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01-11-2009, 08:53 AM   #1
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The shot that got away

I imagine everyone probably has this sort of story... On a particularly frigid, windy day last year, I was out for a car ride with my friend Pat during spare. As we were pulling back into the parking lot, I noticed three small birds perched on the tire of my music teacher's car, arranged ever so perfectly, hiding from the cold. I found this to be beautifully ironic in a way - nature offering some sort of incidental/accidental art. Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me. Worse yet, I didn't even own a camera at that time. No worry, I stormed the comm-tech room for a camera because I have privileges. However, by the time I returned to the parking lot, all but one of the birds had decided to take shelter elsewhere. Ok, not as awesome of a shot, but one bird is still better than none, right? So no sooner than I've set up my shot and put my finger to the shutter does the wind blow ever so slightly, convincing this one remaining bird that his friends were probably right about relocating. Needless to say, I was rather frustrated.

Well, that's probably about the worst shot to have gotten away from me. What's everyone else's story?

01-11-2009, 09:13 AM   #2
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Hi!
That was an almost amusing but very real aspect of bird photography! They know how to make us look like fools, don't they?

Here's my story, from last week photo "session" with a Snowy Owl:
So ... there I am, finally well positioned to photograph a juvenile Snow Owl which decided to camp on a post for a very long time! Perhaps it had fed and was just digesting, not moving at all. I must have "clicked" at least 50 times with all possible angles ... great shots! Well, "it would be nice now if he/she decided to take off so I could capture the great wingspan in flight" I tell myself.
Wait ... wait ... wait ... the owl still not moving from its post. So I decide to review my pics in the rear screen ... and OF COURSE!!! that's when he/she decides to take off! I turn around to see the owl having already flew at least 100 yards!!! Missed that GREAT shot! (which I have been trying to get for at least 4 weeks now).
there you have it.
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01-11-2009, 12:02 PM   #3
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Whilst I carry cameras at all times with me.................................

I know that should the wee local beasty who lives near me, puts in her next appearance, I'm just bound to miss it and my chance for fame and fortune.
01-11-2009, 01:22 PM   #4
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to touch on this, i drive the interstate to/from work 5 days a week, carrying my camera with me all the time...i watch the sun rise and sun set all the time and am amazed at god's beautiful artwork, but am just too scared to pull over on the atlanta interstates to try to get a snapshot...by the time i find an exit to pull off, the scene has changed, there's buildings/trees/wires in the way...i feel like i'm always letting a shot get a way...

01-11-2009, 03:00 PM   #5
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Me again, with yet another "take off" mishap! Today at around 2 pm ... Same owl ... same place ... this time, as I was approaching, my foot sank into deep snow and the bird took off while I became momentarily busy trying to dislodge myself from the deep snow!! AArrgghhh!!!
01-12-2009, 07:47 AM   #6
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Wouldn't you know that as soon as I made this topic, I had yet another "takeoff." My mother called me out to the kitchen to witness a little hole in the snow where a bird (possibly a sparrow?) had fallen after hitting our window (not sure how he/she managed this as our windows are rather filthy). We assumed that the hit probably killed/injured it. My mother than suggested that I go out and see if I can pull the bird out of the snow and that I should take my camera. When I got a closer look at the hole, I could see that just his/her tail was sticking out which would explain why he/she hadn't taken off. So, I stuck my hands into the snow and pulled the bird out, only to have it flutter away. No pictures though, on the bright side, I got that warm, fuzzy (feathery?) feeling for the rest of the day. <_<
01-12-2009, 08:06 AM   #7
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From my point and shoot days, I came upon three stray kittens sharing a drink of water from a puddle in a shopping mall. Who were they sharing it with - a black vulture. I still see that shot in my minds eye.
And there was the time we were having lunch at SolDuc in WA state. It was cold and rainy and we were hunkered down under our rain tarps. We heard a noise and looked up in time to see two bald eagles cruising the stream where we were sitting. We almost could have touched them. To be honest, I have never regretted now getting that photo because I'm not sure I would have enjoyed the beauty of the moment if I had to have worried about shutter speed.

01-12-2009, 11:49 PM   #8
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Ruffled feathers

Yep Stood in the bush for an hour eyeing off the osprey perched high above me. fly you bugger I thought, after taking a million shots of it glaring at me. So cheched the pics I had and off she flew. Later she came back clutching a fish, with two crows flying under her trying to grab a free meal. Saved I thought just as the trio disappeared behind the trees never to be seen again. OK I am now going bush again. today will be the money shot! then I will try and learn how to post photos on here.
Must fly.
01-21-2009, 09:38 AM   #9
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There are two that haunt me regularly. Both are long stories and I'm long-winded--sorry.

DON'T COUNT YOUR EAGLES BEFORE THEY HATCH
In the mid '90's there was a golden eagle nest about 200 yards behind my house and up on the hill. Each year the pair would return the first week of April and by early summer the young would fledge by gliding into one of the trees in my front yard. You couldn't see the nest from my house but you could hear the eagles squawking and crying and chirping pretty much all the time during daylight hours.

The nest was situated high in a pine tree snag, but slightly below the rim of of a ridge so that I could actually look down into the nest from just a few yards away--a very rare situation indeed.

My inartistic fishing photo's had begun selling pretty well to many magazines and I decided that it was time to become a "real" nature photographer and get me a big telephoto lens for shooting the eagles. Couldn't afford a nice lens like the FA*600/4 at that time, but the old manual 500/4.5 was approachable at about $1000 (I didn't know yet what a crappy lens it really was). So I whipped out the VISA card and ordered the lens. When it arrived I was just plain giddy with excitement. This was March and I had roughly a month to build a nice blind or two up on the ridge. So I climbed up with my new lens to select the best angles and such so my blinds would be in the best spots.

I got up there and started looking around. Where the heck was the nest? It must just be sparse from the winter and I couldn't tell it's location...but no, an eagles nest is not something you can overlook. What the heck was going on? Then I looked down below the ridge, and there, in a tangled jumble lay the tree and nest. The tree had snapped off about 5 feet above the ground in a wind storm that had occurred a week or two prior. I was the proud owner of a telephoto lens, yet my "easy" situation was gone.

When the eagles returned, they were pretty pissed off--or was it distraught? Don't know...they built a new nest on the next ridge over--about half a mile away and not susceptible to my prying eyes or lens as it was in a tall tree way higher than the top of the ridge. They were still visible and audible much of the time, but I never did photograph them.

I've since upgraded to the F*600/4 and then the FA*600/4 and also the FA*250-600/5.6 so the telephoto bug bit me pretty hard. My bird folio has a few good eagle images, but nothing on the nest and I learned my lesson--DON'T COUNT YOUR EAGLES BEFORE THEY HATCH!

This story is long enough that I'll save the second one from an Inuvialuit whaling camp 450 miles North of the Arctic Circle for some other time perhaps...

Sorry about the low res. scan to gif but it was the only eagle photo I had in this laptop and I don't have access to my main computer right now...A better rendition of this image has sold a few times including a current use in the Montana state parks brochure. Oh wait, that was '08 so no current publication...
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01-21-2009, 12:20 PM   #10
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Nice stories so far
here's mine:
I commute from Richmond park area to Kensington 5 days a week. Always taking camera with me - you never know what might happen on London streets. Usually the camera just sits in the bag as a dead weight and very rarely soething really happens. So one day, I woke up and felt slight pain in my shoulder. I said OK, maybe I'd leave camera at home today.
As I got off the bus in Hammersmith as I always do, there was heavy traffic and just about every other car was sounding horn. I looked at them and thought what the heck, no rain, no mist, no frost (any of these three turn London into traffic nightmare) unless there wasn't accident traffic should be fine. As I approached crossing I saw the reason. This big guy, with dreadlocks, bit shabby (not homelles but not one of the top 10,000 either) holding his cardboard transparent saying something about the end of the world, on his chest, was walkin right in the middle of the road in opposite direction on traffic flow, with every car just avoiding him like if he was poisoneus. Scene that street photographer could wish for, I was imagining it in my head in B&W. Yes, it would look right. I reached to my bag and.....
grabbed my lunch box, I left the camera home, didn't I...
After this, I very rarely go to work without my camera anymore...
I hope he'll come back
BR
01-21-2009, 12:55 PM   #11
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Hey, he said "Hammersmith", can't help but think of Motorhead's old Live At Hammersmith album, back when Lemmy was young and fresh...Should be some pretty nice street stuff in that area even without Mr. Dreadlocks?
01-21-2009, 01:04 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by eclipsed450 Quote
to touch on this, i drive the interstate to/from work 5 days a week, carrying my camera with me all the time...i watch the sun rise and sun set all the time and am amazed at god's beautiful artwork, but am just too scared to pull over on the atlanta interstates to try to get a snapshot...by the time i find an exit to pull off, the scene has changed, there's buildings/trees/wires in the way...i feel like i'm always letting a shot get a way...
My story was a bit like Kirk's. On 22 Dec 2008 I was driving our family from Brisbane to Hervey Bay for our annual family holiday. As I was driving on the busy main highway, I noticed how beautiful the skyscape was: the beautiful graduation of the blue colour of the sky, the fluffiness of the clouds, their regularity & spacing, the perspective & framing created by the tall, regularly spaced pine trees along both sides of the long, straight highway ("as far as the eye can see" - there are large pine plantations up Sunshine Coast way). It really looked nice. I tried not to look at it too much because I did not want to crash so early in our trip (we had only been travelling about 75 mins). I wanted to pull to the side of the road and take a shot. But it was busy, so I decided I'd wait until we got to Gympie (a further distance of about 100KM - 60 miles) were we usually pull up for a lunch break. Well, by the time we got there, the clouds had mostly cleared and that special skyscape was lost.

Dan.

Last edited by dosdan; 01-21-2009 at 03:26 PM.
01-21-2009, 01:36 PM   #13
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Well, there was this beautiful young lady ......................

.... and then the battery went flat. Why don't Pentax cameras give you more warning?
01-21-2009, 01:41 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by ukbluetooth Quote
Well, there was this beautiful young lady ......................

.... and then the battery went flat. Why don't Pentax cameras give you more warning?
[wink] Use the grip and two batteries set to use one of them up first. When your battery flat indicator comes on, turn the camera off, turn it back on and magically you are using the other battery which still has full charge! Of course, you do need to charge both batteries before you go out to play... er ..... work at your photography.
01-21-2009, 01:47 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Canada_Rockies Quote
[wink] Use the grip and two batteries set to use one of them up first. When your battery flat indicator comes on, turn the camera off, turn it back on and magically you are using the other battery which still has full charge! Of course, you do need to charge both batteries before you go out to play... er ..... work at your photography.

Yes - I must get a grip - I must get a grip !!
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