Yesterday, two friends and fellow bloggers, Paul and Tom, and I attended the spring PhotoWILD event at the nearby Carolina Raptor Center. Paul posted a very good synopsis of the event so I won’t rehash words here about the event.
The photo above of Akai (or perhaps Hermes,) an eastern screech owl, is among my favorites from the morning’s outing in no small part because of the story behind it’s striking blue background color.
Akai is a small owl, perhaps 6-8 inches, and seemed to be a bit sleepy while perching on the edge of a hollowed tree trunk content to let us photographers do our thing around him. I was shooting with tripod on continuous slow speed trying to catch him with his eyes open. I’d set-up at an angle, about 20 feet away with my zoom lens at almost it’s full 500mm. The background included part of the tree trunk on the left and a extremely out of focus creamy earthy beige (from parts of the surrounding background woods) on the right. My eye was fixed to the viewfinder as each shutter release clicked off until suddenly there was a flash of blue color for one brief exposure. At that point, not even convinced what I saw in the viewfinder was real, I quickly reviewed the last couple of shots on the back of the camera finding this photo. Looking around to determine what could of caused this flash of sudden color I spot Tom in his bright blue jacket walking away down a main path running behind Akai’s perch. I’ll take inspiration and creative contributions wherever I can find them…thanks for the inspired touch of color on this one, Tom. ;-)
The funny thing is there’d just been conversation about not wanting to be “that guy” walking into or blocking other photographers photos. This photo testifies it’s not always a bad thing.
Great image of Akai and love the patience you have. Tell Tom thanks for assisting on this shot. Sounds like you guys had a good time and came home with good shots.
Thanks, Monte. I did properly thank Tom at the time and yes it was a good morning followed by a nice shared lunch.
What a great moment of serendipity Earl. The background almost makes it look like a night sky and moon.
Mark, you’re spot on about a look of almost a night sky and moon…that’s why I think it fits the subject of an Owl so well.
Really great shot. Without the “intrusion” of another person, you wouldn’t have this one-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated moment.
Thanks, Jim! I’ll always remember the story behind this photo.
Yep! Tom was ‘that guy’, and what great timing he had. I enjoyed the day, immensely, even though my knees started to complain about the 5 hours of standing, but they got over it after a bit of heat in the car.
Paul, I was more than a little happy to see some heat as well — but still well worth the cold. It was also great to sit down after all that standing. :-)
Great photo, Earl. Sometimes that guy in the blue jacket is never around when you need him, but you lucked out with this shot.
Ken, thanks! It’s always nice when something works out like this and I got a story in addition to the photo — two for one.
While I hate the idea of being “That Guy,” especially after specifically saying – oh, the irony! – that I didn’t want to be “That Guy” I’m glad I was able to make a small creative contribution. It was a fun day, I learned a lot and will seriously consider doing it again.
Tom, LOL…if this is the result, you can be “That Guy” in my photos any time you want! :-)
I certainly enjoyed the day as well.