… the greenhead mallard above is making a very short field landing so that he can connect with one very attractive female mallard that appears to have caught his eye and she is looking over at him wondering who this dude is! Ducks land first on their webbed feet much like water skiing and then they retract their feet and lower their breasts into the water to take on max drag and come to a halt … when they want to stop quickly, they really force their breasts down into the water and throw a massive wake. You can see how hard this greenhead is trying to brake by the depth of the depression in the water and the waves being thrown out to the front and sides! Shot this on the way back from Cottonwood yesterday after voting.
This morning I had a cup of coffee on the back deck and spent some time shooting the birds that I feed daily … I do not have exotic species, but I do have a lot of finches, sparrows and a number of scrub jays, cardinals and some quail and other birds … currently they are going through about a pound and a half of bird seed per day. The shot below is a sparrow flaring for a landing on the feeder which is about six inches to the left of the bird. Have not had any bobcats for a while and coyotes are scarce here too … must be letting the remaining bunnies and other prey reestablish themselves while they are in other parts of their territories. In the meantime I’ll relax on the deck, enjoy the day and shoot whatever creatures are currently calling the neighborhood home!
Sunday afternoon I am doing my show “The Beauty of Sedona … and Everything!” at the Alice Gill-Sheldon theater in West Sedona … click on this link to buy your tickets and hope to see you there … just finished it yesterday and I really like it. Since we are in the small theater the format changes a bit … you can ask questions at anytime during the presentation.
A beautiful day and the plan is for another one when I awake … six shots of espresso to get the day going and a smile … I am here and so are you!
Cheers,
Ted
Lincoln, rise up from out of thy tomb to-day,
Thou lover of the lives of common men,
America hath work for thee again.
Here women want in sight of wealth’s display.
Man grinds his brother down and holds a sway
As in the bloody time of bloody lash and den,
Save now the flesh is white, not black as then.
In toiling holes young girls grow old, decay.
Though thou art dead, could but thy soul return
In one who loved his fellow-men as thou;
Instead of greed that we might justice learn,
Love character in place of gold as now,
Write far across our native land’s sweet soil,
“Here none shall live upon another’s toil!”
America by Max Ehrmann
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
More about Ted Grussing …