Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

Last week I wrote at the apex of a drought that has been gripping southwestern Michigan. This week the situation is greatly improved. Over the last week Kalamazoo saw close to 2 inches of rain – cutting by a third our shortage for the season.

Along with the rain came hot temperatures and high humidity. On Friday I again headed out to the Allegan Forest – the dragonflies who had been laying low were again out in abundance, as were spicebush, red spotted purples, and tiger swallowtails.

I spent most of the day out at the old farmstead off 48th street. The marsh at the south end is not wet with standing water – but it is back to being mucky and no doubt wet-water wet in the center. The red dragons are out in great abundance. I saw a couple of blue dashers (got no shots of them) and a small, as yet unidentified subject that looked a lot like a half sized immature Halloween pennant. But the pennants are fading as summer marches on. The red dragons – premature when they first appeared – are better suited to the season with each passing day.

More photos from the day:

The drought has been continuing in southwest Michigan – though last night’s half inch of rain was a small relief. This past week temperatures in the mid 90’s F have only served to make the drought more acute.

On Friday I visited the Allegan Forest, looking for mid season dragonflies and opportunities for some landscape photographs. It must have been the oppressive heat, or perhaps the dusty dry soil, but there was nary a dragonfly or other insect to be found. For the first time in months I didn’t both with insect repellant, and not even a mosquito was to be found.

I decided to concentrate on shooting some digital infrared work. I’m seriously considering getting a dedicated digital IR camera – which unfortunately would mean moving away from using a Pentax since no one seems to do digital conversions of Pentax gear. But for now, I’ve been happy to work with the *ist-D and Hoya RM 90 filter.

Only one acceptable image came of the day’s IR shooting. This was shot at the edge of a restored section of Oak Savanna, right about where the deer can be seen in this shot from last summer. The image has been manipulated a bit more in Photoshop than I usually do, but the effect of increasing detail in some areas, while losing it in others, is interesting. Of course – the hot dry wind that made some branches wave during the 8 second exposure also had something to do the blurred areas of the shot.

This image was taken north of the Kalamazoo River. While there I took a few shots of one of the only large tree standing oak trees I’ve ever found in this so-called forest. Those shots were a disappointment – a plain tree, so what?

After working the areas north of the river for a while, I headed over to some familiar fields south of the river. I took the Allegan Dam Road, driving over the dam that backs up the river to make Lake Allegan. This turned out to be a scouting trip – it had been some time since I last drove along the dam – and I looked without luck for some promising areas in which to shoot.

After several visits to familiar haunts, coming up empty with regards to insect shots, I wandered down to the Ottawa Marsh. After all, if dry weather was the problem, than what better place than a marsh to find some moisture.

I saw quite a few bluet damselflies as I hiked down the dirt drive towards the board launch and the entry way to the marsh. Back in the marsh itself the effects of the drought were not as profound as in other areas. Of course – I was walking through areas that are probably knee deep muck during normal years - so that fact that the soil was still moist and vegetation as flourishing should be taken with some measure.

A ways in the marsh, following the river bank, I encountered an area of several acres thick with iron weed and joe-pye weed, all ranging from 4 to 6 feet in height. I wasn’t travelling light – I brought both the insect setup and the digital IR setup (complete with tripod) but I ditched the camera and tripod in a dense thicket, and wandered off into the iron weed.

Red spotted purples, spicebush butterflies, and more than a few giant swallowtails (lovely insects) were attached to the ironweed. It was difficult to get shots with a clean background - literally standing in flowering weeds as tall as me – but I managed a few good captures of giant swallowtails – to be included in a future insect photography update.

Wandering into a patch of vegetation that is pretty much growing over your head is usually not a great idea. Once you are ten feet into the patch, only your own trail leads you back out. But between the handy GPS system and noting a few large trees along the river, it was pretty simple to bee-line right out of the weeds once I was done shooting.

And from there it was a quick hop home.

Yesterday  I went to the Allegan Forest with my friend Bill in hopes of finding a few Karner Blues. I knew it was late in the year, but hoped that they might still be out and about.

Unfortunately, the Karners were gone. In fact, for the first few hours there was very little activity at all on the Oak Savannah – even though the day was warm. It wasn’t until 9:30 or 10:00 A.M. before there was any notable activity from dragonflies or any other insects.

Nonetheless, it was a good day. I forget how huge the Allegan Game Area is – 80 square miles, 50,000 acres. We hit many of my favorite places, but there were just as many that we did not visit. I felt fortunate to live close to such a great wild area – though at best it is semi-wild, considering the litter (mostly in the form of spent ammunition) and criss-crossing roads.

I am also getting concerned about the clear-cutting of huge portions of the forest. As a state, Michigan is in deep financial waters – with an unemployment rate is the worst in the entire nation and plummeting tax revenues. It raises the question of whether the clear-cutting is simply a tool to raise money, through timber sales.

Hmmm…. So where was I?

Oh yes – so while the Karners were gone, by late morning the dragonflies were out in abundance. We hit one of the areas that was clear cut a couple of years ago, and found a very cooperative Halloween Pennant . This was a male subject, resplendent in his orange and black coloring, from which the Halloween moniker comes.

I’ve shot uncounted immature Halloween pennants, but the mature males – with the orange and black colors – seem to be less common than expected. So I was glad to have the chance to get a few shots of them in this session.

While shooting the Halloween pennant, a blue tailed skink made a dramatic appearance. It ran between Bill and I for several minutes – trying to climb up our pant legs and then darting off into the scrubby vegetation.

The skink was a real treat – I know that folks who live n southern climes see lizards all the time, but up here in frozen Michigan, lizards are a rare treat. The Allegan Forest is the only place where I’ve seen skinks in the wild. We’re at the far northern end of their native range, and it’s great to see that they are surviving and apparently thriving in the state game area – even if this specimen was too fast for us to get a clear photograph of it.

At the end of the day we headed over to the abandoned farm off 48th street – the subject of many past posts. It’s been dry in west Michigan – not yet at drought conditions thanks to the wet winter and spring, but dry still. Allegan has been luckier than some other areas of west Michigan. In the last few weeks it has rained there a few times, and the swamp at the end of the old farmstead that I like to visit has held its own – not gaining in moisture, but not losing either. The cracked, dry mud is thankfully gone – replaced with moist soil.

But there the red dragons still reign – the red meadowhawks, the white faced meadowhawks. The pink, shrubby plant that filled the marsh last year is reduced to the edges of the most moist areas – testimony that the marsh survives, at least for this year.

So we snapped a few red dragons, and by mid afternoon called it a day. The ticks were outrageous – I found on my jeans or shirt while walking around or driving, and when I got home I found yet another and a ninth dug in just above the line of my socks. Nasty creatures those wood ticks!

My days of employment are again coming to an end. Soon I will be free to roam the savannah, more or less at will. But these next few weeks are encumbered – I hope to steal off at least once next week to get a head start on August 2007 photographs.

I’m pleased to announce that after much hard work, effort, and toil, my first monograph – Imperfect Symmetry – is now officially published. Copies can be ordered from www.lulu.com/cassino.

I wanted to share some reactions from the literary community on this momentous event – but there were none. So, I can only offer the endorsments I’ve gotten thus far:

Seriously - www.lulu.com/cassino.

I’m wrapping things up at the day job, and preparing to plunge again into full time photographic work. I have a lot to get done before mid August, so I’m back to just stealing what time I can for photography for the next few weeks.

Well, the Allegan Forest has been pretty stingy lately, so I’ve been shooting insects around the yard, and on Friday stole away to the McLinden Trails to see if the dragonflies were out and about there.

I found the Robber Fly shown here in the srtip of weeds and wildflowers that borders the side of my small, urban yard. I’m not sure what the drop on the end of its wings is – perhaps some thing as simple as Robbery Fly poop. But, I don’t often see robber flies in the city, so it was interesting find.

Friday was a cool, crisp, and clear morning – could have been early September. It has rained to the north and the south, but not here, The grass was dried and brown, devoid of dew. I only had a few hours at the McLinden Trails, and was disappointed to see so few dragonflies on the wing or perching as I wandered along the trails.

I managed to get a few shots of mature male Halloween Pennants – the ones that are bright red and black and from which their name is derived.

In addition, several large blue darners were hovering around in the air. I’ve always wanted to get a shot of a dragonfly in flight, and gave it a try standing on a small hilltop. The darner was flying between me and a row of white pines, which provided a nice background. The dragonfly never got closer than 15 or 20 feet. I was using a manual focus, 200mm macro lens.

The shot shown here is a pretty extreme (about 50%) crop, but reasonably sharp and with decent freezing of the insect in flight. Pursing dragonflies in flight will go on the meta-project list.

By mid morning, the winds had picked up in front of an advancing cool front, and shooting any dragonflies became almost impossible. So I left them for the day – perhaps for the rest of the month.

More photos:

Halloween Pennants:

The snowflake photograph collections on this site enjoy a constant stream of visitors. A collection of 55 hand pulled prints of these marvels has also been displayed locally here in west Michigan in several venues.

The next logical step – a Book!

I once read a book, and it was great. I think it was about a little white footed mouse who drove off in a car. I don’t remember the details. But there’s something nice about having a book in your hands – who likes to curl up with their laptop by the fire place or in bed at night?

So this summer I finally pulled it together and prepared a collection of snowflake photographs to be presented in book form and called Imperfect Symmetry.

I received the first proof copies form lulu.com last week, and they looked pretty good. I never expected to get everything “just so” on the first try - snowflake photography is a delicate subject, and the images can be really difficult to get to print properly. But to my surprise only 3 of the 35 images needed to be reworked, and so within a few hours of having received the proof a revised copy was prepped and on its way back to lulu for publication.

Assuming all is well with this revision, Imperfect Symmetry will be available on lulu.com within the week – two at most if further re-do’s are needed. Aside from 35 specially selected snow crystal photographs, a few comments and observations from your humble narrator are also included.

Stay tuned for the publication announcement!

UPDATE: The book is now available at www.lulu.com/cassino. Click here to order a copy.

Where do the dragons go when they don’t want to be seen?

Beats me, or else I would have seen some recently…

West Michigan’s unusual dry spell finally broke this last week. I visited the Allegan Forest on Sunday and again on Tuesday, both days after heavy local rains. It’s amazing how quickly the plants in the sandy soil of the pine barrens quickly turn from brown to green. The marsh I’ve been visiting off 48th street has progressed from dried, cracked mud, to muddy mud, to gooey muddy mud. Good sign for all the moisture loving creatures there.

But on both days, no dragonflies were to be found. A few spicebush and red spotted purple butterflies flitted about. So far this year, I’ve seen no Karner Blues, and it’s it’s likely I won’t see any this summer at all.

So I set my sights on landscape photography. In particular, I did some more digital infrared work using the *ist-d and Hoya RM90 filter. It seems that some of the best results are to be had on high overcast days. The few cool and dry, crystal clear days when I shot digital IR seemed to result in an undue amount of sensor flare and other problems.

The first image shown here was shot laast week, using the Pentax *ist-D and an IR filter. It is from the old farmstead off 48th street.

The second image was shot last August from a similar vantage point as this shot, which was taken using Maco 120 format IR film in the trusty Pentax 6x7. Perosnally, I like the digital IR effect better – and while the digital shot required a fairly long exposure, it was not much longer than that required by the rather slow B&W film.

I also experimented with more ‘time and motion studies.’ These are 25 – 100 multiple exposure shots, building up a composite of light on the negative that bears no resemblance to the actual subjects shot. I realized that the Pentax Mz-S, with its capacity for unlimited multiple exposures, was the perfect tool for this technique. No results to show, but the studies continue.

My next opportunity to visit the forest is three weeks out. That’s disappointing, since a lot can happen in three weeks. But I’ve managed to carve out a few hours this Friday to visit the McLInden Trails, so with luck, a dragon or two might appear here in the near future.

Sometimes I wonder if the dragons miss me as much as I as I miss them. Sitting down here in my very urban ‘yard’ (it’s just a small patio) near downtown Kalamazoo, a dragonfly has suddenly landed on a thistle seed head next to me. It’s a small one – nondescript – just darting out now and then to pluck a mosquito from the air. But it’s looking at me with the same look my cat might have in her eyes…

Well, after all these years of seeking them out, perhaps it is only fitting that they should seek me out for a change…

It’s been dry here in West Michigan – a drought that seems to have caught many unawares. The extremely wet spring, with its heavy rains, has given way to a prolonged dry period. On Friday I visited the marsh off 48th street in the Allegan Forest. A few weeks ago it was at last full and wet – the first time in several years. Now the water has gone, just leaving cracked mud and the semi-decayed vegetation that the marsh overran but did not have time to consume.

I saw a tiny white frog there - it was so small I thought it was a moth. I got it in the camera finder but it hopped away before I pressed the shutter button. The look in it’s eye - “Where is that water!”

My day in the Allegan Forest, Friday last, was initially devoted to exploring new areas. I’ve only been out in a fraction of the 80 square miles that make up the forest. So on this day I pushed off into some new areas.

One of my first stops what to explore the “Fennville Farm Unit.” As the name implies, it is a working farm, but it is in one of the lowest and wettest areas of the ‘forest’. Streams – more like man-made channels or ditches – carry water through the farm area. There are several pull offs and parking lots, with simple plank bridges that let you get over the ditches and into the grasslands that surround the fields. There was an abundance of birds and many I had never seen before – definitely worth a return trip for birding.

Ultimately I made my way back to more familiar grounds, and did actual photography along 48th street. I did manage to visit several fields that I had only scouted before, and shot both insect photos and a few digital infrared shots. The digital IR’s only disappointed – sensor flare seemed to creep into every exposure – but it was a good day for photographing insects.

Most memorable of the day were the – I believe – calico pennant dragonflies. These creatures have a remarkable pastel color to the their wings. They were out in abundance in the old farmland along 48th street.

Also out in abundance – and to my surprise – were the first Red Meadowhawks and White Faced Meadowhawks. I’ve been saying that when the red dragon appears the summer is about to end, but here it was, the 6th of july – and the summer is just gearing up with the first major heat wave of the season.

A check of the field guide shows that the red meadowhawks can appear as early as mid July – so maybe they are pushing it a bit. But I only found them around the drying swamp, and so I assume that the environmental pressure lead them emerge earlier than usual. But the swamp itself – which is now dry enough to walk out into – was the only place where I saw these red dragons – both Red meadowhawks and White Faced Meadowhawks – so I assume they are responding to it quickly drying up. They were mating like there was no tomorrow, so let’s hope they sow the seeds (literally) for either a second wave yet this summer, or for next year’s red dragons.

Out in the fields, the American Copper Butterfly has come to be my most steadfast companion. Where ever I go, there they are.

It’s ironic because my first attempts at photographing these creatures were frustrating and unsuccessful. They are small – about the size of a dime – and agile. Maybe I’ve become known to the collective sphere of their insect intelligence, at least locally. Or maybe I’ve just gotten better and stalking and shooting these tiny marvels. But either way – they are like a an old familiar friend out among the wild strawberries and other weedy plants.

Thinking about it – I’ve never, ever, seen an American Copper here in my urban backyard. Almost all the other species of butterflies show up sooner or later – eastern tailed blues, tiger swallowtails, spicebush, fritillary, monarchs and viceroys – but never has a copper come this way.

Included in the photos with this update are a few from two weeks ago.

The colorful grasshopper below is only of the few Orthoptera included in these photos. I generally find grasshoppers to be boring subjects. And their personalities leave a lot to be desired as well – nowhere near as engaging and debonair as your typical dragonfly.

The first shots in this update are from the first weekend in July. Aside from the grasshopper, most notable is the Dragon Hunter, who snatched a Twelve Spotted Skimmer out of the air and gobbled her up. I took a full series of photos documenting this – but to me they are only a gruesome curiosity, and do not reflect what I find most compelling about these insects.

More Photos: 

Halloween Pennants or Calico Pennants: