Birds in Flight at the Canadian Raptor Concervancy

“Birds in Flight” is a program at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy that offers photographers (& videographers) the opportunity to capture images of some fantastic birds outdoors and in flight.

I had a good day despite the cold and even got to stop for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper on the way home.

There where lots of different birds and plenty of time and flights of the birds that flew & a few that where stationary. I ended up with so much footage it was hard to trim it down to 3 videos of reasonable length.the hard part was comparing 5 or 6 flights of the same bird trying to find the one to use, when really any of the 5 would work fine.

As usual I brought too much gear that never got used.  What I did use was a new set up with rails and matte box configured as a shoulder rig with a quick release plate on the bottom to easily switch from sticks to shoulder.  It worked pretty well. Maybe a bit bulky but, the weight & size did have the benefit that the tracking shots where smoother than I could have gotten without it. It's the 1st time I could go from shoulder to tripod easily & I really really liked it.

There's a bit of Slow motion but I could have easily put in a lot more. Every flight clip I slowed down looked so nice. I tried not to go overboard, just enough to catch the eye.

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Flowers and Photos

 I once heard a Quote to the effect (I can't remember the exact wording) "If  you want to take pretty pictures, start by putting your camera in-front of something pretty"

You can substitute "pretty" for may things "exciting", "Dramatic", "Emotional". The point is, start with a subject that represents the look you want to achieve.

It's a guilty pleasure of mine to go for a walk & put that into practice.  It feels sort of like cheating, to try and make an appealing photo of a subject that already has lots of appeal and often has most of the element you need for a good photo.

I can & do still mess up some of these shots. But, it still feels like cheating when the photos that where the easiest to take turn out to be some of the best shots of the day.

 I'm not advocating against choosing an interesting subject. In fact finding a great subject is something most photographers strive for. Sometimes I feel spoiled for choice and miss hunting for a good subject.

That probably says more about me than it does about photography.

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PoTd - December 20

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Pic-of-The-day - "Watching".

Watching over the main street of NOTL, from his vantage point on city hall.
From a November walk in Niagara-On-The-Lake.

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PoTd - December 19

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Pic-of-The-day - "Come through the gate & knock at the door".

Nov. in NOTL

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PoTd - December 18

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Pic-of-The-day - "In the Shade of a Tree".

A November walk through the grounds of St Mark's Anglican Church in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario.

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PoTd - December 17

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Pic-of-The-day - "Unique".

A large stylized urn in St. Marks churchyard.

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PoTd - December 15

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Pic-of-The-day - "November Walk".

More photos from St. Marks NOTL.

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PoTd - December 14

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 Pic-of-The-day - "Christmas Tree".

Cutting a Christmas tree has been a tradition every year since the kids where little. This year schedules where so busy that they went and got a tree from the lions club. The tree is still real and still hand picked , but there was no trip out town & no cutting AND this year it might fit in the house without additional cutting.

See the whole album "Ghosts of Christmas Past"

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PoTd - December 12

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Pic-of-The-day - "Textures".

From a November walk through the grounds of St Mark's Anglican Church in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario.

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PoTd - December 8

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Pic-of-The-day - "Simple Tree".

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PoTd - December 7

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 Pic-of-The-day - "Moon".
4 different photos & treatments of the same moon.

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PoTd - December 5

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Pic-of-The-day - "Christmas Lights".

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PoTd - December 2

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Pic-of-The-day - "Reflection".

Part of an interesting front yard.

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PoTd - December 1

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Pic-of-The-day - "The nights are getting longer".

Night fall comes earlier every night & the lights are beginning to appear around the neighbourhood. I've even seen a tree or two in front windows. It's a  bit early for us, but, the time is coming soon. 

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PoTd - November 29

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Pic-of-The-day - "Golden Hour Leaves".

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PoTd - November 27

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Pic-of-The-day - "Follow The Star".

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PoTd - November 25 - 1 month til Chrsitmas

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Part of me is saying "hurry up & get here already" & another , bigger, part of me is saying "I need more hours in the day and more days in the week to get ready.

Ready  or not it's here in a month.

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