It's definitely more difficult than I anticipated.
The lens certainly lets me get waaaaay closer than I ever could before....But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm close enough.
Not only that, but I think it may be time for me to get a new camera. To get the animal/bird/whatever to fill up the whole screen, I nearly always have to crop it from the photo. And my current camera is only 6 megapixels, so there's not a whole lot to crop from. Not only that, but seeing how important a fast shutter speed is in wildlife photography, I always have to dial up the ISO speed on the camera, making the pictures grainy (and even MORE grainy when cropped). I have my eye on the new Nikon D7000 right now. It's 16 megapixels, has more light-gathering power, more color range, more dynamic range, and dialing up the ISO doesn't add nearly as much grain to the photos as my camera (or many other cameras). The problem is the camera is all sold out...everywhere....everyone wants it. Also I need $200 more, though my dad said he was willing to lend me the money. I'm very fortunate, however, that I got a total of $900 between my grandparents this Christmas, it's definitely making this dream camera come a bit closer to reality.
ANYHOW, enough with the other camera, I'm still super excited about going out now and taking pictures with my current camera, even if they're a bit grainier/pixelier than I'd prefer.
I can't convey through this blog how exciting it is to wake up early, grab all gear and warm clothes, and hit the road for a wildlife photo-adventure.
You never know what's in store for you later in the day.
I learned one of my biggest lessons the other day, photographing near Skagit River, near Rockport (during this time thousands of bald eagles are scattered along the river, eating the carcasses of the salmon that are dying). I didn't get any spectacular photographs near there, but I did learn a valuable lesson.
(seagulls, bald eagles, and other animals, gorged themselves on the dead salmon that scattered the Skagit River)
It started when I got out of my car on the side of the road, looked across the river, and saw an interesting red-beaked bird (which I later discovered to be a 'Common Merganser'). I walked closer to the river, walking up a slight dirt mound to get a better view of the bird to photograph. Before even 5 seconds passed, the bird eyed me from across the river, and had flown off. It was frustrating... I'd been driving to spots all day, and I had barely gotten any decent photos.
It was in this moment I decided I'd try something different.
Instead of going back to my car and trying to find another spot where I could see something cool, I decided to walk down the ledge, closer to the river, and sit down underneath a tree. Over the next hour of me sitting there, I learned a lesson.
No more than 5 minutes had passed, and lo and behold, the same red-beaked bird came gently floating down the river. Not on the other side, but on MY side. I slowly raised my camera, and got multiple shots of it floating down right passed me. I was baffled. By sitting down and relaxing, I actually had gotten a BETTER shot of this bird, than earlier when I was panicked and rushing to get a shot -of it further away-.
I decided to wait even longer.
Another duck-like animal floated down (later which I learned to be a Hooded Maganser). The bird was beautiful, It had a jet black head, speckled with beautiful white feathers, and spots of brown. I had no idea such a neat looking bird even lived in Washington. The bird took no notice to me, relaxed, holding my camera.
A little finch-like bird also flew down next to me, under the tree, in a bush, and dried off from the rain. It stood there with its toes wrapped around a branch, it shook its body, fluffed up its feathers, and preened itself a bit. I don't even think it knew I was there. But it was fascinating to watch a wild bird come down and go about its own agenda, right in front of you.....
maybe another 20-30 minutes passed. When out of nowhere, a squirrel comes crawling up, instantly revealing himself about 3 feet away from me. I stared at him. He stared at me. The moment lasted a number of seconds before he squeaked and ran away. Only to show up again a minute later, in the tree next to me.
The next 15 minutes unfolded like this.
*the squirrel stood there in the branches of the tree*
squeek! (the sound was similiar to that of a dog chew toy)
squeek! (the sound was similiar to that of a dog chew toy)
....
squeek!
....
....
squeek!
squeak!
....
squeak!
(repeat a 1,0000 times)
(^^^ this is him, the little bugger)
Anyways, I was thinking...some animal must be hearing this squirrel squeak. I'm not sure what the squirrel was trying to prove...perhaps it was sending out an alarm to other animals to warn that I was there. However, I was thinking, doesn't this also give the squirrels location away? I even whispered to him inbetween squeaks: "you better shut up, or you're gonna get eaten!" the squirrel didn't pay any attention to my whisper.
But there was something it did pay attention to.
SCREEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The scream of the red-tailed hawk across the river immediately shut the squirrel up.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33DWqRyAAUw for the real sound, my "screee" doesn't do it justice)
(this fella ruined the squirrel's party)
Around this time it started getting dark, I packed up my stuff and headed back to the car.
While I hadn't gotten any spectacular photos (the magansers drifted by too quickly, and were still too far for me to get a real decent shot), I knew I had learned an important lesson.
And that lesson is:
Patience.
Nothing pays off like patience.
I learned that in nature, life is attracted to life, and if you're patient enough, a story will unfold in front of you. And in the down time, when there isn't wildlife in front of your eyes.... you become acutely aware of your senses... The smell of fish, like Pikes Place Market, filled my nostrils while I was there (I assume because of the dying salmon). While I sat there, I became aware of every sound...the drop of every raindrop, the sound of each individual plant flicking back up after I had stepped on them, the cries of the eagles in the distance, the trickling sound of the river as it flowed by. It's crazy how much at peace you can feel, sitting in one spot for so long. But it was relaxing, and it didn't seem like 1 second of the hour was wasted.
Tomorrow I'm going to try and catch the sunrise, and photograph more birds and wildlife around Padilla Bay and Samish Bay. I'll try and apply the new lesson I learned.... Wish me luck!
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