Experimental Film

 

In February last year (25th to be precise) I posted under the title "whoosh" some long exposure images of the snow drops at Chirk, inspired by driving through snow on the journey there. Each shot was about 2 seconds duration and I used my 24mm-105mm L series zoom lens staring at 105 mm and zooming out to 24mm.

Looking back at those images I am not very happy with them and I thought I would try the same effect again on my most recent visit to Chirk. This time I used a shorter exposure, for the first image it was 1 second and for the rest it was 0.8 seconds. I am overall much happier with the results this time round and feel the effect is much more in line with what I hoped to achieve... something like the look when you make the jump to light speed!

Anyway I hope you enjoy these images and while you look why not listen to this tune by They Might Be Giants, and hopefully your face will not implode.

If more conventional photos of snowdrops is more your thing stop by tomorrow as i also have some of those.

Dragon or Fairy

I took these shots at the weekend at Burton Mere Wetlands. I had gone to photograph waders and so I was set up with my 150mm - 600mm lens so not the best set up for photographing flying insects. I didn't think I had time to switch to my macro lens so I did my best.

The large zoom lens is quite heavy and slow so taking these shots, hand held was a challenge and I had to take a few steps back to be able to focus but I think I did ok. 

This dragonfly appears settled but he kept on taking off in search of a meal and in the final shot you can see he is finishing off a mouthful of fly.

I'm Watching, Always Watching...

I've mentioned bucket list items several times in my blogs in the past with puffins and hummingbirds and if I really did have one this beautiful bird would be up near the top of the list. 

I first saw a Bald Eagle in Utah a few years ago with my daughter and about six months later I saw a lovely juvenile eagle at a raptor centre in North Wales, since then I have been really keen to see another one in the wild and it was certainly high on my expectations for my Canadian adventure.

On the drive from Toronto to Thunder Bay I say a number of Turkey Vultures and a couple of Bald Eagles flying quite high but these were not photo opportunities.

This beauty was spotted while visiting Kakabeka Falls, initially it was perched high on an old tree on the far side of the gorge and I watched through my binoculars as it took off to go hunting. 

As we walked around the cliff top path we came to a viewing platform to get a good view of the falls which are a truly spectacular sight. Looking downstream however we were able to catch a glimpse of the eagle perched on a branch around 20 - 30 feet away. It was really hard to see as it was sheltered by the branches and to get a good view it was necessary to lay on the decking and peer through the railings. That was no good for getting a clear photo though and to do that I had to stand on the inner railings and lean out as far as possible. With the heavy 150-600mm lens it was really difficult to hold it steady while keeping my balance at the same time, I didn't want to lose my camera or end up at the bottom of the gorge. Difficult as it was I am quite pleased with how the shots turned out.

In the first shot the eagle is looking intently at something in the river below although I don't think he was looking for food since it had not long eaten.

In the second shot he was looking directly at me and I think I have captured his piercing gaze. He clearly wasn't disturbed by our presence because he spent some time in this spot as we watched while he preened his feathers, but always keeping his eye on us.