I’m pretty sure that all of these photographs are of Black Phoebes as they hunt insects.
The two photos above were taken at the LaBrea Tar Pits, Pit #1 – visible from Wilshire Blvd.
This photograph was taken in Beverly Hills, on Santa Monica Blvd – at a a temporary fence erected to protect the outdoor artwork, thru these turbulent times.
This photograph was one of the first photographs I shot. I was frozen in my tracks as this bird flew so fast, so gracefully so close to so much hard concrete!
To capture my photographs I go on one of three types of adventures in Los Angeles, I call Photo Safari’s. I stay in my apartment’s courtyard or on it’s front lawn – this is where I get 90% of my insect and hummingbird photos.
I walk within my neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, sometimes on a specific path, sometimes wondering without thought. I have a walking radius of about 10 blocks. If I walk farther then that, I have to take a bus home.
I go to specific places using mass transit – Santa Monica Beach, Downtown LA, Griffith Observatory
I have a Sony a6500 Mirrorless camera, an 85 mm Marco lens and a 24-240mm Zoom lens. I’m not a “gear-head”, that’s all of the photography equipment I own.
I chose that camera for three reasons;
1) it is small and light, I can easily carry it all day…
2) It has an APC size sensor, which is pretty close to full-size…
3) It’s a Sony – I’ve never been disappointed in any Sony product I’ve ever bought, yes, it’s expensive – but, as dad would say, “you get what u pay for”
I chose the Sony 90mm Macro lens for photographing insects. When used with the APC sensor, it’s equivalent to a 105mm lens on a full-size sensor – that’s plenty of strength to pull insects as small as an ant.
I chose the Sony 24-240mm zoom for any insect the size of a large bee – to small animals such as humming birds and lizard – on up to squirrels medium to large birds.
The Sony 24-240mm Zoom was the only purchase I regret. I should have bought the 100-400 Sony Zoom lens. the one I bought is just not powerful enough to capture what I see. It’s useful, and I’m happy that I have it – it works great, it is a Sony – but, it’s just not strong enough to capture what I see – chest la vie.