Leibovitz.  Not saying there are not some decent photographers doing the work locally, and bless them for working their ass off for what little they are making.  I will do it for friends that want it done and done well.  I will quit shooting athletic teams unless requested, as again, by the time the players hit high school.  Most parents have enough team and individual pictures.  I will work for those who wish some action shots during their competitions.

My focus is going to go back to nature and that which surrounds us!  I feel pretty strongly that we as humans are killing our mother (earth).  We consume resources, pollute our world and honestly we are getting to the tipping point of earth's carrying capacity for us humans.  So as I journey and work in the world that is worth saving and not paving.  I will share with you my thoughts about that along with some photos.  I am going to work on creating some sort of web presence to help in this endeavor.  

Be well and think before you act!

Tim

Stuck

So I decided that this AM [3/24] I would head out to an old standby area called the Basket Slough National Wildlife Refugee to see what sort of birds, deer, elk or anything else possibly hanging out to get their photo taken.  Since I left kind of late, around 9 AM, I didn't expect to get much and really didn't get anything either.  Did have slightly overcast skies so that would make the shots much easier.  Really glad there wasn't much to work with as I had some mental errors as I started to shoot.

First, always check your camera's settings as you may have left the settings from a previous shoot still in place, things like "White Balance" as a main culprit!  I still had it set from when I was doing some shots from my daughters Volleyball match back in February and when I went to check a photo on the back panel, strange blue hue to it.   Yep, WB was set to fluorescent lighting inside......Yikes!  Especially when you are shooting outside in natural light!  Just keep it in mind.

So I go through the main area of the NWR and end up going out another county road on the North side of the refuge.  Just looking around and seeing if any other birds might be in range as I brought along my 135-400mm.  Nothing really close and then while trying to be friendly and hug the side of the road so a local farmer could pass, my vehicle started to slip on the soft soil/gravel on the edge and soon I was in the shallow drainage line that runs along the side of the road.  Put it in 4x4 as quick as possible but no luck, it just made my right side dig in more and after about 5 minutes of trying to pop over the high side of the ditch my ford came to rest.  Called home to get AAA headed my way and 40 minutes or so later was out of the muck.  Then cleaned out as much as I could and drove to knock the rest out.  After getting home, put on the power nozzle and had to get under the vehicle and blast away at the mud.  Still think I will be dripping mud or dry dirt clumps for several weeks down the road.

Lesson:  It's spring in Oregon and those county roads can get a might soft on the edges.  I included a shot of my final resting spot before I got pulled out.

Tim -

Almost forgot the Blue Moon

Blue Moon Aug. 2012

So the last entry I posted a shot from the morning after I had been chasing the Blue Moon of this past August.  So now I will post a shot from the moon rising on August 31, 2011 as I sat out on a county road here in Polk County, Oregon.  It is a place about 7 miles of road driving to get to it and occasionally I go by it when doing some climbs in the Eola Hills near to my house.  Sorry, the moon is not crystal clear as I was trying to bring a lot into the shot and was getting darker, and darker with the setting sun.  Still fun times working on the shot.

Anyway, the frontage area is a Christmas tree farm that is probably about 3 years post planting and then various woods with small farms mixed in them.  In the mid distance you have some lights of part of the Salem and Keizer areas and then spreads East to more farmland before it climbs into the Cascade Mt. Range.  During this time of year you get a good bit of low level haze from the last of the agricultural harvest.

So there!  I actually got back to what I said I was going to do and post another shot of this moon!

Have a great week!  Tim

Chasing the Moon

So the end of August brought a "Blue Moon" around the Earth and I did my best to hang out in some places and work on some shots of the moon but also to put it into the context of a photo with out having to go to Photoshop and work the magic to make it in there.  Of course you can do a great moon shot then have it appear really huge on a landscape of any kind and that can really be fun.   I may go and try that when I have some more time.

So on Friday 8/31/12 that is when the moon was full for the Blue Moon.  I went out to a county road here in Polk County a few miles from my home.  One there would be no street lighting there and there was some very good open spaces to shoot through and still have some foreground texture if I wanted it, which I did.  I got some decent shots from that night and will put one out in another posting soon.

The one I am sharing this time is from the next morning I got up around 5:30 and went down to Riverfront park here in Salem.  Did some shooting of the pedestrian bridge (cool thing to have) and then some more shots with the moon in the sky looking West into West Salem hills.  This shot I thought was good as I have an early morning fisherman on the Willamette River, the west hills covered with trees and the water tank along with the moon working its way to setting.  I only noticed while working on the edit of this that the moons reflection is at the very bottom of the photo.  I did not notice that due to some vegetation near where I was shooting.  Need to take a little more time when prepping the shot!

Thanks for stopping in and feel free to send me any comments!  Enjoy!

Tim