Aquatic Passion Photo of the Month Winner – August 2009

Aquatic Passion – Photo of the Month

August 2009. Its time again to check out our photo submissions in the Aquatic Passion forum. Simply visit this thread and cast your vote: Photo of the Month

For next months contest you can visit this page “Photo Contest” and upload-link to one of your photos! You just might win something too!

Oh yeah!

Banded Sea Snake

Some photos of a dive trip to Sabang Bay near the town of Puerto Galera in the Philipinnes. This is a banded sea snake that we followed up a wall, over a flat, and then up to the surface. I caught him just as he was passing another diver on the way to the surface. It is amazing there are no bubbles obscuring the snake in the photo!

Coyote in Winter – Yellowstone National Park

People familiar with coyotes of southern climates often mistake the coyote in this photo for a wolf. With that beautiful thick fur it’s no wonder, but coyote (canis latrans) it is. This particular animal was photographed in Yellowstone National Park in the middle of winter (hence the thick coat). I was with a small group of photographer friends that hired a snowcoach to take us into the interior of the park. A snowcoach is like a small bus but instead of tires it has metal tracks like you’d see on a military tank. We traveled into the park early in the morning Read more

Red-eared Slider Turtle – Adult and Baby

“I like to visit the LA Arboretum and Huntington Botanical Garden (and Descanso when the tulips are blooming) to take pictures. On lucky days I’ll find some shyer species like Wood Ducks, Green, Black Crowned or Great Blue Herons, Egrets, Quail, Parrots– you just never know. Red Eared Sliders (Trachemis scripta) are getting to be fairly common in and around the ponds at the Arboretum and that’s where I found these two little beauties. A slow approach is necessary to get this kind of close-up because they are wary of predators (Racoons, Coyotes and though they are safe in the gardens, humans). So I lowered my tripod when I was far away and slowly moved within range of the 400mm I use for photographing wildlife. The key to getting close to the turtles, as it is with most wildlife is a slow approach and avoiding any quick movements. The turtles are used to seeing people but still spook easily- they haven’t lost their instinct for survival even though they live in a protected area.”
Greg Rothschild

Photography of Greg Rothschild – Turtles

Cougar Kittens

Photography of Greg Rothschild – Cougar Kittens

This picture was taken in southwest Utah. It was taken in what is called a “controlled situation”. In other words, a wrangler keeps the cougar kittens up in Montana and brings them down once a year for a photo shoot. I was with a small group photographing the cougar kittens, a baby grizzly, an adult cougar, a bobcat and two wolves. I wish the photos were taken in the wild but it’s nearly impossible (may in fact be impossible) to get clear sharp pictures of cougar kittens in the wild because of their intelligence and shyness. In all the time I’ve spent outdoors shooting wild animals, flyfishing, backpacking etc. I’ve only spotted two cougars and both sightings lasted less than a second. Amazing beautiful animals but for some reason… they just don’t like people .