2023 « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Great Life and Superb Photography of Greg Downing

What’s Up?

It drizzled for most of Sunday. In the afternoon, I sat in stinky, rotting kelp for three hours photographing worn, molting adult Purple Sandpipers and Arctic Terns. The terns were hunting small invertebrates of some sorts, probably arthropods.

Today is Monday 24 July 2023. It is not raining and I am heading […]

Six Images Announcing the 2023 DeSoto Fall IPTs

Your Call?

Which of today’s six featured images do you like best. Be so kind as to leave a comment and let everyone know why you made your choice. I have two clear favorites that I will share with you here on Monday.

What’s Up?

Photography on Grimsey Island continues to be fantastic. On […]

Six Images Announcing the 2023 DeSoto Fall IPTs

Your Call?

Which of today’s six featured images do you like best. Be so kind as to leave a comment and let everyone know why you made your choice. I have two clear favorites that I will share with you here on Monday.

What’s Up?

Photography on Grimsey Island continues to be fantastic. On […]

The Third Way to Skin a Flying Puffin

What’s Up?

Grimsey continues to be fabulous. The rain is long gone and has been replaced by gloriously cloudy-bright skies that are prefect for photography. We have worked the Black Guillemots around the harbor, found a Common Ringed-Plover nest with three eggs, spent Wednesday morning photographing Northern Fulmars in flight and with chicks, and have […]

Two Ways to Skin a Flying Atlantic Puffin -- Then a Third

Your Call?

Which of today’s featured images do you like best? Don’t be so lazy — leave a comment and let us know why you made your choice.

What’s Up?

Grimsey Island has continued to be fantastic. We have had rain, a bit of fog, cloudy bright, and sunny and cold with blue skies. […]

Black-tailed Godwit Mission Accomplished

Screw-up

I was so happy to get the last blog post published once we got to Grimsey that I did not notice that I messed up the image code numbers. The real Image #2 was posted well after the fact. It is well worth going back to take a look. Here.

Your Call?

Which […]

Picking My Red-throated Loon Photo Brain

What’s Up?

On our first afternoon in Iceland, we drove an hour to a local bird reserve and sat by the edge of a small pond and we worked the Red-throated Loons. Right place, right time. Everyone in the group did great, especially me. I share three of my favorites from that afternoon with you […]

Taking a Varied Approach When Visiting Great Photographic Locations

What’s Up?

My flight to Iceland left at 9:00pm sharp and arrived at Keflavik at 6:20am local time. For the first time ever in my 77 years, I stayed up all night, having never slept a wink on the plane. For the most part, I was engrossed in reading yet another riveting John Grisham/Jake […]

Film. And Dealing With a Serious Operator Framing Error

What’s Up?

If you would like to become a better bird photographer, consider joining me on the 2023 San Diego IPT. Details are at the end of this blog post.

Anita North and I fly to Iceland at 9:00pm tonight, Monday 10 July 2023. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I […]

Is 30 fps Magic? Bald Eagle Flight with the 70-200 f/2.8 II

Huge Thanks!

Huge thanks to IPT veteran Andrew Schonbek for using my B&H affiliate link for his recent $11524.93 order. He upgraded to a MacBook Pro M2 laptop, an Apple – 32″” Pro Display XDR 16:9 Retina 6K HDR IPS Display (Standard Glass), and accessories. And thanks also to old friend Bob Blanchard for purchasing […]

Moving Water and Pelican Flight Shutter Speed Challenge

What’s Up?

Amazingly, I got the following gear into my ThinkTank Airport SecurityTM V2.0 rolling bag for my upcoming Iceland trip:

Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM lens Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM lens Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II lens Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM ultra-wide angle zoom lens Two Sony FE 1.4X teleconverters Two Sony […]

Sun or None for Wood Ducks? And the Purple Cheek Patch

San Diego

Please note as seen with today’s two featured images that San Diego ain’t just pelicans. Do consider joining one of the upcoming San Diego Instructional Photo-Tours. You can find the details below.

Your Call?

Which of today’s two featured images do you like best? Why? I have a clear favorite that I […]

Two Lousy Images Combine to Make One Wonderful Image

Your Call?

Was combining two lousy images to come up with a single very pleasing one kosher or not kosher for you? Why or why not? Right or wrong?

My Call

In the last blog post, most folks preferred the larger in the frame image of the skimmer with the spearing. David Pugsley and I […]

A Magical Landing. Is Larger in the Frame Always Better?

Is Larger in the Frame Always Better?

Is larger in the frame always better? Which of today’s two featured images do you like best? Why?

The Last Post

In the previous blog post, I — as did all who commented, preferred Image #2, the skimmer with the fish, because of the fish and the […]

Higher Standards for Flight Photography

Your Call?

Both of today’s featured images are — for different reasons — excellent. Be sure to click on the images to view the larger, sharper, hi-rez versions. Which do you think is the stronger image? Why? I have a clear favorite that I will share with you here on Friday.

The Last Post […]

More Wind Against Sun Success. And Finally Hatched!

Your Call?

Both of today’s featured images are quite good. If you were forced to choose only one, which would you rather have in your portfolio? Why?

What’s Up?

After taking the morning off, I walked the beach with the 200-600 on Sunday afternoon in less than ideal conditions with sunny blue skies and […]

Chick Challenges! And As Good As AF Gets?

What’s Up?

The weatherman should get some sort of award for the two worst consecutive forecasts in history. He said, “90% chance of heavy rain for Lido Beach beginning just after 11:00pm on Tuesday evening and continuing through late in the day on Thursday. It finally began to drizzle on Friday at about 11:00am. Thank […]

Remove the Adult Tern or Not? Your Call

What’s Up?

Conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were perfect with cloudy to cloudy bright skies and a 15mph wind from the east/northeast. On Tuesday I kept zigging when I should have zagged. There was little action and few chick feedings and most of those took place behind some beach vegetation. Wednesday morning was 1000 […]

Life and Death on the Beach

My Calls

Below are my answers to the Common Tern Would You? Questions in the blog post here.

1- I would remove the small green smudge below the primaries of the terns near wing because it merges with the feather and is distracting to me.

2- I would not have tried to remove the […]

When Conditions are Tough, Try Slow Shutter Speeds

What’s Up?

With a NW breeze and mostly sunny skies on Saturday morning, I was headed home at 7:22am. There were thunderstorms in the early afternoon, but after fighting traffic, I made it to the beach by 6:00pm. It was howling from the NW; I parked facing north and could barely open the driver’s side […]