How to Keep the Faith – I Keep Going, Hoping Despite Despair

It’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve written a post mainly because I feel I’ve been operating on a plane where I’m just struggling to keep my faith alive. I feel overwhelmed by the ways the things I most deeply care about are being threatened. The issue I most care about is how the beauty, spirituality, and existence of nature are being assaulted. This issue has the furthest reaching impact and is the most urgent. Each day seems to bring more evidence about how climate change and humans’ willful carelessness have resulted in tragic consequences to our co-inhabitants of this planet. I’ll name a few: the disappearance of insects around the world; how humanity as been responsible for the loss of 60% of animals with a vertebrate since 1970; how climate changes are happening faster than previous forecasts; and how plastics are ending up everywhere, in the most remotest part of the ocean, to marine animals and the food we eat. This news paired with the news of how regulations against pesticides and polluters are being rolled back, and how politicians and their corporate allies endeavor to open up more of our public land to mining and drilling, and of course our abandonment of the climate change agreement enrage me. Over half a century past Rachel Carson’s Silent Springs, and we haven’t learned a thing. Thirty years ago (1989), NASA’s James Hansen testified about global warming before Congress and we’ve hardly done a thing about it, and he wasn’t the first.

Great and Snowy Egrets, No. 2

Lookout Point near Otter Rock

Sunrise at Reflection Lake

What is wrong with us? If this were a movie, one would expect the hero to be fighting to find a way out of this self-induced dilemma, bringing all the good forces together to find ways to do things in a sustainable, non-harmful way. Instead, our dominant leaders are performing in the role of villainous characters that you might find in a Batman picture. They advocate for pesticides, and coal mines, and oil companies, and even nuclear plants and weapons so they and their cronies can fill their pockets while they imperil the future of not only the animals and plants that share the planet with us, but also current and future generations of humans.

Mustang Getting Out of a Muddy Waterhole the Slow Way

I don’t find it comforting that this issue, which is the biggest and most urgent issue that humankind faces is not even finding a top mentioned place in the forerunners of presidential candidates’ agenda for our 2020 presidential race. In fact, I’ve only heard one possible and so far non-official presidential candidate mention it – Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State. I like a lot of the candidates, and they may have good voting records on environmental issues,  but their lack of mentioning climate change and environmental issues is extremely disappointing.  Of course there are a lot of hot topical issues (gun control, income inequity, the economy and the future place of workers in it), but at least bring the danger to our environment up as a major and compelling reason to run against Trump. TheUN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released October 8, 2018, “warned there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.” (The Guardian, US Edition, 10/8/2018) Does this sound urgent enough. By the 2020, election, that will be 10 years.

J’accuse

Still Holding On

Salt River Mare and Her Colt, No. 2

I appreciate it isn’t an easy subject to talk about. After all giving up our straws and water bottles, and changing the way we use our resources without having to think about the source, or the waste after we use it is not going to be popular with many. People will be inconvenienced. But instead of dealing with these topics, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction – rolling back emission standards on cars, manufacturers continuing to use plastic (like the stupid packaging for individual serving of coffee beans, less recycling (due to people being too lazy to sort between what is trash and what is recycled so that China now refuses most of our recyclables we shipped to them rather than dealing with it ourself), turning a blind eye to how food is produced, and bringing back pesticides that have already decimated our insect population and impacted birds, and by continuing to clear our forests here and abroad. Both trees and oceans (or the right type of phytoplankton in oceans), the two main oxygen producers are at risk. Now, think of the victims of the devastating recent floods, hurricanes, and fires – how inconvenienced do you think those people were/are? What happens when the newest disaster comes to our neighborhood? Will we finally start taking this seriously then?

Lighting Up the Mechanics of a Consumer Nation, No. 1

Otters Having Breakfast on the River

I keep my despair at bay by also burying my head, but in nature. I continue to take pictures and share the beauty of animals and nature. I want more people to have images of what is at stake present in their consciousness especially when they make choices. Call your representatives, recycle what you can, think about what goods you are buying, and think about who you will elect to represent your values. Life and all that it entails is not a right but a privilege.

Haystack Rock at Low Tide in Early Morning

Salt Creek Falls, Another View

Photos: ©Belinda Greb Photography
1) Great and Snowy Egrets, No. 2; 2) Lookout Point near Otter Rock; 3) Sunrise at Reflection Lake; Cover and 4) Mustang Getting Out of a Muddy Waterhole the Slow Way; 5) J’Accuse; 6) Still Holding On; 7) Salt River Mare and Her Colt, No. 2 ; 8) Lighting Up the Mechanics of a Consumer Nation, No. 1; 9) Otters Having Breakfast on the River; 10) Horse vs Truck on Public Lands; 11) Haystack Rock at Low Tide in Early Morning; and 12) Salt Creek Falls, Another View.

https://belinda-greb.pixels.com/

A Few More from Chincoteague

I think I will try to have some intermittent shorter posts with just a few images and fewer musings!

Grace over Water

It’s funny when you come back from a trip with tons of images, there are some you just can’t wait to start processing.  But on the second or third round, it’s always the case that there’s one that was overlooked and you wonder how in the world you missed it.  This one of an egret landing on a pond is such a photograph for me.  I love the grace of the egret coming in for a landing and the background colors of the reeds and water.

Early Evening on the Chincoteague Bay

This second photograph was taken just about sunset, as I looked eastward from the boat we were in.  The light was just so beautiful around that time and this image lent itself to a subtle watercolor effect.  As I often do, here I worked with layers and masks to blend in an effect for more control and artistry. Westward the sky was more dramatic but to me visually less appealing. This was looking towards Assateague Island, and I like the one post sticking out of the water and the trees in the background.

Pretty Mallard Cross

The next two photos use textures. In the case of the mallard hybrid, the background was just sort of light as I had spot focused on him to bring out the details of his feather.  Another thing I enjoy is researching the photos for more information. For instance in this case, I tried to identify the duck as he really didn’t look like a mallard.  I found that domestic ducks and cross breeds often result from pairings with a male mallard as the iridescent green head is apparently quite appealing to female ducks of all species. I used one of the fabulous textures by Jerry Jones.

In the final photograph for this week’s post, I have taken many photographs of this filly as she was young and beautiful of course! 🙂 I was shooting with a telephoto since we were in a boat and at a distance. I cropped one of the more sharper images to use as just a head shot, and used a free beautiful texture found on Deviant Art and created by env1ro. I loved the bold colors in this texture.  Generally when I use free textures, I do try and change them up by using more than one, or another exposure to blend in, and for the Portrait of a Filly I did add another texture in but the primary texture was so gorgeous, the changes were pretty subtle. For the mallard, the texutre was such a perfect background for the duck’s coloring, I also didn’t add in another texture. For me this is an exception rather than a rule. Generally I will try to personalize it. See my note on how  I usually do to that.

Portrait of a Filly

Note: For other textures or exposures to blend in, think blurred landscapes, flora, flowers, clouds. Or shoot texture found in metal, rocks, etc. Or try your hand at using the various brushes in Photoshop to create your own. Then experiment with the blends or use the masks to just brink in part of an effect.

Revisiting the Past in Present Time

Last month I traveled back to New York and Washington DC to see family and friends.  For me, it is hard to go back to a place that holds so many memories and emotions. I loved seeing my aunt and friends again, but all the while there was a bittersweet feeling knowing that I will miss them soon again. It’s as if each moment contains not only the current joy of being together, but also the past memories and the future absences. Time is more precious and, on these types of trips, it is not abundant. There will never be the time to really catch up or to have the leisure of being able to relax into the moments spent together as if we were just hanging out together on a rainy afternoon, and could see each other easily the week afterwards, and the week after that.

Freedom Tower

I met one friend down at the September 11 memorial. I hadn’t been since the tower and pools were completed, and neither had she.  It was disorienting to try and find our old places (mine – the World Financial Center that housed Lehman Brothers) when the connecting structures are missing. I used to come up from the WTC subway and then take the Vesey Street Bridge over to the WFC, and there is a similar bridge down there still, which confused me, but the old one is gone.

I hadn’t wanted to spend a lot of time down there, too heavy, so we headed to the Metropolitan Museum which I had wanted to revisit. Throughout the visit, there were parts of the city that seemed as familiar as yesterday, and other parts that were new.  New York constantly seems to reinvent  itself- for instance the High Line walk between 14th and 33rd and all the new buildings that have  either replaced or have been built on top of the old buildings. Yet there are other spots that surprise you by still being there, like Zabar’s (in my old neighborhood) or the corner pizza restaurant I used to go, or the  hall in the Museum where one of my favorite paintings, Joan of Arc by LePage hangs.

However, this visit was easier than the first few visits after I moved where the feeling of displacement had been intense. I was reminded how tiring and distracting it can be to meet friends in the city as there are logistics, timelines, subways to work out. At least now we have cell phones.  I remember how one friend and I who had made plans to see a movie had ended up at different theaters on a very cold winter’s night.  And yet, it is hard to explain this, I was also reminded of that feeling of cosiness or sense of belonging (to the city?) when seeing a friend’s or friends’ face(s) when meeting up in that big city, walking around the crowded streets together, and then parting to go our separate ways.

Washington Memorial from the Jefferson Memorial No. 1

The second part of the trip was visiting my niece, who lives in DC. I have been to DC before but I really never spent a lot of time there.  This time I was newly impressed by the subway system which is clean and easy to use.  I loved my niece’s neighborhood, Cleveland Park, that reminded me of city living. My niece showed me the memorials by late night (we started out at 11:30), which I thought was a brilliant idea.  It was a wonderful two or so hours walking around the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, and the campus of Georgetown University as well without having to worry about parking or crowds. It reminded me of when I worked graveyard in NYC midtown and got to see a completely different side to the city than most see.

Chincoteague Foal No. 1 by Herself

I had suggested to my niece, when planning the trip, that we go down to Chincoteague Island for the weekend, and both of us really loved it.  The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge has over 300 varieties of birds and of course the wild ponies, AKA Chincoteague Ponies and Assateague Horses.  They are really horses, rather than ponies, whose size has been dwarfed by the low nutritional value of their food. We saw some of the ponies during our visit to the Refuge, and then more later by boat. I used and highly recommend Captain Dan’s Around the Island Tours.

Assateague Island

I couldn’t help but compare my Chincoteague Wild Ponies to the Pryor Mustangs experience. Both herds have been in a more or less confined area for probably hundreds of years, and so unlike some other wild herds, there is a lot known about the lineage of the herds, the horses are named, etc, and they are closely followed.  Because I had spent the whole day with the Pryor Mustang Herd, I definitely feel more connected to that herd.  Also I feel their “wildness” and “independence” comes at the harsher price of living in a much more perilous environment. The Chincoteague Wild Ponies (pertains to the horses in Virigina only) have two vet visits per year and people who can check up on them year round. Regarding photographing them, I had more access to the Pryor Mustangs, since I was walking around versus being either further away (in the refuge) or on a moving boat, but I did enjoy the beautiful backdrop of habitat of the Assateague Islands.  I do want to go back to Pryor Mountains in the Spring when the habitat is less dry.

The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, as mentioned, has a lot more going for it then its ponies.  Coming from Oregon on the West Coast, it was a delight to see many birds that I haven’t encountered in person before, including the little blue heron, the green heron, the cattle egret, and, my favorite, the glossy ibis in breeding plumage.

We had walked more than 9 miles in one day around the Refuge, and this was a great way to encounter the wildlife, although the Loop is open to cars after 3pm.  My favorite encounter and one of my favorite captures was seeing a Red-Winged Blackbird start to harass a Great Egret who came into its territory. It may have been defending a nest, but the blackbird looked absolutely enraged by the Egret.  It darted so quickly the Egret couldn’t keep up.  I have several exposures, and in many, the Egret has twisted around to look at a spot where the blackbird had been two seconds before! The two Ibis, in this particular shot, went about tending to the daily need of foraging for food.

I really loved my trip and my only regret was that I couldn’t have quadruple the time I had to hang out with friends and for exploring city and nature in a more leisurely manner.  However I am so grateful for the experience and being able to see old friends as well as both old and new places. And yes, I miss it all, already.

The Ibis Ignore the High Drama at the Pond

Malheur Wildlife Refuge

Malheur Wildlife Refuge is over 187, 000 acres in Southeastern Oregon, containing over 320 species of birds and 58 mammals. It consists of sagebrush and wetlands.

I had grown more interested in visiting the Malheur Wildlife Refuge after reading Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams (a wonderful book). She mainly talked about the Salt Lake Region in Utah, but did mention this refuge as a wonderful place for bird sightings.  But what really sealed the deal for me was when I heard about the wild horse herds in the same area. I’m not a birder, but I do enjoy seeing the various varieties and recently got The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North American in order to be able to identify more.

After my trip to Kenya, I do feel I became more observant and would start to see the birds more, and becoming reignited by photography has also refined my observation skills.  However, I have a long ways to go.

The headquarters area was about 30 miles from where we were staying – Crystal Crane Hot Springs, most of it a well-maintained gravel road.  There were birders out and about with their huge telephoto lenses, which made mine seem rather dinky. There were a lot of Yellow-Headed Blackbirds about, and also Red-Winged Blackbirds.

In addition at the pond there were several American White Pelicans, which are beautiful.  Around the grounds were bunny rabbits and ground squirrels. Also seen were hummingbirds, and many other birds that I did not identify. It was supposed to be rainy that day, so the clouds were got were much better than expected, with even a few spots of sun.

One birder told us that there were owl babies by Benson Pond, and that we would probably see others about who could point them out to us.

We headed down to Benson, meaning to stop and then look for the South Steens Wild Horse Herd.  We actually passed it, reaching French Glen and realizing we had gone to far.  However, we had stopped to take a picture of a beautiful Great Egret.  While the Egret was fairly sharp for the distance he was from me, I did end up doing a texture to the background, as the photograph was cropped quite a bit.

Where the photograph of the Egret was taken, in the middle distance was a flock of geese, and in the far distance I made out two coyotes probably hunting rabbits or rodents.

Along the way, I also got this picture of a Long-billed Dowitcher.

French Glen is a very small town (est. pop. 12) with a historic hotel built in 1924. Pete French was the owner of a livestock company and he was murdered in his 30s as he had a tendency to buy up land, controlling the water rights and preventing settlers from getting to their own land if they had to cross his.

The little town is at the foot of the Steen Mountain Loop which rises from sagebrush terrain to over 9000 feet. I’ll have some pictures of that next week. Here is a picture of the area right by French Glen.

After going up the Loop, we headed back to see if we could find Benson Pond and nearly missed it again.  There is no sign directly off Hwy 205. Instead, you have to take another gravel road north of it, and then work your way down.

By the time we got there, there was really no one else around to point out the owls, and frankly I didn’t even know what type of owl or what I was looking for! Hindsight tells me I needed to ask more questions, but aside from looking up at the trees to see if I could see any owls (since I did learn that they don’t usually stay right by the nest but in nearby trees).  For some reason I thought it might be a burrowing owl, so I was looking on the ground around Benson Pond, but there was a lot of grass, reeds, and parts where there were holes down to the water.  I also tried to listen for any sounds, but again, was unsuccessful.

There were more egrets, and it was wonderful to watch then land, as well as some Dark-eyed Junco Sparrows, more blackbirds. I also admired greatly these beautiful trees, pictured below as the bark was nearly black and stood out from the green leaves.  On the way back, I happened to catch some movement and saw this beautiful pheasant, but by the time I stopped the car and started shooting though not at a fast enough speed to get any great photos as he was retreating behind a barbed wire fence.

Again, I feel like I would like to go back and just have more time to observe and hang out.  This trip was very short, but it provided a great overview to make plans for the next trip and I had some wonderful experiences.

Next week, just a bit more about the general area.