A Fine Feathered Family

My deepest apologies for being absent for so long; concussions stink! Now that I’m out of my dark little hole, I’m excited to share with you the story behind one of my favorite photographs.

When you’re photographing wildlife, it’s always an adventure. You can’t control the animals; you can’t control the weather; you can’t control your surroundings; and sometimes you can’t even control your camera equipment.

This particular day was fantastic from beginning to end. Earlier in the day I had photographed The Rise of the Loon. It’s not often you get more than one favorite shot in the same day. This day, however, was a special day.

After photographing the loon we made our way back to shore and docked the boat. I don’t know if there are too many things more peaceful than lazing on a dock, listening to the water slosh against the shore, and soaking up the warm sunshine.

So there I was, soaking up the rays and feeling peacefully happy, when I noticed something adorable. At this point my lazing was fully interrupted so I grabbed my camera and assumed the position.

I still had the long lens on my camera from photographing the loon and I still didn’t have a tripod handy, so the knee scrunch it was. This method is ridiculous, but effective. You see, you have to scrunch just right to get the perfect shot. Knees up, heavy lens resting in the little space between your knees (yes, it does help if you have bony knees), head bent down to the viewfinder, find subject, extend lens to full length, and shoot. It certainly isn’t pretty, but like I said, when in a pinch it is effective.

Position assumed, the only thing a gal can do is sit quietly and hope the cute little family of ducks swims toward you instead of out of range. I was in luck, they happily swam right toward me to say “Hello!”. I got as many shots as I could and it wasn’t until later that I noticed the reflection in the water. Happy day!

And that, my friends, is the story of how I captured A Fine Feathered Family. (Click to Tweet!)

Until next time,

Josie