I spent most of yesterday photographing in Oak Hammock Marsh just north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was hoping for a lot more wading birds, but they have had piles of rain lately and the water is high all around the marsh.
With my usual spots out of shape, I went looking for some new locations. I found a nice shallow creek / drainage ditch not far from the Interpretive Center. The edges of the creek looked pretty muddy (but manageable - I thought), so I put on my hip-high rubbers. As soon I stepped down off the bank, I knew I might have some trouble - I immediately sunk calf deep with both legs. I only had to go a step to get a good vantage point on several Lesser Yellowlegs and a couple Solitary Sandpipers. I snapped away happily for ~20 minutes getting mud all over my chest and elbows. When it came time to go I ran into some problems... In the time I had been there, I had sunk a little deeper and the mud seemed to have set up around my boots like cement. After fighting for a few minutes I was able to free up my left foot, but my right was in really solid. I was still beside the bank, so I was able to put my camera up in the grass while I tried to extracate myself. After another 10 minutes of fighting (my right leg still hurts this morning from pulling so hard with my foot!), I ended up having to remove my foot from the boot and gracefully drag myself up the bank. I then hopped around in my sock and found a good stick to dig with before heading back to the bank. Even with the stick, it took me a good 15 minutes more of sweating, cursing and fighting to get my boot back. The whole time I fought with my boot this Lesser Yellowlegs went about his business 25 feet away without a care in the world...
Your "fight" was worth it Jeff. You have a really pleasing, low-angle image here. The BG is great although I can't figure out what it is (unless it's a blue tidal wave behind the bird!). The pose, foot end and head angle all add to the impact of the image. I'm not sure what the OOF thingy is in the FG either and perhaps a crop of some OOF water off the bottom may work? I do like the balance of the image as it is though, but I'm asking myself, what does the OOF water in the FG add to the image? I would also try to diminish the impact of the bright spot behind the birds's ankle.
The background is just the far bank of the creek in and out of shadow - the "blue tidal wave" behind the bird is the surface of the water in the shade. The dark foreground element is some mud that is still above the surface of the water. I chose the crop I did so that you see the water flowing around the point of mud - I thought it looked strange (unless you cropped all the foreground out) if you didn't see the mud point. I was going for a rule-of-thirds with the background components, but I am not terribly attached to it...
I definitely agree with the comment on the bright spot - I'll look at cleaning that up.
Almost had the same story to tell 2 weeks ago in St-Vallier, QC (but managed to get my boots without a fight !). Absolutely magnificient. Thanks for sharing.
Oak Hammock Lesser Yellowlegs
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