There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Cindy Goeddel:" For 6 magical days in 2013, I was able to photograph and observe this Great Gray Owl. I learned its favorite hunting perches and I could often anticipate where it would fly to next. I would position myself far enough away as to not interfere with its hunting and quietly wait for hours on end for the chance that he would fly towards me for a photograph. Unfortunately, each time he obliged, the light was far less than optimal. These images will never win an award, but I am proud of them nevertheless. They were taken with deep respect and care to do no harm to the owl. They were taken after hours of observation and study of his behavior. They were taken without luring or baiting the owl into an artificial setting. Finally, they were processed in Lightroom without editing away the reality of the scene when I pressed the shutter.⠀ "
Apparently these sublime shots were realised in Montana.
Peet Strydom:" Bearded Vulture, also called Lammergeier.
Uncommon resident, regarded as Endangered in South Africa with recent population decrease, due mainly to poisoning. Habitat: Drakensberg escarpment and surrounding foothills. "
I prefer to work with big alpha animals – elephants have a greater pull on me than mice. This is true also with birds and this has drawn me towards the American Bald eagle – a magnificent and emblematic creature with an astonishing wingspan of up to seven feet. The difficulty is capturing imagery that captures fresh detail – the world is not short of images of this bird – indeed they adorn homes in America from the White House down. The starting point for me was always going to be the wings – their size and textural detail. However, the more I worked on this project in Alaska, the more I was disappointed by my “in flight” work – I struggled to do the wings justice. The problem was simply that in flight, the wings do look big, but there is a disconnect to anything that gives real scale – a “big sky” does not help as it excludes much of what could help define and give context. I travelled to the fishing village of Homer – a great place to spot great Bald eagles, especially in the winter and spring and sure enough there were a great number of eagles on the beach. It was then a question of getting sufficiently close to work with as small a telephoto as possible. Instinctively, eagles will tend to take off away from an intruder, not towards him and to engineer the effect captured I had to use decoys to encourage the eagle’s first wing movement in my direction. Finally, it came off – and I think this is indeed a fresh image of a bald eagle. What remarkable wings and all the more remarkable at take-off. "
Zhayynn James:" Third Eye Blind
Birds have an extra eyelid, a translucent membrane called the nictitating membrane which moves laterally across the eyes to clean them of dust and to keep them moist, without impeding their vision. I was fortunate to photograph this magnificent martial eagle looking straight at the camera as it deployed its nictitating membrane across its eye. "
