Karma, the Parakeet Auklet

Congratulations! This is the Image of the Week selection for the Birds Gallery, week ending 24th August, 2012!Karma – The Parakeet Auklet
St. Paul, Alaska
08/10/12
5D Mark III, 400mm 5.6, 1/1250 sec at 5.6, ISO 640

I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. It’s 9:00am and I’m packing my luggage, we have a flight to catch back to Anchorage. I’m seriously bummed out about my failure to capture a satisfying image of the Auklets in flight on this trip to St. Paul, Alaska. To make matters worse, the weather is miserable, cold, misty and rainy.

Fast forward to about 3:30pm, we find out that our flight is cancelled due to the bad weather, one more night on the gloomy island but a great group of people to keep company. Walking back to our room, I tell a few folks, may be the weather will clear a bit and we can go out and shoot one more time, for all we know this may be one of the best days ever.

It’s 6:30pm; the fog gives way to a brighter day and even the clouds breakup, letting the sun shine through. We are at the cliff making flight shots, while I was photographing the Puffins; I only had one thing on my mind, Auklets. I could see them at a distance and knew I had to get closer. It was sheer Karma that I then noticed the Parakeet Auklets repeatedly coming close and banking near a grassy platform. I made my way down and waited, within a matter of seconds a Parakeet Auklet flew by and I fired away.

Man, when I saw what I had managed to capture, I balled.

Thanks to Greg Downing and Alan Murphy, for making this a memorable trip. We learned and laughed the entire trip, you guys have really helped my photography immensely. This is my first post on NSN, and I will be posting frequently.

Let me be the first one to congratulate you... super duper shot this and if any one goes with masters like Greg and Alan you are going to shoot like them for sure.. it really rubs well.. lovely story too..

Totally sweet image to start with here at NatureScapes - big welcome and congrats on this awesome shot!

Killer shot G! It was a great experience and just goes to show that persistence pays off! These are NOT easy to get in flight, as you know, and you totally nailed it! Congrats and welcome to NSN too

Super capture of this banking parakeet auklet, G. It was great to meet you. Wonderful concise retell of our disappointment that day not getting off the island and the rewarding evening light

Yes , I do believe some things happen for a reason and hoping and wishing came true for you . TFS the events that allowed you to get this awesome flight image . Big congrats to you , Gaurav and very well done !!

Hey Gaurav,

Probably the best image of this species ever taken. Seeing you so happy on the cliff face is why I do workshops.

Welcome aboard.

Simply awesome! Welcome to NSN, looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Amazing image!
Regards
A. Meir

Superior! Well done.. glad u got it

Wow, this shot is truly amazing!!! The best first shot ot at least one of them I have ever seen.
Such a wonderful looking bird and the banking pose and the tons of details as well as the creamy smooth background are just
jaw dropping. Love the story too.

Lovely shot , amazing timing i like the eye details superb

this is a big time winner. The best shots are always the ones you take at the end of the day when you have almost given up!

congrats

Congrats on a killer shot. Just awesome.

Your lucky shot indeed, Gaurav!
Welcome on board!

Perfect in every way!

Roberta Olenick
www.neverspook.com

G - I know you were traveling and wanted to make sure this image was prefect - well the time spent was well worth it - Great meeting and shooting with you - I Know there will be more great images - as it turned out fighting with the airlines instead of shooting that evening was a complete waste of time since in end I took a completely different flight anyway!!!!

BTW I think Alan should post his rendition of the image of you in the cliff taking this shot....

Thanks everyone for the kind comments, Oh yes Greg, I would really like to see Alan's version of "me"

Superb flight shot.