Well yesterday was somewhat of a disappointment for me from a photography standpoint that is.  I had some things I had to get done in the morning and all the while I was trying to figure out where to go in search of images that afternoon.

I hit upon the idea of traveling to Green Island, the nature preserve.  I wrongfully assumed there would be a lot of migrating wild life there and the images would be abundant.  Not being a hunter I did not realize that it was hunting season and the parking lots were full of pickup trucks and the crackle of shotgun fire was all over.

Finally I came upon a lone duck sitting near the bank of one of the small canals.  he was a brownish color and I almost didn’t see him.  I quietly eased up on him and stuck the long lens out the window, focused and pressed the shutter button.  Nothing happened.  I pressed again and again but nothing happened.  I took the camera from my eye and the shutter tripped.

Confused I recomposed the shot and the same thing happened two more times.  I thought well isn’t that great, #$@*& camera malfunction.  Then I realized that I had set the camera on timed exposure.  One click past rapid burst mode, which is what I intended.  (Red Faced)  🙂  Of course by the time I reconfigured the camera and the shot the Duck had flown away.  I could just hear him say “Stupid amateur.”

So after spending about 3 1/2 hours at Green Island with nothing to show for it but a bunch of trees and wild grass I headed back home.    My heart did race for a moment as I saw a couple of Bald Eagles circling over a field.  My vision of them was blocked by a long row of trees and my lens kept focusing on the tree limbs.

Slowly I made my way to the end of the row of trees so I could have an open shot.  Either what ever they were hunting had gotten away or they saw me because by the time I got into position they were gone. 😦

On the way through Bellevue I saw this barge getting ready to lock through.  At least it was something to shoot so I stopped and got a few shots of the river.  There were some gulls in the middle of the river sitting on a big rock.  Too far for my 500 mm lens so I decided to try a 1.4 teleconverter.

You lose 1 stop with a teleconverter and you have to manually focus.  Apparently my diopter is not set correctly because all the gulls were just a blob of white. 😦

So that’s it for my big photo shoot.  I walked a couple of miles.  It felt wonderful to be out on this sunny crisp day so no real complaints.  But I do wish I had some better images to share with you.

Today is  Joshua’s 1 year birthday party.  I’ll share some of those images with you tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.