... And Two Potoo Too

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. The image of a Common Potoo with its chick
was my best Christmas present!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

After leaving the Japi Mountains and driving for 15 hours, we arrived at our new home in Bonito early evening, right after sunset. Besides the heat, the first and most remarkable impression was the soundscape, dominated by the nearly deafening call of cicadas. Up on the tree by the porch, a tropical screech-owl was also welcoming us.

The next morning came to show that I had to find my cameras and lenses ASAP, among piles and more piles of cardboard boxes that brought our belongings in a truck. The bird songs, mainly jays, wake us up early. During the first day, at least three tegu lizards – one of them over three feet long – took calm strolls across our garden, not caring about our presence. More things came as the week went by, including a family of coatis in our backyard and a harmless vine snake who decided to check out our toilet bowl (!).

The present post brings two of the first photos that I took during this new phase, in the hope that much more will come. One of them (shiny cowbird) was taken from our porch; the other (potoo) at a friends’ house less than two miles away. I could only register the scene thanks to the kindness of these friends, who told me about the birds in their garden and opened the doors so that I could photograph. A great Christmas present!

If our porch at the Japi Mountains offered countless photo opportunities for my moments of lazy photographer, I bet that Bonito will be no different! :-)

Shiny cowbird feeding on a Marmelo fruit
by our porch, the first picture
that I took after arriving here.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008
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Twothousandandnine!

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.(please click on the photo to enlarge it)

Just a quick stop by to give you my New Year's card. The blog's next post will be done directly from Bonito! Happy 2009!

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Go West!

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.The Japi Mountains reflected on a water drop
hanging from the Agapanthus flower
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

Almost two years have gone by since I left Bonito and came back to São Paulo to take a postgrad course in Science Journalism. I finished the studies a couple of months ago and now we opted for a change, a sort of “back to the past”.

So, before the end of this year we are leaving the Japi region and moving back to Bonito, where we lived for almost eight years. The projects, professional goals and works remain the same: photography, environment, ecotourism and education. But now, associated with a degree in Journalism!

I will soon post more news and images about this new stage in our lives.

Bonito is home to the Guavira,
one of the region’s most typical fruit
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008
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Learning to Watch

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.Curious about the photographer, a Saffron Finch
takes a break at building its nest
for the upcoming Spring
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

After a short break, it’s time to go back to the Pantanal and Bonito. Once again, for nice reasons.

This weekend, just like last year, we will be making a presentation about birdwatching for the employees of MCR (a local mining company) in Corumbá, followed by a birding expedition through the wetlands. My main subject during the activities will be the natural soundscaspes. The activity will be done in partnership with BirdLife International.

Curious about the photographer, a group of
birdwatchers takes a break at their activity
just to look nice for the picture :-)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

From there we’ll follow on to Bonito, where we will teach a course about birding techniques for local guides. There were so many interested that we had to make a selection process! The course is being sponsored by more than 20 institutions from local, regional and national levels.

More soon!

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Biologists in the Field

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.Six inches away from the caiman’s nose – how close is too close?!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

In Brazil we celebrate the Biologists’ Day on September 3rd. It’s been over a week now, but only today I managed to mention it here at PhotoInNatura blog.

The reason for such delay couldn’t be better: that day I was doing field work out in the woods, photographing colleague researchers on their scientific activities studying birds, mammals, bats, frogs, snakes, bugs, plants and such. The most appropriate way to celebrate “our” day!

Among hundreds of images, the highlight was a fantastic face-to-face encounter with a Dwarf Caiman underwater, whose picture illustrates this post.

I just got back in town last night and Sunday will hit the road again, bound for the Pantanal. More later!

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Big Animals!

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Anaconda, up close and personal
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

This Month’s Gallery goes online today and is composed by animal pictures taken during my recent 23-day trip with Israeli photographer Amos Nachoum, who promotes expeditions worldwide in search for exclusive wildlife images through his company Big Animals.

Tomorrow I will hit the road again, this time on assignment for Fundação Neotrópica do Brasil, where I will be photographing researchers working on a reforestation project. Thereafter, a quick stop in Bonito for some underwater shots. See you soon!

To see the images, please click on the "MONTH'S GALLERY" box, located on the right-side column of Fotograma's main page. If you experience any problems, please try this alternative link.
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A Dozen Anacondas

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.We’ve seen this one and eleven more...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

The name says it all: saw-grass. Marshes here are teeming with this plant whose leaves have extremely sharp edges – a slight rub of your finger is enough to produce a cut that looks as it has been done by a razor blade. This is the favorite refuge for anacondas, the heaviest and one of the longest snakes in the world. It has been a week now since I first started searching for them in Bonito (Brazil) together with award-winning US-based Israeli photographer Amos Nachoum and his restless assistant/apprentice John.

In addition to the peculiar habit of hiding among sharp leaves, the most likely period to find them is during the hottest hours of day, when they lay down basking in the sun. Therefore, I have spent the past days going up and down streams and walking in muddy swamps under the baking sun (winter never showed up here this year). At the end of the day, the wrinkled white feet strikingly contrast with arms and hands full of inevitable small cuts. This vision of paradise is completed by the so-called “micuins” (tiny ticks that look more like walking grains of dust) and bloodthirsty flies. Our objective is to get never seen images of anacondas – preferably under water. Today is the seventh day of our expedition and we have already found twelve “sucuris” (as the snake is known in Brazil). But so far we still haven’t got the images we need.

The search goes on at night...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

Despite these adversities, coming face to face with anacondas in a place with breathtaking landscapes – crystal clear water teeming with fishes and vegetation full of colorful birds – has been fascinating and compensates all efforts. Today we had the best encounter of the trip: we were stuck with our boat in a strong rapid, under a tree limb covered with spikes, when John looks back and calmly announces, with a “gringo” accent but in loud and clear Portuguese: “sucuri”...

There it was, majestic, with some unlucky victim (a capybara?) in its belly, staring at us without understanding what was the deal with those crazy folks wearing strange rubber clothes and breaking into its privacy with enormous cameras. When it swam calmly by our 6-meter (18-ft) long boat, Amos, buried in mud up to his waist and surrounded by thickets of saw-grass, made his calculations: “I could see the body along the whole boat, the rest of its tail was still behind and I could not see its head”. Now it’s your turn to estimate the critter’s length. As to the diameter, let’s say that – even if I went totally nuts and tried to hug it – I wouldn’t be able to get my arms around its body.

He who seeks finds
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

Tomorrow our search continues and next week it’s time to leave Bonito towards the Pantanal looking for jaguars and piranhas, then finally to the Amazon where we plan to photograph pink river dolphins.

Yup, that’s a cool shot!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008.
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Lectures and Exhibits in the USA

Exhibit at William and Ida Friday Institute for
Educational Innovation (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008.

Sometimes, a blog without many updates means a very busy author! It’s not a good excuse, but at least in this case it’s true...

I have just returned from the USA, where I spent 20 days on works (presenting lectures, making photo exhibits and participating in a workshop) and leisure tours. While the trip’s photos aren’t yet available, you can see the Month’s Gallery with the 20 pictures shown in my exhibits.

Exhibit at Lees-McRae College
(Banner Elk, North Carolina, USA)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008.

My trip to the lectures, exhibits and workshop was supported by NCSU Sci-Link, Ambiental Expedições, Instituto Sangari, Recanto Ecológico Rio da Prata, Fazenda San Francisco, Pantanal Wildlife Center and Photo in Natura.

Photos were printed in 30x45 cm (12 x 18 in) and mounted on frames made with recycled paper provided by the Instituto Papel Solidário (São Paulo, Brazil).

To see the images at the MONTH’S GALLERY, please click here.


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"Dont stay home without it"(new photo gallery!)

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Don’t leave home without it – during a long time this was the slogan of a famous credit card company. I decided to adapt it to my reality as a nature photographer, hence the title of today’s story. “It”, in this case, is my photo camera, who is always with me when I’m away and also ready to work when I’m at home.

Last November I posted here at FotogramaBits a text telling how the photographable things of life may be closer than we imagine. Some months later, with more evidences that this is very true, came the idea.

So, the new Month’s Gallery at Fotograma comprises pictures done exclusively around my house, by the Japi Mountains. All pictures were done from my garden (some of them INSIDE my house!) and show beauties, serenity and environmental impacts.

To see the images, please click on the "MONTH'S GALLERY" box, located on the right-side column of Fotograma's main page. If you experience any problems, please try this alternative link.
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Once in a Blue Moon

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.”Moonshine after rain”
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

On more than one occasion I posted pictures here in FotogramaBits of striking moments that I captured from my porch, showing the Japi Mountains. The most recent one was the sunset that I shot last week after a rainy day. And when I thought that every possibility of capturing surprising images without having to leave home were gone, I came across another of these almost magic moments (which will be the theme for Fotograma’s next Month’s Gallery, coming in March).

It happened last Saturday, a sunny day that ended with a wind storm and 30 millimeters of rain in about half an hour – as if each 1 x 1 meter section (1 sq meter) had received 30 liters of water, nearly 1 liter per minute!

It was almost 7 PM when electricity went off and the phone line too. I had two DVDs to watch and decided to wait for the power to be reestablished, which only happened at around 11 PM... But it couldn’t be better: a bit later, at about 2 AM, I was prized by this moonshine illuminating the mist at the foothills. If it wasn’t for the power outage, I’d probably have missed the whole show...

Japi Mountains, 2:30 AM
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008.
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Cats!

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."Satisfaction guaranteed!"
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

Fotograma’s first Gallery in 2008 is specially dedicated to people who like these (almost) domesticated felines: a selection of 18 cat pictures.

While enjoying the photos, you can listen to the song “When Cats Take Over The World", by Jamie Anderson. Have fun!

To see the images, please click on the "MONTH'S GALLERY" box, located on the right-side column of Fotograma's main page. If you experience any problems, please try this alternative link.
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"Photo in Natura" ?!?

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Our new upcoming logo!
Concept and artwork: © Daniel De Granville | Tietta Pivatto, 2008

Many of you who are used to visiting Fotograma | Photography and Environment have been asking me what's this "Photo in Natura" story all about. Well, here's the explanation: my website is being totally re-created with a brand new design, a lot of unpublished pictures and many other online resources. As part of this new process of visual identification, the brand Fotograma will become Photo In Natura.

In the mean time, you are invited to keep on visiting the original versions of Fotograma and its equivalent blog, FotogramaBits, always with new contents. Be welcome, and please don't forget to bookmark us for future references!

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Spiders in my Backyard (again!)

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.One little, two little, three little spiders...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008

A couple of weeks ago I posted a story here in FotogramaBits about a Brazilian Wandering Spider who decided to take a stroll in our garden. Well, last night one of its relatives (a wolf spider of the genus Lycosa) dropped by for a visit – and this time with a bunch of babies on its back! I obviously registered the event with my camera, but despite the fact that this spider can be dangerous, I was more worried that it wouldn't drop a baby on the way than about getting bitten...

Now, changing subjects, I’d like to recommend a peculiar website that I came across (tailor-made for photographers and cat lovers): this German lady places automatic mini-cameras on her cats’ collars, who inadvertently register their walks through the neighborhood. The idea isn’t exactly new – the so called critter cams have been used by the National Geographic and other companies, but I never heard of them on house cats...

... a whole bunch of little spiders!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2008
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Beautiful Ugliness

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. Flowers on the banks of the more-than-polluted Tietê River
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

It seemed like a great photo program for the weekend, combining nature and history: to go around the Japi Mountains stopping by historical towns of great importance during Brazil’s colonial period, such as Santana de Parnaíba and Pirapora do Bom Jesus. Camera in hand, hit the road. No maps nor commitments, relying on surprises as proper fuel for a little adventure.

After several curves that unveiled beautiful mountain landscapes, all of a sudden we began seeing a dike with some stuff hanging from the waterside vegetation. The first impression we had was that they were egrets, but a closer look showed colors and the surprising conclusion: those were countless pieces of garbage – bottles, grocery store bags, torn clothes and other unidentifiable items (besides a handful of stubborn birds). “But we are arriving at such a small town, it seems quite unlikely that the population of this place can produce so much junk”, we thought.

But we soon found out. All of that was coming from the State capital São Paulo, through the Tietê River. The State’s most important waterway, which in the past carried the Bandeirantes explorers and granted great historical importance to these localities, now only brings trash and stench.

On the bridges over the river, in the towns’ squares, bars and restaurants around, life seemed to go on at its normal pace. Children were playing, a car’s loudspeakers announced the big dancing ball that would happen some hours later. The phenomenon that uglifies the town’s pretty architecture is rather recent, having become more intense in 2003. It’s impossible not trying to understand how can people live like this, how they gradually get used to this inconceivable reality?

Ultimately, the peculiar contrast between the dark water and the white foam – which resembled floating blocks of tropical ice – yielded some good images, even pretty if we neglect the sad truth.

Environmental pollution and visual pollution...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007


READ MORE:
Polluted River Covers Brazilian Town with Foam

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