3 Hours, 2 Spots, 1 New Camera
Years ago, I had a photography instructor who gave us a unique assignment: to find a “spot” to shoot from, draw an imaginary line 100 feet around it, and spend a few hours photographing only within that circle. I remember selecting their then “new” (actually renovated) REI building near downtown Denver and was blown away by how many interesting photography subjects I saw in that limited space such as architectural details, cars in motion, rocks in the S. Platte River, etc. And so when I got my new Canon R5 Mark ii camera a couple weeks ago, I decided to resurrect that lesson but instead of downtown Denver I went to Chatfield State Park, a 10-minute drive from my house, locking myself into a less-than-inspiring-sounding “spot” called the Plum Creek Delta Mud Flats. (As always, click on any image to view larger although I don’t recommend making the photos of me any larger than need be, ha-ha!)
Obviously, I chose Chatfield for its abundance of bird life, my main photography genre for several years now. Before I went, I spent several hours watching YouTube videos of changing the default settings of my new camera for optimal capture of bird images.
The new camera supposedly has an upgraded autofocus to track birds, which as you know are notoriously difficult subjects to photograph, especially in flight. The jury is still out on the wisdom of my decision to invest a crazy amount of money into this camera, but I did get a surprising variety of birds that day just staying within the 100-foot designation.
After an initial lull and having doubts about my chosen “spot”, I finally saw a Great Blue Heron fly in, and I must say the camera tracked its flight well.
Above - Great Blue Heron flies right towards me
Above - Same Great Blue Heron begins to land near me
Then the heron started fishing and, again, I got some decent shots. Obviously, it didn’t just catch fish!
Above - Great Blue Heron snags a small fish in the water
Above - Great Blue Heron adjusts the large crawdad in its mouth to more easily swallow it whole
The highlight that day may have been spotting a beautiful male American Kestrel, the robin-sized smallest species of falcons. This guy had been hunting in the distance and then graciously posed on a tree branch for me while resting.
I almost missed seeing a flock of seven White-Faced Ibises hidden in the reeds deep in the mud. Slushing through wet mud I got close enough to get a few shots. These birds will be gone very soon as they only stop here while migrating down to the Gulf Coast for the winter. Those iridescent feather colors!
And although I was too far away to get any really interesting shots, I did see an uncommon Yellow-Headed Blackbird, a Common Grackle, a Meadowlark and a Horned Lark.
So that was all in one “spot” for just about three hours. Then why did I say two spots in my title, other than being able to use the clever “3,2,1” reference? Well, as I was leaving the park but still in it, I spotted an Osprey hovering over the river as if it were looking for fish. Ospreys can hover much like hummingbirds and the aforementioned Kestrel. It was distant but after I snapped a few shots it veered towards me, allowing me to get closer in-flight shots.
Osprey hovers to look for fish in the river
Osprey flying right overhead as it stares at the river for fish
Since that afternoon a few days ago I’ve already made a bunch of changes to the settings of the new camera. I’m getting more pleased with and look forward to finally learning how to make good videos in the future!
As always, I’d enjoy hearing your comments and feedback - feel free to add them below!