Another Image of that Eerily Abandoned Place

So, this morning I'm doing my usual web browsing and stumble upon an article on one of the larger photography websites. You know, one of those that writes way more than it should and then adds even more stuff that you can click on. All for the pretty penny.

This site offers 'recommended reading' links, those little thumbnails with captivating headlines that promise endless fascination. One promised images of 'Eerily Beautiful Abandoned Places.' I like those, so I clicked on the link, which was provided by content farmer Taboola.

It took me to the Conde Nast Traveler website and a little slideshow interspersed with ads for some kind of car. I forgot which car, because web advertising hardly works on me.

The moment I landed on the Conde Nast site, I had a feeling that I was going to feel used. I say 'used,' because I actually hate the clickbait that those 'recommended reading' links really are. Clutter mostly to make a bit of extra profit.

And 'used' because I already knew that one of my images was originally published on the Conde Nast Traveler website a while back in a series of photographs of abandoned places.

It's a picture of an airplane on Nicosia airport, unused since 1974 when the Cyprus conflict tore the country apart. I took that picture in 2006 and submitted it to Alamy stock agency. I have only 35 images listed on Alamy, but some of those are pretty unique, so I do get a bit of traction out of those few.

I got paid of course, so I'm not really serious when I say I feel used. Fair's fair. Conde Nast bought the rights to publish and can do what it wants to promote its slideshow and make a bit of dough.

Still, it's a bit wry that my own work showed up in a web feature that I hate. That's why I feel taboolaad.

© Image copyright John van Rosendaal

Location, Bird Photography

Photographing Bald Eagles along the Hudson

This time last year, the lower Hudson River shores were filled with bald eagles escaping the frozen waters further north. In their wake, photographers and sightseers spent hours watching the graceful birds and shooting the occasional show of eagles fighting over fish.

I wrote much of this last year, at the end of eagle season, after I had been out to the river almost every morning for much of February and March. I figured it would be a guide for this season and I'd publish it around the time the eagles would visit the area.

Photographing Bald Eagles at the Conowingo Dam

Once you fall for bird photography, the Conowingo Dam in Maryland beckons. The hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River is known to attract dozens of bald eagles in the fall. In their wake, an equal number of photographers and long, fast teles show up for an annual ritual of fishing, photographing and freezing.

The eagles, opportunists that they are, come for the fast food delivered to them courtesy of the Exelon Power Corporation which operates the dam several times a day, in the process stunning the fish that make the trip through the generators and making them easy prey for the big birds.

Like few other places, this predictable ritual allows photographers multiple spray-and-pray runs at fishing eagles and thus increases the chance for the money shot. One hour at Conowingo can deliver more payback than many freezing hours along the Hudson in mid-winter, as I can attest based on personal experience.

I Feel Taboolaad - My Image Became Part of Clickbait

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