The last month has been a very interesting chapter in my photographic journey. Shooting in Florida is something every wildlife photographer should do at least once in their life. Just to experience the beauty and the sheer numbers of birds and wildlife is a feast for your eyes, not to mention your camera! Up here if I get one good photo opportunity a day I consider it a good day. If that happened to me down there I would consider it a slow day.
And it was through sheer luck that while I was down there I was invited to watch an online presentation by professional photographer Lisa Langell. Lisa was kind enough to give the photo club a free seminar on high key photography. And that experience made me think about my own photography. Wildlife photographers are subject to many rules about when and how they can get their images and then about how they can edit their images for competition. And I understand the reasoning behind most of those rules. But at the same time those rules can also stifle creativity in the photographic process. And that is not good for the photographer or their audience. So you may see a bit of a change in my photography in the future. You maybe won’t see quite so many “bird on a stick pictures” and possibly more creative attempts. I’m still a wildlife photographer at heart but it doesn’t hurt to spread your wings once in a while!
So it was with creativity in mind when a few days ago I was at LIndsay Parsons Preserve in Danby. The forecast was for high clouds much of the morning and I knew exactly how I was going to use those clouds to my advantage. That is the perfect scenario for high key photography. You need good diffuse light to be successful at this type of shooting. I didn’t really know what I was doing because I’m very new at this but that wasn’t going to stop me.
Long story short, I haven’t had that much fun in a long time! The light cooperated, the birds cooperated and the temp was just right. I was in heaven! For 3 hours I was shooting practically non-stop and I ended up with more than 1700 images. But the birds were giving me a rare opportunity and I wasn’t leaving until the birds decided it was over. I owe them one……

Back to the stick store……. must be she didn’t like that one…

The female was very specific about what sticks she would take. The ones she didn’t like were dropped and she sent him out for another. This went on for over two hours!!!

This poor guy tried to land on their nest. Ruh Roh Raggy! I guess that’s a major faux pas in the heron world!

So of course Dad went over to make sure Mom was okay, but Mom had it under control. It looked like Mom was about to open up a can of whoop ass on that poor bird! She was pissed!!!

He hopes this stick is more to her liking…..

Can you tell I was having fun?????
You only get a couple days like this a year, if you’re lucky. I am just glad that I was able to get by with a little help from my friends!

I have several hundred more! If you can’t sleep some night look in my Galleries drop down and look for ‘high key’. That’ll put you to sleep!!!! Thanks for looking!