I was prescient and lucky enough to stick the 500mm on the camera when I went home last night. The Red tailed mother hawk is nesting and it will be fledges any day now, and if I am lucky I will catch a nascent look at the eyass. Which means I have to watch very carefully.
Went to get the newspaper from the mailbox (which is 2 miles away) this morning and saw the osprey sitting perched on a high, far sycamore branch on my narrow river canyon road. There are lots of fat fish in the river. I fumbled around with the settings, got off the phone and jumped out of the van but was only able to snap two shots before he bailed, I think that I may have pissed him off. In an interesting twist, the sultry tones of the song Last lonely eagle by the New Riders of the Purple Sage was playing on the radio and the dulcet tones of Jerry Garcia's pedal steel guitar warmed the day. By the way, the osprey is also known as the sea eagle.
Not perfect shots but I am getting my toe in the water.
Should be a great year for the raptors, hope you don't get tired of the pics.
DAMN-You Nailed it, Robert!!! Great Shot!
ReplyDeleteTerrific images particularly the top one, it is a stunner.
ReplyDeleteThe first shot is great, Blue Heron!! Your timing was perfect as was your composition!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. I would like to utter a brief sermon. There are money shots and then there are shots that might only report and describe an event. While I labored long under the belief that you should only put your finest work in the public eye, my late blog taught me that it is okay to not be perfect all the time. I didn't post the shot of the mother hawk thinking that it was an outstanding photograph, it is part of a journalistic narrative. The last shot's inclusion is more debatable. Certainly the wings are not in focus but the center section is. I didn't have a chance to dial in my speed. I tend to play more and filter up my mistakes, make them more graphic. I didn't monkey with this one. The question is, does the osprey's trajectory make this a worthwhile shot to share or is it best left on the cutting room floor?
ReplyDeleteI love this annual event, Robert. Thanks for continuing to share the results with us. As far as not having time to "dial in the speed" ... I'm reminded of Wedding photographers who've mentioned having a Bride or Wedding party member unexpectedly break into motion - a Kodak moment - and even though the shooter's working with a $3000 camera, they admit there are times they have to resort to dialing in "Automatic" in order to capture the action. Keep up the good work!
DeleteReverend Heron, good sermon. I think the gestural and life filled image will nearly always trump the technically perfect. The osprey flying in from the frame edge has that quality. So for aesthetic photography it is fine, for wildlife photography you might get into trouble as that field really loves technical quality and objective reportage.
DeleteThe osprey in the tree is an amazing photo. What a beautiful animal.
ReplyDelete