The Living World
Whether amusing or challenging, familiar or disturbingly alien, the creatures of this world inspire a certain joy when I see them, and I want to record an image of the moment and space in which we interact. In photographing them my goal is to capture not only the essential mysteries of their beauty, but also the spirit of living and being that is unique to each.
BACKSTORY OF AN IMAGE: Before a hurricane back in the 1950s and progressive global warming, locals describe a low island once popular for recreation that lay just beyond this Chesapeake Bay lagoon. The island is gone. Erosion wore it down, with the tides spreading its disassembled existence inside the lagoon. I was shooting the wonderful abstract pattern of striations of sandbars that formed in the lagoon by an unusually low tide during a supermoon, when an American Bald Eagle - wings, talons and tail fully outspread - landed, center stage, with infinite grace and beauty. Thus, THE EAGLE IS LANDING (below) came into being.
.A Great Egret, large, beautiful and white, perches on a tidal pond branch to scope out the fishing possibilities. Hunting for fish in shallow water under a foot, (0.3 m), the great egret patiently waits for fish to swim by, when it will strike its prey at lightening speed.
His piercing blue eyes revealing his wolf ancestry, a huskie waits in a crate for his call to mush with a woman’s sled dog team in a major Alaskan Sled Dog & Racing Association competition during Fur Rondy near Anchorage, AK.
American Bald Eagle landing during an unusually low tide of a super moon, I was shooting the wonderful striations of sand bars that formed in Chesapeake Bay when an American Bald Eagle landed, center stage, with infinite grace.
Wings up, landing gear lifting, a puffin begins his take off in Old Harbor, Reykjavik, Iceland, photographed by Washington, DC, visual artist, Karen Jordan.
A very relaxed sea lion with his head resting on a wooden bench appears to be asleep - until you notice that one eye is open, watching you.; taken in Guayaquil, Equador, by Washington, DC, photographic artist Karen Jordan.
This colorful saltwater Sally Lightfoot Crab reportedly named by her discoverer for a stripper by the same name, braved the noon-day sun, despite its typical behavior to remain under the rocks - sometimes sharing them with marine iguanas - in this photograph taken by photographer Karen Jordan in the Galápagos. To escape predators, or scare a photographer lying prone on the sand, it can can run very fast, leap, jump, and seemingly fly.
A close-up of an elegant goose in the still, clear water of a Regent Park, London, pond, one webbed foot seen in water and partial reflection of neck, photograph by Washington, DC, photographer Karen Jordan.
The magnificent but naughty Galápagos Frigatebird, here a white-bellied female with predominately black plumage, pointed, very long wings, is able to fly for weeks on wind currents, spending most of the day in flight scavenging for food, stealing from other birds, has long, deeply forked tails and long hooked bills.
Able to keep one eye open for protection during sleep, an endangered Galápagos sea lion, flies landing on head, sleeps peacefully on the tail of another sea lion, in this close up photo of a sea lion’s face on North Seymour island, Galápagos, by Karen Jordan Images.
Warily emerging from it carapace (shell) , a Galápagos Giant Tortoise endangered species typically spends 16 hours a day resting, can survive up to a year without water or food and lives on average to be 100 years old. A reptile found on Santa Cruz Island highlands, Galapagos, Ecuador.
Galapagos wildlife -emerging from a leafy habitat to bask in the sun, the chameleon-like reptile Galapagos Lava Lizard has a pointed head, a long tail (which it can regenerate)), a constant need to warm its body by basking in the sun. An omnivore found in large groups, the Lava Lizard can live for 10 years and in harsh climate conditions may resort to cannibalism.
Birding in the Galápagos, a pair of Brown Noddy birds, facing each other, on rocks, on Santiago island,photo by Washington, DC, photographic artist, Karen Jordan.
When a Galápagos marine Iguana, a scary looking reptile, emerges from rocky ledge, his thick, short legs and long claws fully extended, he looks like the movie monster Godzilla, which was actually named for this iguana species.
Endangered Wildlife in Galápagos: Close-up portrait of face of a wet baby sea lion on North Seymour Island emerging from the Pacific Ocean onto the rocks.
Two “Man of War” frigate birds engage in aerial combat to protect their territory or compete for females over the waters of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.
Discoverd by John Edward Gray, the Heliaster cumingii, Red Sun Star, an an endangered marine invertebrate, clings to a wet rocky rocky seaside cliff along Tagus Cover, Isabela Island, in the Galapagos, Ecuador.
San Pedro, Belize - This picture-in-picture was taken by Karen Jordan, a Washington, DC, visual artist, at a nature sanctuary for crocodiles in Ambergris Caye, Belize, of a young girl naturalist-to-be welcoming an opportunity to hold a baby crocodile while being photographed on a mobile phone,.
Galapagos wildlife, scary-looking marine iguana, the only marine lizard species in the world, is supremely equipped with long claws and flattened tail to scale rocky seaside cliffs to consume algae. It can hold its breath for 10 minutes and stop heart beat for 45 minutes so sharks can not hear it.
Two bumble bees, each polinating a flower with spiky green leaves at the Botannical Garden in Akureyri, Iceland, Icelandic flora and fauna, and arctic plants, by photographer Karen Jordan.
A Black Labrador swims in the pristine water off Las Cruces, a remote village in Mexico. When this image appeared in a gallery exhibition, the Washington Post described it as a "striking photograph" in its review, photograph by Karen Jordan.
Two young boys with their arms around their big dog with his mouth ope, are affectionately holding him, in their backyard, Sun City, CA, dog photograph by Karen Jordan.
Extremely close up detail of a variegated pink phalaenopsis moth orchid column, lip, sepals and petals, with green stem fork in background, creating the impression of an imposing heraldic shield or emblem, in this image by Washington, DC, artist photographer Karen Jordan.
Six turtles, five on one log, one on another sunning themselves on logs in a tidal pond, Chesapeake Bay, in this photograph by Washington, DC, photographer Karen Jordan.
A close-up photograph of a giant tortoise’s head emerging from his shell in the Galápagos, taken by photographer Karen Jordan.
Pulled from the Caribbean water by a swimmer, a terrified blowfish, with eyes bulging, was displayed upside down on a table to passersby on the beach. The nearby fisherman's implements - the knife and thread - suggest a macabre future for the fish; however not long after this picture was taken the blowfish was returned to the sea.
Crouching in the sand, a boy reaches his hand out in the hope of making friends with a dragonfly perched on a stick, Spartina sea grass, photographed by Washington, DC, photographer Karen Jordan.
Sitting tall on his hind legs, his tail touching the ground, a large brown dog with his back to us observes the comings and goings on My Street - a red truck, a couple walking toward him, in this color photograph by Washington, DC, photographer Karen Jordan Kelly.
Closeup color photograph of green katydid, bush cricket, long-horned grasshopper with hind legs on tea kettle dome, tea pot dome, framed by round blue handle and red beads, photographed by Washington, DC, visual artist Karen Jordan.