… I spent three hours on the side of Red Tail Cliff early Friday morning and life continues at a frenetic pace … everyone has kids, and the kids need food! Parents are out hunting early in the morning and throughout the day. For the Red Tail Hawks, the adults have to provide for themselves, and three very hungry kids and they are doing a great job of it based on the growth and apparent health of the young ones. In the photo above one of kids (technically called “Eyas.”) is building wing muscle on the edge of the nest and visualizing what it will be like to take the leap into the air from 150′ above the ground … that is still about two to three weeks off.
Below, Cliff Swallows are bringing food into one of their nests … there are hundreds of nests across the face of the cliff and life is abundant!
If you are shooting birds (camera) and want to get good shots of them entering or leaving the nest, keep an eye for them approaching a nest, do not use s tight zoom, but back off at least 50% from max and get the nest in focus. Keep in mind that birds will always come into the nest from below and pop up into it … start shooting before you see them flaring upwards and keep shooting … zoom in as you begin shooting. When birds leave the nest, they normally will dive out of it so you can zoom out enough to get the first few frames after they leave the nest. You won’t get them all, but you shoot get a pretty good proportion of them. Zooming too0 far in can result in clipped wings and great difficulty keeping the subject in the frame. Typically, you will have two or three seconds from the time you see action to get the camera up, grab a focus and get your shots.
A terrific weekend and image deletion is in full swing … I deleted more than 10,000 photos from my portfolio in the past two days and another 15,000 are on the chopping block over the next few days. The plan is to keep only the very best of the very best!
Wow, another new week is upon us … we are blessed … still breathing and smiling and as always, we have the daily choice to have a beautiful day and make it so for others!
With Joy,
Ted
To-morrow, O to-morrow!
Fast fall the fading years. A thought, a dream
Of gentle words; of faith and love a theme;
A smile a step or two, and all is done.
Quick is the veering stream of life full run;
Yet in the crimson west still gleam
To-morrow and to-morrow’s endless dream.
excerpt from To-morrow by Max Ehrmann
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
More about Ted Grussing …
