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Approximately Normal
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2021

Trace the shape of the  hill in the foreground and what do you see? I see a curve approximating a normal probability distribution, a.k.a. Gaussian distribution, a.k.a. “bell-shaped curve” for those of you who remember grading on the curve. (Do they still do that?) This one doesn’t look much like it’s bell-shaped though. It’s flatter than the standard normal distribution (mean=0, standard deviation=1.0) from which the bell-shaped moniker was derived. This one appears to have a standard deviation of about 2.5 based on my crude guessing. What does all this mean? Nothing really except, to borrow an old adage, “you can take the boy out of statistics but you can’t take the statistics out of the boy.” Or at least it will take more than 14 years of retirement from the field of statistics for that to happen.

Soaring With the Competition
Death Valley, California
2021

There must be a lot of death in Death Valley to support this many scavenging vultures. I count about 35 vultures in this one shot (no, those aren’t dust spots but vultures higher up in the sky). And this only a small area of Death Valley.

Not Dead Yet
Death Valley, California
2021

Every time I saw one of these vultures given me a once-over, I felt compared to send a subliminal message to it that, yeah, the clock is ticking but I’m not dead yet!

Working With What You Have
Death Valley, California
2021

I shot these images of turkey vultures when I was out for a short walk from our campsite in Death Valley one morning. I was really just out there to greet the dawn so to speak and did not carry my big camera and telephoto lens with me as I wasn’t expecting much in the way of photo-ops at the time. But as is my habit, I did take my little Sony RX100 M6 with me “just in case.” When I came across these vultures getting ready for their day, it was too far away to go back for the serious gear but I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass so I decided to do what I could with the little Sony.

The Sony is not a cheap camera by any means and it does have a moderate telephoto reach as well as auto-tracking focus like the big-boy cameras do. But still, I was not expecting much. To my surprise though I got some pretty good results. At one point I decided to see how close I could get to them for a portrait shot. I caught this vulture just as it was taking off. I only had to crop it a little to get what you see here. I was quite impressed by how clear and sharp it and a number of the other shots that morning are.

There’s an old photography adage (often attributed to Ansel Adams, but then a lot is attributed to him simply because he is a name people will know) that when asked “What’s the best camera to use,” the wise expert relied “The one you have with you.” That’s what I did in this case and was lucky to get some decent results for my efforts.

Showing Your Colors
Death Valley, California
2021

After processing a few turkey vulture shots in black and white, I finally concluded that color was a better choice. I probably should have realized that sooner but old habits die hard (i.e., black and white is always my default starting point for my photography).

Cleanup Crew #2
Death Valley, California
2021

Cleanup Crew
Death Valley, California
2021

The scavengers (turkey vultures) of Death Valley reporting for duty early one morning.

It All Adds Up
Death Valley, California
2021

Another visual comment on my thoughts from yesterday. I’ve actually been in Death Valley when it was raining, but flash floods like those near Scotty’s Castle in  2015 not withstanding, the degree of erosion to be seen is hard to fully comprehend.

Time After Time
Death Valley, California
2021

Given how little rainfall Death Valley receives each year, I am continually dumbfounded by the degree of intricate erosion to be found in places like Ubehebe Crater, one wall of which is shown here. Every little bit adds up I guess, especially after 2,000-7,000 years, the estimated age of this crater.

The Valley Below
Death Valley, California
2021

After yesterday’s post, what else was I going to name this one?