I was going to say Snake Sunday, but didn’t want to worry anyone who’s a snakeaphobic that it will be a regular thing. 🙂 I mentioned to Mike Powell that I’d share a couple of my Northern Water Snake-Nerodia sipedon aka Common Water Snake images and that’s why this. I don’t come across that many snakes aside from yard garters.
Snake as glamour puss
Snake in the grass
If I were walking the local rail trail I’d probably see more once the sun gets strong and the snakes come out to bask, but it gets pretty crowded there and there’s always someone who wants to look through the camera. Ordinarily I don’t mind but obviously now is not the best time for that. Maybe some weekday morning.
That’s it for Snake Sunday. 🙂
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
I’m ready for my close-up Mr. Gingold.
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Shades of Norma Desmond but we were thousands of miles from Sunset Boulevard.
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The spirit lives on.
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I love the patterns on these. It’s interesting how different the patterns can look on different snakes and in different conditions. When dry you might not even notice it, but wet it can really stand out. I recall once hike along a stream, before I was able to identify these, when I came upon a large group of them, must have been a dozen or more all moving around each other. Might have been their mating season. But not knowing what species they were I ended up going off trail to get around them. I’ve never seen something like that since, though I’d like to.
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Moisture really does bring out color in many things. Wet rocks especially but snakes too. A ball of frenzied snakes would be cool but you were wise to keep your distance and move along if you weren’t aware of the species. I hope you get another chance…and I get a first one. 🙂
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I don’t know that I’ve ever had anyone wanting to look through my camera. That’s probably because I don’t use a tripod, so my camera isn’t out there mounted and pointing at something. What I do get from passersby is the question of what I’m photographing, and almost always the assumption is that it’s a bird, or less often some other kind of animal.
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Most people think I am looking at something with a pulse and are very disappointed. The best sad look came when I explained I was photographing a rock.
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These are great portraits, and they’ve got handsome patterns on them. I’m not “snakeaphobic” by any means, I’m always happy to see any non-venomous types.
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I am always glad to happen upon them although I don’t very often. We only have two to wory about here, rattlers and copperheads, but I’ve never been aware of being near either.
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Great head shots Steve!
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Thanks, Reed.
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Great photographs! But I’m happy that there are no snakes in my grass! (Though grass snakes are OK…though the frogs probably wouldn’t think so.)
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I am a bigger fan of frogs than snakes. I once came across a large frog and it just sat staring at me no matter how close I got to it. At a certain point I noticed the wide open hinged jaws and understood why it wasn’t going anywhere. The snakes in our grass keep the cricket and toad population at a balance. 🙂
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This one’s a beauty. I especially like the first photo, where the simplicity of the darker background helps to emphasize the snake’s pattern.
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These are attractive snakes with the nice coloration of the scales.The darker background does allow the first to stand out but I kind of like the effect of the second one slithering through the blades.
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Thanks for the shoutout, Steve. I love your snake shots–I consider it to be a real plus when you are close enough to the snake to see a reflection in its eyes and you have captured such wonderful details, especially of the scales. I tend to see Northern Water Snakes fairly regularly, both on the land as well as in the water. One of my favorite encounters with a Northern Water Snake was not a portrait session, but an action sequence in which I watched in mixed horror and fascination as the snake caught and swallowed a catfish in the Potomac River. Check out this posting (as long as you don’t mind looking at snakes). https://michaelqpowell.com/2017/07/20/snake-catches-catfish/
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Your shots made me think of the Turner series of when animals go wild or something like that…not the Snoop Dogg series :-)…or maybe it was Fox’s “When animals attack”. Nature isn’t always pretty. My all time facorite emotive fish about to die image…not mine, but I wish it was. 🙂
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That’s an impressive shot with all of the eyes in focus. I can’t match that quality, but the closest I could come is a posting I did of a Green Heron and a frog. The posting has a pretty good series of shots and some pretty bad wordplays. 🙂 https://michaelqpowell.com/2012/07/24/not-seeing-eye-to-eye/
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That’s great, Mike. The feet sticking up is quite a shot as is the first with its look of terror. I have a few green heron shots but nothing quite as cool as that. Maybe this was a frog on the way out.
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That’s what it looks like to me. It is interesting to note that you mentioned Phil Lanoue. I used to follow him years ago and aspired to shoot like he does, but haven’t seen anything from him in quite a while. I just checked and noticed that somehow I was no longer following him. Sometimes it seems like WordPress randomly drops blogs from our lists. I fixed that. 🙂
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Yeah, I’ve had my share of FB glitches. I can’t complain too much because it is providd for free but it can be irritating.
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Oh, and the caption is awesome. 🙂
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That’s a great Snake Sunday, Steve. Cracking shots of these fine creatures. I have seen very brief glimpses of snakes here as they find a patch of sun to warm up in the morning, but they are gone in the blink of an eye.
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Thanks, Pete. That’s a blink of a nictitating snake eye covering. 🙂
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Beautifully done, Steve! They’re fascinating.
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Thanks, Lynn. They are although I like those without venom a little bit better. 🙂
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen one, but that’s okay, teehee. 😉
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Ha, so I was referring to you above. 🙂 Much more comfortable seeing them in pictures than in the garden. 🙂
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I like that they do pest control, but it is the startling sudden movement that makes me yelp every time!
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Nice close-ups. I’m betting you didn’t use a wide-angle lens. 😉
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Nope. A 300. But these would be good candidates for a wide angle. Not aggressive but also not easily approchable.
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