So it's been a little minute since I have posted a new blog post. I did go out and shoot last weekend around the Dawesville estuary - but I only came away with one semi-decent shot of a Black Swan doing it's wing flap. Since there wasn't much to share, I thought I would just save it and include it with this weeks post.
As for my shoot this week, I decided to try out a new location - Island Point Reserve. After doing a bit of a location scouting trip there last week, I discovered it's amazing potential for sunrise bird photography.
And so on Saturday morning at 5:30am (which was a bit of a sleep in now since we are getting closer to winter), I started the 55min drive down to Island Point, coffee in hand!
As I eventually turned off the freeway, I found myself following a dark rural road. Now, all Australian's know that driving down rural roads at either dawn or dusk can be pretty sketchy for one main reason - kangaroos! With this in mind, I drove slowly and carefully with my high beams on, keeping an eye on the roadside for any roos. It wasn't long until I saw LOADS, there were pretty much a small group around every bend. Just goes to show that it really pays to take it easy and pay close attention when driving at this time of the day - for both the driver and the kangaroo's sake.
Eventually, I found the turn off and made my way down the gravel road to the car park. I parked up, grabbed my camera and tripod out and made my way down to the small sandy beach in front of the small island which sits roughly 15m from the shore. I realised that the tide was out, leaving a layer of mud and decaying weed along the waterline. Knowing that I wanted to lay down and shoot at water level, I needed something to lay on. I quickly ran over to the car to see if I had anything - I spotted a picnic rug curled up in the boot, perfect!
Back at the beach, I lay down on the picnic rug amongst the slippery mud and seaweed. It was pretty stinky, but it was so worth it. I started taking some test shots of pelicans and seagulls, just to 'warm up' if you will. It was still pretty dark, so there was no light and the shots were useless, but it was more a means of getting the fingers warm and getting my eye in. I was getting really excited as even these test shots had potential. Being so low to the water level allowed the subjects to really stand out from the background, creating nice and simple focal points. Now all I needed was light.
As I waited for the sun to slowly rise, I took the time to appreciate the moment. It was a bloody beautiful morning, barely a cloud in the sky, no wind and all I could hear were the various sounds of the estuary waking up. Just before the sun rose, the sky filled with a soft orange glow. It was at this moment when the pelicans left the island and started to paddle around in search of some tucker. I started to rattle off some shots of the pelicans as they swam about in pairs, with some beautiful gold hues in the sky. The shots were very simple as the pelicans weren't doing a heck of a lot, but there is still something very peaceful about them.
After snapping a few images of the pelicans, I turned my head to notice a Little Egret appeared and was slowly wading along in the shallows. Up until now, I have never really captured any images of Egrets that I have been super happy with, but I had a feeling this would now change. The sun eventually rose over the horizon, casting golden light over the water and the birds.
Now that the sun had risen, the Egret started prancing around in the water chasing small fish. To me, it almost appeared that it was dancing, celebrating the start of a brand new day. I started to fire off a tonne of shots as it darted around the water, bathed in the golden light of the rising sun and I am super happy with how they turned out - definitely my favourite shots of the day!
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the light turned quite harsh so I decided to pack up and head off to a few other spots. I decided to head to Warrangup Springs to see if the Sacred Kingfisher was around. Sometimes you can spot it hunting small fish and crustaceans along the shoreline, which would make for some epic shots!
However as I arrived, I looked around and there was no Kingfisher to be seen. I think by this time of morning, it may have been scared off by the morning walkers and joggers that frequent the pathways. I noticed another photographer was there taking some images of herons in the trees. We had a nice little chat about what we have seen recently and what not - its always nice to chat to like minded individuals about a shared interest!
After chatting for a good 20mins, I parted ways and decided to head off further up the road to my usual Osprey perch. I arrived at the perch to see that nobody was home. However, I noticed a White Faced Heron was feeding in a small tidal pool off to the side. It was pecking around in the small pool of water, occasionally throwing small fish and shrimps into it's beak - quite impressive really. Since the Osprey weren't on their usual perch, I set up my camera to take some action shots of the Heron feeding.
I must have shot this bird for well over an hour, to the point where I nearly filled up one of my 16GB SD cards. I was having an absolute blast shooting the Heron as it would rush around the pool, chucking its prey into the air before snapping it up within it's beak. I managed to take a few rather funny shots of the Heron with it's mouth wide open, almost as if it had just received the shock of it's life. But I think my favourite shot of this session, was this one of the Heron just about to snap up a tasty shrimp in its beak.
Eventually, the Heron seemed to have it's fill and moved off the pool, so I took that as my cue to leave. Just before I drove home, I went for a quick walk up the road to see if I could spot the Osprey on some other perches. Sure enough, I found the pair on a nearby tree, both with half devoured fish in their talons. Knowing that it would be some time until they would hunt again, I decided to move along and call it a day.
Overall, I'm super happy with the shots I made that day and it was such a beautiful morning to be out in nature! There's nothing better than being out in the sun and fresh air after spending the majority of the week in an enclosed, air conditioned office.
Well, that's it for this week guys! I hope you enjoyed joining me on this week's adventure and the images I made. It's Friday today, so i'm looking forward to seeing what photographic adventures I get up to this weekend!
Cya next week!
Aaron
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