That last outing - a 160 mile round trip that included visits to Bamburgh and Holy Island on the Northumberland Coast, was one that I'll definitely repeating soon, but my latest photo offerings were captured much closer to home, as mentioned above. Historically, January is a often a month of excellent Sunrises and Sunsets for me and 2012 has been no different - infact, this year has probably yielded more opportunities than previous years as there was one brilliant sky after another. If you can tolerate the 'Brass Monkey' arctic temperature then you're half way there, although there's still work for idle hands to do and a pair of wooly gloves comes in rather handy in these conditions. Of course I don't wear such 'Pussyfied' attire - well, maybe now and again, but keep that to yourself, eh.So here I was, at Rainton Meadows, with my 11 year old son, just killing an hour or so before tea. Walking to the first pond we passed a young couple - the lad was armed with a Canon 5D Mk2, which was capable of doing a lot of damage with the attached 500mm telephoto lens. Of course, I couldn't tell when passing that it was a 5D, the strap gave the game away. I experienced a slight tinge of envy because of the kit he was carrying - full frame with top notch glass attached, it must have tipped the scales at around 4 grand, easily! As we passed he noticed the loaf of bread in my sons hand, then told us there was a hungry Swan on the water ahead of us, and that he had no bread himself and as a consequence he got no decent close-up shots of it - not that he needed close-up's anyway, with that size lens. Tough titty eh, get yersel' away son and leave it to the experts, he he!
The sun had just set in front of
us and some colour lifted the sky as I took my first couple of shots. I was literally three feet away from the Mute Swan as I photographed it, all the time being wary that it may have a dig at me at any given moment. But the grub was the key and I was confident it wouldn't 'Bite the hand that feeds.' That was the case, so things went smoothly during the short time we were there and the big bird eventually fettled a full bag of Warburton's without hesitation. Hungry Swan indeed. Composing the shots was very straightforward - Swan, Sky and the inclusion of a reed bed to emphasise the habitat - it worked ok and the colourful sky finished the shot off quite well, although beforehand I had hoped for a better sky - beggars and choosers, and all that. Natural Life is an interesting subject to photograph, although I don't devote much time to it as I'd like to, mainly due to the fact that my biggest lens only covers the 300mm mark, but maybe sometime in the future I'll get more 'Into it.' Until then here ya go - two shots taken with the trusty Canon 7D and 18-135mm lens on it's widest setting. Happy snapping.Back soon, Ash
