5 Mar
The Ups and Downs of a Wildlife Photo Weekend (Part I)
Posted in California, Locations, Photography, Wildlife by JimThis weekend I decided to take advantage of some limited free time to pursue some wildlife photography. In the process of sorting through some options as to what to photograph I lured a friend into going out with me. The prospect of photographing native birds and sea mammals lured her like a moth to the flame.
Our first choice of subject was elusive, the harbor seal (see Part II later this week). We drove to a few spots north of the Russian River for sunrise, requiring a 3AM start. While out looking for Harbor Seals we came across a female American Kestrel hunting and a Black-chinned Hummingbird. These were the pleasant surprises of the outing…
JMG-Galleries - The Ups and Downs of a Wildlife Photo Weekend (Part II)
on March 8 2007
[...] Not wanting to leave empty handed we set up to take a few shots and head out looking for other wildlife (See Part I). Setting up quickly I took a few photographs of the seals sleeping and sunning themselves in the early morning light while my friend set up her camera and 400mm f/2.8 rental lens. Just as I turned to jokingly take photos of her, her camera and rental lens slid off her tripodhead into rocks at her feet. The sound of cracking glass and crunching plastic was a sound worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. Fortunately her camera was fine, but her flash and teleconverter were damaged beyond use. The lens appeared to be a loss with a cracked front element. The whole accident was a real downer. All was not lost though as we did salvage the day later with some scouting of surrounding areas and miscellaneous wildlife encounters. [...]
JMG-Galleries - American Kestrel in Flight
on March 19 2007
[...] A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to see a female Kestral hunting in Sonoma County. I’m not much of a bird photographer so I learned a lot in the process of capturing this and a few other images. More images from this day can be seen here. [...]