I'm still trying to make sense of the pictures I took during my most recent Disney trip last month. ; When I say make sense.. the truth is I'm not happy with what I produced. ; There are multiple reasons for it. ; Partially I'm running into a real problem with my creative vision, I just shoot the same old things. ; I quickly found my niche a long time ago, and that was animals. ; I routinely shoot more in Animal Kingdom than anywhere else in Disney World. ; I'll try to get into what I shot and put some of it up to see what you all think about it, I really do need some peer critiquing, REAL critiquing, not just positive reinforcement. ; To an extent I'm willing to accept that animals are my niche, I get involved in shooting them in a way that I do with nothing else. ; Perhaps you don't entirely get to choose such things. But for now I'm drawn to shots like this, not taken within The World at all. I have a problem of familiarity breeding contempt with my shots. ; When I first shot this I loved it, but the more I look at it the less it thrills me. ; But I'll go with my initial impulse and post it. ; The reason I'm so drawn to this is the technical challenge, not the art. ; That's often the way my taste goes... ; But so be it. ; The deal is that this is a full crop of the image. ; I was close, I was zoomed in heavily (184mm), and I got this shot by the skin of my teeth. I was on a boat (a catamaran that runs regular cruises around Clearwater) waiting for the cruise to get under way, and the boat in the slip next to ours was a charter fishing boat that appeared to be back at the end of a day of fishing, some people were gutting fish on the pier. ; The local pelicans were quite familiar with this ritual, a horde of them gathered in the water below the pier as well as on the railing of the fishing boat. ; I was excited about seeing them, they're a big, very noticable bird that are different from anything I usually see around where I live (although we are supposed to get one species of pelican somewhere around here). ; But I wasn't getting good shots, the angle looking down at them in the water wasn't good. ; Every so often one of the birds would get a prize collection of fish guts and immediately fly away with their food to get away from the other hopeful birds. ; And I kept trying to shoot them in flight but failed to get the timing and focusing down. I didn't know I had this shot until I looked at it once I got home. ; It was just another desperate shot of a bird that I had little warning for. ; But I'm pleased with it. ; I love the angle and the view of the spread primaries. ; The truth is the focus is definitely off, but it's adequate for lower resolution viewing. It was a very humanized bird, there's room to debate to what degree this was a "wild" animal, but well.. my ego was in need of a little support. ; I'm calling this my entry into the world of wildlife photography. ; A little pride is a useful thing, I suspect that ego is important for the creative process so long as it's kept in check. The pelicans were fun to watch. ; Their tendency to walk on land with their massive bills tucked down against their necks gives them the appearance of acting coy. Here is a shot that gives at least a rough idea of that bill posture. When they're standing on a pier next to you and looking up at you with their eyes while the bill is downturned like that the effect is really endearing. Now that I've griped about my Disney shots I'll try to find a few decent ones.. I got some firework shots that I'm actually quite pleased with.
Wow...that PIF shot is outstanding, Dan! ; I'm with you, I've take nearly twice as many shots in AK then in all the other parks combined. ; Please, post away any and all wildlife/DAK/zoo shots. ;
Great shot Dan. I love shooting pics of Pelicans myself. There is one particular one that I keep waiting on to get a good shot of. There is a set of mooring pilings in the bayou in fron of the office where I work & there is this one particular Pelican that is regularly sitting on one of these pilings in the same pose you describe. The problem is, he is never there when I have my camera & I am able to go out & photograph him. I will eventually get him though. Keep up the Great work.
