Thursday, October 31, 2013,

Happy Halloween all. This seems as likely a time to post these pics as any. I got these shots near the start of the month at Avalon. Both of these photographs are lucky captures. I mean that. I visit Avalon on a regular basis but I’m usually a very early bird. Most times, I’m already wrapping things up by 9AM. It’s a quality of light sort of thing.  But I was being interviewed by Sue Wahlert, a reporter for the Times Beacon Record Newspapers and I was out later than usual. The folks at the Times Beacon thought I’d make for a decent human interest story of sorts. I had a camera with me despite thinking I really wouldn’t need it aside from being a prop. Since I was being interviewed (and photographed) for being a photographer, I figured that having a camera with me would be a plus. So there I am, pretending that I’m taking photographs of the local wildlife which was represented primarily by Mallards when this Common Snapping Turtle made its appearance. I was actually taking pictures (hey, I’m a method actor) when this monster came out of seemingly nowhere, rearing its head from the duckweed as went past us. And then it opened its mouth, but without any apparent threat. It swam past a pair of resting ducks without raising any alarms despite its open maw before disappearing beneath the little bridge. This was a pretty amazing thing to see. Trust me on this. I cannot and will not claim to be a Snapping Turtle expert but I have seen more of these beauties in the wild than many other folks and finding one swimming around with its mouth wide open is a very rare and wonderful occurrence. Enjoy the holiday. JK