All You Need Is…

Aerial photographs taken in Everglades National Park

With Christmas tunes pulsing through the radio, nutcrackers poised at attention on the mantel, and 30 degrees biting at the windows, I am sitting by the fire at my parents’ house in Gainesville, Florida. My two older brothers, aunts, cousins, and two dogs are in the family room snuggled up watching a movie. There are still a couple people missing by this fire, but that’s okay. I have a full belly of warm chili, I’m wearing my favorite sweatpants, and I’m in such a peaceful place right now, thinking back on the year; not so much about what I’ve received this year, but what I’ve always had.

I am so grateful for such a solid support group, uncompromisable friends, and an indomitable family. With everyone already all buttered up on holidays spirit, it’s the perfect time to voice my gratitude. 

So I would like to say thank you, for tagging along, for carrying me through, for pushing me forward, and for never holding back. Merry Christmas!

There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made

No one you can save that can’t be saved

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time,

It’s easy…

All you need is Love.

Burrowing Owls

Photographing owls is usually difficult, as they have wide territorial ranges, are primarily nocturnal, and they nest high in tree cavities. Burrowing owls, however, are diurnal and do most of their hunting and flying around a small open area. Since their burrows are fixed, it’s easy to predict where they’ll be a week from now or even 5 minutes from now. They prefer expansive grasslands where they can easily prey on insects and small vertebrates.  But, like most habitat-specific animals, their survival is greatly determined by the profitability of their landscapes. Dry, flat grasslands are valuable commodities in South Florida for agricultural use, golf courses, or new strip malls which leaves very little room for these ground dwellers. Now on the protected species list, their numbers are steady but they’ve had to make some serious adjustments to their living styles: owls on boats.

It’s incredibly rare to see images of these birds with their surroundings intact, usually because their backyards include golf carts or housing developments. You can imagine my excitement then when a coworker pointed these owls out to me in Homestead, and all around them tall and lush grassland. My first instinct with wildlife photography is to grab the long lens because it’s hard to get close to wild birds.  I’ve seen so many photographs of burrowing owl portraits though, that I wanted something different, something new. I immediately started making plans to create another Gator Cam-type series of images.

My first setup, a hideous thing which the owls wouldn’t go anywhere near.

Birds are tricky. Unlike reptiles, they actually care if a foreign object is staring at them in the face. I found this out the hard way and my first attempts failed miserably. Worried that I would frighten the owls, I stopped the project and went back to the drawing board. I visited them several times, watching their behavior and trying to figure out how I could position my camera without scaring them away. 

Burrowing owl at sunrise with road cones marking their burrows.

It became obvious as soon as I acknowledged the owls’ affinity to the road cones, which were placed by their burrows so vehicles or people wouldn’t accidentally run over them. The light bulb nearly exploded over my head.

Cone-hide with camera lens partially exposed

Here I had a foreign object made of a pliable material that I could hide the camera in without the need of a tripod. Over the next couple of days I designed my road cone camera hide and made a trip out to Homestead to test it out.

With long intervals, it was frequent that they weren’t looking at the camera

Attaching an intervelometer, I programmed the camera to take a picture every 30 seconds hoping they would occupy various parts of the frame over the course of a 5-hour session. While the camera fired, I sat and waited (hoping really) until my memory card filled up.  I quickly learned that burrowing owls move a lot more than alligators sunning on a log. I needed shorter intervals.

Every trip to the cone was a learning experience and I tweaked the setup each time. It felt like Christmas. I never knew what I would get, but I counted down the hours just the same. Over the last 6 months I have attempted to photograph these birds 19 times. Each effort consisted of a 5-hour and 2-hour block of continuous shooting every 5 seconds. Yes, that’s a lot of images, but it only takes one good one to make it count.

I put this video together to show you just how much character these beautiful birds have. They are so completely neurotic it’s comical, but how could you blame them? With coyotes lurking, stray dogs sniffing, and raptors soaring above, you’ve got to keep those bright hypnotic-yellow eyes peeled. 

I have set this video to follow the theme of an owl who has lost his love and is now waiting for her to return. I give you the Owl Cam. 

Burrowing Owls from Mac Stone on Vimeo.

New Website Launch

I am proud to announce the new website for Mac Stone Photography! Visit the link to see the new features and online galleries of images and movies. Some new features include a multimedia section with videos and slideshows, a cleaner display of larger images, and prints can now be ordered right from the site.

www.MacStonePhoto.com

I am not a programmer by any means so I needed to use an online builder that was dummy-proof. I don’t throw out too many endorsements, but I have to say that using Square Space to build my site was the best decision I could have made. I am so humbled by this experience which has taken a little more than 3 months to complete. As easy as it was to use, I still called on the help of the very talented graphic designer, Hannah Dillard. She helped with all facets of the design phase and tolerated my constant nitpicking, even on Friday nights. 

As we move into the new year I will be constantly tweaking and modifying the page to fit the direction of my photography. I hope you enjoy it and please tell me your comments or concerns. Thank you for all your support!

Field Work

Erin Woods, Adam Chasey, and Michelle Robinson with gear before loading up the helicopter.

If Audubon at Tavernier Science Center were a religious organization, our patron saint would be Edward Murphy. Not the goofy king of blockbuster sequels, but the aerospace engineer famous for the phrase “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” We subscribe to this idiom as a way to cope with all the frustrations of field work. I have found that it’s much easier to blame the cruel and perverse universe for the failed engines, flat tires, lost boat plugs, silent alarm clocks, lightning storms, and the vulnerability of myself, my crew, and all of our equipment than to accept personal responsibility.

In fact, it’s a general rule of thumb that if you are comfortable while working in the Everglades, you’re probably not being very efficient. By the nature of our job, we are required to be constantly wet, overheated, sweaty, and bug-bitten; all during the early hours of sunrise. 

Cotton is certainly not the fabric of my life. Now I wear clothes with embedded bug repellent made from fibers that are SPF 50+ and fast-wicking so I don’t stay wet for more than 10 minutes in the Florida sun. My pants are tear-proof and can be buttoned to three quarter length or zipped off into shorts. My hat has pockets. That’s right, my clothes are complicated. What’s worse, is that even my vocabulary has changed. For fear of offending my counterparts I wouldn’t dare call a black vulture a buzzard, or a laughing gull a seagull, and the plants growing in the water I now must refer to as submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Oh, and I don’t take sharp turns anymore, I negotiate them. 

We acknowledge the sacrifices required of getting to spend 10 hours working in one of the most wild places in the country. A few close calls with lightning storms or curious crocodiles seems like a small price to pay. In spite of the tough conditions, we find ways of enjoying ourselves. Recently, I’ve started a subtle mental terrorism campaign on my coworkers. When dropping them off at their sites, I will start humming or whistling an annoyingly catchy song just loud enough so it gets stuck in their heads for the whole day. I find Chumbawamba’s hit single “Tubthumping” a powerful weapon in my arsenal.

Field work, with all its idiosyncrasies is difficult and demanding at times but the rewards are constant and overt. We traverse all kinds of environments and wilderness to get to our sites and I count on the fact that each day will be a new adventure with a new set of challenges. Just to give you an idea of what we go through, or rather, what we get to go through, I have compiled a video of outtakes from the field. Enjoy!

Field Work from Mac Stone on Vimeo.

Beauty in the Chaos

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park

Five years ago in the Ecuadorian amazon, I learned that rainforests were extremely hard places to photograph. Due to the mottled light patterns of a harsh sun, a dense understory, and an overwhelming abundance of life, it’s difficult to extract the order from the disorder. Although we have no rainforests in Florida, the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park is as close as it gets to a visually chaotic landscape.

I met up with fellow Florida photographers John Moran, David Moynahan, and Paul Marcellini this weekend to undertake such an endeavor. All accomplished nature photographers, I figured with our powers combined we would come out with at least a few images worthy of the sweaty hours spent sloshing through the blackwater.

Photography is usually a lone venture. Most of us like it that way. But occasionally, it helps to be surrounded by others who share the same passion. It’s also nice to know you’re not the only one walking blindly through erie bodies of water holding hissing alligators and inconspicuous moccasins. “I’m not sure if it’s power in numbers, or stupidity in numbers,” as John put it so eloquently.

From left: John Moran, David Moynahan, and Paul Marcellini

For three days we shared ideas, techniques, body odors, and mosquito bites while exploring one of south Florida’s gems. However daunting the task or thick the going, it is my greatest pleasure in life to constantly seek out the beauty in the chaos.

The Everglades

As of today, it’s been one year since I landed on this island. When I accepted the job with National Audubon back in October of 09, I was en route from having spent an unforgettable summer working in Wyoming. I loved life like a reckless child back in sagebrush country and I couldn’t imagine leaving it behind. I didn’t know if I was going to like the Florida Keys; I didn’t know if it would speak to me the way the A Bar A Ranch had. It was a difficult transition to make with only weeks between kicking off my cowboy boots and trading them in for sandals. I can clearly say now, that my heart wasn’t ready for the move for many reasons. The first month was tough – emotionally and physically. Slowly, the Keys took me in and the Everglades started working on me, wedging its way into a corner of my heart. One thing I’ve learned since coming here is that it takes time to develop a meaningful relationship. Love doesn’t come easy and certainly not without its sacrifices and compromises. But, if our channels are open, we can receive the ultimate gift and reap the countless rewards of a love shared.

So, to an equally rewarding and inspired future, happy anniversary, Everglades.

The Everglades from Mac Stone on Vimeo.

Bringing One Home for the Swamp

Or,  I guess, it’s more like bringing TWO home for the swamp.

As many of you know, I’m working on a large scale project regarding swamps. Or, as I like to call them, America’s redheaded step children. Historically and currently, our swamps have taken the backseat when it comes to the PR of American landscapes. Viewed as mere blemishes on the land, they have carried the scarlet letter of haunted wastelands and general impediments to civilization ever since our ancestors arrived from Europe. It seems that so much of the public disdain for these vital ecological areas comes from negative publicity and the lingering hangover of our manifest destiny mentality.

My goal is to give a new face to swamps. I want everyone to paddle through the braided channels of a cypress slough. I want them to seek out the blackwater like they seek out the ocean. I want our swamps to have a second chance at winning back the respect and adoration of the public.

Received a Highly Commended from the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year contest this evening. 

So, today is a small step in that direction. This evening at the Natural History Museum of London, England, winners were announced for the 2010 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. Tens of thousands of images were submitted from all over the globe to compete for top spots in several categories. One of my images taken during a stint working in the Francis Beidler Forest in South Carolina was awarded in the category Animals in their Environment. I am so honored to be among the commended artists, but more importantly, I’m thrilled for the chance to bring the beauty of this landscape to millions of viewers. Follow this link to see other images from the competition. 

I have known about my placement in this competition for quite some time now and have been itching to tell you but was under strict instructions not to mention anything until the 21st. Officially and legally, the cat is out of the bag.

Received Highly Honored in the Windland Smith

Rice International Awards 

As if it couldn’t get any better, I received one more bit of good news. The Windland Smith Rice International awards in conjunction with Nature’s Best Magazine notified me that another one of my images taken in South Carolina placed in their contest as well. Just as competitive, this contest receives over 20,000 images worldwide and the winners have their images framed and hung on the walls of the Smithsonian for five months. Not only will these images help to put the Francis Beidler Forest on the map, they will be my catalysts to changing public opinions of our beloved swamps.

My Apologies

A male goldspotted killifish (Floridichtys carpio) in full breeding colors.

This guy was about an inch and a half long.

Following the blog titled “Silence of the Fish” I received many emails and comments offering condolences that I spent my summer rummaging through piles of rotting fish. Well, sort of. More than a few of you said in so many words that this was my punishment for getting to work in the Everglades, and I that deserved all the nauseating hours as if it were some form of penitence. Perhaps karma is at work here, and just in case, I’m going to clear my record.

While the Day 2 fish are the fun story to tell, there’s another truth I’d be remiss not to mention. Clown gobies, rainwater killifish, flagfish, and sailfin mollies are some of the most beautifully colored and intelligently designed animals I’ve ever worked with. I’m in awe of how intricate and simplistic they are in their form and function. How can the prey base of an ecosystem, the bottom feeders, be so elegant and yet so unfortunate? It just goes to show that a lot of time has been put into building this web of life; a lot of natural selection, and millennia of adaptations.

So, this post will be my homage to the bottom of the totem pole, the unsung heroes of the Everglades. 

Diversity is beautiful.

Sing it Loud!

Double rainbow over the Everglades

We were so close to calling our helicopter pilot yesterday and telling him to meet us at 9:00 AM instead of 7:00. Sometimes, all I want is another hour of sleep, to ignore the buzzing alarm which sounds at 4:00 AM for our helicopter sample days. Then I realize how much is at stake. This morning mother nature summoned the whole congregation and belted out to the heavens. How fortunate we are to be surrounded by such unpredictable beauty.

Torrential rains over Shark River Slough

Florida Forever 2011 Conservation Photography Calendar

The 2011 Florida Forever calendars just arrived and they are BEAUTIFUL! It is such a privilege to be among the 11 other nature photographers from around the state to be selected for this project. The calendar highlights 12 potential project sites for Florida Forever from around the state. Flipping through the pages, you get a real sense of the diversity of natural areas at stake. With enough public support, the Florida Forever program will remain a priority and we will have the chance to conserve and protect our natural heritage. The calendars make great stocking stuffers and gifts for friends and family as we come into the new year. Help spread the word of awareness and share the beauty of our fragile state!

Florida Forever 2011 Conservation Photography Calendar with cover by David Moynahan 

at Dickerson Bay.

If you would like a calendar, feel free to use the ordering system below, you do not need a PayPal account to do so. 

Florida Forever 2011 Calendar

1 Calendar $15.00 2 Calendars $30.00 3 Calendars $45.00 6 Calendars $90.00 10 Calendars $100.00

I was assigned to the hardwood uplands of Key Largo and had a wonderful time exploring and photographing this rare biome. A unique feature of this calendar, a caption below each photograph explains the ecological and social importance of each site and what is required to save it from development.

My photo in the calendar is of the endangered stock island tree snail found within
 Crocodile Lake Wildlife Refuge.