Modern Day Dinosaur

Yeah, a wild looking little, "pet thing" down there in San Juan, Puerto Rico ... I remember seeing them the first time I was down there, years ago!

Yeah, they hang out around the old forts where they mow the lawns, I guess, and that keeps them "busy hunting", or whatever, all day ...

Or maybe not, remember, I am now a RETIRED expert on everything that gets in front of my lens! And you thought I was bad when I was actually, you know, "working", and, taking pictures all over the place, for different travel companies!

Ha!

No.

Like I like to say ... I just "PUSH THE BUTTON", you know, with "some knowledge" of doing that, but yeah, that's about it!

Come on, I really did go to a REAL Art College, you know, and really did visit the real, actual building of The New York Institute of Photography, you know, AFTER taking their course through the mail, back in the day ... Yeah, they sent me books and everything!

So yeah, I learned a lot ...

Even went on to graduate from Columbia College Chicago, with a Master's Degree in Art (Photography) there in "The Windy City", before settling down here in Hudson, North Carolina, where I taught photography, or Art 261, for over twenty something years ...

Really.

But yeah, as to what I photographed, yeah, no, I have no clue on MANY of my "subjects" ... Now true, being a Marine Sergeant back in the day, really did play a role in being a military photographer for the Department of the Army, over there in Germany, and I did know motorcycling pretty well, oh! And sports ... But yeah, wild creatures, especially ones I've never really spent a lot of time with growing up in Northern New York, oh yeah!

No clue.

Like, those elk over in the Smokies, and those tigers over in India, and those stingrays down around Grand Cayman Island, again, down there n The Caribbean ... Or those Grizzly Bears up there in Alaska ...

No, I just enjoy "getting out there" and seeing what they are all about!

And ... PUSH A BUTTON. Period.

And yeah, in this case, I enjoyed following this crazy looking lizard thing ... Either a "Him, or a her", I have no clue!

Again, CLUELESS!

But I will say this ... This one "looks like a MALE" to me ... Again, NOT an EXPERT!

But come on!

That "BEARD" looking thing ...

Just saying ...

I just wanted to get "right in there" on that FACE!

Are you serious?

A true "Island Beauty", that is for sure! !

Can you imagine?

And those long, CLAW looking things!

And that SKIN!

Tell me you wouldn't want to follow RULE NUMBER TWO with this thing?

Yeah!

GET CLOSER!

But only with your LONGEST lens available, that is!

Yeah, I had my larger, you know, REAL Nikon DSLR for this one! And ... A kind of longer zoom lens, my somewhat LONGER, Nikkor 18-300mm zoom lens! Yeah, this was shot at 300mm (I checked the DATA!), which yeah, on my smaller sensor, Nikon D7200 camera, yeah, do the MATH!

Or let me do it for you!

Yeah, "Ta-da"!

450mm. Remember, I might have "struggled with 4th grade math, after returning from Greece back in the day, but yeah, I taught "Special Ed. Math for all those years, and actually got pretty good with, you know, "middle school math"!

Kind of.

But yeah, with the smaller sensor, my Nikon D7200 camera "CROPS OUT" more of the light hitting the sensor, so yeah ... I got a CLOSER look at those CLAWS! Get this, that "300mm" becomes instantly, just by mounting the lens on that camera, the equivalent to a 450mm setting with a larger sensor in those "FULL FRAME" cameras, like my Nikon D3!

Crazy, I KNOW!

Math.

Go figure.

But yeah, the smaller sensor cameras give you that "CLOSER MAGIC" which comes in handy photographing WILD animals!

He was HAPPY, I was HAPPY!

And yeah! I got MY IMAGE! You know, "happy as a photographer shooting with the smaller, DX sized sensor"!

Or something like that!

I mean, come on! He (I think!) sees TOURISTS all day, every day, you know he's used to us crazy people with those cameras, and/or "phones" in our hands!

But yeah ... I gave him his SPACE!

And now that I see the size of those CLAWS, yeah, smart move on my part!

And I'm sure he's a wee-bit quicker, and faster, than this OLD FART!

I know my limitations!

I've seen my share of DIRTY HARRY movies!

And, I might add, yeah, HARRY is my middle name, by the way!!

Just saying!

So yeah, that said, I just ZOOMED in, and yeah, even CROPPED in, even more once I got this image into my computer, back home!

That's what I do.

RULE NUMBER TWO, Baby!

Love it!

Now, YOU get out there, and see what you can do about GETTING CLOSER to your subjects, any subject!

Enjoy.

I know I have ... Like, A LOT, over the past fifty-something years!

Enjoy your "ZOOMING"!

Just GET OUT THERE. that's half the battle, right there!

And yes, San Juan, Puerto Rico, would be a GREAT place to go to enjoy these wild, looking lizard thingies!

Good luck with that!

I'm TWO for TWO, in that regards! Just head for the "forts" (and that mowed grass!), either one will do!

Ha! Good luck with that!

You can thank me later ...

As long as you don't get MAULED by those wild looking "claw" things!

Just saying ...

They are REAL. And yes, they are WILD!

Even better luck with THAT one!

Enjoy.

I know I have.

Both times!