All Eagles Grounded

Posted by E.J. Peiker on Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:17 pm

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Bald Eagle - Brackendale, British Columbia, Canada
EOS 1Ds, 600mm, 2x, 1/50, f/8, ISO 640

Yesterday, I was going through all of my Bald Eagle photos while setting my photographic goals for the upcoming trip to Homer, AK. This is something I do before every trip - I set specific goals that I will try to achieve and I then grade myself on the completion of these goals after the trip.

Last winter I made a trip to Western British Columbia to photograph, among other things, Bald Eagles. The weather was absolutely awful with torrential downpours almost the entire time that I spent in Brackendale which is a small town in the Squamish Valley where hundreds of Eagles spend their winter due to the abundance of fish in the Squamish River. When I took this shot, visibility was very poor and even the Eagles weren't flying due to poor visibility - the fleet was grounded

This is a shot that didn't make the cut but I resurrected it as I think it really shows the Pacific Northwest environment that these birds choose to spend their winter in well.

E.J. Peiker http://www.EJPhoto.com
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by AlexC on Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:38 pm

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I still have a pending appointment to go there, My airline ticket is a year old as we speak, still sitting there waiting for the first opportunity to dart there, the best time is early December, just a month after the Salmon start their run!!
Also you better get that finger sharpened, Tony has a Zillion images from Homer and some are stunning, You better come with something radical, like and Eagle reading the local newspaper or sitting at the local Coffee shop zipping some Colombian Java, or driving a snow plow, but it better be out of the box!!!

[b]Alex Calzadilla[/b]
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"At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry." - Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, Tucson, AZ

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by moose henderson on Thu Dec 25, 2003 7:03 pm

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certainly a lot of weather. agree with Alex-looking for something "out of the box" upon your return

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by Anthony Medici on Thu Dec 25, 2003 8:10 pm

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AlexC wrote:Tony has a Zillion images from Homer

And the worst part is that we already established that I take 3 to 4 times the images than E.J. My goal is to get a close up of a steal, preferably in focus this time and not cut off. (A steal is when one Eagle decides that it is easier to take a fish from another Eagle than to wait for its own.

)

Very moody shot with only the white head standing out. Hopefully, we'll have better weather than this when we get to Homer.

Tony

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by E.J. Peiker on Thu Dec 25, 2003 8:30 pm

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Anthony Medici wrote: And the worst part is that we already established that I take 3 to 4 times the images than E.J.

3 to 4 times more like 30 times - you shoot 15K frames in the time I shoot 500.

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by KK Hui on Thu Dec 25, 2003 8:44 pm

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Really like this environmental shot, EJ!

Like the mood as is ...

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by LHays on Thu Dec 25, 2003 9:08 pm

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EJ
Moody is what comes to mind here. A little dismal weather for some moody shots is ok but I'd have been disappointed if that's all I had. You made the most of the weather.

Lana Hays
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by AlexC on Thu Dec 25, 2003 9:38 pm

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Tony wrote:

My goal is to get a close up of a steal, preferably in focus this time and not cut off. (A steal is when one Eagle decides that it is easier to take a fish from another Eagle than to wait for its own. )

Tony, I suspect that this be accomplished without a problem, with focusing to -1EV and 8FPS you are going to freeze those talons snaring that fish withing the first 500 images !!, It's a good thing that the shutter mechanism is made of a Titanium alloy and rated to 150K certifiable shots, Although an F5 with a very similar shutter to the D2H was just serviced by Nikon California with 1.092 million clicks on the clickometer!! In anticipation to the severe use these cameras are put through, Nikon has christen their new shutter "The Medici Titanium Millennium Edition"

[b]Alex Calzadilla[/b]
[b]Miami, Florida[/b]
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"At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry." - Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, Tucson, AZ

Last edited by AlexC on Thu Dec 25, 2003 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by NDCheryl on Thu Dec 25, 2003 9:59 pm

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Nice moody environmental shot EJ.

Cheryl Ertelt
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by Juan E. Bahamon on Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:35 am

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EJ:

Nice enviromental shot, moody. Hopefully the weather will be better in February.

Juan E. Bahamon
www.birdsofcorpuschristi.com
www.juanbahamonhummingbirds.com

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by Bill Whala on Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:52 am

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Great story-telling image. The mood is clearly conveyed here.

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Jim Zipp on Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:37 am

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E.J.,
Nice feel and mood to this image.

Jim Zipp
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by Bruce DiVaccaro on Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:42 am

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EJ,

I like the feel of this image very much. The eagle is placed perfectly in the frame.

Bruce DiVaccaro
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by Anthony Medici on Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:05 am

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E.J. Peiker wrote:
Anthony Medici wrote: And the worst part is that we already established that I take 3 to 4 times the images than E.J.
3 to 4 times more like 30 times - you shoot 15K frames in the time I shoot 500.

Not really. I was there 17 days, you were there 3 days. So it's more like 500 frames to 2500-3500 frames. That would still put it at 5-7 times as many wouldn't it. Hmm. That's still more than I originally said, isn't it?

Alex, the key to a steal image is anticipating the action since, once you notice it, it's usually done.

Tony

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by E.J. Peiker on Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:51 am

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Anthony Medici wrote:Not really. I was there 17 days, you were there 3 days. So it's more like 500 frames to 2500-3500 frames. That would still put it at 5-7 times as many wouldn't it. Hmm. That's still more than I originally said, isn't it?

Yeah but I get bored out of my mind there after 3 or 4 days and go somewhere else