Saturday, November 22, 2008

More Bosque del Apache

I'm midway through 2 weeks photographing at Bosque del Apache with my friend Chris Dodds (http://chrisdoddsphoto.com) from Quebec. The Bosque is a refuge in central New Mexico that is famous for its huge numbers of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes that congregate here during fall and winter. This is a bird photographer's paradise. The last time I was here was almost 15 years ago and I had forgotten just how good it is. During the past week I've shot over 5,000 frames and can barely stay up each night to edit the day's photos. [my eyes are weary as I write this]

This morning was particularly outstanding... as Chris says 'epic'. The wind and light created perfect conditions to photograph inbound Snow and Ross's Geese. I probably shot more pictures this morning than any other day, ever. I've barely started editing the photos but here a few early favorites.

All photos taken with EOS 1Ds mIII.

Photo 1: Blast off at sunrise.
24-70mm at 58mm; Singh-Ray Blue n Gold polarizer; ISO 500; 1/20s @ f/8


Photo 2: Incoming Snow Goose
500mm IS lens + 2x teleconverter; ISO 400; Exposure set manually 1/800s @ f/8


Photo 3: Incoming Ross's Goose
500mm IS lens + 1.4x teleconverter; ISO 400; Exposure set manually 1/1000s @ f/9


Photo 4: Snow Goose (Blue phase) landing
500mm IS lens + 1.4x teleconverter; ISO 400; Exposure set manually 1/1600s @ f/8


Photo 5: Coyote
This Coyote was walking on a canal bank and I was able to get only a few photos from the van window using a beanbag for stability. It pays to be ready!
500mm IS lens + 1.4x teleconvertor
ISO 400; Aperture Priority; 1/320s @ f/8

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:37 AM

    Man, you're killin' it. That blast off is sick. I definitely wish I had a few more days out there. Also, thanks again to you and Chris for showing me around.


    Good luck, and travel safely,
    -Alex

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  2. Anonymous7:00 PM

    The first shot in the series is A+.

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  3. Anonymous10:49 PM

    Wow!! These look amazing!! I can't imagine what it must be like to be there and what it must sound like with that many geese flying over head!!

    Sharl

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  4. Anonymous8:10 PM

    A few months ago I saw a pair of Canada Geese gliding down to land in a pond across the road. Watching them come down, necks outstretched, then change their flight attitude as they got closer to break the airflow over their wings and drop a bit faster, and finally manoever down onto the water using wings, tail and splayed feet to steer before hitting the water was an awesome sight. You've done a nice job of catching the geese in these photos.

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  5. Green with envy Ethan!

    I've been following your blog and I'm pretty jealous!

    Killer images Dude!

    Keep posting/blogging and take care out there.

    Marc

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