Recent images from July 2018

July 11, 2018

Calling this piece an article would be too much. I'm just using this format to give some quick annotations to some pictures I took recently and that I cannot fit anywhere else on this site.

Greater rheas

These birds are native to South America but a farmer in the vicinity has a pair of them. Also a fun hobby I suppose. Also the eggs must be amazing if you happen to be very hungry.

They are captive so getting close is no issue. Just some head shots with a 200mm lens over the fence.

Although they look and move quite similarly than ostriches, they are quite a bit smaller and probably not closely related. The reason they look similar is probably due to convergent evolution.

Damselflies

Macro is always an option during the warm months of the year. Just find some insects and let's go.

A male "beautiful demoiselle" (yes that's actually what it's called). The males are completely blueish-green while the females show a shiny copper-like color. There was a female present when I got these but she didn't want her picture taken.

Great crested grebe

A little over four years ago I took this image at a lake in Vienna which I still consider to be one of my best images from a technical point of view:

What always bothered me greatly however was the fact that the light is so utterly boring, which really prevents this image from being a great one. You must know that the tremendous importance of beautiful light was not as clear to me back then as it should have been. This month I returned to the exact same spot to finally do this right.

Grebe: check
Light: check
What's missing is that fish and that drop.

OK, that fish was actually way bigger than expected. The grebe was choking on that one for about ten minutes until it actually managed to swallow it - that observation was pretty hilarious by the way. Unfortunately it was quite a bit too far away to get a good shot. Notice the juvenile also wanting a piece.

Well, this is as close as I got to my image that day. Unfortunately the grebe was fishing just too far from the shore for a good shot this time. But the last chapter of this story is not yet written. Some day I'll return to that spot - four years from now maybe.

Alpine ibexes

On a recent hiking tour I was lucky to meet a group of adolescent alpine ibexes grazing. Adolescent males usually form their own groups away from females and kids. The adult males are solitary animals.

These are probably the best rock climbers in the animal kingdom.

Ibexes are actually quite timid creatures when they come across humans. It's possible to get close enough for some head shots with a long telephoto lens.

Rein Abbey

Rein Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Rein near Gratwein, Styria, in Austria. It is the oldest surviving Cistercian community in the world.

So, that was a small selection of pictures I took over the last few weeks. I hope those help to make the wait for a bigger update a bit shorter!

Thanks for reading!