It was a cool morning as I set out to do some exploring and photography.
I made a quick stop at the Michigan Magazine Musuem to pick up some fliers for an up coming event. I than headed in to the back country. I made my way slowly down the dirt roads looking for anything that might be worth stoping for. As I rounded a small bend in the road a medium size black bear was crossing, but I had no time for and photos. I continued on down the road and keeping a shap eye out for other exciting wildlife.
I made it to the swamp around 10:30 am and decided to head deeper into the swamp. I found many subjects to shoot such as, butterflies, snails and ferns. Many wildflowers were in bloom and I had to stop and admire the beauty that each one had....plus photos.
As I was heading back out it started to rain, so I put my rain cover on my bag. I kept moving and as I moved through a pine thicket I stopped in my tracks. In front of me were the Queen's of the forest.
Hundreds of Showy Lady's Slippers. I headed to a large cedar tree and stood under it and watched it rain. Nothing is more beautiful than being in a swamp/bog during a summer rain. The air smelled so fresh and inviting. I was soaked, but I did not care. All I wanted is to get some shots of the slippers with rain drops on them.
The rain slowed enough that I could set up my gear. I was using a rain cover for my camera and lens. With the rain falling and the heavy overcast...it was perfect. Shot after shot...image after image was recored unto the memory card. The rain had stopped and by the time the rain stopped falloing I had more than 800 images. The sun started to peak out from behind the clouds and I headed back out to continue on my adventure.
As I was making my way through the hills I kept watch for anything worth stopping for. As I creasted a large hill I noticed large clouds and started to pull over. Suddenly a mother deer and fawn walked out of the woods in the valley below. I slowly grabbed my gear and set up and started firing away. Frame after frame. I had shot about 40 images when the Doe started to look behind her and up the road. I thought a car was coming, but nothing came over the hill.
The fawn began nursing and I fired of more frames. I decided to switch my lens so I could get the deer in a landscape shot. I put on my 70-300mm. No sooner had I switch when a lone Coyote walked out into the road about 50 feet from them. I was able to get one shot as the two deer high tailed it into the woods.
(Notice the fawn in the lower right corner. It's leaving mother behind.)
The Coyote knew the deer were to fast to catch. At this time I was feeling kind of foolish for changing my lens, so I quickly changed back to my 400mm and was able to get one good shot of the Coyote before it trotted off into the forest.
The rest of the afternoon was just as thrilling. Butterflies, landscapes and wildflowers filled my memory cards. It was a great day and Summer has only just begun.
