Peenie Wallie: First Day in the Field

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February 12, 2011

First Day in the Field

So, today was my first day in the field with the new Canon "Cannon", as I like to call it. First of all, I should mention that this camera garners a lot of attention. I had people stop their cars and ask me what type of lens I had. The police approached me for taking photos while parked in the middle of the road. Total strangers asked for me to take their pictures. So, obviously, if I'm going to walk around with this thing, I'm going to have to get some business cards printed out just so people will leave me alone. At this point, they don't even ask if I'm a photographer. There's no plausible denial at this point. I think I've lost that battle.

I shot the camera free-hand, and after a day in the field, I can tell you that my arms and wrists are sore. It's one thing to be able to raise the camera up to your eye. Quite another to old it steady above your head while shooting birds all day. This is more challenging than I'd imagined.

These images aren't great, but for my first day out, I'm happy with them. I need to work with a tripod and a remote shutter release, of course. But a lot of these images were shot from further away than I normally shoot. A large part of bird photography is getting lucky and having the bird sit still while you approach him. The closer you get, the better the shot.

Saw several hawks today. Mostly Red-tailed hawks. Some mature, some immature. Also, I shot a female American Kestrel. We saw a mature Bald Eagle, but it flew before I could get any shots.