It's been a busy summer and not much time for bird photography. I did sit on the ground in our daughter's backyard one day and got pictures of a House Wren, zipping in and out of the nest and chattering at me. I took dozen's of pictures of a Gray Catbird with a bug in its mouth every time. It was doing a fine job of keeping the insect population down. I saw a bunch of Common Yellowthroats at the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge east of Algona, IA. I liked this shot of a female hanging on to a stalk like there was nothing to it. (Click to enlarge the photos. Lots more birds at the links above.)

I've been trying a few night sky photos. These were a couple of weeks ago, close to the new moon. 30 second exposures, f/3.5 at ISO 2000. The light on the horizon is "light pollution" from nearby towns. It is pretty tough in Iowa to find any place that doesn't have light on the horizon from towns or farm yard lights. There is also quite a bit of haze in the air in the summer time, making it difficult to see the dimmer or more distant stars. (Click the images to see them larger.)

I walked out in the backyard one evening last week, after the sun had gone behind the trees and noticed that there was a nice soft light on the flowers. Most people tend to think of bright sunlight as being the best light for photos. It seems surprising to learn that the quality of light in the shade or on a overcast day can produce very nice images of flowers. The same with people pictures.  With the camera on the tripod, I took a few shots before the light faded. (Click for larger images)

I've been home for three weeks, but finally getting around to writing about the National Scout Jamboree held in July at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, a brand new 10,000+ acre high adventure Boy Scout base in the mountains of West Virginia. It is hard to describe the event or the location in a few word except to say that it was a fantastic experience. There were approximately 35,000 Scouts and leaders from all over the world, as well as 8,000+ volunteer staff. I was one of those volunteer staff, working on the Videography crew, documenting every aspect of the first Jamboree at the new Scout base. We produced three videos for the "arena shows" where all of the participants came together to enjoy the scheduled entertainment, as well as videos for the daily news casts of the "Jamboree Today" and lots of additional video footage that will be used in future promotions. Our crew of 22 included 10 young men age 17-20, 3 adult women and 9 adult men. It was a very creative and energetic bunch, all working hard long hours, walking many miles each day with camera and tripods to capture some great video, then furiously uploading and editing to meet our deadlines. 

I didn't have much time for taking any many personal photos, but I did stop on the way back to my tent one night to take a long exposure shot of one of the camp sites with the full moon rising overhead, and a few flower shots like the one below.

You can see some of the videos that our crew produced and the photos by the still photographers at the links below.

• Opening Arrival of Scouts Video
• Closing Jamboree Activities Video
• Photos at the National Scout Jamboree by the Photography Crew  (in reverse order – the last day is first) -
• Jamboree Today - Videos and news stories from the Jamboree