This is a shot I have been waiting a long time for. I can never get at eye level with Purple Sandpipers to get them with clean backgrounds and not have tons of rocks in the shot. I went to the beach in the evening hoping for a flyover kite which never happened. (Strong south west winds in April bring Kites to the north east) While there I noticed 2 Purple Sandpipers on the rocks of a jetty. I was lucky that this was not a huge and long jetty that stuck far out into the water. The problem was that they were at the end of the jetty and to get the sun at my back I would need to get into the ocean. Was not going to miss this chance so off went the shoes and socks and into the freezing cold New York City waters I went. Waited in knee + deep water for almost 2 hours for the birds to get used to me and for them to come on my side of the jetty. Time well spent but man was that water freezing cold . This photo was taken 30 minutes before sun set with perfect evening light on the bird.
Canon 1DX and Canon 500 f4ii + 1.4x iii. Tripod mounted while bending over to get at eye level with the bird. F8, ISO 1000, SS 1/1250
Processed with DPP 4.6 and PS.