Karma – The Parakeet Auklet
St. Paul, Alaska
08/10/12
5D Mark III, 400mm 5.6, 1/1250 sec at 5.6, ISO 640
I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. It’s 9:00am and I’m packing my luggage, we have a flight to catch back to Anchorage. I’m seriously bummed out about my failure to capture a satisfying image of the Auklets in flight on this trip to St. Paul, Alaska. To make matters worse, the weather is miserable, cold, misty and rainy.
Fast forward to about 3:30pm, we find out that our flight is cancelled due to the bad weather, one more night on the gloomy island but a great group of people to keep company. Walking back to our room, I tell a few folks, may be the weather will clear a bit and we can go out and shoot one more time, for all we know this may be one of the best days ever.
It’s 6:30pm; the fog gives way to a brighter day and even the clouds breakup, letting the sun shine through. We are at the cliff making flight shots, while I was photographing the Puffins; I only had one thing on my mind, Auklets. I could see them at a distance and knew I had to get closer. It was sheer Karma that I then noticed the Parakeet Auklets repeatedly coming close and banking near a grassy platform. I made my way down and waited, within a matter of seconds a Parakeet Auklet flew by and I fired away.
Man, when I saw what I had managed to capture, I balled.
I might have balled over this one too! Best flight shot of this species I have ever seen. The light was in your favor. Great angle, terrific BG and the feather details are amazing. I am finding this just a tad tight. Good for you for going back out and trying again!
What an amazing image, and great story too! Perfect pose, head angle, background, techs. The tight crop works well to show details for the web, but artistically it would look a bit better with more room. Congrats on a very impressive image!!
Karma, the Parakeet Auklet
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi
