Ello ello and welcome back to another weekly rambling! I hope you had a great loooooong easter weekend, I know I did. I spent the majority of my weekend camping down south in Augusta with my parents - so our time was mainly spent catching up, eating pies and exploring the region. I tried to take photos when I could, including one sunrise session, but the images weren't exactly the greatest - plus, this trip was more about spending some much needed down time with my 'rents.
After some serious blow up mattress issues, we made it back up to Perth with a day to spare before going back to work, which could only mean one thing - a sunrise shoot! So, after some much needed sleep, I woke up at 5am and headed down to Mandurah for a 6:20am sunrise.
I arrived at Warrangup Spring to see the usual group of Black Swans drinking from the fresh water spring. Still planning to get that shot of a swan standing up and flapping its wings, I set up on the boardwalk. This spot is a bit of a pain as you can't exactly get any lower to water level without literally being in the water. It's a bit higher sitting up on the boardwalk, so you can't get that nice separation between the water and the subject - but it'll do. I sat for some 20mins before sunrise, just watching the swans do their thing so that I could learn their behaviour a bit better. I noticed that the swans would only stand and flap their wings after fully submerging their body in the water as they preened - so I was keeping an eye out for this behaviour. I rattled off a few shots of some swans as they flapped, but like last time, there was always some other swan blocking the shot.
It started off as a pretty overcast morning, however, the sun would peek through the gaps in the clouds every now and then, casting some nice golden light over the water. I kept shooting the swans as they flapped and eventually I got a few shots of one without anyone blocking the frame. At the time, there wasn't a huge amount of golden light going around, but there was still enough to create some interest. I don't mind this shot, but I would have loved to get lower to water level so that there is more separation between the swan and the water - might try finding a lower shooting position next time!
After taking this shot, I noticed some pelicans were feeding in the still waters around the corner, probably about 70m away. I remembered that there is another smaller boardwalk over in that direction that I haven't checked out yet, so I grabbed my stuff and headed over. I found the pathway to the boardwalk and followed it to the end. It opened up onto a small sandy beach and I could see the pelicans feeding in the small bay. I noticed that I could lay down on the sand and shoot almost at water level - perfect. I slowly walked down onto the sand, trying not to disturb the pelicans as they took large gulps out of the water in hopes of scooping up a fish.
As I lay down I notice something - yep, I laid down in swan crap....the things you do sometimes! I started to fire off some nice shots of this pair of pelicans as they fed. They would glide along the still water and were gulping from the water in sync. Suddenly, the clouds seemed to part and the morning sun illuminated the scene - click, click click!! This next shot is definitely my favourite of the day, gorgeous light and great poses by the pelicans. You can definitely see the effect that getting low can have on creating depth of field between the back/foreground and the subject.
Eventually, these two paddled off, so I decided to head back to the car and move on to my next location. However, just as I sat up, I noticed a shadow pass overhead - another pelican was coming in to land right where the previous two were! I immediately hit the deck again and much like an airline's cabin crew, I "prepared for landing." Initially, I thought it would land facing away from me, but it ended up looping around and headed straight towards me. As it deployed it's landing gear, I fired off a sequence of shots - touchdown! A nice shot this one, but not as much light as what was around beforehand.
With all the pelican excitement done and dusted, I decided it was time to head off in search of the Ospreys up the road. After finally finding an unlocked public restroom to use, I made my way to the group of trees where I usually spot the Osprey pair. I arrived to see the female already had her breakfast - a nice flounder! She was perched rather low, so I was able to get some nice snaps of her as she chowed down. The cloudy skies made for some soft light, so the highlights on her white feathers weren't too blown out - nature's very own soft box!
It only took her 10mins to demolish this fish, and I noticed she was already scoping out fish in the water below. You can tell they are spotting prey in the water as they bob their head from side to side. This helps them to differentiate a fish's body from the rest of the objects under the water's surface. I set up my camera on the tripod in order to prepare for a hunting dive. After 15mins or so, she striked! I tried to keep up with her as she shot down towards the water, but my gosh she was bloody fast - I missed the shot, but what a cool moment. She emerged from the water with empty talons and flew off out of sight, but I knew she would be heading for another perch just down the road. I packed up and walked down towards this perch to see if my hunch was correct - it was!
She was clearly still hungry as she continued to head bob whilst staring intently into various parts of the water. Again, I set up my tripod and prepared for another dive - this time, instead of trying to track the Osprey in flight, I was pre-focusing on the parts of the water where I thought she would strike, keeping an eye on where she was looking. She made me wait for about an hour before she finally left the perch. She shot down roughly towards the area I was focusing. I fired off a sequence of shots as she hit the water and emerged, yet again with empty talons. I feel like this time I may have been in luck, but I still missed the exact frame I was after with the extended legs. She was facing away from me anyway, so even if I managed he pose I was after, it wouldn't have been perfect. Nevertheless, I was getting closer to my dream shot and I feel that maybe pre-focusing on the water's surface using a higher aperture is the way to go, as trying to track the Osprey in flight as she shoots like a bullet towards the water is extremely difficult!
As the Osprey flew off again, I decided to let her be and head home for the day. I left pretty happy knowing I managed to make a few decent pictures - to be honest, even just making one decent image per shoot is pretty successful in my eyes. Wildlife photography be hard y'all!
Anyway lads and ladettes, I hope you enjoyed this week's post and the images I made. Feel free to reach out via Instagram if you have any questions or just wanna chat! I hope you have a great week and i'll catch ya next time!
Cheers
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