Myself and two girlfriends spent the day out in the country looking for birds to photograph. Late in the afternoon I spied this big guy on the side of a hill. My friend Theresa was driving and I said, “What is that? Is that a turkey?” As she slowed down and we drew closer I was thrilled to see it was a Golden Eagle as big as a Turkey hen!
He spooked easily. The sound of our cameras clicking had him airborne in a flash!
Shooting from the passenger side of the car and through the open driver’s side window I was able to get off 3 shots before he was out of my line of sight.
This was the first time I’ve ever seen one in the wild and this close. It was so exciting. While this isn’t an award-winning photo I’m still floating and elated that I got this shot.
This little guy is a celebrity who is drawing large crowds of birders and photographers from around the continent to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge in California’s Pacific Fly-way belt.
His native home is China where I’ve read they’re hunted extensively. The burning question is did he migrate, is he a stow-away, or an escapee from a private zoo? No one knows how he came to be here, but they have been spotted in California further north of here in Lassen County back in 1969, 2002, and 2003.
His name Falcated refers to his sickle-shaped wing feathers.
This celebrity doesn’t sign autographs or grant interviews, but don’t let that stop you from going to see him. It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, “This is no ugly duckling!”
Sometimes you do get an opportunity to redo a shot. On my New Year’s Photography Trip we planned to shoot Mobius Arch in Alabama Hills on our first morning there. The last time I was there to shoot a sunrise I was a bit late and missed the “blue period”. I’ve been wanting a “do over” since. This time we left in plenty of time, and we didn’t stop for coffee. We weren’t the first in the parking lot and we thought as we hiked out to Mobius Arch that there would be someone already there which meant we wouldn’t have the choice spot on the boulder to shoot from.
We were so lucky; no one was there! Behind the Arch is a large boulder most photographers set up on. My 3 friends and I sat huddled together with our tripods and packs waiting for sunrise. I framed up Lone Pine Peak through Mobius Arch with the first lights of day lighting it. I think that the stars in the upper left corner is The Great Square of Pegasus.
As we were shooting and waiting for the light a couple of guys hiked up. It was their car we’d seen in the parking lot when we arrived. They took a wrong turn and got a bit lost before finding the right trail. We made a bit more space so they could shoot too. They were shooting over our heads for the Alpine Glow show. It’s always fun to meet other photographers when out and about. Turns out these two were also from the Bay Area. Small world!
I gave up my spot on the rock to Sasha. Then I turned around and saw the sun crest the White Mountains.
We said farewell to Sasha, and his friend then we drove around the park scouting out other locations to shoot. We found another arch and some neat formations. Famished we left the park and headed into Lone Pine for a hearty breakfast and much-needed coffee.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35| Tripod
UPDATE: On a whim I did a photo search on flickr for other shots taken this morning at Mobius Arch and found this photo by Photosuze! You can’t see too much of me, but I’m behind the guy in blue who is my friend Dali, I’m wearing a white coat, pink hat, and my face is to my camera. My friend Alex is behind me sitting on the edge, and you can just make out my friend T’s hat. You see I wasn’t kidding there isn’t much room on that rock!
I spent the first few days of 2012 photographing parts of the Eastern Sierras with dear friends. This was our 2nd Annual New Years Photo Trip.
There wasn’t much snow in the high country so we were able to cross Tioga Pass to get to our base camp which was in Bishop, CA. From there we were pretty central to everything we had hoped to photograph. We roamed from Mammoth on the northern end to Alabama Hills in the south.
Sunrises, sunsets, and a bit of scouting during the day was on the agenda, and on our first night we had a clear sky so we drove south to Ancient Bristle Pine Cone National Park and shot in the Patriarch Grove. The elevation is between 10,000 and 11,000ft. Because the air is so thin up here these trees grow slowly. This harsh environment makes their wood denser and stronger to resist pests, and disease. The oldest tree is 4600 years old! Their twisted limbs and odd shapes make great subjects and foreground for star trails.
Once you get the focus sharp, your settings selected, and your intervelometer set up you can sit back and watch the sky, or do what we did; go back to the car and turn on the heater. It was 26 degrees outside!
This star trail is made from 82 frames each were 58 second exposures. I cloned out 6 airplanes and 1 shooting star.
The trip was great fun, and I’m looking forward to our 2013 New Years Photo adventure.
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