Chris Kayler Photography

To follow up my previous post, this is a photograph from the same day and general location, but during sunset instead of sunrise. The great part about sunset was that good amounts of clouds formed over the mountains during the course of the day, adding some interest to the sky. Generally, some nice clouds in the sky are preferable, but in this case I like the previous sunrise image more. I’ve said it before, but all these infinitely variable conditions really keep nature photography interesting and exciting for me.

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’s another image from my trip to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. This particular image is during Sunrise at Blackrock Summit. Of the many summits I’ve visited in Shenandoah, I consider Blackrock to be the most photogenic. I love the interesting foregrounds as well as the layered, receding, blue ridge mountains. The sky this morning was rather bland, with no clouds in sight. To overcome this, I used to rising sun as a point of interest in the sky. Many photographers find “sun stars” too cliche, but I find them beautiful. Heck, if people without cameras enjoy watching the actual sun rising above the earth, it can’t be a bad thing to include in photographs.

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

To make up for my previous post of a scary snake, here is the complete opposite - an innocent White-tailed Deer fawn smelling the flowers in big meadows, Shenandoah National Park. I had less than a second to capture this pose, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I usually strive to maintain a clean look to my images, but in this case I think the emotion and cuteness really outweigh everything else.

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 making day trips here and there since my last post, but have largely been unsuccessful at photographing anything well lately. That all changed yesterday with a day long trip to Shenandoah National Park. Alarm set to 1:50 AM, I made the drive to the southern portion of Skyline Drive, walking out in complete darkness to what I consider the most scenic overlook in the park, Blackrock Summit. The cool mountain air and dawn colors were just what I needed to snap me out of my photographic funk. After photographing the sunrise, I continued exploring the park. During the course of the day, perhaps my most eventful of any Shenandoah trip yet, I ended up photographing grand mountain landscapes, White-tailed Deer fawns, birds, a Black Bear (in horrible, harsh light - but an awesome experience regardless), and this mean-looking little guy, a Copperhead. Found under a rock, this was my first real attempt at photographing a copperhead, and only my second time seeing one in the wild. While venomous and accompanied with a bad reputation, I find copperheads to be one of the most beautiful snakes. If you simply keep a safe distance, copperheads will not strike unless provoked. After ending the day with a beautiful sunset, I traveled back home for some well needed sleep after 22 hours of being awake. Many people don’t realize the hours of dedication required from a nature photographer - certainly more than most people with “normal” careers. However, we can sure have a lot of fun putting in all those hours!

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 short trip to Upstate New York last weekend. This Green Frog was perhaps the greatest looking Green Frog I have ever come across. The dark mottled markings were truly unique. For me, one of the greatest aspects of nature photography is that the subjects never get old. Even if you’ve photographed a certain species before, you can always photograph an individual in a new style or location, or (as in this case) photograph various individuals with different markings.

As a bit of side trivia, you can tell that this Green Frog is a female by the size of her tympanum (ear membrane). In females, it is roughly the same size as the eye, and in males it is about double the size of the eye.

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 apologize, yet again, for my lack of posts lately. I haven’t photographed since arriving home from New York last week. I just haven’t felt motivated to get out and shoot lately … hopefully I can get back in the swing of things soon. For now, I will be posting some of my images from New York.

Today’s particular image is of a Gray Treefrog. Many of the treefrogs I found in New York were quite different than any I’ve found previously down here in Virginia. They were very green! Wanting to take advantage of this newfound “color phase”, I took many images of them in various locations and poses. This photograph is one of my favorites from the sessions.

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

Well, whoops, looks like I missed my deadline of Thursday. I arrived home late due to bad traffic, and ended up being pretty busy yesterday. Anyways, this is an image of a Cecropia Moth, found in Upstate New York at my good friend Eric Dresser’s house. We placed the moth on these ferns and were able to obtain a few images of him before he warmed up and became uncooperative. The Cecropia Moth is a large species of moth, and certainly among the most beautiful found on the East coast.

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

Not wanting to go for long periods of time without posting, I wanted to give you all a bit of an update about my absence. I’m currently in upstate New York visiting my grandparents and cousins without my computer to process images. I have gotten some great images, but mostly this has been about relaxing with family. I’ll be back in Virginia Thursday afternoon and expect to be processing and posting some new images by then. Thanks for the patience, and take care!

Over the past few nights I’ve been going out road cruising for Gray Treefrogs in my area, capturing them, and photographing/releasing in the morning. No harm comes to the frogs, and it’s a great way to photograph them in daylight instead of at night when they are more easily found. The Gray Treefrog is split into two physically indistinguishable species, the Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor), and the Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). Differing genetically, the only practical way to tell the difference between the two is by their calls. The Cope’s Gray Treefrog has a faster pitched call when compared to a Gray Treefrog. After locating some calling Cope’s Gray Treefrogs in a small ditch next to the road, I went down with a flashlight and searched for them. After 15 minutes of searching, I managed to find one calling from deep under grass. The following photograph is from the following day, where I was able to select a picturesque perch to place him on.

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

Two afternoons ago, I decided it was time for a long overdue visit to Great Falls National Park. Despite the thunderstorms rolling through the area, I went in hopes of capturing some images of the resident Great Blue Herons in rain, and eventually hoping to capture the sunset as the storms moved out. I wasn’t able to get many photographs of the Great Blue Herons as they were being unusually uncooperative, but the storms did begin to move out of the area about a half an hour before sunset. A clear horizon to the West and storm clouds to the East provided an awesome light show! Despite the excellent sunset color, this was the only image I took that I really like. The water at Great Falls is running very high, and drought conditions are actually preferable there as it reveals more interesting foreground rocks.

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’ll start off my series of photographs from my trip to north/central Pennsylvania with a Northern Redbelly Snake. While generally considered a common snake, this Northern Redbelly was the first of its kind that I have had the opportunity to see. The Redbelly Snake is a small snake, with an average length of 7 to 10 inches, that spends much of its time under rocks, logs, and other debris on wooded slopes and ridges. The color of the Redbelly Snake is highly variable, with some having a brown top, while others are gray. The belly of the Redbelly Snake is, understandably, red. In this image I flipped the snake over in order to better show its defining characteristic.

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