Back in Da U.P.

Oh Yeah, so...
I'm back in the UP for my second summer practicum. This year's menu includes Mammals, Herps, and Birds. Speaking of Herps...


This little feller was sitting just a few hundred feet down a trail from where I'm living this summer. He was found by a friend of mine and I went back two hours later and he was in the exact same spot. I set up a light and snapped away.
That was monday night

Tuesday I stayed in Brown County State Park for my three day seasonal naturalist training. It was rigorous, but good. Friday was my first official day of work, but didn't end up doing much, mostly just picking up a uniform, learning the opening/closing procedures, playing with a timber rattlesnake, learning where the wedding reservation forms are, you know, the usual.

I don't have a pic of me with the timber rattler yet, but I'm sure I'll get one or two by the end of the summer. In place of that, here is a quick pano from our music night after training on Wednesday.

So after work on Saturday I drove home and then met up with Kevin in Chicago. Sunday I woke up and drove the rest of the 617 miles to Covenant Point Bible Camp for the start of practicum. No pictures yet, but it won't take long I'm sure.



PS: The Internet here at camp is more fickle than usual due to the large number of people using it. Accordingly so, I won't be able to upload any video and only smaller-sized photos until I get back. I will then upload normal sized photos and any videos I may have to show you. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Seriously, Does Bear Grylls have any Ethics?

We already know that the show was originally made in a deceptive way (and now they play a disclaimer before shows air on TV).

Anyone with any actual survival knowledge will tell you not to do any of these things - Staying put is the best way to get found and conserve your energy and resources (unless you are too dumb to tell someone where you are going).

And of course we all know that Bear is known for mowing down on some pretty disgusting eats during his exploits - from insects to animal left-overs and carcasses.

But this season he has crossed the line.

In the Sept 2 episode of Man vs Wild (Texas Desert) Bear is dropped into the Chihuahuan Desert to survive (until his producer lets him know what hotel he's staying in that night...)

In order for Bear to "stay alive" - even though he has support and knows that his producers won't let anything too terrible happen to him (he can't make commercials and sell ads if he's dead) - he decides it is necessary to kill and eat a rattlesnake even after he has discovered edible plants in the same area (where there is one, there are many).

here are some screen grabs of the episode (viewable here)


(the rattle snake he just pulled out of its burrow after keeping it trapped there with his backpack while he went to get a stick)


(those are Bear's fingers in the upper right and the brown thing he is holding is the small boulder he used to crush the snake's head)



Bear Grylls,

As a TV celebrity who makes his living from the outdoors, don't you think it might behoove you to be a bit more considerate? That snake, as you so eloquently put it, was most defensible in its crevasse - where it was hiding from you - and would have simply let you continue on your way without bothering you. Yet you felt that your "surival" situation dictated you should risk your life by removing this creature from its home, killing it, and holding onto it for cooking later - because you obviously were starving.

The small lizard you eat later in the episode, had you really been in a survival situation, do you think that wasting nearly all of the insides (including the water it holds) is such a good idea?

In fact, if you weren't so inclined as to try and scale every damn cliff face you see and rappel into every ravine maybe you wouldn't be so sapped of energy that you would have to eat every moving (or recently stopped moving) creature you discover. Humans can survive for weeks without food - why can't you go a few days?

In conclusion, Bear, why can't you seem to show a little respect for the environments which have given you such a lucrative job and nearly instant fame? To paraphrase Moose Peterson "No TV show is worth sacrificing the welfare of the subject"

Sincerely,

Me.


(and for those of you who are shouting, what about the insects!?!?! read this and follow the references if you must)

oops!

okay, So i've been neglecting the blog the last few weeks... my bad.

for those who are interested, the last few weeks of my trip to New Zealand went great. I spent more time shooting video than stills (as is reflected by the content of this post.

Since I've been back I've been to Chicago, Ft. Wayne, Lafayette, Bloomington, Columbus (IN), and Raleigh (NC). So I do have a little bit of an excuse for not updating religiously...

I've got a new website for my portfolio and prints now - www.mcarneyphoto.com - you can always click the link in the top left corner of the blog to go there.
(if you use the coupon code 'tweet' you'll get 20% off your order to boot!)


Went to the zoo the other day - not my best photographically, but not terrible either - check 'em out.













(oh, and here is the video from the last few weeks in NZ).

Aotearoa - New Zealand from Michael Carney on Vimeo.

Summer Camp Photo Dump

so I'm gonna do a photo dump each week from camp. if you have a question about what something is, leave a comment and I'll post a response.