Feeding the flames

In the spring of 2024, my family took another excursion with Lindblad National Geographic to Baja Sur California. Magdalena Bay is where Grey Whales go to have and nurse their babies before the long trek north to the arctic to feed on small crustaceans and amphipods. While on this expedition, I was reunited with Melissa Heres from our Alaska trip and met Lisa Hornak. On this trip, I was exposed to a wide variety of wildlife to photograph; including birds like pelicans, cormorants, and whimbrels before the main event of seeing several grey whales and a few newborns.

One of the classes that we attended on ship was a phone camera class. We were introduced to techniques for using our phones in some new and unconventional ways to take unique (and better) photographs. During this trip I spent time with both Lisa and Melissa and worked outside of my comfort zone of only taking pictures of wildlife, but also learning how to expand to the flora around me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t stray too far from my comfort zone. While on one of our hikes, I took a picture of a bird perched on some brush, but right at the moment a hummingbird was flying by. One of the younger members of the trip was able to follow where the hummingbird flew to. Melissa and I were able to move close to where it was last seen and found a ruby-throated hummingbird sitting on a nest. We didn’t get too close, and I was able to get some amazing pics of her on the nest. After a few minutes, she flew off again while I was still there. I just happened to stick around long enough to look into the nest (from a distance with my camera) and saw a little baby hummingbird inside. TOTALLY amazing.

Then came the whales. The whales. Words cannot describe the feeling being so close to these giant and majestic creatures. I couldn’t get enough information about them; how the fed, where they traveled, did they stay together or travel alone, food, navigation….. You name it, I was devouring whatever I could find about them to learn as much as I could.

We went out in Pangas, local boats, and traveled to known nursery areas where the whales usually gather. We sat at the southern end of Magdalena Bay, and were rewarded with about 7 whales; both adults and a few juveniles. From spy hopping, to swimming in circles, to swimming fast away trying to lose us, we were graced with a ton of activity. Such beauty and grace.

Every trip I have done with Lindblad National Geographic has been another lesson in photography and how I can use it to capture the world around me. My love for the natural world has been fueled, and my desire to capture as much of it as I can will never be quenched. So, come along with me on my journey as I keep searching for more, new, and ‘wild’ wildlife to bring to you and your screens.

Reinvention and an awakening

Photography has always intrigued me. From a summer school class in 7th grade where I made my first pinhole box camera, to the Kodak Cameo pocket camera I carried with me in the Marines, capturing the world around me started off to be just a way for me to remember where I had been and what I had seen. But then in 2007, my soon to be father-in-law gifted me his old Nikon D70, and we promptly went to an airshow at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC. It was a blazing hot August day and the Blue Angels were performing. I was straight up fumbling with this new, and very fancy for me, camera, but somehow managed to snap a picture at just the right time to catch the 5 and 6 aircraft passing in front of us in the over/under formation EXACTLY nose to nose. When we got home and looked at the pictures, the first thing my FIL said was “how did you manage to outshoot me with my own camera!?” It was that day that the spark was lit.

Over the next decade and a half, the only photography I really did was at our annual trip to the beach, or the moments number of baby pics with my iPhones. The pilot light of my photography was always lit, but nothing really felt like it was ‘the thing’ to fan the flame. Then came Galápagos.

Traveling had always been an interest to my wife and me, but we had never really acted upon it until 2021. After hearing countless amazing stories from my in-laws of their adventures and galavanting across the globe, we decided it was time for us to start doing the same. We followed in their footsteps and booked my absolute top of my bucket list trip with National Geographic - Lindblad Expeditions to the Galápagos Islands. Proir to going, I knew that the D70 was not going to live up to my expectations in the ability to capture the sights that truly only exist on those islands and nowhere else on the planet. So, after mach cajoling of my wife, I finally upgraded to a new Zikon D7200. I had practiced some, and was ready.

Boy, was I NOT ready! However, I met one of the most amazing photographers and teachers on this trip that helped change all that. Jonathan Aguas (@jonathan_agsz on Instgram) was the NatGeo photographer on this expedition. From day one, he would always call out “Ok, all the photographers, follow me!” We would head out in our zodiac as a small group of 10 people where John took all of us under his wing and not only showed us the splendor and beauty of the Galapágos, but taught us that photography isn’t just point and shoot. It’s about knowing the world around you and understanding what it is going to do and how it is going to do it. THEN you can start to plan (foreign concept about photography to me at the time) on where and when the shot you wanted to get was going to take place. Over the course of the trip, he showed us examples of his work, not to brag or gloat, but to teach and demonstrate how we should approach nature photography. This. Changed. Everything.

After that trip, I was hooked. I started looking at nature around me completely differently. I couldn’t wait to book our next trip to use my new found knowledge. Several weeks later we did book that trip for the following July; again with NatGeo. This time to Alaska’s Inside Passage. It was on this trip that I met Melissa Heres. She was a naturalist and photographer with NatGeo whose knowledge was far and wide, and her patience was extremely deep! This trip dealt more with wildlife in the water than on land, so our experience was completely different, as was the methods to our photography. From sea lions, to sea otters, to whales bubble net feeding, each interaction brought its own challenge, but just enraptured me and solidified my passion for wildlife. The fan of the flames had officially be found and turned on high! And who could have guessed, but watching the whales bubble net feeding and working as friends touched something in my soul. I had to know more about them. Why did they do this? How did they meet up in the same soot each year? I went down the rabbit hole thirsting for knowledge of all things humpback whale related. Books, documentaries, you name it, I took it in. So, naturally, when that trip ended, I needed something to look forward to. So, we set our sights on the other end of the Pacific Coast; Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, where the grey whales go to have their babies.