Chris Kayler Photography

I’ve been working on a project recently: photographing salamanders. Ever since I was a little kid, I loved heading out to the woods and turning over rocks and logs in search of salamanders. Back behind my grandparent’s house, I remember finding countless Red-backed Salamanders. Now, with a bit more knowledge and resources (a salamander book and a car) I have been out searching for new and exciting species. There are so many to uncover, and within 2 outings I’ve already photographed 3 species. The following, a Northern Dusky Salamander has been my favorite so far. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to a mountain stream just outside of Shenandoah which I think should be prime salamander habitat. Hopefully I’ll come back with some new species, but at the very least I’ll have a fun time pretending to be a kid again. Who needs to grow up, anyways?

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I photographed these sunset clouds two nights ago during a pretty spectacular sunset. I would have rather been at Shenandoah or something and gotten these clouds as part of a scenic image, but I think it’s important to make do with what you’re given when an opportunity such as this arises. I also find it interesting just how rare it is that some spectacular light comes along, whether it be sunrise or sunset. I doubt many people realize the time and perseverance involved in going to a place time after time hoping for some color in the sky!

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You guessed it - yet another image of a Northern Gannet from my trip last weekend. I’ll likely be shooting somewhere this weekend (perhaps wildflowers, perhaps Shenandoah, perhaps both), so hopefully I’ll have some fresh content to post, but until then, I think these awesome birds deserve some viewing. This trip was so much fun and these birds were really amazing. In this image one of the Gannets is simply soaring behind the boat waiting to spot some fish. I liked the soft-yet-defining light and the clouds in the background.

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This is, again, an image from my trip to photograph the Northern Gannets. The opportunity was just incredible and I was able to capture many images of the species. In this particular image, a gannet is banking in flight with the ocean in the background. It proved to be very difficult trying to get photographs of them in a pose showing their top during a feeding frenzy, but by standing at the bow of the ship I was able to capture several images of them as they made wide circles around the boat before making another pass for fish at the rear.

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This is another Northern Gannet image from my recent trip to the Delaware Bay. When these gannets get worked up during a fish feeding frenzy, they really make some incredible poses. This one is calling at another Gannet which got too close for comfort.

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Yesterday I went on a trip to the Delaware Bay, a body of water between Delaware and New Jersey. By riding the ferry from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey, I was able to capture many images of Northern Gannets flying far off-shore. These birds are an ocean-going species, only landing to nest, so riding the ferry was crucial to my success. In this image, a Northern Gannet is diving off the back of the boat in an attempt to catch migrating herring. The way they contorted their bodies to dive was impressive to say the least. If you’re having trouble figuring it out, this birds belly is facing towards me, his neck is twisted around nearly 180 degrees, and he is upside down!

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Some nice alliteration, don’t you think?

Anyways, with the hope of storm clouds and a beautiful sunset, I made a trip to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia yesterday afternoon in an effort to capture sunset images from the summit of Stony Man mountain. Upon arrival, the sky completely clouded over and it seemed like I was in for a boring overcast sunset. However, as time went on the band of clouds moved out and left behind a mostly clear sky. While it wasn’t exactly the dramatic skies I was hoping for, I tried to make the best of the simple bands of color, and got this image as a result.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This image was taken during the same Shenandoah National Park visit as my previous post. The clouds that day were unique from anything that I had seen before, with a distinct layer of overcast above, a distinct layer below, and clear sky in between. Seeing these clouds, I decided to hike to the summit of Stony Man mountain, the second highest peak in Shenandoah, and photograph the clouds along the way. However, by the time I reached this small rock outcropping, known as Little Stony Man Cliffs, the clouds had dissipated slightly and the effect wasn’t quite as pronounced as before. Regardless, I took a few photographs and ended up liking this one. The road below is the famous Skyline Drive, a 100 mile road spanning the length of Shenandoah National Park from North to South.

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During the days a storm is moving out of the area, the clouds usually hang low and mix with the trees of mountainous Shenandoah National Park. When they are thick, the forests can become socked in with fog, reducing visibility greatly. At the trailing end of a storm, however, the clouds are often sporadic and allow some space in between them, letting some of the forests show through. This particular image was taken from a higher elevation overlook looking down on the trees below. I loved watching the clouds whip by, and the resulting image reminds me of a “ghost forest.”

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Here is yet another image from my venture to the Choptank River in Maryland. This photograph doesn’t exactly fall in line with the traditional image nature photographers try to capture - bird in profile with distinguishing features clearly visible. However, it’s good to diversify a bit and when I first saw this image on the screen I couldn’t help but laugh. I love the goofy hair-doo on this Lesser Scaup and the crazed look in his big yellow eyes.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This is another image from my trip to the Choptank River in Maryland. American Wigeon really have a subtle beauty. While rather dull in overall appearance, when the sun hits them just right their heads light up green. Being breeding season, several of the male Wigeon on the river were swimming around calling to their female counterparts. This image is of a male doing just that. The females didn’t seem too interested!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

It’s been a while - I apologize for that. My girlfriend, Kari Post, has recently suffered a loss in the family and I am now in New Jersey trying to be as supportive as I can be at a difficult and sad time such as this. I’ll try and post some images, but can’t make any promises.

Anyways, this image was taken the day before I came to New Jersey on the Choptank River in Maryland. I managed to photograph many species of duck this day, including Canvasback, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, and this handsome dude, a Redhead. I do believe he was my favorite of all the ducks I saw.

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I ventured out to Shenandoah National Park yesterday to spend the day taking landscape photos. With the rain moving through, many portions of Shenandoah are high enough to be in the clouds, producing thick fog. This image was taken at one of my favorite forests in Shenandoah, near the northern portion of Skyline Drive. I love the way the trees are all perfectly straight and spaced really well. In addition to the fog, I also experienced 50mph winds, rainbows, thunder and lightning, being pelted by hail 2 miles from my car, and snow! It was a crazy day, and I can’t think of any other way I would have rather spent it.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I’ve been hard at work lately on a new stock gallery for my website. It will include many of my images, likely over a thousand. This photo of a Fowler’s Toad was one of the images I’ve recently processed for the addition to this gallery. I’m not sure why I overlooked it the first go around, but I really like the pose and the shot overall. In additional news, I’ll be on spring break for the next week and a half and hope to get out shooting quite a bit. Tomorrow looks like rain, so I may head to the mountains and get some foggy (in the clouds) landscapes. I plan to make a trip out to the Chesapeake Bay to photograph ducks as well. I’ll keep the blog updated on my progress, and hopefully I’ll have some new images to share as well.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This is another image from my afternoon at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, Virginia. This photograph was taken about 20 minutes before the one in my previous post, and in this case I decided to photograph directly towards the sun. Using a smaller aperture, I turned the sun into a burst. Additionally, I decided to convert this image in black and white as the white sky seemed out of place in a color image. I quite like the end result!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

With clear skies forecasted this afternoon, I decided to head back to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, Virginia in hopes of creating some images at the overlook mentioned two posts ago. As I began walking down the trail, however, I found myself mesmerized by the gorgeous warm light lapping against the sides of these magnificent beech trees. Combined with the backlit leaves, it was truly a sight to behold. Believe it or not, this was my first time really trying to photograph a forest with any sort of direct lighting! I had usually associated forest photography with overcast days only. Wow, what have I been missing?

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This image is from a couple of months ago during a rainy morning at Great Falls National Park, Virginia. A thin layer of stormy clouds whipped by overhead, casting a dark, eerie blue glow over the land. Using a relatively long 30 second exposure, I captured the movements of the clouds as they blurred by. Choosing to retain the blue color cast, this image more accurately represents the feelings of being there on that morning. Photographers regularly choose to neutralize the color in their images to maintain a “pure” white, but often times these color casts are a natural event, and they certainly impart a mood on those viewing an image. The next time your out and about 30-40 minutes before sunrise or equally as long after sunset, really look around you and notice just how blue everything is.

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I feel like I haven’t gotten any worthwhile shots in forever! In the interest of keeping my blog fresh, I’m going to share an image with a lot of potential, but as is much failure. I don’t claim it to be amazing or anything considering the flat overcast light and white sky, but I am quite excited to have found this location. This view is just about due west as far as I can tell, and should be really nice with some pretty sunset light. Additionally, once spring rolls around it should be even better as I think one of the trees right in the middle may be a flowering tree with buds already on it. Hopefully with some more time spent in this location it will turn out to be fruitful - I’m definitely hopeful.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com