Structure Fire, Dover, NH

While at work today we noticed a stream of black smoke coming out of the roof of a neighboring building, within 10 minutes it was fully engulfed in flames. Apparently the building was used to store huge rolls of rubber used when dredging the Cocheco River . This would explain the huge plume of black smoke. Our office is located on the 4th floor offering a birds eye view of the fire. Sounds like it may have been arson and they have " two juveniles in custody"

The start of the fire

Another Artistic Medium, concrete!

I recently purchased a wood pellet stove to help cut fuel cost and attempt to use a more renewable resource for home heating. Part of the puzzle of installing a stove is the heat proof pad that the stove sits on. You could easily buy one at the store that sells the stoves, they are made of tile and look ok, nothing special, but they cost $400 or more.

With the recent renovations and building we have been doing at the office I was able to watch my buddy John build 2 concrete countertops and thought this would be a perfect construction method for the pellet stove. Here are a few shots I took along the way.

This first image jumps ahead many steps but I constructed the mold out of melamine, using black silicon I drew a branch pattern freehand. All the seams are filled with silicon as well then smoothed with your finger, this gives nice rounded corners when the mold is removed. The leaves are cut out of copper flashing and glued upside down to the bottom of the mold.

4 inch steel mesh is hung by wire halfway down in the mold.

Mix up some Quikrete 5000, keep it on the dry side, I used 2 80lb bags

Shovel it into the mold and smooth it out. This next step is VERY important. Rap the sides and bottom with a hammer for at least 20 minutes to get the air bubbles out, I suggest a nice Pale Ale for this part. Then let it cure for 3 days and unscrew the mold and pray.

Then I covered the bottom with some white felt to protect the floor.  Finally, find a friend with big muscles ( Ryan) and drop into place.

Enjoy!
Bill

COPPER: 2 New Trees finished, Experimenting with patina.

I have really been loving to work in 3D. Copper is really awesome, soft, easy to bend, and beautiful. I recently have been experimenting with patina for a large copper panel project. After some research I ended up talking to an artist in Aspen, CO who works with large scale copper projects for ski lodges and large homes. With some of his advice and lots of experimenting I am ready for the arrival of my two 8'x3' copper panels to work with..here are a few shots of the experiments.

 The copper surface needs to be sanded, and then totally degreased with acetone before the aging process can begin

 In a matter of minutes the copper take on an beautiful aged look.

After hours of trial and error I have been able to produce tones of aging for the project. These are small test sheets, the real 8 foot wide sheets will be used to face the front desk at the entrance to our office.
Bill

Old foxes want no tutors.

I always knew fox were smart. But last night when I witnessed this behavior of this Grey Fox on my way home from work, I was really impressed. Seems like this fox ( the first Grey version I have ever photographed!) learned that when the farmer mows the field the cutting equipment prepares all sort of tempting treats.

Although he was far off I saw the fox eat 3 times in 3 locations in a matter of minutes so I can only assume that he was picking up pieces of mice and other critters that met their fate a short time ago. In fact it had looked like the farmer had just shut off the tractor and walked in for dinner.

-Bill

It worked almost too good!

Last night I headed out to the Christmas tree farm to try out my new predator call. (below)

This call had been suggested to me by a buddy who had some great luck with it after only a few uses. The general idea of this call is that it makes sounds that attract predators, fox, coyote, bobcat who come in close looking for an easy meal. Because it is wireless you are able to place the speaker part up to 150 yards away UPWIND so that when the animal come in to see whats going on, you can be hidden out of sight. Unlike my old call I had to hold in my hand, this call has clear advantages. The other great part besides its very reasonable price ( about half the cost of other systems with the same set up) is the fact that you can change the sound cards for different uses, from turkey, deer, moose, elk, crows, you name it!


So back to last night. I walked quietly and slowly to the edge of the field, hung the speaker in someones future Christmas tree and backed away and hid along the edge of the field. I began a calling sequence that mimics and injured rabbit. Its a terrifying crying sound that is supposed to work amazing, sure enough in less than a minute I could hear something running through the woods headed straight for me...not the plan. I looked quickly at the spot where it seemed the animal would pop out, I crouched down and aimed my camera at the small opening. This locations was less than 20 feet away from me, in fact i did not even have to zoom in, i shot these images at 100mm.

Blurry due to his shock of seeing me.

Sure enough, withing seconds this beautiful coyote poked his head out, at the same time I hit my shutter release. I am blown away with the speed which he identified me and spun around and vanished. It was a fraction of a second, hence the blurry photo. I still feel like this was a success and look forward to trying to get more shots of one of my favorite subjects our local predators!

And that was that, keep in mind this second photo was taken 1/7th of a second after the first! That's fast reflexes!

Sharp Shinned Hawk, FINALLY!

 

Since moving to Nottingham, NH, I have had the pleasure of having a resident sharp-shinned hawk that calls my property home. I have tried at least 5 times to get a photo of him with no luck, that is until today.

I was headed out on a nice Sunday morning scouting  mission, as I pulled out of my driveway there he was, just relaxing on the wire digesting a recent meal of some sort of bird. You can see the down feathers still in his large talons ( Napoleon Dynamite reference)

From what I can tell it seems to be a sub adult, but I would be open to any other thoughts, I know they color and patterning can vary greatly depending on age and sex, then throw in the coopers hawk and you got yourself a true puzzle. My favorite resource for convincing myself what I am looking at is Allaboutbirds.org THIS link helps to identify the differences.

Enjoy!
Bill

A new tree!

Still getting the hang of this but finished my second wire tree this weekend.

A new medium. Wire Trees

I have recently been trying out some new ways to create art, most of the intention is to make objects for decorations around my home.

This past weekend I saw some amazing sculptures at a gallery in Portsmouth, NH made of wire and was very inspired to go out and try it right away. Last night on my way home from work I stopped at home depot and bought some copper wire. Bare in mind this is my first go at it. I must say it is very rewarding and I plan to go back to the 'depot today to get 500' more wire. ( I started with 40', this tree is 20'. ) I already feel like I learned a lot and cant wait to make the next one.

Started with this.

Although I have a lot more work to refine this tree to the way I want it to look, I am thinking about leaving it outdoors for a few weeks to let the copper oxidize...green patina would be amazing!

Let me know what you think!
-Bill

Sun Valley Photoshoot

I just got back from a trip to Sun Valley, Idaho. Sun Valley is one of those places that is just so unique, and hard to get to! This time we decided to fly to Salt Lake directly to avoid 14 hours and 3 flights/ layovers. This one direct flight also entailed a 5 hour drive, but I would take that any day over more time on a plane.

This is a first round of many photos taken while there, this photoshoot was for NEMO and will probably be found in next years catalog and other places.

Thanks to Adrien, Vanessa, and of course Toby!

Barred Owl Release

I was looking forward to last night for weeks. Working with members from the Center For Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine was invited to photograph the release of 2 barred owls that were injured this past winter by cars. The center nurses the owls back to health then using a special cage, they determine if it is ready to be released into the wild. Once they are ready to be back in nature, the owls are released as close to the location that they were found as possible. In this case the first release was in York, Maine, the second was in Kennebunk, Maine.

I met with Jane Kelly to capture the release. Although the lighting conditions for action photography were more than a challenge I learned a lot. Watching these owls fly off back to where they belong is an amazing feeling.

If you love animals and want to help support the Center that makes this kind of recovery possible, please visit their website and donate.
-Bill

 Happy to be home!

American Kestrel, Great Bay NWR

Now that things have somewhat settled down with my relocation, we had a chance to check out my new surroundings and go look for birds at Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Although I will miss my old stomping grounds, I am very excited about all the new areas to explore. Now that I live 15 minutes from the ocean many more opportunities are right around the corner.

Today I wanted to share these images of the American Kestrel, one of about 5 that we watched for about 20 minutes. They are very entertaining and I plan to head back to see them very soon.
Enjoy!

The Last Drive through Hollis.

This morning I left my house with a little bit of sadness. I grabbed my camera bag just as I have so many times over the last 2 years living in Hollis, patted my Kitty on the head and made my way downstairs out to my truck, it was 6:45am.

Today marks the last morning for me to drive the back roads on my usual route looking for birds, or animals to photograph before having to head into work. A route I have performed over a a hundred times in the past 2 years. Although I am very excited about my move tomorrow to Nottingham, and the amazing times that await me there, I will always remember the special times in Hollis.

Although I have put a pretty substantial amount of effort and time into wildlife photography while living here 2 species have eluded me. Coyote, and Ruffed Grouse.

Sure I have had a quick glimpse of both of them from time to time I can think of a handful of occasions just after sunset, a yote has run in front of me. Similarly I'd guess I must have flushed a grouse over 50 times, never a photo, until today!

Enjoy these photos, they feel like a gift! As always, click to enlarge.
-Bill