Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a happy new year and all the best for 2020!

Prowling semipalmated sandpiper, Parker River NWR

A semipalmated sandpiper prowling the remnants of a tidal pool behind the Lot 6 beach at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

Piping plover mother brooding her chicks, Sandy Point State Reservation

The photo above is another one that made my list of 2019 favorites. I love the color tones provided by the warm sunrise light under a high overcast sky, and I'm drawn to the sense of interaction as the piping plover chick approached its mother to brood. A few other chicks were already tucked underneath their mother, so this chick was searching for the right spot to sneak in.



In the frame below, I love the look shared between this young chick and its mother -- these are the moments of connection we strive to capture as wildlife photographers. As an individual photograph though, I feel like it fell a little short of having enough connection with the viewer. The mother turned her head back far enough to look at the chick that it leaves me feeling disconnected from her in the photograph. The emotion of the young chick's expression still warms my heart though.



After a little bit of trying to find an opening between its siblings, this chick found a spot under her wing and tucked itself out of sight.

Sanderling in shallow water, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

While I was compiling my list of 2019 favorites, this one kept catching my eye. I ultimately did not include it, but I liked how it was a classic shorebird pose but in a shallow layer of water instead of only sand.

Brooding piping plover, Sandy Point State Reservation

At the end of the year it's always fun to look back through the photographs I've made over the last 12 months. In 2019, the bulk of my work came during the summer, and especially during the time when tiny piping plover chicks were scurrying across the beaches at Sandy Point State Reservation. I had been saving a few of the photos I knew would be on my list of 2019 favorites to post throughout the fall, and while I didn't get to it then, I'll share them now.

I love to photograph parent plovers caring for their chicks, and especially when the young ones are tucked underneath to brood. I have many different compositions of similar images from the summer, but I've been really drawn to the combination of lighting and color from the dunes in the background in these. When viewed together, I think this series shows how important the tiny changes in head position can be for changing the feeling of an image. Overall, the top photo is my favorite, with a clean profile view. But I also like the one just above, which adds a touch of connection between the plover and the camera. And then there's the image below, which loses the connection to the viewer and adds the focus of the parent on its chicks.

Thanks for viewing and Happy Holidays to you and yours!!