Alfred Forns
11-20-2009, 05:24 PM
Congratulations Paul Leverington
"The Ballerina"
Man I wish I could have a Mark IV in my hands when this shot was taken.
Location: Brigantine National Wildlife Area
The story goes--I was at Barnegat light during the weekday shooting harlequins when this elderly lady stopped to ask me what I was shooting. After I told her about the harley's, she told me that she had just come from Brigantine that morning and saw a snowy owl there. Huh!!!! A few more minutes with her trying to get the specific location at the refuge and it was Pa---chinnnngggggg---exit stage right!----pedal to the metal! How I managed not to get a ticket beats me--it took an hour and fifteen minutes for the drive. And hoping and praying the whole time she would still be there. It wasn't hard to spot her when I got there with this dark brown enviornment. The day was non stop heavy drizzle so everything was wet with color saturation. Nice. For the next 8 hours I had her all to myself. Me, the bird, the camera--double nice. Close to 800 shots. Here she's shaking off the water with some wing flapping. I'm in the moat between the road and the island she's on, in my waders, sinking fast and bad in the mud. Kind of scary really cause there were times I seriously doubted that I could get myself unstuck. The whole time your shooting your sinking constantly in the mud till your in it up to your pockets. Moving for position right or left was a very major undertaking. The tripod was sinking even faster than me. I fell over into the water many times not being able to move my feet to catch my balance. Great fun!!
MarkII 600+1.4X(840) 1/160@f6.3 ISO 400
I like this shot for the unusual colored background for a snowy owl to be in, plus the bg has great interest and mood with all those knarly dark sticks and tree remnants. Of course I wish I had something on the right to balance out the tree on the left, there just wasn't anything. And she really liked this perch--as you can see it looks quite stable and comfortable.
"The Ballerina"
Man I wish I could have a Mark IV in my hands when this shot was taken.
Location: Brigantine National Wildlife Area
The story goes--I was at Barnegat light during the weekday shooting harlequins when this elderly lady stopped to ask me what I was shooting. After I told her about the harley's, she told me that she had just come from Brigantine that morning and saw a snowy owl there. Huh!!!! A few more minutes with her trying to get the specific location at the refuge and it was Pa---chinnnngggggg---exit stage right!----pedal to the metal! How I managed not to get a ticket beats me--it took an hour and fifteen minutes for the drive. And hoping and praying the whole time she would still be there. It wasn't hard to spot her when I got there with this dark brown enviornment. The day was non stop heavy drizzle so everything was wet with color saturation. Nice. For the next 8 hours I had her all to myself. Me, the bird, the camera--double nice. Close to 800 shots. Here she's shaking off the water with some wing flapping. I'm in the moat between the road and the island she's on, in my waders, sinking fast and bad in the mud. Kind of scary really cause there were times I seriously doubted that I could get myself unstuck. The whole time your shooting your sinking constantly in the mud till your in it up to your pockets. Moving for position right or left was a very major undertaking. The tripod was sinking even faster than me. I fell over into the water many times not being able to move my feet to catch my balance. Great fun!!
MarkII 600+1.4X(840) 1/160@f6.3 ISO 400
I like this shot for the unusual colored background for a snowy owl to be in, plus the bg has great interest and mood with all those knarly dark sticks and tree remnants. Of course I wish I had something on the right to balance out the tree on the left, there just wasn't anything. And she really liked this perch--as you can see it looks quite stable and comfortable.