Transposure

So, I spent my day yesterday out in the cold, freezing!  Even my 37 layers weren’t enough to keep the bodyheat inside.  Well, I guess it is partially due to not moving around too much.  That is the nature of the proverbial beast though.  We are talking about wildlife photography and alot of it is just standing around waiting…..and in the case of yesterday’s temperatures….freezing.

The “beasts” of the day were bald eagles.  You know, the symbol of this once great nation!  Yeah, the “once” was intentional.  At one time, an endangered species, I don’t believe they are any more.  It usually takes a while for the realization of this to catch up to the administrators that keep animals on the endangered list a little longer.

In any case, I packed the Mark III and dusted off the 600mm and the Wimberley mount and trekked to Maryland.  The drive was about 2 1/2 hours, but I was excited to get out and shoot.  It has been a while since I last photographed wildlife, so it was a welcomed excursion!

I showed up a little late so I missed a lot of the “breakfast” activity.  Eagles apparently fly south as the northern weather gets cold and the lakes freeze.  This always them to feed on the fish in warmer regions, and usually in the morning and evening as I found out.  This also means that we photographers gain the benefit of photographing them without having to travel too far.  Well, unless you are a diehard fanatic, in which case you probably already have your airline ticket booked to Homer, Alaska.  LOL

After lunch, that is, lunch for the photographer, the afternoon proved more fruitful in terms of image captures.  And, I thought I would share a few….

So, am I happy with the captures?  Well, yes and no.  I didn’t have my autofocus settings appropriate for this type of photography (still set for wedding shooting) and I had a 1.4 teleconverter installed.  So, that meant I had to keep the center focus spot on the target to achieve focus.  If it fell of the target, like during panning, all bets were off.  So, yes, I am happy considering the hinderences of the equipment and being able to work through them, and no, I will never be completely happy with any photograph I make.  But then again, isn’t that the case with many of us?  Don’t we all go out again and try to do better?  I know I do!

So, after much research, reading and vascillation, I decided it was high time to enter the world of blogging.  I must have read at least three of four articles over the course of the last few months on the subject.  The greatest virtue expounded by the authors of said articles is the ability for web bots to log some of this and help with the location of my site when people use search engines.  In the old days, that wasn’t much of an issue, but lately, with the proliferation of flash sites, the liklihood of being found in a search has grown smaller and smaller.  So, from that standpoint alone, the whole blogging thing sounds good to me!

My background, for the uninformed, errant, vistor that stumbles across this little island of 1′s and 0′s in this great sea, is that of engineer and photographer.  I started my career as a structural engineer and climbed the proverbial corporate ladder, achieving multi-state professional engineering licensure status along the way.  I also obtained a masters degree in structural engineering at the start of the new millenium.  I currently operate my own structural engineering company as well as my own photography studio.  And that is what prompted me to be here.

Photography has always been my hobby, since I was yardstick height.  I recall the days of the Kodak Instamatic and those pesky little flashcubes….4 flashes..replace….4 flashes…replace.  LOL  Anyway, my interest grew and in time, when I was old enough to afford it, I purchased my first 35mm camera.  Wow, was that cool!  It was a Ricoh KRM something or other.  I was in my late teens at the time and I couldn’t get enough.  I saved up and bought a few lenses and shot and shot and shot.  I learned alot by doing.

I just realized I started out typing a “good evening” to the world speech and it has somehow morphed into a historical background of my careers and my camera gear.  Hmmmm….let’s see if we can bring this to a profound point in the end…..

So, as I captured many images with my SLR, digital photography started to elbow its way into the world.  Being a gadget freak, I was immediately enamored by the prospect.  Early adopter is a term that applies to those that embrace, and generally purchase, new technology before the mainstream.  That word very accurately described me back then.  I jumped head over heels into the medium and purchased my first digital camera.  At the time, phhotography was still a hobby to me, so I went with a Sony DSC-F505.  It was such a cool camera, with the articulating lens barrel allowing you to take high angle shots by swiveling the body as you held it overhead.  But, it was a digicam (upscale point and shoot) camera.  I would eventual learn a lesson…read on.

Sony DSC-F505

The camera worked great, but I always looked for an upgrade path.  So, when the DSC-505V came out, guess who had to have it?  Aha.  The F505V looked identical to the F505.  If I recall correctly, it had more pixels.

Sony went through a series of upgrades to this camera concept.  They were the DSC-F707, the DSC-F717 and finally, the DSC-F828.  Guess who bought all of them.  Aha.

Sony DSC-F707

Sony DSC-F717

Sony DSC-F828

One day I had a revelation.  It was as if I awoke from an extraordinarily long dream.  I stepped back and looked at the landscape.  Not the landscape in my viewfinder mind you.  The landscape I was referring to was where I was stadning in terms of my equipment and the limitations it placed on me.  I went from an SLR to a series of pimped up point and shoots!  What was I thinking?

At that moment, I made a paradigm shift to move into a DSLR.  It was 2002 and my goal was clear.  I wanted the biggest, baddest DSLR on the market.  The problem was my budget.  I couldn’t afford it.  Luckily, through a friend, I was referred to a small boutique photography dealer in NYC.  The shop is www.photovillage.com.  I made a visit and he had a used Canon 1Ds Mark I in the case.  After I cleaned up the drool on the counter, I asked “How much?”.  When I opened my eyes, I saw the paramedics huddled around me.  They were just about to yell “Clear!”  LOL  OK, I exaggerated a bit there.  The price was steep (about half of the new price) but I knew I had to do it.  I found a way, along with a Canon EF24-70mm f2.8 L lens.  And…..we’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz!!

Over the next few years, I scrimped and saved and increased my lens arsenal.  I bought some new, some used, but always “L glass”, including a 600mm at one point!  “Investments in my future.”, I kept saying to myself.  Eventually, I sold the 1Ds and moved up to the 1Ds Mark II.

Canon 1Ds Mark II

I recently upgraded again to the Canon 1Ds Mark III and still have and use my Mark II as my backup camera.