I Notice a Pattern

In the ice, that is. Last Friday was another grey and gloomy day (talk about a pattern...). When the alarm went off, the radio mentioned dense fog in the whole country, except for the regio where I live. Bummer, no day for landscape photography.
Fortunately, the night had been clear and temperature had dropped just below zero. Just cold enough to freeze tiny amounts of water. So I took the 5D and a macro lens and went for a pleasant stroll through my favourite forest. Harvesting machines and bovines had recently left deep tracks in the trail which had filled with rainwater.


The overnight frost had left very interesting patterns in the ice and so I spent the whole morning in an awkward position, bent over the tripod looking straight down on the various patterns in the ice. As the macro lens captures only a few square centimeters at a time, it pays to spend a lot of time at one spot and carefully and slowly move the setup whilst looking through the viewfinder. A small change in position can create a completely different composition. More frost is predicted for this weekend, so I anticipate more icy patterns in my archive to come.

Ice Pattern; Canon 5D Mark II w. 150/2.8 macro; 0.5s at F11 and ISO200; tripod

Waterpainting

Last weekend was a dark, gloomy and wet one. But since I had not been able to go out the week before, I decided to face the elements anyway and see what would happen. Place of choice were the fishing ponds. I had hoped for some remaining ice with nice patterns, but it had all melted. Birdlife also was not as prolific as it usually is at the ponds.

And thus I resorted to abstracts and details of common subjects, like cattails in the water, reeds and reflections of trees and leaves in the rippled water.


I can really enjoy playing around with focus, blur, long shutterspeeds and lens movements. You never can really predict what the outcome will be and sometimes very interesting photographs are the result.

It also was a very good testdrive for the newly acquired 5D Mark II. The first impression is that the amount of both detail and smoothness from the fullframe sensor is stunning, an so is the overalll image quality. The autofocus is nothing to boast about, but I won't use it that much anyway since I bought the camera mainly for landscapes and abstracts. Another nit is that the 9 AF points are all located around the center of the viewfinder. Placing a subject well at the edge of the frame using autofocus therefore is a task not achieved as easily as it should be. But, those are nits I knew about when I ordered the camera. For wildlife and action shots, I cling to my trusty old 1D Mark III.

Tree Reflection; Canon 5D Mark II w. 70-200/2.8 L IS II; 0.6s at F11 and ISO200, handheld

Same time, same place

I tend to keep some kind of a photographic agenda. That means I make notes of possible subjects and when and where to photograph them. Amongst the entries for the winter months is the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus, Blauwe Kiekendief).

This magnificent raptor is a relatively rare breeding bird in the Netherlands, but many northern individuals spend the winter months over here. A friend of mine has his enormous backyard converted into a private nature reserve, and part of this consist of non-harvested grainfields.

These fields offer food for mice, voles and all kinds of seedeating birds like Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, Goldfinches and Treesparrows. In turn, they make for a very well-stocked dish for the Hen Harrier (and the local Sparrowhawk). Every winter, between one and three individuals, both male and female, patrol the fields for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I park the car strategically against the wind, because they will fly very fast to the far end of the fields and then perform their characteristic, slow and swirling hunt against the wind (and thus the car). Often the wait is long and when they do show up, they will inevitably choose the wrong field or fly somewhere the lens cannot reach from the vehicle. But every now and then, it all comes together and I get a decent image. I was very happy when the male flew past the car during a snow flurry the day before Christmas, as this is a photograph I had previsualized and had really wished for.

Hen Harrier; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 1.4x; 1/800s at F5.6 and ISO800; handheld from car

Happy 2011

Happy new year to everyone. May it be a healthy, enjoyable and succesful year in every aspect thinkable, and may there be lots of beautiful light and cooperating subjects!

My first encounter of 2011 was a memorable one. I had seen many beautiful images of Bitterns (Botaurus stellaris, Roerdomp) on the internet recently. No surprise, as they need to leave the cover of the reedbeds in search of food when the lakes and ponds are frozen. I had visited the local fishing ponds several times in hopes of seeing one.

The best I could find were prints of the huge feet in the snow and across the ice. Yesterday, I went for a small walk with the family to the ponds and brought the camera, just in case. We did not see any Bitterns, but enjoyed the walk nonetheless. On the way home, I spotted a bundle of reeds in a meadow close to the main road. On closer look, that bundle appeared to have enormous feet. Not something reeds usually have. There was a Bittern! I took some shots from the car and after a minute got out of the car and onto the ground to approach it a bit closer. Strange enough, it let me do so. After a few minutes and some satisfying images, it flew off. Nothing special photography wise, but a very nice and unexpected encounter, albeit that I actually went searching for one.

Great Bittern; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS; 1/60s at F4 and ISO400; beanbag from ground