Peru

I arrived in the Amazon basin three days ago by boat. We took a 6 hour boat ride up the Madre de Dios River. The river is quite large but is low at this time of year because it is the dry season. On the way we saw many species of birds, yellow and blue macaws, horned screamers and wood storks. We were told that one out of three boats has a good chance of seeing a jaguar basking in the sun on the side of the river but we were not so fortunate. We arrived at Los Amigos station just before sunset and were greeted by a few employees before being whisked up the longest flight of stairs I have ever summitted. The station is built on a cliff. It was actually an old mining establishment that has since become a biological station. As we arrived we saw the following view over the basin. It was a magical introduction to the Amazon. I used High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging to keep detail in the plants while maintaining the color of the sky.

More soon.

Gabby

Sone useful sites (Alex Mody)

Hey everybody,

Here are a few useful sites for those of you who are interested in learning more about nature photography. Browsing and participating in critique and discussion forums has helped me immeasurably. I hope you all can make some use of this! All of these sites are free to sign up, and are full of experienced photographers that are eager to help.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/
http://www.naturescapes.net/docs/
http://www.birdphotographers.net/

Poppy fields

Field of common poppies with cottages in the background.

Over the past couple of months I have been particularly busy trying to keep up with the abundance of new subjects that May and June bring, which accounts for the absence of blog entries over the recent weeks, so my apologies.
Common poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are a common sight scattered in farmers fields and on roadside verges in the summer. These ruby red poppies are one of my favourite flowers so I was delighted to discover a field ablaze with them on a recent outing.

Common poppy close up