It’s real simple, there was no “shot” when we found the Barred Owl branchlings. They were high up against a horrible bright background when they themselves were in shade with all sort of distracting branches between them and the lens. It was a no win situation from the get go. Worst of all, stuck on a narrow boardwalk with everyone stopping to ask what we’re looking at. That’s because the branchlings were so far away in such horrible light, folks couldn’t see them. The D5 / 800mm wasn’t a secret weapon making the magic happen. No shot … simply none!
Barred Owl Branchlings
captured by D5 / 800mm w/1.25x
Yet we stood there for nearly three hours. Why?! For starters, how often do you have Barred Owl branchlings to photograph? If you live on the west coast like I do where there are no Barred Owls, the answer is rarely. And if you’ve spent anytime with branchlings, you know that they will move. The question is will they move while you’re still watching and more importantly, will they move where you can make a photo? Now if you leave, you just answered the question because you will never know and take no photos away with you. Staying, you might have the answer if they move but there is still no guarantee you’ll have the photo. And that’s kind of the point. When we go out shooting, be it owls or mammals or even a stamp collection, you don’t know if you’ll comeback with the photo or not. You have to put in the time, where it’s five, ten minutes, 2, 4, 24 hours or days or months. The essential ingredient in every photograph is time and for me, it adds up to forty years and counting. Because after all that time I still know that something will come even when at first it appears, no shot … simply none!