Oh, such gulls (pics included)

[Steve Foss]

Well, I could have moped. I could have skulked around the house and mourned the loss of the Canon 20D, which died right about on schedule yesterday. But a digital camera is nothing more these days than a computer with a single task — record digital images. And, like computers, computer cameras have an expected shelf life.

So I e-mailed clients who were in the midst of deciding on how many images to buy and asked them to commit one way or another, shut down my computer and headed south into the luminous lovely fog.

Eventually, I made my way to Two Harbors and Agate Bay, where the fog was heavy and the light was nice, And I let the light be my guide, not worrying that the subjects were common as mice. The dense fog and whitish background made for an interesting exercise in exposure.

The first three are a pair of ring-billed gulls getting territorial on a rock. The last three are of a single herring gull landing on a rock. The fog made for an incredible background bokeh, and the clouds thinned to illuminate the whole atmosphere. Not to mention I already e-mailed it to a couple clients and have a sale on it already. Yeah, the digital age!

All with the Canon Digital Rebel XT and Canon 100-400L IS.

There ain't room enough on this rock for the both of us

iso400, 1/800 at f8, 400mm

Give me a second, will ya?

iso400, 1/640 at f8, 400mm

Fine, I'm OUTTA here!

iso400, 1/640 at f8, 400mm

Soft touchdown in soft light

iso400, 1/1000 at f8, 200mm

Ahh, land

iso400, 1/800 at f8, 200mm

Well, that wasn't so bad, but my feet are so cold they've turned an odd shade of pinkish-blue

iso400, 1/800 at f8, 400mm

[Dbl]

Excellent exposures Steve, a very nice set of photos.

[mngoosehunter]

is there something wrong with the bird in the last picture. looks like theres some weird shape to its bill.

[Steve Foss]

Quote:

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is there something wrong with the bird in the last picture. looks like theres some weird shape to its bill.

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I think it used its bill one too many times to open a beer bottle.

I was going to title my favorite herring gull image just "touchdown," because it looks like a zebra with his arms raised to signal the score, but there are so many Vikings fans here that I knew they wouldn't get it, not being all that familiar with the concept of the touchdown.

[The_Duckslayer]

Quote:

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I was going to title my favorite herring gull image just "touchdown," because it looks like a zebra with his arms raised to signal the score, but there are so many Vikings fans here that I knew they wouldn't get it, not being all that familiar with the concept of the touchdown.

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LMAO!! Goodun! Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Steve Foss]

Thanks guys.

The only image that really speaks to me is the first herring gull picture, the "touchdown" one with the wing feathers looking like paper.

I was feeling very bad about things that day, and about not being able to immediately replace my primary camera body. So it felt really good to make a picture I thought a lot of, to be able to sell it right away, and to be able to share it here.

After doing all that, I felt better.

Now, after checking the budget and what's out there in camera land, I don't feel very good again. And some days I think I've done pretty well after nearly four years of hard weekend and evening work shooting. Other days I despair that I still haven't taken a single picture worth looking at. You know how it goes.

So maybe this weekend I'll take my mind off those things and try to make another picture I like a lot. I hear there's an albino moose hanging around a lake less than half an hour from Ely . . .

[Redstormy]

Steve these are cute.. looks like he's dancing