ROMANCE, PASSION AND SEX!!! WOW WHAT A BLOG!!!!!

Today is the day of the royal wedding, a day of romance. I am reading where people are saying that after seeing the ceremony, they are very emotional. So I thought today should be about love, passion and romance. But in the world of birds, like the songs says. 'Bird do it, they fall in love!!!' In particular, we will be getting a bird's eye view of the courting of an egret. Every year in the spring, the male egret arrives at his favorite nesting site which is many times a watering hole. This is usually a place where he has been lucky in love before. He will get high up in a tree and wait for the females to arrive.

 When they do, he will start acting all puffy and excited, preening himself and basically showing off.  He  

 will keep trying to get the female's attention.

 

Because it is spring and he is looking for love, his lores, which is the spot between his bill and eyes will turn from yellow to green and he will grow plumes that are really beautiful. He will then fly around spreading his wings and showing off his sexy self.

   Any of this seem vaguely familiar to you?? It's all to attract the female, to encourage her to come over   

   and sit for a while and get to know each other. 

Can't you just hear the conversation? 

Don't be shy come over here, into the light.

So have you been here before? 

No this is my first time.

Really, first time, well that's interesting. I love your plumes very attractive.  

Why thank you!

Do you want to leave with me and go back to my place? 

I don't think I should, I'm not like that, we just met. 

No, I understand but this place can be dangerous for a pretty, little egret like yourself. 

Really??

Sure, lots of mean characters around here, look down there.  

Where?

Over in the corner. See those two, their names are Al and Crok, they're really mean.

Oh, they don't look so mean; kind of lazy and tired.

Don't get to close. They will put the bite on you! 

Come on, you're trying to scare me, my friends told me about you!

Me, trying to scare you?  I would never do that to you. I really care for you. Look, right there here comes the big guy, their leader, WATCH OUT!!!

OM MY GOD!!!! Okay, let's go to your place, now, please!!

Off they fly to his place, a nesting site: where love takes over (this is x-rated stuff coming up so if any children are in the room or any really lonely guys, send them out of the room.) 

   Can you here Frank's voice in the background singing, "Some Enchanted Evening."

When this act is over, ( the best 20 seconds of her life), (at least that is what he will tell his friends),

they start building the nest. Yup ladies, they have sex and as soon as it's over, he puts her to work!!!

But in all honesty, he is doing a lot of the work also. He leaves the nest and picks up branches and twigs and flies them back to her. She then incorporates them into the nest.

Now their life as parents is about to start. Next week, we will show you the next step. We have some images of chicks less then 24 hours old. Hope you all have a romantic weekend. 

Remember to be careful out there!!!

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A MAGNOLIA FLOWER IN PICTURES

At the request of one of our readers, Ma Faye Liana Balatbat, today's blog is on something different, at least for me. Fay asked if I would show some of my flower pictures, the only problem with that is I didn't have any. I just do not photograph flowers. Don't take that wrong. I love flowers. I have had gardens in every home I have lived in. It is just that they do not inspire me to point my lens in their direction. 

As I thought about what I would find interesting to photograph, I saw the magnolia tree in our yard. As I looked out our dining room window, I noticed it was getting ready for its first bloom of the season. We had been living here at the very end of the season and I had noticed that while the flowers are beautiful in full bloom, they only stay that way for about twenty four hours. Then they start drying out and turning a pretty ugly brown. 

Here are some fun facts on magnolias:

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210^[1] flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by eating and crawling beetles. Fossilised specimens of M. acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae dating to 95 million years ago^{[citation needed]}. Another primitive aspect of Magnolias is their lack of distinct sepals or petals.

The natural range of Magnolia species is a disjunct distribution, with a main center in east and southeast Asia and a secondary center in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species in South America.

I found the fact that they evolved before bees fascinating and that they developed to encourage pollination by beetles to be equally fascinating. 

Now a flower interested me!!! I wanted to photograph the life cycle of this beautiful flower. That this flower could bloom into this large white beauty and then die so quickly seemed almost romantic. I thought if I was going to do this, I would try and do it in my style. I would not just document it. I wanted to add a little style, a little art to my images. I hope you enjoy them, I would have had them sooner but there is usually a little breeze here in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. I kept waiting for a still day and waiting and waiting. I finally decided to go for it. I used two different lenses: a 105 macro and my trusty 70-200 VR zoom. I also used my tripod, focusing on a flower and then waiting for a lull in the breeze. The lull never really came but I think I captured some interesting images. I am hoping you do too:)

The pod is the first stage. 

                    The bud shows a little hint of the beauty that is coming.

                                  This shows the flower just starting to open.

           A view from the side showing the delicate lines of the flower.

         This flower had a visitor, actually all the blooms were being attacked by bees. Thankfully they left me alone.

    In full bloom this flower is about 4-5 inches across. I think they are really beautiful flowers.

  There is a certain sadness, that its life is so short that within a day the beauty quickly fades.

  It is like seeing a physically beautiful man or woman grow old in front of your eyes in a matter of hours; turning from a young beauty to a very old person. 

  Alas the beauty's gone but like people the beauty is never forgotten and the cycle starts again.

   The seed pod, the fruit from where new life starts.

FINAL SANDHILL CRANE UPDATE: AN UNHAPPY ENDING... A NEW BEGINNING ?

Last night in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, we had a major thunderstorm. Pounding rain plus gum ball size hail fell on us for over an hour. As soon as it started, I began to worry about the cranes that we wrote about last month. If you remember, we had a rainstorm then that threatened the crane's nest and eggs http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/04/cranes-fight-to-save-their-eggs-from.html . The nest and eggs were almost lost during that storm despite heroic efforts by the two adult cranes. But they managed to rebuild the nest although nowhere near as large as it had been but large enough. In the middle of the storm, we drove down to the pond to check in. We could not take any images due to the darkness and the storm but I could see a parent sitting on the nest in the dark, in the rain, in the hail.  Actually they were sitting in the water and there was no sign of the nest. I assumed the eggs were on the last piece of land not underwater. I went back this morning and when I arrived at the pond a great sadness came over me. They were gone!!! 

The nest site or what is left of it.

The nest, the eggs and the parents were gone. I spoke to a gentleman, named Willy, who lives on the pond and he said at 5 am the parents were there walking around but there was no evidence of the eggs. I am not sure if the eggs are at the bottom of the pond or if something ate them. There is talk of an alligator in the pond but I would have thought he would have struck before this. I am guessing that the eggs are at the bottom of the pond.

I know the world has had many tragedies over the last year and compared to them, this is not that big. But in my world, the world of a nature photographer, and in the lives of the people who live around the pond and watched the nest and the cranes desperate battle to save their unborn young, this is a tragedy.  As Willy walked away this morning, he had a sad look on his face and said, "Nature can be hard." 

It is true. We see it on a large scale much too often with Katrina and Japan: plus the flooding in the mid west that is occurring as I write, but this was also real. There was a family that was destroyed and I feel sad for them. I feel sad for all of us who saw their struggles and tried to will the water level to lower. We will not be able to see these beautiful creatures be born, learn to fly and share our neighborhood with them. We, who live in this neighborhood, all lost something in the rains last night. The loss will be felt for awhile and when we drive by the pond, we will feel that loss deeply.

Let me leave this posting with a final images of two brave parents working to save their nest, to help us remember their efforts and their dedication to family. (images taken during the previous storm)

This post was going to end with the above images but before I posted, I went outside to my backyard. Phyllis was doing her editing of my writing checking for punctuation and grammatical errors so I went for a walk. As I looked up into one of our pine trees, I started to smile!! The cycle of life had started. In our tree, a morning dove was sitting on her nest and I assume her eggs. Hope springs eternal in nature and I had to smile.

DAY DREAMING WITH THE LOVIN SPOONBILLS

Good day everyone. First, I want to thank everyone who responded to yesterday's post. Collaborating with Rimly was a great experience, seeing one of my images paired with the words of such a talented poetess. It is something I would like to continue featuring on a weekly or monthly basis. I have added Rimly's blog 'Journey' to my blog list on this blog. I had some inquires on the flashlight we used to light the image used with Rimly's poem. It is for sale from Amazon at our carousel to the left of these words.

As the readers of this blog know Phyllis and I visited the St. Augustine's Alligator Farm earlier this month. We really enjoy photographing the birds in their natural settings. One of the birds that we had the opportunity to photograph was the Roseate Spoonbill. I spent quite a few minutes photographing these colorful and interesting looking birds with their unusual bills. The Roseate Spoonbill is 80 cm (31 in) tall, with a 120–130 cm (47–51 in) 

wingspan. It has long legs, a long neck, and a long, spatulate bill. Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden buff" when breeding) and a white neck, back, and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are otherwise a deep pink. The bill is grey.

Like the flamingo, their pink color is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin. Another carotenoid, astaxanthin, can also be found deposited in flight and body feathers.^[4] The colors can be darker, such as magenta, ruby and carmine, depending on age and location.

 By the way I asked the farm about the leg band and was told the  

 Florida Audubon put it on the spoonbill. 

As I have explained in an earlier post, it takes a lot of patience to photograph in nature. As I was standing around waiting for the Spoonys and the light to cooperate, I started to day dream.  When I did start day dreaming, the songs of one of my favorite groups popped into my head; The LOVIN SPOONFULS, hmm I wonder why their songs started playing in my head.

What a day for a daydream

What a day for a day dreaming boy

And I'm lost in a day dream

Dreamin bout my bundle of joy

These birds are so very colorful it is seems like something out of  Disney.You might be wondering why the name spoonbill. Hopefully this image explains it.

 As you can see, it is appropriate, it looks like a long spoon. They use this bill to scoop up food from the shallow coastal waters they walk in. Many times they fish in groups swinging their heads back and forth scooping out crustaceans, bugs, beetles and even small fish. These colorful birds look almost magical with their red feathers glistening in the sunlight. I could watch them all day, and did!!! I wonder could you??

I'll tell you about the magic and it'll free your soul.

But it's like telling a stranger about Rock and Roll

The Spoonbills were there to meet, court and mate. You could see the males flying from one tree to another, trying to convince a female that he was the right one for her. You ladies know what I am talking about right? Just another night at a club, listening to some guy's sweet talk.

You're one of those girls who seems to come in the spring

One look in her eyes and you forget everything

A younger girls keeps rolling across my mind

I remember your eyes, soft dark and brown

A younger girls keeps rolling across my mind

As I finish today's blog, I again want to thank all you readers for your very kind words and support. You didn't have to be so nice but it sure is great that you are.

You didn't have to be so nice

I would have liked you anyways

If you had just looked once or twice 

and gone upon your quiet way

Today I said the time was right for me to follow you

I knew I'd find you in a day or two

And its true

A FAIRY TALE CREATED BY RIMLY BEZBARUAH AND JP BRANDANO PHOTOGRAPHY

One of the things that amazed me when I first started reading other blogs was the amount of really talented poets and poetesses that were out there. From all over the earth these ladies and gentlemen are writing beautiful poems for all of us to read, feel and enjoy. Their ability to transform words into imagery literally amazes me.  Alpana Jaiswal, Tameka Mullins, Sweepy Jean, Sulekha Rawat, Roy Durham, Rimly Bezbaruah and many others are all wonderful writers from India to Utah with stories to tell. They entertain us, they make us think and they touch our emotions. But most of all they make us feel!!

I have been thinking for awhile how much I would love to collaborate with one of these talented people. To combine one of my images with their words would be such an honor for me. I hesitated asking because I thought that it would be too much to ask of them. Then last week, I read a poem written by a lovely talented writer named Rimly Bezbaruah. Her blog, titled ; "Journey, I write when my soul cries." http://networkedblogs.com/gZcKv  is one of my favorite blogs and I look forward to this talented lady's imagery, eagerly anticipating her next

creation. On impulse after reading it, I wrote her that collaborating on something might be interesting. I fully expected a polite thank you, yes that would be nice and then nothing lol. I could see her sitting there thinking, "Go take your little pictures and leave me alone':) But that is not what happened. Instead Rimly expressed a genuine interest in working together. 

It was determined that I would supply an image and Rimly would try and write words to match it. She explained that it would take some time to finish it and I understood completely, guessing a few weeks at least. So naturally in a few days, on Easter, Rimly sent me her creation. I felt like a kid again who had just found the most beautiful Easter egg of all time. I was so honored to have Rimly's words attached to an image of mine, it was a dream come true.  The fact that she was able to convey in her words, exactly what I saw when I made this image, a fairy tale come to life, is amazing. It's a true testament to this women's talent, heart and soul. I will be forever thankful that she honored us with her talent.

The image I choose for her to be inspired by  was one of a bride and groom whom we had the pleasure of photographing and is one of our most asked about images. Wendy and Antonio are a truly lovely couple in many ways. When we met them, we knew the were special and after spending some time with them, we felt like old friends. We were very excited to photograph their wedding day and eagerly anticipated it. When the day arrived it was a perfect wedding day almost like a fairy tale. These two physically and spiritually beautiful people had a storybook glow around them as if Disney was producing this day. She the fairy princess and he the charming prince were ready to ride off into the sunset together to a life filled with love and joy.

The ceremony was held outdoors under a trellis at sunset and presided over by Wendy's father. This was a wonderful day!! As the day turned into night, I happened to look out at the trellis. I saw that in the dark of night it was lit by tiny little lights that gave the area a wonderful look. I knew I had to make an image of the two of them under the trellis with the twinkling lights surrounding them. I wanted to use a lighting technique that we had just started developing. It involves lighting the couple with a  flashlight. This would allow the twinkling lights to be seen and give us the ability to cast a light on just Wendy and Antonio.

I love this technique because I think the lighting is reminiscent of the light used in the movies of the 1930s and 1940s. After we saw the finished image, we were pretty happy; feeling we had captured the image we were looking for. A fairy tale image! When the then married couple picked it for their album and told us how much they loved this image, well we could not have been happier.

Now to see one of our favorite images accompanied by the wonderful words written by Rimly, we feel so honored to be able to do what we do and meet the people we meet. We hope you enjoy this first time collaboration between us and Rimly. By the way Wendy, and Antonio are very, very close to welcoming their first child into the world. This will be one lucky child; to be born into a family filled with love.

Now read and enjoy the imagery of a  " A Mid Summer Night " created by a talented poetess Rimly Bezbaruah

A MID SUMMER NIGHT

Written by Rimly Bezbaruah

A mid summer’s night... 

Above the sky like a cape 

Is adorned with thousands 

Of twinkling gems... 

The moon looks down 

As pure and white 

Like never before... 

The forest is alive tonight.

 Silky winged fairies 

Light the forest night 

With their tiny wands 

Every bush and shrub 

Glow with a magical sheen

 With tiny lanterns Hung by elves... 

The air is filled 

With the sweet scent 

Of blossoms that 

Dance to the 

Sway of the trees

 Every creature 

Every living being 

Await in awe... 

She glides towards him

 Her Antonio

Handsome and regal 

She is Wendy 

In her gossamer gown 

Beautiful almost ethereal 

Their eyes meet... 

The moment is electrifying 

A hush descends... 

Only the tinkle of bells 

As they are gently 

Caressed by the faint breeze 

And in the distance 

The strings of a harp 

Strum this magical night 

He takes her in his arms 

And as his lips descend 

On her upturned mouth 

The world is enraptured 

As it witnesses 

Another union... 

Another coming together of one

In mind, body and soul 

Of two lovers