Chris Kayler Photography

This is another photograph from my three consecutive trips to Great Falls National Park, Virginia, last week. In this image, I like the clouds picking up the last rays of pink sunlight of the day, as well as the rising moon. Which image do you prefer … this one, or the one from the previous post?

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As temperatures lowered and haze was reduced during the past 3 days, I made the trip to Great Falls National Park to photograph the sunsets. While generally bland, I did have some luck yesterday evening with a bit of pink sky. As a nice bonus, the moon was also rising in the direction of the lit up clouds. Using two rocks as a foreground, I photographed the Potomac River as it flowed downstream away from Great Falls through Mather Gorge.

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 trying to get out and shoot lately, but each time I have been disappointed with the (lack of) results! I’ll just have to keep trying. Today is a refreshing 75 degrees, and with the many picturesque clouds floating about, I think I will head to Great Falls for the sunset and hope for something nice.

This image is was taken 2 days ago as severe storms moved through the area. This type of cloud, known as Mammatus, form in very unstable thunderstorms, and are my absolute favorite type of cloud. I’m lucky if I get to see them once a year in my area, so this is an unexpected treat in an otherwise photographic dryspell.

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 decided to head out to Great Falls National Park, Maryland this morning in hopes of photographing some more Great Blue Herons and landscapes. The weather forecast was for completely clear skies, and the weathermen followed through this time. The cloudless, blue sky provided no drama or color for the landscape, so I decided to turn my attention to the herons. There was only one problem … only one juvenile Great Blue Heron was hanging around in the rapids. I’ll try heading back sometime soon to see if the herons are there, but I have a feeling that they have moved on for the year. I think the reason that they congregate in such great numbers is that there is a heron rookery on a nearby island in the Potomac River. Now that the nesting season is over, all of the herons have split up to fish in their own separate, less competitive areas.

Despite the fact that there was only one heron at Great Falls this morning, I lucked out and got one image that I consider worth posting, or at least interesting. While the light was still very low, he flew by me and I was able to take an abstract pan blur image of him in flight. Mid-summer sure provides slim pickings for photography in Virginia!

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 headed out mid-day today under overcast skies to try and photograph some Great Blue Herons at Great Falls National Park, Virginia. By the time I got there, the sun was out casting harsh light on everything, and not a single Great Blue Heron was within sight! Maybe it was too hot, and they went up into the shady trees to relax for the afternoon.

For now, I’m going to share another image from my trip to Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia in late June. The sunrise was relatively cloudless and non-dramatic, but as the sun rose over the top of a distant ridge, it cast beautiful pink morning light upon the flat faces of the many boulders atop Blackrock Summit, including one particularly large and photogenic rock, which I made the “subject” of my photograph.

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

Whew, sorry for being away so long guys. I have no good excuse, except that I’ve been in some sort of photography funk, and haven’t been up to getting out to photograph, or to post on my blog. When I started this blog, I told myself that I needed to commit to it. “Do it well or don’t do it at all”. These past few weeks I haven’t kept up with that promise, and I’m planning to change that from here on out and make some worthwhile posts about what I’ve been up to.

I haven’t photographed anything new lately, but I can share another image from my previous trip to Great Falls National Park. By sitting down at the edge of the river, I was able to obtain this low angle view of a juvenile Great Blue Heron standing on a rock in front of a waterfall with the warm light of sunrise being cast upon him. In this image, I really like the warm light, as well as the turbulent waters falling in the background.

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

First off, some good news. I applied for a job at REI some time ago and yesterday was offered a job as a sales specialist in the camping department, which was my most desired position. REI is an outdoor recreational retail store that sells lots of high quality gear from bikes, to kayaks, to camping, clothing, and everything in between. I have 4 days of staff training this weekend, and can’t wait to begin working there.

Now, onto the good stuff! This image was taken several weeks ago at Great Falls National Park, Maryland. As I was sitting motionless on the banks of the Potomac, photographing Great Blue Herons that were generally quite far away, this juvenile Great Blue Heron flew in and landed on a rock that was quite close to me. As you can see, the rock was surrounded by moving water, which created a pretty ideal situation. Additionally, the sky was beginning to glow orange with sunset colors, adding some unique orange reflections.

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, I’m back from a great weekend in Upstate New York. It was awesome getting to see all my relatives at the big family reunion. We even started up a kickball game with 20+ kids. It was a posse! I had a lot of fun, but didn’t have time to photograph anything. For now, I’ll be showing some more images from my trip(s) to Great Falls National Park, Maryland. This particular image is becoming a favorite of mine. The light was rather intense for the blurred water effect I was going for, so I put on a neutral density filter that enabled me to block the majority of light and decrease my shutter speed. Additionally, this allowed me to obtain an image that had slow shutter speed characteristics, as well as dramatic, strong lighting. In this image, I like the way the Great Blue Heron stands out against the dark, shadowed background, as well as the waterfall in the background and the wave crashing against the rock.

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

Yesterday morning I decided to take another trip to Great Falls National Park, Maryland. Early in the morning, the Great Blue Herons were very active flying around and catching fish. In previous visits, an injured heron always fished in this particular location. The setting was great, but the obvious injury made the heron less photogenic. This morning, however, a new guy was trying his luck. I was able to get many images of him, using both fast shutter speeds (as seen here), and slow shutter speeds to blur the water. I really like the way the water seems to be exploding outward from behind him, as if a tsunami is about to crash over his perch. I’m always amazed when I see the herons effortlessly standing and walking through the shallow sections of these class 5 rapids. Must be those skinny legs!

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

So, as luck would have it, I went out to Great Falls again yesterday, with the intention of photographing sunset, but instead having a ton of luck with the Great Blue Herons. I can’t complain! Instead of heading to their roosts like during my previous visit, the herons stayed out in the river fishing until after sunset. In this image, one of the Great Blue Herons is standing on a rock in front of a nice 20 ft+ waterfall, defending his space against another Great Blue Heron that had just flew in. In my typical favorite fashion of photographing the herons, I used a slow shutter speed to capture the water blurring by as they remain motionless.

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

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a trip to my lovely little local spot, Great Falls National Park, Virginia. The day was completely sunny and cloudless, so I went with the intention of photograph the group of Great Blue Herons that hang out hunting for fish among the rapids. As it would turn out, the herons stopped hunting at around 6:00PM and went to go roost for the night in trees along the banks. With my plan for photographing the Great Blue Herons ruined, I decided to change gears and shoot some abstract images of the various rapids. With the rapids in shade, and the sun still shining brightly on the cliff opposite of my position, the water picked up hints of orange and yellow in its reflection. Tied in with the reflection of the blue sky overhead, I found the overall color scheme very pleasing. Often times, photographing abstracts in less than perfect conditions (for other types of photography) saves the day and enables me to come home with some great images.

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 one is a bit different for me. It was taken the same morning as my other sunrise image from Blackrock Summit, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The original inspiration for the photograph was the extreme side lighting showing the contours of the mountain ridges and the rough texture of the foreground rocks. I later decided to simplify things and convert the image to black and white. I won’t say much more than that so as not to influence your opinion; but I would love people to stop in and comment. Tell me if you like it overall, and what you like or don’t like about it. Thanks!

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 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

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