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I once read a quote by a professional photographer that nature photography requires persistence. I didn’t really grasp the context of this statement until recently while on a field trip with a friend to photograph early spring wildflowers.

It was mid-morning and we were shooting in a park that was filled with a number of tiny spring wildflowers that bloom in late March and early April. After several hours of crawling about shooting flower close-ups, I had switched to a telephoto lens to shoot some photographs of the numerous Eastern Gray Squirrels that were in the park. As I stood about gazing up into the trees for a possible subject a sudden movement on the side of a tree caught my eye and lo and behold a White-breasted Nuthatch sat clinging to the side of the tree trunk.

Now to most people this is not a particularly remarkable event, but for me the nature photographer who had dreamed of photographing this very bird doing this very thing, this was an exciting event. Now let me explain about this little bird.

They are small, about the size of a wren or chickadee and they are seemingly always in constant movement, flitting about, hanging upside down, and in general, an extremely hyper fellow. They will cling to tree branches and trunks plucking at insects or seedlings in the bark and they rarely sit still for more than a few seconds. Yet here one set, not twenty feet from where my tripod and camera were setup.

Now fearing that the little fellow would fly my instinct and reflexes kicked in and I quickly swung my camera and telephoto lens and was able to fire off three quick images before he did just that.

Being a connoisseur of the digital technology I was able to quickly preview my images immediately on my cameras LCD screen and of the three images, there was one that had captured the little bird clinging to the side of the tree, the very image that I felt showed the true personality of this bird and the one image I had dreamed of taking.

I broke into a sweat at the prospect of what this image would look like on my computer screen and of the magnificent prints I could create as it appeared well exposed and focused on the LCD and I could hardly wait to get home and upload the image to my computer.

We finished our shoot for the day and I as soon as I hit the door to my home I literally ripped the memory card from the camera and plugged it into my card reader and began the upload process. Now as patience is not one of my virtues and the fact that the nuthatch image was recorded at about 100 out of 120 images on the card, I had to sit and wait in anticipation of what my long awaited nuthatch image would look like.

Finally, after two ham sandwiches, two and a half glasses of milk and much pacing, the images were loaded and I rapidly clicked my image-viewing program to open up my prize image.

I truly don’t think the Titanic sank as deep as my heart did when I saw the blurred mess of a nuthatch appear on my monitor. In my frenzy to capture the photograph I failed to use good photographic technique, in other words I blew the image. The LCD had lied to me!!!! My camera had failed and other such nonsense that photographers whisper to them selves when they miss a photograph rolled from my mouth. I was truly sick.

Though I had many good images that day, the one I missed nagged at me for several days. Then I remembered the article on persistence. It basically said to be successful in nature photography you had to keep trying, to keep pursuing the images and to go back again and again until you perfected your craft and brought back the image you envisioned in your minds eye.

So I thought that nuthatches, like most birds were territorial and if I returned to the park just maybe I could locate the bird again and get a second chance at the image.

Granted, as I arrived at the park a few days later in mid-afternoon, my faith that the little bird would still be around was a bit low. I got my gear prepared and began a slow trek around the park, looking up in trees and around tree trunks. No nuthatches!

I did spot a few bluebirds and I unenthusiastically began pursuing them, resigning myself that my nuthatch image was not to be.

However, as I rounded a large tree I stopped in my tracks. There, perched on the side of the trunk was my nuthatch. My heart began to race as I struggled to keep my movements slow while I set up my camera and zeroed in on the tiny little bird, only to have him fly off just before I fired a shot off. He landed on the side of another tree about fifty feet away and the pursuit began.

The bird made circles around the tree trunk, no doubt hunting insects and paid me no mind as I slowly and quietly set my tripod down and focused again on the nuthatch. Off he flies again just as the shutter trips leaving only a blurred blob on my LCD screen.

A number of words not printable here left my mouth as I watched him land on the ground by another tree. He quickly scampered up the side of the trunk and went around to the opposite side of the tree. I seized the moment as the bird could not see me and literally sprinted across to get within about fifteen feet of the tree.

Now I know the locals who live in the small town that the park resides in must have thought I had lost my mind. Seeing a fellow with a large camera, lens and tripod running across the park like a madman (the nuthatch was to small for them to see driving by on the road) was sure to have brought a number of thoughts and comments about my mental capacity.

However, being a devoted nature photographer I was not going to let such minor interruptions deter me from my tiny quarry. Now that the tripod was in place and camera aimed at the tree trunk I waited for the bird to come around from the backside of the trunk.

True to form the nuthatch came around the side of the trunk and saw me. However, this time instead of flying he merely set clinging to the bark of the trunk, and posed as if reading my mind that this was the image that I was working so hard to get. Fearing the bird would take flight again, I frantically fired off a few shots. This time he did not fly, and instead continued to pose long enough for me to get six to eight good images. Then he flew off towards a small stand of woods at the edge of the park.

Throwing my gear in the car I returned home a bit later to upload the images. I refused to let my hopes get to high even though the images appeared to be good. As the card finished uploading I quickly clicked on the thumbnail for the first image, and was rewarded with the first of several sharp, well-exposed images of a white-breasted nuthatch clinging to the side of a tree trunk.

Perhaps there was something to this persistence thing after all!

Now where did I see that golden-crowned kinglet………

Early spring, in particularly the last few weeks of March and the first weeks into April, offers a unique opportunity to observe and photograph the first wildflowers of the season. However, to see these beauties you have to get close, literally on your hands and knees, to really appreciate the color and diversity of these tiny wildflowers.

Recently while eating breakfast at a favorite restaurant that borders the city park in Cave Springs, Georgia, I noticed a proliferation of color spreading through the grassy areas that spread along the creek that runs through the middle of the park. After eating, I walked out to see what was creating all the colors and was amazed at the different types of tiny wildflowers that had burst into bloom since the rains that had fallen in the area recently.

The photographer in me took over and even though I had no gear with me at the time and various compositions took form in my mind and I knew a return visit was at hand.

A few days later accompanied by my good friend and fellow photographer Charles Stevens, I returned to the park to find even more wildflowers had bloomed and they were all equally tiny. Unlike the larger more dramatic wildflowers that bloom in May, these jewels were anywhere from a dime to smaller than the fingernail on my pinky in size.

The largest flowers were the host of dandelions that were growing in patches but the small size of the other flowers did in no way diminish their beauty.

Spring Beauties were the predominate species and they were growing in clusters through out the area as well as small groups of white chickweed mixed in. However, quite a few other species ranging from brilliant blue, purple and bright yellow also were intermingled in, adding to the carpet of color.

To photograph this tiny landscape we both were using macro lenses that enabled us to get close to the small blooms and leaves. Tripods and beanbags were used to support the cameras for when working this close to the flowers even the smallest movement would result in unsharp images. This type of photography offers many opportunities to try different compositions and angles to capture a group of flowers or a single blossom.

Usually the wind is the most critical factor and it was quite brisk at times the morning we were there. However patience did pay off and we simply waited for it to stop before taking an image, though quite a few images did find their way to the delete bin during the editing process.

We were able to come away with quite a few beautiful images of these tiny but colorful wildflowers and it once again reminds me that nature’s grandeur is everywhere, even beneath our feet. So during the early weeks of spring take the time and reward yourself by walking out into your yard or the nearest meadow and get down on your knees to look at the colorful world beneath you.

Hello and welcome to “The Walker’s Journal”, the online blog for my website “The Naturewalker’s Journal”. As I figure out the fine art of blogging, this will be a online journal of my photographic excursions as well as a sounding board for both nature photography as well as environmental issues and subjects. Here hopefully you can get some insight into my passion for nature photography as well as share information about our natural world. Please be patient as this blogging stuff is an entirely new animal for me.

Michael