Scouting for the San Diego IPT Robert O'Toole and I got to the cliffs early to make sure that nobody went down before the sun came up because the birds were unusually skittish this year. I walked up the cliff at LaJolla with my rig--I knew exactly what I wanted--and climbed down a bit onto a grassy shelf, makng sure not to fall the 200 feet to my death on the rocks below. Pre-dawn.
Admittedly not your typical BIRDS AS ART image.
Canon 70-200mm f/4 LIS lens with EOS 1Ds MIII. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/10 sec. at f/4. Mongoose M3.5 and Gitzo 3530 LSV tripod.
Don't be shy; all comments welcome. Later and love, artie
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
I'm honestly not sure how I like this as an "art"(ie) photograph but it is definitely interesting for me to see the area that we hear and see so much about on the boards.
Falling 200 feet to your death seems like a real possibility. Be careful out there!
Personally I really like this image as it reveals the terrain and the abundance of wildlife in that part of the world Not ever having had the opportunity to photograph in San Diego I find this image captivating as I am sure many will. Thanks for taking this image Artie and for sharing it with us.
I am always interested in the habitat surrounding the images that we see. It sure helps tie the story together on the birds from here.
Thanks for posting it Artie!
Photogrpahs of birds in their environment are just as important as extreme close-ups. It would be nice to see this with a little early morning or evening sunlight on it.
I have a very similar image, probably the same exact spot. The guano has been washed clean by a few recent storms, but the birds are doing their best to add the whitewash back. The sea lions, which usually are NOT there, were present because of a squid spawning/aggregation event happening on the sandy bottom about 80' deep off La Jolla Shores beach while you were in SD. The spawning is now essentially over, the dead squid are washed away by tides and predators, and the numbers of sea lions are thinning out. As an aside, you should know that for years the cliffs from which you shot the image, as well as the bluff on which the pelicans are perched, were the site of lots of fun cliff jumping in summer by San Diegans. It now illegal to jump from the cliffs. I will not confess to ever having been a part of that.
Lots of Birds and Sea Lions...
Reply With Quote
