Pick me, Pick me

Is this a good photo? The reason I ask is that I was driving through a rural area today, sans camera, and I saw shot after shot that I wished I could take.  Correction, of course,  if I didn't have a camera it's not a shot.  It is more a mental image of shot.

That got me to thinking. Does the photographer create the "shot" before the camera?  Well of course, in most instances --though,  I have had a few great shots that I thought were junk until I pulled them up on my computer.

But, this picture, for instance, what makes it a good shot, mediocre shot, poor shot, or even worth shooting?  Why did I shoot this shot? There were lots of other ducks on the lagoon in Audubon Park in New Orleans when I shot this. Does a duck shaking the water off his wings have more of a photographic value than one gliding on pollen-populated water?

Well, of course it does.... to me.   That is why I shot it.  Why did it have more value to me?  Because I got my start as a newspaper reporter.  This is the proverbial "boy bites dog" -- the story that sticks out as unusual.  You see thousands of duck photos.  Few of them are shaking their wings off. That makes it at least mildly unusual.  So it is worth shooting to see how it comes out?  That's where my value system ranks it.   I saw the photo in my "photographer's" mind, then shot it.

So, the photographer makes the photo,  then shoots it.

Do you agree?

Photography, New Orleans, Louisiana

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The Duck Book of Rules

You get a mouthful of tasty stuff from the bottom of the pond and then strain out the water -- you want this to be better tasting, not more filling, right?
--steve buser

Come on, let me see you shake your tail feathers

If you're hanging around in the water all day, sometimes it feels good to just get out and giver your feathers a good body shake.
--steve buser

NewOrleans, Duck, feathersPowered by ScribeFire.

Future quackers

These ducklings have probably hatched by now.  I shot this some time ago on the banks of the lake by the pond at the Lakeview Regional Medical Center in Mandeville, LA.   Seems no one was tending the store when I walked by.

--steve buser

duck, eggs, Mandeville, Louisiana

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This coot starts a scoot.

I've been offline most of the week because of another project I was spending a lot of time on. Hopefully, soon I will get back to my routine.

Meanwhile-- this picture from a couple weeks ago. I had risen early to get to the lakefront in Mandeville to see if I could get any shots. Unfortunately, it was overcast and dreary. The lighting made it hard to shoot. This was one of the few that came out. -- a bunch of American Coot sitting on one of the wave-breakers along the waterfront. This one Coot, decides it's time to get out of there in a hurry. A few second later ( I captured that shot, but it is not here.) the water erupts with coots, scooting across it.---steve buser

duck, feathers, Mandeville, Louisiana

Lucky duck

This lucky Mandeville young lady at the pond was keeping an eye me and I guess was thinking that I couldn't see her if she hid her nose. Go figure.

---steve buser

duck, feathers, Mandeville, Louisiana

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Duck ponder

This friendly duck, probably a Scaup, was hanging by the side of the pond at the hospital in Mandeville,the other day. He was courteous enough to let me in close enough for this shot (with a zoom lens, though).

--steve buser

Full-featherd love

True love on the banks of the pond at Fairview Regional Medical Center in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Even as I edge closer for better and better shots, these ducks seemed not to really care. They looked over time to time to see if I was bringing food, but it I wasn't, well then they had no use for me.

Love, apparently, is blind.

--steve buser

ducks, Mandeville, Louisiana

Coot scooting

This American Coot didn't seemed to be as frightened of me as the others ducks as he non-nonchalantly passed by. Maybe in his eye I wasn't as ugly as his fellow swimmers thought. Audubon Park lagoon.

--steve buser

American Coot, duck, New Orleans, Louisiana, Audubon Park

Floating food finders

Mommy take her chicks out on Lake Pontchartrain for a little training in how to find food. The shot is on the lakefront of Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans.

--steve buser

ducks, chicks, mallards, birds, Kenner, Louisiana, Lake Pontchartrain

Buffleheads

Out in the Mandeville harbor a couple weekends ago,this pair of Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) came floating by.  I'm guessing that the channel is about 8 or so feet deep there.  These divers would upend themselves anddive straight down.  They would stay down for about a minute before bobbing back up.

That's the first time I have seen any of these around Mandeville.

--steve buser

Mandeville, Louisiana, Bufflehead, ducks, diving, water, Lake Pontchartrain, Bucephala albeola

Mom mangles meal from feathery fathers

A mom duck (front center) fights for the food -- and gets it. A young child was throwing bread to these wood ducks creating an explosion of ducks and splashes of water wherever a piece landed. This time, the mom won.

--steve buser

Duck Row

Running Like the Wind

Near rain, nor floods, nor gale force winds will keep boys from enjoying the day. This trio of young men were enjoying a run on the lake front of Lake Pontchartrain which jumped the riprap barrier used to protect the levee from waves.

The boys are actually running on a paved bike path. The lake is usually about 100 feet out, just the other side of the barrier. The biggest push of Hurricane Ike's wind in the New Orleans area was sending water and waves to the northshore, but the southshore, a seen here, also got some of the surge.

If you look closely you can see two ducks on the water in the top center. They area laying very low in the water to keep from being lifted by the wind. At one point, the young men ran too close to the ducks and they lifted up to fly away. Two minutes later, flapping hard into the wind, they landed about 50 away.

The New Orleans area had several flooding issues to fight. Most people here had time to reflect. Their hearts, filled with memories of Hurricane Katrina, went out to the residents of Houston and Southeast Texas hit hard by Ikes fury.

--steve buser

Crash Landing

If you've never had the opportunity to watch a duck land, don't blink. It's fast and its amazing they end upright. If you look all the way on the left you'll see a couple of lines on the water where the landing began. That is were the ducks webbed feet first touch. The stripes are still on the water and the trough is still there when the whole thing is over in less than a second.

The shot is out at the lake front harbor in New Orleans on Lake Pontchartrain.

--steve buser

Duck Soup

Pollen on the water gives it a soupy look as a pair of Wood Ducks swim by slowly in the setting sun at Audubon Park in New Orleans.

-- steve buser

Dappled Duck

This guy stood quite still to let me shoot his photo at Audubon Park in New Orleans. I think it was the new suit he was showing off. Is that seersucker? Very summer-ish.

Lagniappe -- The fisherman becomes the fish... today on Pixel Eyed


-- steve buser

Ruffling feathers.

I suppose someone told him, "go ruffle your own feathers." This was at the rookery on the Audubon Park lagoon in New Orleans today -- before it started pouring rain and I scurried for shelter.

-- steve buser

Scratching the itch

Ever had that itch you just couldn't find a way to scratch? Maybe you just need a longer neck. This gal found a way to get to the itch, but it's tough to get between the feathers.

-- steve buser

Ducking duck

The evidence is still there with the drops on his head. This little duckling out on the Kenner Lakefront near New Orleans was still learning to bob for tasty treats. Though you can't see her, mom is just out of view. Schooling this day, lasted about and hour before mom decided is was time to swim on.

- steve buser