I really look forward to this week each year. There’s nothing like witnessing the amazing power of nature and the furies she unleashes. Over the years I’ve photographed tornados, super cells, lightning and old farmsteads along the way. The night before our adventure began we made a trip to the Oklahoma City National Memorial; the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The site is now a beautiful reflection pond with a wall at each end with 9:01 on one and 9:03 on the other representing the times just before and after the 9:02am bombing on April 19 where 168 people were killed. The memorial site is a lovely, peaceful place with 168 illuminated chairs each inscribed with the name of the person killed…

Each morning Brian and Tank give an overview of the weather forecast and our plans for the day. Depending on the weather we make a game plan and head out. The weather pattern for the first few days looks a bit mild with the possibility of a good storm towards So Texas so off we went. 568 miles and ten hours later we arrived in Del Rio, TX to pouring rain and and incredible lightning storm. The problem is that shooting in a downpour guarantees rain drops on the front of our lenses so we took a dinner break and when we came out the rain had stopped and we could capture some of the storm as it moved off into the distance…

Nikon D800, AF-S 24-120mm f4 VR...400 ISO f4 @ 2 sec

Photographing lightning is a piece of cake with the Lightning Trigger. I simply set my camera to Shutter Priority, select a shutter speed of 1/15 or slower, manual focus and sit back to enjoy the show while the camera and Lightning Trigger do all the work…

When the storm activity is minimal (or non-existent) we spend our days positioning to be in a good location for the chance of capturing storms and along the way we stop at old farms and work the weathered buildings.  One such farm had railroad boxcars as storage sheds.  I particularly liked the weathered wood doors and the colorful, rusted hinges so I converted the image to B&W Infrared using NIK Silver Efex 2 and painted the hinges back in…

Nikon D800, AF-S 24-120mm f4 VR...200 ISO f8 @ 1/60

Stepping inside an abandoned house I often wonder about the occupants whose presence is felt in the items left behind.  Where did they go?  Why did they leave?  What is the story that this old building could tell if it could talk?  The light was almost gone but, I had to make this one last image.  I dialed up the ISO to 1600, opened the aperture to f5.6, braced myself and clicked off a 5 frame bracket.  To further emphasize the age of the kitchen, I converted the image to B&W and then used Color Efex Pro 4 Colorize to give the faded old photo look…

Nikon D800, AF-S 24-120mm f4 VR...1600 ISO f5.6 5 frame HDR

The weather pattern continues to show “good” weather over the net few days.  We will head towards Colorado to hopefully find some lightning storms to work.  Stay tuned.

I have been going to So Texas to photograph the birds for several  years now and each time I come home with new and wonderful images…some of birds I have photographed many times and others of those rare sightings of a less common bird.  No matter the subject, I am thrilled to be able to photograph over 40 species of birds in just a few days.  One image that I have tried to get over the last few years is that of a Scissor-tailed FLycatcher in flight.  They are fast and they don’t fly in an even path so panning with them is a real challenge…one that I was fortunate enough to overcome our last morning at the Caracara blind.  The Caracara was a no-show but the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher made up for it as it flew back and forth a couple of times.  Enough for me to get it’s rhythym and capture one sequence of nine frames in flight.  This is a perfect case in point for shooting continuous high and AF-C modes.  No way would I have been able to click the shutter just in time to capture the wings in perfect position let alone a series of shots with the wing in different positions.  I like the “scissor” tail in the wing down image…

Nikon D4, AF-S 70-200mm 2.8 VR II, TC-20E III...800 ISO f5.6 @ 1/1500

and I like the colorful underwings and graceful position with the wings up…

Nikon D4, AF-S 70-200mm f2.8 VR II, TC-20E III...800 ISO f5.6 @ 1/1500

Hi performance really counts in situations like this…both the equipment and the person behind the camera have to be on top of their game to capture the action!  I knew my D4 was up to it; happily, I was too.  In anticipation of action I dialed my IS0 to 800 with an aperture of f5.6 and EC of +1 dialed in (to brighten the bird against the light background) the shutter speed was around 1/1500.  I needed every bit of speed when the bird took flight.  It was halfway across the pond by the time I caught up with it and made these images.  Ya gotta love it when everything just works.   Stay tuned.

Hello. My name is Scott Allen. I am a surgeon and have been for the last 34 years. While I love what I do, over the last 6 years, photography has increasingly become a passion. I’ve never considered myself to be an artist, but photography has given me a bit of an artistic outlet. Mistakes are OK in photography, and even encouraged as a way to learn and grow. Not so much in surgery. This is a bit liberating for me. I also find the technical side of photography to be challenging enough to keep it interesting but not enough to be frustrating. Photography is my escape from the pressures of work and allows me take some time to appreciate the beauty in things I would have simply walked by in the past. The recent trip to South Texas to photograph birds was my 3^rd “Excellent Adventure” and it was nothing short of spectacular. The difficult details of lodging, guides, locations for the shoots and financial arrangements were, as always, taken care of by Laurie. All we had to do was remember to bring all of our gear and show up ready to shoot and enjoy this beautiful part of the world.

Male Pyrrhuloxia against beautiful blurred background…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS, 320 ISO, f/5.6 @1/320

We stayed with the Jackson’s at their house at Campo Viejos ranch about an hour outside of McAllen Texas. Accommodations, food and hospitality were exceptional. We shot for 4 days and each day was divided into two shoots. We usually got going a little before 7AM and arrived at a blind around 7:30. We would typically return to Campo Viejos around noon, between morning and afternoon shoots, to download our pictures and have some lunch. In the afternoon, we would head back to the blinds around 4 and would return around 8 or so to enjoy a delicious home cooked South Texas meal and a glass of wine. Blinds typically accommodate 2-4 people. Some blinds are considered morning blinds and some are afternoon, based on which direction you’re shooting.

Green Jays are both beautiful and common in South Texas…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS + 1.4x,200 ISO, f/5.6 @ 1/100

On day 1, we all shot together so Laurie could spend some time with each of us to be sure that all gear was working and that we all had ideas about what to watch for in terms of exposure, autofocus, flash, composition, etc. We learned about the mysterious AF-On button and how to set the camera so that we could use that to acquire focus, release it and thus lock the focus, recompose and then use the shutter release button to take the photo without changing the focus point. These birds don’t sit long in any one spot so learning to first see the little critters, find them with the long lens, focus, recompose for more pleasing pictures, and all the while think about the shutter speed, aperture and ISO, was challenging and exciting.  This approach really allowed us to obtain a much higher percentage of sharp images and we all grew to really like the technique for this kind of photography. It became second nature by the end of the first day.

We needed to maintain a high shutter speed and/or use flash to freeze action if we were lucky enough to be clicking when the birds were moving. Above is a Painted Bunting which seemed to startle with another photographer’s flash…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS+ 1.4x, 800 ISO, f/8 @ 1/800

Raptors included Crested Caracara (seen above) and Harris Hawks…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS, 200 ISO, f/8 @ 1/640

Reflections in the water were a recurring theme. Below is a Yellow Warbler drinking and bathing…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS, 400 ISO, f/8 @ 1/1000

Bullock’s Oriole…

Canon 1DMark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS, 400 ISO, f/7.1 @ 1/1250

There were huge fields of Sunflowers all around. One day we stopped between morning and afternoon shoots to work these guys…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS + 2x, 400 ISO, f 8 @ 1/1000

The cactus below is a “Horse Crippler”. The fruit (tuna) is enticing to both birds and mammals. The Mexican Ground Squirrel and Golden Fronted Woodpecker seem to be taunting each other over the delicious snack…

Canon 1D Mark IV, EF 600mm f/4L IS, 400 ISO, f/8 @ 1/1000

If the thought of going to beautiful and unique locales to photograph with like-minded and enthusiastic people appeals to you, contact Laurie and sign up for one of her adventures. These trips are fun and educational for photographers of all skill levels. Thanks again Laurie!

Additional thanks to my fellow photographers, Joanne and Steve, our hosts, the Jackson family and our guide, Richard Moore.

Arriving at the blinds in So Texas a quote from Forest Gump comes to mind… ”Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you are going to get.”  That’s how I feel each time I climb into a blind.  Sure, I have an idea of what birds will visit but, you just never know.  That’s one of the wonderful things about So Texas birds.  They are many and varied and you just never know who will show up at any given time.  Some are regular residents of So Texas like the Mockingbird who, while not really colorful is wonderfully entertaining and oh, so cute…

Nikon D4, AF-S 600mm f4 VR, TC-14E II...200 ISO f5.6 @ 1/350

Others are a little more rare, like the Indigo Bunting who is a seasonal visitor…

Nikon D4, AF-S 600mm f4 VR, TC-14E II...200 ISO f5.6 @ 1/500

Most of the time when the birds come to the water holes, they land on a perch first to assess the situation for danger before heading to the water.  Capturing them on the perch is the key and capturing them in sharp focus just as they take flight is a bonus as they are soooo fast.  In preparation to capture the action I raised my ISO to 400 to achieve a fast enough shutter speed to prevent blur…

Nikon D4, AF-S 600mm f4 VR, TC-14E II...400 ISO f5.6 @ 1/1000

A quick visit to the Screech Owl nest found one perched in the opening to it’s nesting cavity in a dead snag.  The dappled light lit just the side of the owl and the tree…

Nikon D4, AF-S 600mm f4 VR, TC-14E II...400 ISO f5.6 @ 1/125

A Tiger Swallowtail butterfly fluttering around the sage blooms was enticing enough to try to follow with my lens and I’ll have to say that panning with a butterfly is a lot more challenging than panning with a bird in flight…

Nikon D4, AF-S 600mm f4 VR, TC-14E II...400 ISO f5.6 @ 1/1000

These are just a small sampling of the subjects we had on day 2.  There are plenty more to come.  Stay tuned.