The Rise of the Loon

The Rise of the Loon – A Series

Four people never held so still. My friend quietly rowed the motorboat over the rippling waters of Long Lake in Eveleth, Minnesota as we sneakily followed a couple of friendly loons. They were basking in the warm afternoon sun and were so comical!

My 300mm lens was maxed out and I must have looked as comical as the loons as I tried to capture their picture. You see, with a long lens you must hold the camera very still and you almost always need a tripod. Even then, the weight is so much that the photo can turn out blurry. Of course I didn’t have a tripod on the boat so I came up with another plan.

I slowly worked my way to the front of the boat and sat myself down in the bow. Propping my knees up, I made a tripod out of my body. Balancing my elbows on my knees to help stabilize the camera, I held the camera tight to my face for extra stability.

This worked pretty well, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to get crisp, clear photos. So I rested the lens in the space between my knees, twisted my spine, and scrunched my head down until I could see out the viewfinder.

As we drifted closer to the loons one of them rose up out of the water, stretching its wings and flicking water off its pointy beak, lifting it toward the sky. It was a sight to behold and I was thrilled to be photographing the majestic loon.

I later learned that loons do this when their territory is threatened. It only did it a few times, then swam lazily by our boat before we could paddle far enough away to turn the motor back on and be on our way.

It was a wonderful day filled with great memories I will treasure forever! And that my friends, is the story of how I captured The Rise of the Loon. Click to Tweet.