First Flight

Taken this morning at GBNWR. The past few days has been a bit challenging weather wise, when until this morning, temperatures have been hovering at the 0F mark. But, that changed early today. We awoke to a new 6" of wet snow and the forecast was for rain and temperatures soaring into the mid-50s (F), which as I write this - it's headed up into.

For that, I knew before heading out this AM that the estuary would be deserted of people and hoped for a foggy mist to continue to roll in as the the wild temperature swing would create.

Walking through the estuary, I heard a flock of Canada Geese making a ruckus - as they always do before taking flight. So, I crept to the shore and simply hoped for the best, as I didn't have my typical wildlife gear/lenses, so I figured I try to combine my two passions - both landscape and wildlife photography. Out of the hundreds of images I shot this AM - this is the one that I thought caught the moment - the stillness of the estuary, an incoming flight and the beauty of the reserve.

Taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the consumer version of the Olympus 40-150mm lens.

Flight

Well - this is the first time I've shot wildlife this year. It's also the first time - I used anything but a Nikon (which I have abandoned Nikon for various reasons). It's the first time I've used an Olympus MFT to shoot anything but landscapes. It's the first time I've used a totally manual lens to shoot birds. It's the first time I've left any Sony body behind on a shoot...

Here is the story behind today...

I went to the Estuary at Adams Point in Durham, NH USA - and went to shoot a rock cliff that I've been meaning to shoot. But - I also took a lens that I used to use for birds - just in case I saw anything of interest.  So - walking the shoreline for an hour, before getting to the cliff face - I noticed an Osprey circling...  I walked through the estuary headed for where the Osprey was circling.  When I arrived - I set up..

So - while waiting - a few gulls came by, so I was intrigued as they dug up mollusks in the mud - flew up to about 50 feet - and then dropped them on the ice to crack the shells...  As one flock of 10-15 birds left, another flock moved in to resume where they left off...

These are from today.  Simple seagulls in an estuary. Taken with an Olympus OM-D MFT.  

Old Dog - New Tricks

Over the past month, as some know, I've been working on my post-processing. Mostly with a small handful of folks. Actually, less than a handful to be exact. So - well, OK - about three other folks exactly.. ;)

Anyway - as many know, I've been into wildlife images since buying my first digital camera. I don't show many of them - it's just the "flip side" of what I do in landscapes, I guess?

So, here is one that I reprocessed today. Perhaps I'll post others in the future rather than my landscapes images. Just every now and then.. The image above is a single image from my Nikon D600 with the 80-200mm ED-IF f/2.8 at the J.N. Ding Darling in Sanibel FL USA.

As always - thanks for looking.