Tag: Charleston Nature Photographer

A Day in the Beauty of Dorchester County

Dorchester county is rich in history and filled with unbelievable beauty!

Last week I was assigned the task of taking a single day to explore and capture as much of the county’s diverse nature, scenic beauty, and significant history as possible. I covered everything from the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, the Rosenwald School in St. George, Indian Field and Shady Grove campgrounds, Givhans Ferry State Park and the Edisto River that runs through it, Colonial Dorchester County Park, Middleton Place Plantation, and several stops in between.

It was a tough challenge, since I could have easily spent an entire day at each location! But I successfully completed the task and came away with a wonderfully diverse collection of images that showcase a day in the beauty of Dorchester County!

Nikkor Z 400mm f2.8 TC at Magnolia Garden

I try to be spontaneous when I can!

So when my good friend and amazing photographer, David Archer, messaged me the other morning to let me know he was heading over to Magnolia Gardens, I took a break from the computer and zipped out the door to join him.

Although it was a beautiful morning, we didn’t get any prize-winning photos. But we had a beautiful day and a fun time catching up. PLUS I got to play with his new Nikkor Z 400mm f2.8 TC! What an AMAZING lens!!! I also captured some images with the Nikkor 500mm f5.6 PF + FTZII, as well as the Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8 + Nikkor Z TC-1.4x.

Animals Birds Charleston Fineart Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Charleston Wildlife Photographer Chris & Cami Photography Nature Nikkor Nikon Nikon Love Nikon Pro Nikon USA Wildlife Z9

WARNING: Not for Sensetive Viewers

After capturing a beautiful proposal at White Point Gardens, I had a few extra minutes. So I decided to stay and photograph the famous Black-crowned Night Herons. I wish I hadn’t!!!

During each hot and humid Charleston summer, the live oaks in White Point Gardens (also known as Battery Park) become the nesting grounds for Black-crowned Night Herons. Seemingly unafraid of the public, they start acting like they own the place, making them easy to approach and photograph. Even though the park is said to be haunted, the night herons don’t seem to mind. In fact they nest in the very trees that the pirate Stede Bonnet and his men were hanged from!

In all my years photographing wildlife, I’ve only ever witnessed one other occasion so brutal and violent. While I was wandering around, a major disturbance began unfolding overhead. A mother decided to reject one of her chicks. Ejecting it out of the nest, pecking it to near death in the branches, and then pushing it out of the tree…the poor chick plunging to certain death below. The mother then returned to tend to it’s other chicks as if nothing had happened.

Why do birds reject babies? The main reason is to enhance the survival probability of her other chicks. It’s believed that the mother senses something is wrong in the development of that chick. Or they realize they don’t have the resources to raise all of their young successfully. Eliminating one mouth to feed is their only solution.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to witness such a seemingly violent act. But such are the laws of nature! Fortunately, I was able to ease the conflict in my soul by photographing a few other herons peacefully preening as the sun began to fade.

(Nikon Z9 + FTZII + 500mm PF)

500mm PF Animals Birds Black-crowned Night Heron Charleston Fineart Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Charleston Wildlife Photographer Chris & Cami Photography Egret Heron Nature Night Heron Nikkor Nikon Nikon Love Nikon Pro Nikon USA White Point Garden Wildlife Z9

Boone Hall Plantation

I had the privilege of being at Boone Hall Plantation after hours this weekend. It was neat to basically have the place to myself…so peaceful and beauituful without all the tourists running around. 🙂

(Nikon Z9 + Nikkor 24-120 f4 S)

Avenue of Oaks B&W Black-and-White Boone Hall Boone Hall Plantation Charleston Fineart Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Chris & Cami Photography Historic Charleston Historic Plantation Monochrome Nature Nikkor Nikon Nikon Love Nikon Pro Nikon USA Oak Alley Z9

Wildlife Workshop with Kiawah Island Photo Club

This week I had the great pleasure of working with the Kiawah Island Photo Club as their instructor during a private Wildlife Workshop that was held at the Center for Birds of Prey!

Under the care of Stephen Schabel (Director of Education), we had a fantastic time learning about these amazing hawks, falcons, kites, storks, kestrels, vultures, and owls. It was very rewarding for me, helping everyone figure out the best settings and techniques to capture these beautiful creatures. But the most amazing part was seeing the wonder and awe on the participant’s faces as they experienced these majestic birds up close and personal!

After a fun day together, we all set our cameras down and enjoyed an insightful behind-the-scenes tour of the operating rooms and rehabilitation facility.

Many thanks to Kimberly and Gordon from the Kiawah Island Photo Club, as well as Mandy, Stephen, and Katie from the Center for Birds of Prey for organizing this fabulous program!!!

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Abdim's Stork American Kestrel Animals Asian Brown Wood Owl Avian Avian Conservation Center Barn Owl Bird Birds Birds in Flight Birds of Prey Center for Birds of Prey Charleston Event Photographer Charleston Fineart Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Charleston Wildlife Photographer Chris & Cami Photography Crested Caracara D5 D500 Eurasian Eagle Owl Falcon Feather Harris' Hawk Hawk Kestrel Kiawah Island Photo Club Kite Merlin Nature Nikkor Nikon Nikon Love Nikon Pro Nikon USA Owl Peregrine Falcon Raptor Red-tailed Hawk Spectacled Owl Stork Turkey Vulture Vulture Wildlife Yellow-billed Kite

“Tack Sharp Photos of Birds-in-Flight”

I’m super honored and very excited to have been featured in the popular blog, Travel Notes & Storytelling: https://www.travelnotesandstorytelling.com/tack-sharp-photos-of-birds-in-flight/?

Marie Goff is the talent behind this informative and entertaining blog site. It was her love of adventure and learning that led Marie to join the military. After a long career with the National Guard, she continues that love of adventure and learning through her travels and her writing.

“I travel, take pictures, and write stories, to learn and inspire others. Near or far, every destination is unique, exhilarating, and fresh. I strive to capture these in every story, especially highlighting people and places, and current events that shape the experiences.”

Wanting to improve her photography techniques for photographing birds and other wildlife, Marie joined my workshop at the Center for Birds of Prey this past fall: https://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/. We all had a fantastic time learning tips and tricks to improve our capture-rate of these beautiful creatures. Marie’s blog post shares about her experience, her success, and what she learned.

I hope you’ll visit her blog and subscribe to her email list. Enjoy!

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Wildlife Workshop at Center for Birds of Prey

I had the pleasure of leading another fun workshop at The Center for Birds of Prey last weekend! 🙂 Many thanks to Mandy Feavel for all her hard work putting it together. And what a treat to work with the amazing educators, Jessie Curry and Natalie Hendrickson, again!!!

https://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/

“Join expert photographer, Chris Smith of Chris & Cami Photography, for an in-depth workshop focusing on the photographic study of birds of prey, both in motion and while perching.”

A special thank you also goes to THINK TANK PHOTO and RetouchUp for their support with some generous door prizes. And a HUGE shout out to all the attendees. You guys were AWESOME!!!

I’ve included a bunch of the behind-the-scenes shots from the day. Please feel free to share, tag yourselves, and enjoy these images of you in action!

Nikkor 500mm f5.6E PF ED VR

My good friend and AMAZING photographer, David Archer (www.davidarcherimages.com), was kind enough to loan me his new Nikon Nikkor 500mm f5.6 PF ED VR lens for evaluation!

Unfortunately it was during a busy time of year. So I didn’t get to do a full review or a comparison video against it’s younger sibling, the 300mm f4.0E PF ED VR. Hopefully I’ll have time to get back and do that with David.

But for now, let me just say that I am VERY impressed!!! In fact, I’m probably even more impressed with this lens than when I bought the 300mm PF, which I thought was absolutely ground-breaking! This new technology Nikon is throwing into their ultra compact and light-weight Phase Fresnel series of lenses is just magnificent!!!

I really enjoyed shooting with this super lightweight, wickedly sharp, and extremely portable telephoto lens. Most of the time I used it on the Nikon D500, giving me an effective focal length of 750mm. I even tried some with the TC14eIII 1.4x converter, giving me 1050mm of reach!

300PF
300mm f4 = 420mm f5.6 with TC14eIII
300mm f4 = 450mm f4 on DX
300mm f4 = 630mm f5.6 with TC14eIII on DX

500PF
500mm f5.6 = 700mm f8 with TC14eIII
500mm f5.6 = 750mm on DX
500mm f5.6 = 1050mm f8 with TC14eIII on DX

All total, I probably only had about 90 minutes of actual shooting time with the 500mm PF in less-than-optimal lighting conditions. Here are some of the results. I can’t imagine what I’d be able to capture if this lens somehow found a permanent place in my bag…

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500mm 500mm f5.6 PF Audubon Swamp Garden Bulls Island Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Charleston Wildlife Photographer D500 Kiawah Island Magnolia Plantation Nikkor Nikon Nikon Pro Nikon USA

Sunrise on Bulls Island

Sunrise at the boneyard beach on Bulls Island turned out to be meh. But Jamie Clark and I salvaged it with a fun impromptu modeling shoot for her beautiful daughter, Katie! Many thanks to my friends and amazing photogrpahers Kim McManus, Mary Wessner, and Cary McDonald for making it a fun morning. And a HUGE shout out to #coastalexpeditions for this incredible opportunity. This is the second-to-last sunrise expedition the company will be offering to Bulls Island. I feel lucky to have been able to experience this protected barrier island’s wild majesty one last time!

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Beach Boneyard Bull Island Bulls Island Cape Romaine Charleston Aerial Photographer Charleston Drone Photographer Charleston Model Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Portrait Photographer Charleston Stock Photographer Charleston Wildlife Photographer D500 D850 DJI Mavic Pro National Wildlife Refuge Nature Nikkor Nikon Nikon Pro Nikon USA NWR Off-camera Flash SB-5000 Wildlife

Milky Way in the Mountains

After photographing a beautiful destination in the mountains near Asheville last week, I drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Waterrock Knob overlook. With the high elevation, no light-polution from any cities nearby, and a new moon, the stars of the Milky Way were bright and beautiful!

Blue Ridge Parkway Charleston Nature Photographer Chris & Cami Photography D5 Milky Way Nightscape Nikon USA Stars

GOODBYE DORIAN!!!

Cami and I are safe and sound as this massive storm moves on away from us here in Charleston. Many thanks to all those who checked in on us all day. Now our thoughts and prayers turn to those still ahead of its path of destruction, as well as those left in devastation from its passing. Good night and be kind to each other…

Charleston Aerial Photographer Charleston Drone Photographer Charleston Nature Photographer Charleston Weather Photographer Chris & Cami Photography Clouds DJI Dorian Hurricane Hurricane Dorian Mavic Pro Sunset

Photography Day at the Center for Birds of Prey

Last month I had the privilege of being a part of a limited number of photographers that were granted access to photograph some beautiful birds at the Center for Birds of Prey. What an INCREDIBLE experience it was to be up close and personal with these majestic creatures!!! This was not my first time. But it’s an experience that never gets old, and always holds new and exciting challenges!

This time, I went with a light-weight and portable setup. All images were shot on either a Nikon D850 or Nikon D500, using either a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII or a Nikkor 300 f4.0 PF VR lens. I didn’t use any tripods or monopods, just hand-held shots. I carried one camera on each hip using my dual Spyder Holster, which allowed me to quickly switch to the ideal focal length for the shot.

Later this fall I’ll be teaching another Wildlife Photography workshop at the center, where I’ll be sharing my tips, techniques, and settings for successfully capturing these gorgeous animals: http://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/. I hope you’ll and come out to join me!

Many thanks to my good friend and fellow photographer, Ferris Kaplan, for the behind-the-scenes shots of me in action!