Woodrolfe Creek 27 October 2010

Canon EOS 50D, EF100-400mm L lens

400mm - 1/4000 @ 5.6 iso400

I've just spent a few days at Tollesbury in Essex. I have an oldish boat in a small creek off Woodrolfe Creek and I had to move it to a new mooring, further away from the marina.

There are no other boats close by, but several small salt water ponds and on the other side of the sea wall there are the Saltings which is a great wetland that attracts a lot of migrating birds. From the rear deck of my boat I look out over Woodrolfe Creek where it joins "The Leavings" and, a short distance east of us is the Blackwater Estuary.

When the tide goes out and the mud starts to be revealed, the seabirds, waders and ducks move in.

Canon EOS50D, EF 100-400mm L lens
400mm - 1/640 @ 5.6 iso 400

The Curlew was taken quite late and the light was going, not that it had been much good all day, it was still a little way off when I got the picture and wouldn't come any closer, maybe when it's used to the boat I'll get some close ups.

The Egret, I took as I walked back from an excellent midday meal at the Tollesbury Cruising Club (worth a visit if you're in the area, good food, not expensive and the staff are really helpful). The Egret was looking for food and took off just as I got him in the viewfinder, the sky was overcast most of the day but cleared, for a few moments and the sun caught him just as I was pressing the shutter, I dont think they are the best quality pictures, but he did a few short hops like this one and gave me an amusing display.

Watermead Park 22 October 2010

The sun had gone, the storm cloude were rolling in and I was packing my gear away. Behind me I heard a splashing, reaching for my camera as I turned, I extended the zoom.

I didn't have time for worrying about settings, the whole thing lasted about 12 seconds. But I was surprised at the images, the saying "Your eyes are bigger than your belly" springs to mind.

The quality is pretty bad but I felt the subject matter was worth showing.

Thornton Reservoir Wednesday 20 Oct 2010

Canon EOS50d, EF 100-400mm L 1000 @ f5.6 ISO 400

Canon EOS 50d, 100-400mm L, 400 @ f5.6 ISO 400

I went for a sit by the Thornton this afternoon, there's often a good collection of fairly common birds hanging about in the water by the car park, hoping for tit-bits from the visitors. At first I couldn't see many, last time I was there it was full of Canada Geese but they all seem to have flown. There was only one Canada and the resident Barnacle goose along wit a few coot and a couple of mallard. But as I got out of the car a couple of children started to throw bread to them and suddenly the area was full of Gulls, Mallard and Coots with a female swan and five juveniles from a late brood.


The light was a bit awkward, there is only one place, by the car park, to get down near to water level and that was in shade from the large trees that surround the area. I was only there for about an hour and took over a hundred shots (couldn't afford that in the old film days). Back home I immediately deleted about 40 of them and in the second cull there will probably be a lot more to get rid of. I'm particular about what I keep from a shoot, plus I try shots that sometimes don't work. On an exceptionally good day I might keep ten percent of the pictures I take. This is quite high some wildlife photographers recon on about one percent.


I was using my 50d with the 100-400 L mounted on my Benbo tripod, but instead of using a tripod head I have made a flat support from a cheap plastic chopping board cut down, drilled and tapped. That screws on to the top of the tripod and I rest my beanbag on top with the camera and lens on top of that. As the camera isn't actually fixed to the tripod, this gives me steady support for the camera, while still having the ability to react to anything going on around me, like birds flying overhead (I'm indebted to Paul (http://www.alulawildlifephotos.yolasite.com/) for this idea and I know he won't mind my sharing it).

swanning about

Canon EOS50d, Canon EF100-400mm IS USM Zoom

8000 @ f8 ISO400 - Handheld

Sence Valley Country Park near Coalville 15/10/2010

My Background
I've been interested in photography for many years and got my first real camera when I was in my mid teens. It was a Canon FTbQL 35mm film camera. Trouble was I couldn't afford any lenses for it and soon had to sell it and buy something cheaper.

It wasn't long before I realised my mistake, I tried several different makes but was never happy with any of them. Then came the time when I was a little bit better off and decided to have another Canon. But which one, I'd always wanted an F1 but it was way beyond my means and even now I couldn't afford one.


So I went to Jessop's Photographic HQ, when it was on Hinckley Road in Leicester, to try out a few different models, The A1 was top end of my budget, but I was uncertain about the LEDs in the display (in those days LEDs weren't too reliable and were prone to vibration failure).


But Jessop's salesman new his stuff and seeing that I was uncertain and why, he suggested an F1. When I said I'd love one but hadn't the money, he replied "Canon have released the F1n an instructed us to reduce the price of the old F1."

The new price was only about £20 more than an A1, it didn't take much time to make up my mind and I walked out with a Camera that would be my constant companion for over twenty years.


At work the following Monday, I told a friend. He said he'd always wanted an F1 as well. He rang Jessops to reserve one and was informed that they'd received a fax from Canon to put the price back up - apparently there were professionals running around the photo stores buying F1s by the bagfull. My friend borrowed my Amateur Photographer magazine and phoned round the country until he found a shop in the North East that hadn't yet had the fax. Using his Credit card he managed to get one as well.

Over the years I added lenses to my F1 and took some interesting pictures. Including the back of the head of a professional at a friends wedding - who seeing my camera, tried to always be between me and the happy couple, including backing into me when I tried to get a pic of the cake. I could understand why though, my friends relatives preferred my pictures, which I gave to the happy couple, along with the negatives.


I also added a couple more cameras, one out of nostalgia, a Canon Demi half-frame a beautifully engineered piece of photo history. The other a Canon AS6 Aquasnappy, which was waterproof and took some great canoeing photos. I still have all three cameras, though now I've gone digital they don't get much use.

Now, I'm going to try and post a blog every time I go out with the camera and get some decent pictures.