Sunday, January 30, 2005

Sunday in the Park

I snuck out for a few hours yesterday and today to take some shots of a Savannah Sparrow and Fox Sparrow in the Ramble. There was a Savannah Sparrow at Willow Rock on Saturday and Sunday and (I believe) two different Fox Sparrows. The one I shot at the feeders on Saturday had a damaged right foot. The one photographed at Willow Rock on Sunday seemed fine. As I was leaving the park on Sunday there was a mature Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree near the Lower Lobe of Central Park Lake eating a squirrel.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Finishing the Book

Not much to report--I have been stuck inside trying to master the technique of creating match prints for my book. I am almost there but am missing a little bit of information and am waiting for the RIP people to call me back. For those who don't know what a RIP is here is a brief explanation of my book workflow:
1. I get the layout from the designers in Quark format.
2. I insert colored corrected, hi resolution CMYK images that I created in Photoshop into the Quark document.
3. I make a PDF to check color, etc.
4. I print to my Epson 2200 via a RIP (raster image processor) that converts the Postscript output of Quark into something my Epson can understand.
The prints have been coming out with a cyan cast and I suspect it's a paper profile problem. I am using Epson's Semimatte Professional Proofing Paper. I am using PowerRip X from iproofsystems and it seems to do a decent job. Printing out of Quark is a nightmare. I have never seen a more complicated dialog box in my life!

I did go out for a few hours after the blizzard yesterday but the birds had more sense than I did and they stayed home. I did notice that the Meer, Central Park Lake, and Turtle Pond are completely frozen over. I did not realize it had been that cold.

I am still waiting for my lens to come back from Canon--maybe this week.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Boreal Owl Back

The Boreal Owl was discovered in a tree next to Tavern on the Green by somebody on Sunday, January 3rd. I didn't see it as I spent all day correcting my book galleys. Lloyd and Peter were on the Southern Nassau County CBC so they did not see it either. I went over today and got a nice look. It's fairly low and easier so than when it was in the Norway Spruce.

I won the battle of the caps with my editor today. Peter Post and Marie Winn were both very helpful in supplying me with arguments as to why bird names should be capitalized. After all, there are many species of yellow warblers but only one Yellow Warbler species.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Happy New Year


The new year started off on the right foot with an incredibly beautiful day. The temperature must have reached 60 and while there weren't many birds around many birders had come to the park looking for the Boreal Owl. Alas, the owl was nowhere to be found. Personally, I think the fireworks on New Year's Eve scared her away. They were very, very loud. I don't think there is anything like it in the Boreal forests of Canada.

I couldn't stay out all day because I had to get back and finish editing my book. I am about half-way through and will finish (God willing) tomorrow. For anyone who is interested the book is called, The Birds of Central Park, and will be published by Abrams later this year. It is a 208 page hardcover edition featuring some of my best photographs of Central Park birds.

About me

  • I'm Cal Vornberger
  • From New York City, United States
  • I am a professional wildlife photographer living in New York City. My book, "Birds of Central Park," was published in September 2005.
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