The 2022 GNPA EXPO. And Oy, Have I Got a House For You! « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The 2022 GNPA EXPO. And Oy, Have I Got a House For You!

Wanted to Buy

I have a 100% reliable buyer interested in a Canon EF 200mm f/2 IS USM lens and possibly a Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO II lens as well. Along with a Sony A7r III or IV, a Sony 100-400mm or 70-200mm f/2.8, and a Sony wide angle or two, such as the 16-35mm or the 24-70mm. Please shoot me an e-mail if you would like to turn your old, unused gear into cash money.

What’s Up?

I did well with the crane family on a cloudy Saturday morning and headed back down to the lake at 11am as the skies darkened and wound up making some nice crane-int-the-rain images. BAA-friend Peter Dominowski drove up from Fort Myers and arrived at 3:15pm for an afternoon and a morning of In-the-Field Instruction and a pool-deck dinner. We worked the cranes and did really well right at the end of the day as a crane posed for us with the blue waters of the South Canal as background.

Today is Sunday 13 March 2022. The forecast is for clear and a cold-for-Central Florida 41° with partly sunny to sunny skies and a 14mph wind from the north. We will head down to the lake early and do our best. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too had a great day. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes four days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. And please consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn …

Your Dream Home!

Oy, Have I Got a Home For You!

In 1993, my late-wife Elaine and I decided to retire off our sabbatical — that thanks to a deal made with NYC in the mid-1970s by the United Federation of Teachers’ notorious Al Shanker. He loaned the city nine billion dollars from the teacher’s pension fund. One of the givebacks that he got was this: folks who were granted sabbatical leaves between 1990 and 1995 were allowed to take the leave, get rested, re-educated, and re-energized, would be allowed to retire without having to return to work! So, we called her parents, the late Dave and Dora Goldstein, and said, “We are moving to Florida this summer. We are going to set up residence in your living room.” Without hesitation, and without consulting Dave, Dora said, “Come on down!”

The very next day, she called us and said, in Dora Goldstein style, “Oy, have I got a house for you!” God bless Dora. While she had many of the qualities of a typical Jewish grandma, she truly was one of a kind. She was the life of the party, and of Brighton Beach when Elaine was growing up: gregarious, enthusiastic, loud, funny, loving, and supportive. In her mid-eighties, she started a video dating club at Temple Shalom and had three marriages in the first year! And when she was 85, she taught a defensive driver’s education course for seniors. You get the idea!

Anyhoo, with generous help from Dave and Dora, we purchased that small home at 1455 Whitewood Drive, Deltona. Elaine died in that house in November 1994. I remained there until 2001 when I relocated to Indian Lake Estates.

Today, I can honestly say, “Oy, have I got a house for you.” My very dear, longtime friend, bird photographer Jim Neiger, is selling his wonderful home in Kissimmee, Florida. If you are looking for your dream home, have money, own or want to buy a boat, are looking to re-locate to Central Florida (like so many others today), and would like a gorgeous home hard on the shore of (West) Lake Tohopekaliga Blvd, then you need to check out Jim’s Zillow listing here.

Inside, the home is drop-dead gorgeous as Jim recently invested more than $200,000 refurbishing the interior and updating the appliances and bathrooms. Don’t believe me? Check to the 38 photos at the listing linked to above. Lake Toho is filled with big bass and lots of birds and other wildlife. It has produced a documented 17.1-pound bass. And this is the lake that produced Dean Rojas’ record-setting string of five bass that weighed 45 pounds, 2 ounces in a Bassmaster classic in January 2001. There is a boat dock in backyard from which you can access both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico via the Kissimmee Waterway. Interested folks can get in touch with Jim at (407) 247-5200.

Join the gang at the 2022 GNPA EXPO

The 2022 Georgia Nature Photographers Association (GNPA) EXPO

I am proud of having been invited as the keynote speaker for this event and am super-excited about photographing on Jekyll Island. I will be leading several workshops as well, and a short (2 1/2-DAY) IPT will follow the event.

GNPA is excited to host this year’s EXPO at what has become one of their favorite locations: Villas by The Sea Resort & Conference Center, Jekyll Island, GA! This will be our third visit to this venue on the Georgia coast and all of the wildlife, nature, and landscape photography opportunities it offers!
GNPA’s passion is capturing images of the natural world. We support members at every skill level by shooting, learning, and inspiring each other to grow. Along those lines, there will be plenty of Workshops and Field Trips to help you learn new and to hone existing skills!

The Basics

EVENT Dates: Thursday, April 7 – Sunday, April 10.
Place: Villas by The Sea Resort & Conference Center, Jekyll Island, GA
Keynote Speaker: Arthur Morris
Conservation Speakers: Kim Bednarek – Okefenokee Swamp Park, Emily Ellison – St. Simons Land Trust, Charles McMillan – Georgia Conservancy. In addition, there are more than a dozen fabulous Workshops and Field Trips led by professional photographers!

You must be a GNPA member to register, but the cost of membership is nominal: $25/year for students and seniors, and $35 for “regular” folks. (Does that make me irregular?) Click here to join. Once you join, you can follow the link on the EXPO home page here to register. I you need help, you can get in touch with the always-very-helpful Eric Bowles via e-mail.

A Bird Photographer’s Story

I will be doing the Friday keynote, “A Bird Photographer’s Story,” at 10am on Friday April 7.

This slide-illustrated lecture will feature hundreds of artie’s spectacular images as he shares the story of his life’s journey from his childhood in Brooklyn through his 23-year teaching career in New York City to the realization of his dream of becoming a full-time professional nature photographer specializing in birds. As we travel with him to his favorite locations from “down by the lake near my home” to the greatest nature photography locations on the planet, he will be sharing tales of his travels and the birds and other creatures that he has photographed over the decades. Do the pictures make the man, or does the man make the pictures?

Lessons from the Field

The second keynote, “Lessons from the Field,” will be at 10am the following day.

This slide-illustrated lecture will feature hundreds of artie’s spectacular photographs. As he shares images from his favorite locations from around the globe — including his backyard, he will be telling us about the birds and other subjects that he photographs and about the gear and techniques that he has used. Topics will include seeing the shot, getting close to free and wild birds, flight photography, getting the right exposure, image design, and lots more.

On Thursday, there is still room in this program on April 7 from 1:00 – 4:00 PM. Workshop $75

Streamlining Your Wildlife Photography Workflow

You just finished a day photographing birds and now have several thousand images. What are the things to look for when selecting your best images setting the rest up as rejects? How can you avoid creating images that will be rejects later? Or should you? What settings during your RAW conversion are best? Included will be a discussion of three popular RAW converters – Adobe Camera Raw, Canon DPP4, and Capture One.

The BAA Jekyll Island Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)

Join Arthur Morris on this 2 1/2-day IPT and bring your photography to a new level. We will be visiting a wide range of locations on and around Jekyll Island for photography and in-the-field instruction. You need to be prepared to get your feet and your butt wet. On this and all IPTs, everyone will learn the basics and fine points of digital exposure. Nikon and Canon folks will learn to get the right exposure every time after making a single test image, and SONY folks will learn to use Zebras so that they can be sure of making excellent exposures before pressing the shutter button. Everyone will learn how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, terns, and gulls, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Artie is familiar with Canon, Nikon, and Sony. Most importantly, you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. Lastly, you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it). The best news is that you will take everything you learn home with you so that you will be a better photographer wherever and whenever you photograph.

If you would like to attend the IPT without attending the EXPO, please get in touch with artie via e-mail.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.

2 comments to The 2022 GNPA EXPO. And Oy, Have I Got a House For You!

  • avatar Adam

    It looks like a great house though I would need to win the Lotto to afford a place like that. With the current trajectory of the market, at best I’ll be looking at a small 2 BR condo in retirement, especially if I want to be able to afford camera gear 😉

    • avatar Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

      I could afford Jim’s house if I sold mine, all of my photo gear, and both children. But there are folks out there who could purchase it out of petty cash.

      with love, artie

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