Animal antics make for some really funny photographs
The photo is hilarious. An Atlantic puffin has just landed, its beak overflowing with enough fish to fill a pelican’s gullet. Another puffin stands next to it with an empty bill and a forlorn expression.
It’s almost like the second puffin is pleading, “Seriously, buddy, can’t you share some of those?”
The candid picture was captured by Krisztina Scheeff in the frantic seconds as her wildlife tour boat was preparing to depart from a remote Scottish island. It’s among 44 finalists chosen from more than 7,000 entrants in an international wildlife humor photography contest.
The Comedy Wildlife photography competition is as if “America’s Funniest Home Videos” has gone global and is focused solely on birds, fish, animals and other creatures.
A friend of Scheeff notified her Tuesday that her puffin photo had aired on a CBS news show in Palm Springs. It also appeared on a San Luis Obispo TV station.
Each photo in the contest tells a story. A bear tries to hide behind a tree; a giraffe photo-bombs her pal’s picture; a raccoon is stuck head-first in the hole of a tree; two lions seem to be gossiping; an Alaskan brown bear is standing and waving at the camera, and a kingfisher perches atop a “No Fishing” sign — with a fish dangling from its beak.
This is the first time Scheeff has entered the contest, but the Escondido wildlife photographer has won National Audubon Society photography recognition and “photographer of the month” honors from Wild Planet Photo Magazine.
She has lectured, trained photographers, taught conservation and wildlife education classes and led dozens of photo safaris to habitats in Scotland, Ireland and Costa Rica.
When not traveling (the norm during COVID), the former software engineer
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haunts Lake Hodges, spending hour-upon-hour patiently photographing Western grebes. The birds seem to waltz on water, harmoniously taking off in a flock in what looks like a synchronized ballet — or not. It’s the “or not” moments that Scheeff treasures.
She keeps tabs on two local pairs of peregrine falcons. They are especially difficult to capture on film, notes Scheeff, because they are known to reach speeds of up to 240 mph when dive bombing for prey.
Judges will choose contest winners, however, website visitors can vote on a people’s choice favorite at www.comedywildlifephoto.com.
OB Ragtime: Fifty years ago, three fresh-faced college grads — Frank Gormlie and John Lyons from UCSD, and Bo Blakey from UC Berkeley — began brainstorming ideas in their Ocean Beach cottage home.
A short while later, nurtured with progressive thinking and grassroots networking, The “OB People’s Rag” was born. The first issue, dated Sept. 17, 1970, was headlined: “Welcome Back to School (for those who go).”
The irreverent, alternative paper consisted of four stapled sheets that were delivered every two weeks, or so, to street corners, grocery stores and Point Loma High School.
For five years, the “OB Rag” provided venting space for activists, counterculture advocates and readers frustrated with the establishment, until the publication went into hibernation as its founders went separate ways.
Gormlie, an attorney by trade, resurrected the “OB Rag” online in mid-2007. With the help of his wife, Patty Jones, he still publishes it today.
The story of its founding and closing, its brief reincarnation by others, its official re-birth in 2007, its San Diego Free Press spinoff from 2012 to 2018 and key issues the “OB Rag” championed along the way are being revisited this week.
In the early days, it campaigned to save Collier Park, preserve coastal access and railed against marina and resort development along its beach. It later helped save the OB branch library. In 2009, it crusaded to preserve beach firepits. The “OB Rag” continues to editorialize against short-term rentals and high-density development.
Reminiscences and old articles have been published online this week. Longtime readers, supporters and former staffers shared memories in a virtual 50th anniversary celebration on Thursday.
Dennis Doyle remembers staying out until 1:30 a.m., handing out newspapers for a 25-cent donation, to make enough money to pay his rent. Gormlie recalls eating a lot of bean burritos.
At 72, Gormlie splits his time between publishing the “OB Rag” and writing a book on the May 1970 nationwide student rebellion. As to when he’s retiring as publisher, he says that’s not in the picture.
diane.bell@sduniontribune.com