Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

The good, the bad, and everything in between about the making of your UWOL 34 entries.
Bring the stories.

Good luck everyone, and pay special attention to the important rule 11, HAVE FUN!

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Well so far I have not had to get down onto the ground to film. I went out on Saturday to find out what was possible and came home with some useful shots of birds and insects busy on the ground. I did not go with a story or shot list so I'm not sure if I will use them or not. We are in autumn now so some of the more useful birds for this theme are no longer breeding - like the bee-eaters, swallows and kingfishers.

I am going to have a look around my back yard to see what I can find there because I have an idea beginning to germinate - no pun intended. Work will restrict my time a lot this round so I want to do something very simple.

I do hope that you will find your migrating toads for this challenge Geir - would fit perfectly with this theme!

Martin - if I lived at the coast I would definitely look for subject matter on the beach too - will be very interesting to see what you come up with.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Well, I have a plan of sorts for a very down to earth subject. Not quite shot list, but at least a start to get a story in a semblance of order.

Now to get to work! Lots of luck and inspiration for all this round.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

I am as currently without a plan, which means the long drive is essential .

Theme this time around is more specific then general hence i would again scout for species that may fit in the theme. Currently its the peak of summers here in India and temperatures are soaring at 40 and 42 C which means that there is something in the field of my interest .

https://scontent-arn.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...ea&oe=55DF82E2

This image was made last year, so let me see if i can manage to get some footage of these guys around now, tomorrow out on the first drive to find them .

I am looking forward to the Toads of Geir Inge

vishal

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Wow Vishal - I hope you find them they look amazing. I would certainly like to know more about those strange creatures.

I was wrong about the swallows by the way. Was visiting a site today that I knew had a couple of Greater Swallow nests which I thought might come in useful somewhere in my story. While I was filming the nest, and to my surprise, an adult bird flew into the nest and after a period of noisy greetings left the brood for more food. A bonus - if I can fit it in. :)

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Not this challenge I know but I though you would like to know what happened to the long tailed tits I filmed for the last challenge. They successfully raised a brood that fledged yesterday. I believe the number of chicks exceeded 9 young (difficult to count exactly). The attached clip (one clip in real time not cut or added too) shows the parents feeding the young, but the first bird feeding them is probably one of last years young. Its well documented that other long tailed tits assist with feeding at the nest.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Mick,
That's really nice to see a follow up from a previous challenge. Not often that happens.
Thanks for sharing.

Vishal,
I hope you find that colorful animal. Would be fun to learn more about that exotic creature.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Mick,

Nice to see the chicks feeding.


Interesting that climate variation is hampering every chance of the shoot. We have had rains, the lizards need high temperatures for their display, they tend to display on a small rock and have a hole right under it to retreat in case of any danger in the air, the rains for few days has left the holes filled with water at most of the places which has made the lizards abandon the places, did try and got only a few individuals however none of them displaying, the colour is seen but the flamboyant display is missing. On these rocky outcrops the season brings breeding of the lizards and a crested lark. Unseasonal rains helped me with my first challenge as it gave me lot of water shots is now playing a spoil sport .

Managed some footage but i am not finding it interesting at all , will keep trying.

cheers
vishal

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Hi to you all.
Wow, that lizard is something else. Hope you find them and best of luck to you Vishal.
Thank you for uploading the feeding sequence, Mick.

I have not been able to shoot enough material yet, still some days to go. I have been one short trip to the bird island of Runde and got a glimpse of the puffin, and one trip to the Austefjord where the toads have their residence. I'm leaving next weekend to stay one week at Crete/Greece, so hopefully I'll manage to shoot something up coming weekend. I have 2 ideas for this round and one of them includes the puffins and the other one includes some famous toads. We'll see what happens when I get down to earth ;)

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Hike the Samaria gorge if it is open and weather permits. And bring your camera!
It's a spectacular scenery.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Well, I had a fairly good idea straight of the bat; there are a couple of troops of monkeys close by I have been looking for an excuse to film for ages. One is a group of Colobus (who are arboreal), and the other a group of Vervet's (who are terrestrial & arboreal). Its understood that most monkeys started off as arboreal creatures, but changing factors led to them coming 'down-to-earth' so to speak, and over time this led to evolutionary changes in the species, bipedalism in humans possibly being one such result. This probably would have been the most traditionally wildlife orientated film I would have had for UWOL, as I usually veer off in a more human direction.

However, the preamble to the theme sort of threw a spanner in that idea, so I went back to the drawing board to come up with a more 'earthy' theme in the literal sense. I think I may have an idea that will work, but I will have to start investigating it fully next week to see if its doable in the time left, the challenge being that it involves a lengthy process that can't be rushed.

In one sense this idea would work out better for me as it sort of fits with my ongoing ascetic dogma for film work. Time will tell....

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Thanks for the tip, Trond.
My wife and I have been several times in Crete, it is a great island.
We have never gone through the Samaria Gorge and it remains to be seen whether we do it this time, although we both love hiking.
I can never go anywhere without my second companion, (read: the camera) haha.

When it comes to Uwol 34, I am on shaky ground.
That means I have come to a point where I have to make choices. I have two main options, puffins or toads.
No matter which of the two I choose, I'm missing some sequences and I wish I had some more time to dispose.
I have been 2 trips to the bird island Runde and 3 trips to Austefjord (toad countries), yet I have not filmed everything that I wanted.
I have to work a bit on it and see how this ends.
I'm not so fond of the shark tank, you see.

Hope everyone is doing well and working with great Uwol videos.
It is a challenging and great theme, so I'm really excited to see your videos.

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Did a little filming of "this and that" at ground level over the weekend, hoping a suitable idea will pop up soon. The initial idea turned out to be no idea after all. Over to plan B.

Good to see some ideas are turning into films around the globe.
Good luck everyone, and have fun!

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

Finally have kind of an idea for my film.
Not sure if it adheres to the preamble but I haven't put together a film in so long I'm really not worried if it doesn't.
The more I think about it the more it really isn't going to take place at ground level but I'm ok with that. I figure if it comes down to following the preamble and not making a film or making a film that doesn't follow the preamble, I'll make the film. :)

Re: Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL 34
 

That's funny Kevin, I had the same thought just an hour ago.
I saw this video: http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/6654...nederland.html
and got inspired. I went to the forum and reassured myself of the theme and thought, I should settle for not concentrating on the ground itself, but the things that live of it. A story with soil as a foundation perhaps.
I nearly decided to skip this round but now .. still 20 days left .. let's make something!