August 17, 2010
G’day Everyone,
We’ve recently returned from another outstanding Tom Jordan Memorial Boreal Coast Tour and rather than extolling the photo opportunities of this tour, let me simply show you a couple of the images I harvested this year and let our esteemed participants offer their commentary. By the way, if you’re still wondering about the name of this tour, you’ll have to either 1) come on the tour or 2) purchase my memoir – http://www.sojournsinnature.com/store.php#Nesting. 
Also, while the Blue Ox Moose Tour is filled, there’s still some room for additional participants in the upcoming Fall Foliage Magical Mystery Tour – http://www.sojournsinnature.com/fallfoliageworkshop.php. Come join us to capture New England’s autumn grandeur.
Atlantic Puffin in Flight with Fish
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 200mm with 1.4x teleconverter
1/2500″ @ f/8, .33 EC, ISO 400
evaluative metering, aperture priority
IS mode 2, CF 17 at automatic 13 pt. expansion
handheld
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under Hot Shots,Maine,Workshops & Tours | Comments (4)
July 18, 2010
G’day Everyone,
After the Grand Canyon, the tour headed south, stopping for a sunset shot of Cathedral Rock in Sedona before returning to Phoenix to overnight and depart for home the following morning. At Sedona, I hugged and kissed my wife, Cheryl, goodbye, bid everyone else farewell, and instead of accompanying everyone to Phoenix, I climbed into Eliot Scher’s rented Grand Cherokee and the two of us headed for Kayenta and Monument Valley.
Cathedral Rock at Sunset
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 25mm
6″ @ f/22, +.67 EC, ISO 100; aperture priority, evaluative metering
Moose warming polarizer and Lee – 1.5 GND filters
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under American West,Workshops & Tours | Comments (4)
June 21, 2010
G’day Everyone,
One would think that leading an exclusively landscape photography tour in Arizona, the off chance of spotting a California Condor or Elk notwithstanding, would be a piece of cake. Heck, it should even be easier than photographing fall foliage in New England since, after all, fall colors are ephemeral and tumble to the ground within a few days after turning and, as unlikely as it seems, one can actually miss peak autumn color! (Believe me, I ought to know.) But the rain-bowed rocks and famed geological formations of the American southwest – the buttes, mesas, canyons, and arches, well, they aren’t tumbling down or losing their vermilions and ochres and burnt oranges anytime soon, unless you’re a geologist and consider, say, five million years “soon”. Yes, one would think that getting world-class images of these locations is as easy as, well, pointing and shooting. Yet, as I stepped out of the Phoenix airport into the blistering desert sun and looked up at the absolutely cloudless sky I was reminded that even though stationary rock formations don’t run off or fly away like mammals and birds and insects or wave in the breeze like flowers, my coleader, Arizona photographer, Ed Taube, and I would still have to work hard to send our participants home with some prize photographs.
Sunset at Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 21mm
f/20 @ 1/15″, ISO 100, -1/3 ec
Lee -1.5 GND & #2 Coral GND warming filters
evaluative metering, aperture priority
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod, cable release, mirror lockup
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under American West,Landscapes,Workshops & Tours | Comments (0)
May 9, 2010
Bobcat on Ledges
StealthCam I590 digital infrared game camera
3 burst mode, 1 minute intervals
no flash
In Walden, Henry David Thoreau acknowledges that many a naturalist’s initial introduction to nature is by way of hunting and fishing:
“He goes thither at first as a hunter and fisher, until at last, if he has the seeds of a better life in him, he distinguishes his proper objects, as a poet or naturalist it may be, and leaves the gun and fish-pole behind.”
Indeed, my first forays into the woods were with a gun over my shoulder on my uncle Victor’s 400 acre farm in upstate New York. By the time I was 17 years old, I had shot my share of woodchuck, grouse, rabbit, and deer. And, growing up on the Great Lakes in the fifties and sixties, I’ve caught and eaten enough perch and walleye that, if you turn off the lights, what with the accumulated dioxins, PCBs, mercury, and who knows what else in me, I’m surprised I don’t glow in the dark.
Now, those who have known me long and well might argue a tad with Thoreau, if they could, about whether any better seeds ever sprouted within me, or that I’m even fertile ground for weeds. I’d suggest we leave that discussion for another forum and another day and for others who, admittedly, would be much more qualified than I to judge my virtues.
In the meantime, I’d like to explore the idea and particular application of the phrases “…he distinguishes his proper objects, as a poet or naturalist it may be…” by way of discussing a couple of topics I believe I’m qualified to write about with some semblance of credibility, namely, photography and hunting. Then, how one might combine the skills of a hunter and the abilities of an artist to produce exhibition-quality photos of relatively elusive wildlife, taken in the wild.
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under Cameras,Subject,Technique,Wildlife | Comments (8)
April 18, 2010
During the recent early spell of summer around the first week in April, I grabbed the opportunity to spend a couple of days with my cousin Harry in Buffalo. My friendship with Harry goes back to the summers of the 1960′s and early 70′s when he and I would hunt and fish and ride dirt bikes on my uncle’s farm in the Allegany Mountains of western New York.
Harry earned his pilot’s license shortly after returning safely from Vietnam where he spent two tours of duty as a helicopter gunner. He’s an avid and skilled pilot and owns a small Cherokee single engine plane. He frequently flies into the municipal airport here in Newport, Vermont and I’ll go and pick him up and we’ll pal around like we used to, going out in my canoe for the day and target shooting in the meadow behind my house.
As usual, when we’re together, he’ll take me up in his plane and very often, if the conditions are benign, he’ll let me fly it. However, the day after I arrived in Buffalo, I wasn’t interested in taking over the controls. I had come prepared to do something that I could only do with Harry’s help, something I had been wanting to do for some years but owing to the difficulty of coordinating my and Harry’s schedule with the weather, just hadn’t had the opportunity to do, and something that required my keeping my hands on the controls of my camera while Harry adeptly manages the controls of his plane. What I hoped to do during this visit with Harry was to photograph something that likely has been photographed more often than anything else in the world besides babies. I wanted to get a novel view of Niagara Falls from the air on a clear day.
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under Aerial Photography,Hot Shots,Technique | Comments (2)
March 28, 2010
This image was taken 20 minutes after sunset, on an unusually calm evening, on the shores of Lake of Two Mountains in L’Ile Bizard, Quebec – just a few kilometers from where I live.
When shooting sunsets, it’s worthwhile to wait a 15-30 minutes after the sun has dipped below the horizon to see what happens. The wind usually dies down, the sky can take on some beautiful & rich colors, and the lower contrast between land and sky is easier to control.
I really love this type of image - the simplified composition, calm water and pastel colors convey a sense of tranquility and calm. I hope you like it too.
The colors are “real”, and obtained by stacking three separate filters: a Singh-Ray 4-stop Neutral Density filter to slow the exposure to 20 seconds, a 3-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter to darken the bright sky, and a polarizer to eliminate the shine off the wet rocks and to help see through the water’s surface.
Image specs:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 21mm
- f/13, 20 seconds, ISO 200
- Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Singh-Ray 4-stop ND and B+W polarizer mounted on a Lee Filter System
- Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, mirror lockup, cable release
- Processed with Adobe Camera Raw 5.x
Please leave a comment, either positive or negative – it’s always appreciated. If you’re interested in purchasing a print of this image, please let me know.
See you in the field,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Filters,Hot Shots,L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Quebec | Comments (5)
January 31, 2010
In the colder North American climate, such as found in southern Quebec and Vermont, Mother Nature puts up an incredible display of colors in September and October. For many us landscape photographers, this 2-3 week period of fiery fall colors is the most productive, exciting and stimulating time of the year. This makes the arrival of November all the more difficult to accept: cold weather, gray skies, rain, snow, drab colors – probably the worst month for nature photography around here… In December, the cold weather arrives, and winter slowly settles, putting an icy grip over the regions.
At this time of year, many people imitate bears and head indoors to “hibernate” until the arrival of warmer spring weather. Nature photographers tend to spend more time in front of their computers, working on articles, preparing image submissions to Editors, while slowly packing on the pounds…
Ice Floe Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 20D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 17mm
1/13s (middle exposure), f/16, ISO 100
Hoya Moose Polarizer, Hitech 3-stop GND
3 exposure HDR image processed in Photomatix Read more…
Posted by Rob under L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Landscapes,Musings,Quebec,Wildlife,Winter | Comments (13)
January 11, 2010
G’day Everyone,
Yesterday evening, January 10, 2010, Rob launched the reincarnation of our website, Sojourns In Nature. It’s the most comprehensive overhaul of the website since it’s inception over ten years ago. The front page and the fine art galleries now feature the music of my long-time friend, the noted Celtic musician and composer, William Jackson. We hope that you’ll take a few moments at the end of your busy day to relax and experience the new Sojourns In Nature web site and we invite you to leave your comments and let us know what you think of our new presentation.
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under News | Comments (2)
January 4, 2010
Hey all,
Rob here, again. 
NatureScapes.net, the best nature photography resource web site and forum on the internet, has published an updated version of my Hand-Held Flash Macro Photography article, which was originally published on the Sojourns In Nature blog. This is quite an honor, and I wanted to share the good news with you.
See http://www.naturescapes.net/docs/index.php/category-photographic-technique/41-photographic-technique/381-rob-servranckx.
All the best,
Rob
Posted by Rob under News | Comments (2)
January 3, 2010
Hey all – Rob here… Happy New Year!
I just wanted to let you know about my new web site, Visions In Nature. No need to worry, I’m still partnering with Gustav on Sojourns In Nature. Visions In Nature is just the place for me to share my own images and style.
I’d love to hear your feedback on the site. Here’s a screen shot of the home page:
Look for an overhaul of the Sojourns in Nature site in the coming weeks… I’ve spent most of my holiday break working on it. 
All the best for 2010,
Rob
Posted by Rob under News | Comments (1)
