Pictures Changed Me

My siblings came for a visit with my mother and it was a lovely autumn day.  We were walking near the water.  I had brought along my camera.  Still new to the idea that I was shooting digital and using an auto-focus lens.  The camera was set to monochrome.  I had last been out to shoot the day I encountered the downy woodpecker.  We walked along and laughed and caught up and it was good.  The air was just perfect; a real gem of an afternoon.  I sighted a gull.  I lifted the camera and panned along with it for a few moments until it was near me before starting to shoot.  The camera was set to the CH - continuous high.  With the battery pack that's shooting at 8-9 fps - frames per second.  This is where the difference between manual and digital becomes most pronounced for me.  If I imagine the fastest I could ever frame, shoot, wind, and then again with a 1975 Nikkormat FT2, I laugh and stop considering because it's just absurd.  

My 1975 Nikkormat FT2  

When I consider what the digital camera and lens are doing under my direction, it astounds me.  I barely decide and commit to action and it is complete.  The shot below, like so many so far, changed things for me.  There was a moment when I first threw this on a larger monitor and began to really look at the details of the gull's wings -- the inherent geometry of feathers  -- wow, I thought, look at that.  A gull in flight.  The bird I was once told is "nothing more than a rat with wings."  Cold.  By 'stopping' that moment near the harbor, the left wing fully extended, the black tips with the spot of white, the angle at the elbow....  The right wing sets up the right eye perfectly for aligning with the beak.  The webbed feet splayed out against the tail feathers.  The way the right wing cups the air, while the left wing strikes downward, perhaps banking into a turn.... The shadow cast along the underside.  There is a quite whisper of air.  I enjoy shooting gulls.  They sore so gracefully.  The way they stand and stare in any weather.  Steadfast.  Hearty.  Resilient.   

Random gull in monochrome shot with the D700 and 35-105 F3.5-4.5

Another bird that got my attention is the Egret.  Tall.  Long.  Stealthy.  Master Hunter.  I enjoyed getting the shot below as it proved thrilling to see the water displaced by the bird thrusting its head below the surface at lightening speed, something I never saw as it was happening.  Too fast.  This is another aspect of shooting that I thoroughly enjoy - seeing what is otherwise too fast to see.  It allows me to see the world of birds through their eyes - kind of.  More from their perspective, or at least closer to their perspective than my own.  

Egret shot with D700 at 600mm F4.5 (2xTC)

Something was happening the more I shot digital.  I started getting comfortable with the tools.  Yes.  A camera/lens is a tool.  Just like my favorite chef's knife.  One has to be comfortable with his tools to make good use of them.  I was getting familiar with technology that preceded me by 20 years.  It was good.  I liked what I was seeing.  I was improving and learning and enjoying.  And the camera made the learning curve fast.  For the love of a hobby.  I was catching up.  It was fun.  

The Killdeer captured by the D700 with the 35-105 F3.5-4.5

This shot of the Killdeer hit me particularly hard when I threw it on a larger monitor.  I was really struck realizing that I had entered a world that stood as tall as a blade of grass!  I felt oddly like Gulliver.   It still is wonderful to look at the orange-red ring around the eye and the distinctive black banding.  Being there is the thrill.  Not only that I saw it and captured it, now I can study it and appreciate the intricacies and nuances of color and element and shape.  Wunderbar!  

Egrets shoreline frolicking shot with D700 and 300mm F4.5

The Egrets.  These two were a real treat to shoot.  They 'played' along the shore for a while.  I was across the inlet from them and so had full side-to-side panning as they ran and hopped and seemed to have a blast together.  Looking closely at them there seems to be a lightness about the pair.  Are they happy?  Is there such a state for a bird?  Reviewing all the shots of that afternoon, I have to say I think they experience something like joy or laughter or fun.  Yes, they're hunting and there is proof of that.  What do you do when you're full from hunting?  What if there is a break in the action?  Sure, let's say they had a good time.  I did.  

It's clear to me that shooting digital is exciting and rewarding, even my manual equipment gets a new lease on life because now it's fun to compare and contrast the different types of photography.  I owe someone a very big thank you for starting me out some thirty years ago.  That deserves its own post.  

I suddenly remember me as a child - Fisher Price camera in hand - in some plaid outfit out on the sidewalk.  Peering through the view finder, framing shots and clicking away.  Maybe it was there all along.  If you ever enjoyed something and it's been a while, go back to it and fall for it all over again.  

Everything old is new again. 

We'll talk soon.  

Be well. 

1967 Fisher-Price Picture Story Camera