There's Wildlife and there's Wild Life

Most often, I get out to a shooting location early. Pre-dawn. Good light. It's quiet and it's usually just me, the breeze, and the wildlife. These are usually planned shoots. I like spontaneity as much as the next guy, but wildlife/nature photography does take some planning to maximize time and effort. However, there are times when, on a whim, I take off to one of the local parks, rivers or other similar area closeby. These opportunistic excursions usually take place in the evening. So, the light is nice, the breeze is there and so is the wildlife. Or, the wild life. That is, humans enjoying the same playground as the very creatures I spend so much time trying to capture on, uh, my sensor.

As you can imagine and maybe you have experienced it, the two don't mix too well. People just enjoying being outdoors. Throwing a frisbee. Watercraft of all types making plenty of noise and wake. An off-in-the-distant car radio playing louder than usual to entertain those in the picnic area. These and other loud activities put the wildlife into a hide mode. Most park visitors, I observe, are oblivious to the surroundings that extend beyond their immediate area. They miss the red-shouldered hawk in flight, the muskrat making his way across the lake, the dragonflies along the shoreline, the snake meandering just off the trail. Well, you get the idea.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with recreation and people enjoying themselves. In fact, these parks are designed and usually maintained more for human recreational activities than wildlife habitation. And, I know that I take my chances of not seeing any wildlife in the evening when people are more active in the parks. So, I try to make use of the situation presented to me, as demonstrated by the two images in this post. Both are very usable images, captured one day apart, same time of day and at the very same location. As the title says, "there's wildlife and there's wild life."