Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

I’m wrapping things up at the day job, and preparing to plunge again into full time photographic work. I have a lot to get done before mid August, so I’m back to just stealing what time I can for photography for the next few weeks.

Well, the Allegan Forest has been pretty stingy lately, so I’ve been shooting insects around the yard, and on Friday stole away to the McLinden Trails to see if the dragonflies were out and about there.

I found the Robber Fly shown here in the srtip of weeds and wildflowers that borders the side of my small, urban yard. I’m not sure what the drop on the end of its wings is – perhaps some thing as simple as Robbery Fly poop. But, I don’t often see robber flies in the city, so it was interesting find.

Friday was a cool, crisp, and clear morning – could have been early September. It has rained to the north and the south, but not here, The grass was dried and brown, devoid of dew. I only had a few hours at the McLinden Trails, and was disappointed to see so few dragonflies on the wing or perching as I wandered along the trails.

I managed to get a few shots of mature male Halloween Pennants – the ones that are bright red and black and from which their name is derived.

In addition, several large blue darners were hovering around in the air. I’ve always wanted to get a shot of a dragonfly in flight, and gave it a try standing on a small hilltop. The darner was flying between me and a row of white pines, which provided a nice background. The dragonfly never got closer than 15 or 20 feet. I was using a manual focus, 200mm macro lens.

The shot shown here is a pretty extreme (about 50%) crop, but reasonably sharp and with decent freezing of the insect in flight. Pursing dragonflies in flight will go on the meta-project list.

By mid morning, the winds had picked up in front of an advancing cool front, and shooting any dragonflies became almost impossible. So I left them for the day – perhaps for the rest of the month.

More photos:

Halloween Pennants:

 

Widow Skimmer:

The snowflake photograph collections on this site enjoy a constant stream of visitors. A collection of 55 hand pulled prints of these marvels has also been displayed locally here in west Michigan in several venues.

The next logical step – a Book!

I once read a book, and it was great. I think it was about a little white footed mouse who drove off in a car. I don’t remember the details. But there’s something nice about having a book in your hands – who likes to curl up with their laptop by the fire place or in bed at night?

So this summer I finally pulled it together and prepared a collection of snowflake photographs to be presented in book form and called Imperfect Symmetry.

I received the first proof copies form lulu.com last week, and they looked pretty good. I never expected to get everything “just so” on the first try - snowflake photography is a delicate subject, and the images can be really difficult to get to print properly. But to my surprise only 3 of the 35 images needed to be reworked, and so within a few hours of having received the proof a revised copy was prepped and on its way back to lulu for publication.

Assuming all is well with this revision, Imperfect Symmetry will be available on lulu.com within the week – two at most if further re-do’s are needed. Aside from 35 specially selected snow crystal photographs, a few comments and observations from your humble narrator are also included.

Stay tuned for the publication announcement!

UPDATE: The book is now available at www.lulu.com/cassino. Click here to order a copy.

Where do the dragons go when they don’t want to be seen?

Beats me, or else I would have seen some recently…

West Michigan’s unusual dry spell finally broke this last week. I visited the Allegan Forest on Sunday and again on Tuesday, both days after heavy local rains. It’s amazing how quickly the plants in the sandy soil of the pine barrens quickly turn from brown to green. The marsh I’ve been visiting off 48th street has progressed from dried, cracked mud, to muddy mud, to gooey muddy mud. Good sign for all the moisture loving creatures there.

But on both days, no dragonflies were to be found. A few spicebush and red spotted purple butterflies flitted about. So far this year, I’ve seen no Karner Blues, and it’s it’s likely I won’t see any this summer at all.

So I set my sights on landscape photography. In particular, I did some more digital infrared work using the *ist-d and Hoya RM90 filter. It seems that some of the best results are to be had on high overcast days. The few cool and dry, crystal clear days when I shot digital IR seemed to result in an undue amount of sensor flare and other problems.

The first image shown here was shot laast week, using the Pentax *ist-D and an IR filter. It is from the old farmstead off 48th street.

The second image was shot last August from a similar vantage point as this shot, which was taken using Maco 120 format IR film in the trusty Pentax 6x7. Perosnally, I like the digital IR effect better – and while the digital shot required a fairly long exposure, it was not much longer than that required by the rather slow B&W film.

I also experimented with more ‘time and motion studies.’ These are 25 – 100 multiple exposure shots, building up a composite of light on the negative that bears no resemblance to the actual subjects shot. I realized that the Pentax Mz-S, with its capacity for unlimited multiple exposures, was the perfect tool for this technique. No results to show, but the studies continue.

My next opportunity to visit the forest is three weeks out. That’s disappointing, since a lot can happen in three weeks. But I’ve managed to carve out a few hours this Friday to visit the McLInden Trails, so with luck, a dragon or two might appear here in the near future.

Sometimes I wonder if the dragons miss me as much as I as I miss them. Sitting down here in my very urban ‘yard’ (it’s just a small patio) near downtown Kalamazoo, a dragonfly has suddenly landed on a thistle seed head next to me. It’s a small one – nondescript – just darting out now and then to pluck a mosquito from the air. But it’s looking at me with the same look my cat might have in her eyes…

Well, after all these years of seeking them out, perhaps it is only fitting that they should seek me out for a change…

It’s been dry here in West Michigan – a drought that seems to have caught many unawares. The extremely wet spring, with its heavy rains, has given way to a prolonged dry period. On Friday I visited the marsh off 48th street in the Allegan Forest. A few weeks ago it was at last full and wet – the first time in several years. Now the water has gone, just leaving cracked mud and the semi-decayed vegetation that the marsh overran but did not have time to consume.

I saw a tiny white frog there - it was so small I thought it was a moth. I got it in the camera finder but it hopped away before I pressed the shutter button. The look in it’s eye - “Where is that water!”

My day in the Allegan Forest, Friday last, was initially devoted to exploring new areas. I’ve only been out in a fraction of the 80 square miles that make up the forest. So on this day I pushed off into some new areas.

One of my first stops what to explore the “Fennville Farm Unit.” As the name implies, it is a working farm, but it is in one of the lowest and wettest areas of the ‘forest’. Streams – more like man-made channels or ditches – carry water through the farm area. There are several pull offs and parking lots, with simple plank bridges that let you get over the ditches and into the grasslands that surround the fields. There was an abundance of birds and many I had never seen before – definitely worth a return trip for birding.

Ultimately I made my way back to more familiar grounds, and did actual photography along 48th street. I did manage to visit several fields that I had only scouted before, and shot both insect photos and a few digital infrared shots. The digital IR’s only disappointed – sensor flare seemed to creep into every exposure – but it was a good day for photographing insects.

Most memorable of the day were the – I believe – calico pennant dragonflies. These creatures have a remarkable pastel color to the their wings. They were out in abundance in the old farmland along 48th street.

Also out in abundance – and to my surprise – were the first Red Meadowhawks and White Faced Meadowhawks. I’ve been saying that when the red dragon appears the summer is about to end, but here it was, the 6th of july – and the summer is just gearing up with the first major heat wave of the season.

A check of the field guide shows that the red meadowhawks can appear as early as mid July – so maybe they are pushing it a bit. But I only found them around the drying swamp, and so I assume that the environmental pressure lead them emerge earlier than usual. But the swamp itself – which is now dry enough to walk out into – was the only place where I saw these red dragons – both Red meadowhawks and White Faced Meadowhawks – so I assume they are responding to it quickly drying up. They were mating like there was no tomorrow, so let’s hope they sow the seeds (literally) for either a second wave yet this summer, or for next year’s red dragons.

Out in the fields, the American Copper Butterfly has come to be my most steadfast companion. Where ever I go, there they are.

It’s ironic because my first attempts at photographing these creatures were frustrating and unsuccessful. They are small – about the size of a dime – and agile. Maybe I’ve become known to the collective sphere of their insect intelligence, at least locally. Or maybe I’ve just gotten better and stalking and shooting these tiny marvels. But either way – they are like a an old familiar friend out among the wild strawberries and other weedy plants.

Thinking about it – I’ve never, ever, seen an American Copper here in my urban backyard. Almost all the other species of butterflies show up sooner or later – eastern tailed blues, tiger swallowtails, spicebush, fritillary, monarchs and viceroys – but never has a copper come this way.

Included in the photos with this update are a few from two weeks ago.

The colorful grasshopper below is only of the few Orthoptera included in these photos. I generally find grasshoppers to be boring subjects. And their personalities leave a lot to be desired as well – nowhere near as engaging and debonair as your typical dragonfly.

The first shots in this update are from the first weekend in July. Aside from the grasshopper, most notable is the Dragon Hunter, who snatched a Twelve Spotted Skimmer out of the air and gobbled her up. I took a full series of photos documenting this – but to me they are only a gruesome curiosity, and do not reflect what I find most compelling about these insects.

More Photos: 

Halloween Pennants or Calico Pennants:

 

Unidentified Red Meadowhawk :

 

 Blue Dasher:

 

Unidentified Red Meadowhawk :

 

Whitefaced Meadowhawk:

Inspired by Water is an invitational exhibit featuring work by local, west Michigan artists. This multimedia exhibition was curated by Maryellen Hains, and accompanies a larger exhibit devoted to the images of the Great Lakes.

For Inspired by Water, Maryellen sought out abstractions dealing with the theme of WATER: color, movement, symbol, metaphor. As with the Inspired by Flowers exhibit last year, the artists were split into two groups and then paired together. The person in the first group completed a piece by February, which was then delivered to their partner in the second group. The person in the second group then created a piece that responded to the first.

I participated as a member of the first group, and am looking forward to exhibiting one of the most abstract pieces I’ve ever made.

Inspired by Water will run from July 14 through September 3, 2007, and the Carnegie Center for the Arts, 107 North Main Street, Three Rivers, MI 49093.

I have to admit it – I’m starting to get tired of shooting dragonflies. It seemed like this day would never come, but suddenly I’m feeling sated and looking for new stuff to do.

So… On to some new experiments with digital infrared…

Color digital IR has always impressed me, ever since I first encountered it in posts Marty Getz made on PhotoBlink, back in the day when I participated there. (By the way – Marty’s “Aliens Above” series is a must visit page for Digital IR fans…)

A few days ago David Brooks on the PDML posted this link to a discussion about digital IR. So far, with my digital IR work, I’ve just de-saturated the image and then worked with it as a mono shot. That usually means toning the image in Photoshop using the duotone or tritone tools. But the discussions about workflow got me thinking about working with color, so tried out a few of the ideas presented.

First, I tried taking a custom white balance off some green vegetation. This, of course, would turn green tones white since I’m calibrating the camera to do just that. I set the custom white balance without the IR filter (Hoya RM90) and proceeded to shoot, using the Pentax *ist-D (the K10D is just too good at filtering out IR.)

This was a good start, and eliminated the lavender monochrome that all digital IR shots come out in when white balance is set to daylight or auto. But I didn’t see the logic behind setting the white balance to green. Instead, I just set the white balance using a white (well – my light grey shirt) light source _with_ the IR filter in place.

Voila – suddenly I was seeing the subtle shades of color in the digital images!

I wondered why I hadn’t thought about adjusting the white balance before this – but the answer is obvious. Since I was shooting RAW, I assumed white balance was irrelevant. Afterall, I could select what ever white balance I wanted to, right?

And that is exactly the case. The only thing is, all the standard white balances expressed the IR shots as different shade of monotone. I never delved into really customizing the WB to get some more interesting effects. And all it really takes is just a tap of the eyedropper in Adobe Camera Raw on the white highlights of a cloud or something like that.

Well – now I know. And in the future I can go back an possibly re-work some of my older IR shots – though I may come to find that the simplicity of B&W is what serves these images best.

But – at least there’s another trick in the bag of tricks!

As always - full sized images can be found in the Image Stream, or by clicking on the images here.

Summer is officially here. The longest day of the year has come and gone, the linden tree next door has bloomed and faded, and the fields are the lush green of early summer.

Well, I’ve managed to do a little shooting these last couple of weeks. A week ago Friday I stole away for a few hours to the McLinden Trails, which this year more than any other I’ve seen is the best local spot for dragonflies. Calico pennants, Halloween pennants, clubtails, and darners were dancing in the air above the waving fields of grass. It was quite a sight to see dozens of dragonflies glistening in the morning sun as they shot around in the sky, darting here and there looking for prey.

The two hours I spent on the trails proved to be remarkably productive. With dozens of shots taken, and a good percentage of keepers among them, I wasn’t too concerned to have to call off shooting early. Unfortunately – my old Subaru (which just hit 135,000 miles) needed a minor repair. So I had no choice but to drop the car off and spend the afternoon at home.

At I did have work to do. This upcoming Thursday – June 28 – I’ll be conducting a nature photography workshop at the Pierce Creek Institute for Environmental Education. The subject is nature photography for naturalists, and I’ve been trying to cram the essentials of insect macros, wild flowers, and bird photography into a one day session.

Like I said about presenting at Grand Father Mountain – I really put a lot into preparing for these sessions. Grand Father Mountain was a 90 minute session, but this week’s class is just over 4 hours. I’m very excited about this upcoming workshop, though, and in many ways the PowerPoint presentation I put together for it is the outline of a book I’ll have to write some day.

On Saturday, a week ago now, I visited the Allegan Forest. This was an unproductive trip. It was hot – temps in the mid 90’s – and the coreopsis was fading fast. There seemed to be few dragonflies or other insects out, and while I played cat and mouse with a few wild turkeys who had holed up in a thicket surrounded by open field, nothing good came of the trip.

The sound of gunfire – sometimes distant, sometimes close – was incessant. As far as I know, nothing is in season now, so this was just folks shooting off guns for something to do. I went to one of the fields that sometimes produce Karner Blues, only to find it littered with dozens and dozens of shotgun and rifle shell casings. Some goofball actually spilled a bunch of lead, 22 caliber hollow point bullets on the ground – and just left them there. The ultimate litter in the land of the ‘free.’

Female Calico Pennant

So, that trip was a bust. Time to get back to the studio and do more work…

In addition, I had to prep five images for a pinhole photography exhibit. So this Friday found me first up in the office / studio prepping and mailing an exhibit entry, and then down in the basement workroom, framing up and packing prints. The cats were happy – I think they get lonely when everyone is away at work – and they certainly were a tremendous help (especially with the matting and framing…)

After that, Saturday brought the final touches to the Nature Photography power point, production of handouts and preparation of props.

So – no new dragonfly shots this week, and belated post on last week’s shots. I’m sure the dragons are buzzing around wondering where the heck that camera guy is – so hopefully next Friday will find us in close communion.

More photos:

 Widow Skimmer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damselflies:

 

 

After talking about macro photography at Grand Father Mountain last weekend, I’ve been all the more keen on getting out into the field and actively shooting the dragonflies and other insect subjects that are now out in force.

So on Friday and again today (Monday) I headed out to the Allegan forest, looking for dragonflies and other interesting subjects.

Things started out slow on Friday. We’ve been on a weather roller coaster these last several days – when we returned from North Carolina it was dark, dank, and cold. That was on Tuesday – by Thursday temps soared into the mid 90’s, but then plummeted in thunderstorms and clouds that night.  

When I headed out Friday morning the skies were still cloudy and overcast. I had woken up at 3:30 am that morning, and checked the weather channel – which reported a temperature of 75 with high humidity. As I drove northwest to Allegan, I passed through a front and the weather underwent a major change – temps dropping to the low 60’s in the span of a few minutes. The hazy humid over cast skies changed to clear blue, with high clouds and strong winds.

It apparently had rained – really rained – just before I got there. The trees were dripping wet and the sandy soil, which usually passes rain water very quickly, was damp with a few lingering puddles.I hit a few favorite places – the coreopsis field off 46th street was in full bloom, looking as glorious as ever, but devoid of butterflies and dragonflies.

As a result I headed down 126th street towards Swan Creek. I drove by the recently clear cut forest and headed down a two track to an area where dragonflies, orioles, and other great subjects can usually be found. It’s an unusual place – you take the two track back a ways into the woods and come upon a circle up on a small hill. Guys come here and rip around, doing doughnuts in the sandy soil. As a result the circle has a pretty deep trench worn in it, and it looks a like some sort of UFO landing zone.

Nonetheless, the dragonflies and other insects were out in force here. As an interesting side note, the side of the sandy trench collapsed in the rain, revealing a stash of old stubby necked beer bottles (unfortunately empty – though one still had a rusted cap on it.)

So who came out here 25 years ago and buried their beer bottles? Well, you never know.

After visiting the go round I made my way down to Swan Creek, which was positively swarming with dragonflies. I also brought the pinhole camera, and took a d few landscape shots while there.

Today brought more temperate and mild weather. I let early and decided to take a new route into the Allegan Forest. After all – it’s 80 square miles (45,000 acres) and I keep visitng the same old places. So I just picked a random two track and headed into the woods a ways, parked when the road ended, and was rewarded with a gorgeous valley full of coreopsis and other wildflowers. I followed a path through a maze of honeysuckle bushes, and in and out of some wooded areas. All very rich areas for photographing insects – lots of dragonflies, and a few large butterflies.

After a few hours in this area I headed back to some familiar places. First was the old farm stead, probably my favorite place in the whole forest. Here again was an abundance of dragonflies, and I also found a maing pair of bee killers – a somewhat rare find.

The marsh at the far end of this clearing (the overall clearing is probably 100 to 150 acres) is a marsh that had been drying these last few years. Last year I walked all through the marsh – just one small mucky puddle of wetland, only about 10 x 20 feet in size, remained. This year there is at least 5 acres of full blown, see the water, wetland. The bull frogs were poinging and the sky was thick with dragonflies, I managed to get a nice shot of a blue dasher, but most of the dragons stayed out over the water.  

From there I wound up back at the coreopsis field, where I started on Friday. By this time the afternoon breezes were picking up, making it harder to get sharp shows as the subjects bounced around. I spent some time with a very cooperative 12 Spotted Skimmer, trying to get a decent shot of the dragonfly with the yellow coreopsis flowers in the background. Well, the results were so-so.

Overall, these were a couple of good days of shooting. I have other work to do now, and probably won’t be back into the woods till the end of the week. But these few sweet weeks of summer make for great days of photography.

More photos from these two trips:

Twelve Spotted Skimmers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Darners:

 

 

Eastern Pondhawk:

 

Brown Spiketail Dragonfly:

 

Common Whitetail:

 

Tiger Swallowtail: