Thursday, June 19, 2008

BABOOSHKA AND THE CORMORANT

I adore the cormorants that hang around the harbour, but for the life of me can I take a photo of them I am happy with? These birds are my nemesis! I have more chance of catching a darting swallow with the wrong speed setting on than catching the difinitive cormorant shot I desire. I seem to be in the minority though. Other people really get a kick out of it. After all the buying public know best. I am merely the lunatic running around Ramsey or Rhumsaa if you want the Norse, the Manx version of the town name chasing the shot in my head they may not actually exist. I like it as an action shot, but it's not my favourite bird shot. It is however, the one that outsells the others.

The reason for this photo today is to illustrate photography, in the main, is in the eye of the beholder, not the photographer. I often get asked to critique work and was asked by a fellow blogger if I would like to pitch in with a post he was publishing concerning photography tips. I did, but I also said that I would transfer people over to his blog and his post, as he has written a really great article about it all, succinctly and very user friendly. He's also a really fantastic photographer with a very down to earth honest approach to the business of photography and life of a photographer. For all of you out there who would like to advance your skills, learn a little more, or just purely enjoy an outstanding body of work, hop over to 365 BRETT TRAFFORD
You will learn more about photography here than most places I have been on the net and will want to pay frequent visits as I do. It's always great to appreciate anothers work without the responsibility of having created the images. Can't empahsise enough how worthwhile for the budding photographer at whatever level the hop over to his blog is. The particular post you are looking for is entitled "Eating Raoul"

Today I'd be interested to know, to you print the images you take as photographs, or are they for pc use?

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link which I will be book marking to make a return to as I'd like to know more about photography and how to use my camera to its best advantage. Love todays cormorant piccie, caught it perfectly I think.....

Kris McCracken said...

You’ve done very well to get this one. I can only get them sitting down drying in the sun.

Ann said...

I like you cormorant pic as well. Only went digital late last year and since then haven't printed anything out. Meant to print out some of my last trip but they are so much more useful online as I can send them, or links to them all over the world.

Unknown said...

That is an great catch.

iBlowfish said...

I agreed, this is an great catch. Well done.

Chuck Pefley said...

Babooshka, I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. Shooting moving objects is tough and takes a lot of work. Follow-focus is a learned technique only perfected through practice and repetition. Frankly, I think this cormorant image is quite good with nice detail in the feathers and the stop motion of the water droplets. Now, if you could simply convince the species to wear something other than black ... :)

Louis la Vache said...

La Vache folle's favorite make of car, the Packard, used the cormorant as it's mascot for years. So, "Louis" was happy to see this shot! As Chuck said, you are being too hard on yourself....

Olivier said...

"Mon âme plonge dans l'eau
Et ressort
Avec le cormoran"
haïku du poète Onitsura.

"My soul plunges into water
And spring
With the Cormoran "
haiku poet Onitsura.

Alex Mazilu said...

TALENT !
just great !

Anonymous said...

very beautiful action shot. i only print few photos that i consider my best

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention, alwazs nice to get new people visiting, hope zou like todazs photo. Love zou shot verz hard to catch just right. Not using mz pc at the moment, i,ll up date more on Sundaz. Brett

Anonymous said...

That is an excellent shot.

Anonymous said...

I can't photograph abird not flying.Awesome

Ken Mac said...

You caught the perfect moment of its tail spputtering against the water. Well done!

Marie Reed said...

"The Cormorant in its Element," by Amy Clampitt

That bony potbellied arrow, wing-pumping along
impacably, with a ramrod's rigid adherence,
airborne, to the horizontal, discloses talents
one would never have guessed at. Plummeting

waterward, big black feet splayed for a landing
gear, slim head turning and turning, vermilion-
strapped, this way and that, with a lightning glance
over the shoulder, the cormorant astounding-

ly, in one sleek involuted arabesque, a vertical
turn on a dime, goes into the inimitable
vanishing-and-emerging-from-under-the-briny-

deep act which, unlike the works of Homo Houdini,
is performed for reasons having nothing at all
to do with ego, guilt, ambition, or even money.

Steve Buser said...

I share your frustration on trying to capture birds in flight. It seemed a lot easier to do with 35mm cameras. I wonder if the steady shot stuff is interfering. THat gives me an idea. I might try turning it off an see what I get.

Profile Not Available said...

I think you did an excellent job capturing this.

mrsnesbitt said...

Now and again I will print some off and use for cards etc.

Rob said...

Photographing birds for me is a love/hate relationship. I love to shoot them with a camera, I usually hate the results. You have to be quick, birds rarely cooperate for the shot.

Well, as my statement about me in my blog is that I am a Photography and blogger novice. I enjoy the hunt, the search for that one shot. This photo-blogging is great practice to sharpen my skills. I have learned much, however, I have much to learn.

That said, I rarely print what I shoot. Most of it is either pages deep in my blog, or pages deep in Flickr and Webshots. My plan is to have a "Blurb" book printed from Flickr from my recent trip to Paris and Italy. Those USB digital photo frames are quite interesting too.

George Townboy said...

I like it!

I haven't printed any photos, just keep them on my pc, but I have no idea why.

GiuCe said...

great shot... at the perfect moment!!!

The Birdlady said...

Love the reflection...Very nice work.

Anonymous said...

Seeing this, I guess the title of the post should be BABOOSHKA, the great photographer!

Marie-Noyale said...

There you are you got a lot of support because you deserve it!!
I really like this bird shot.
Thank you for the link,I bookmarked it..I love to learn,and there is so much to learn!!

I took a photography class in the spring and we were allowed to use a wonderful lab to print our picturesany size we wanted,which is what I did and I had a lot of fun.

laxeylass said...

No better then with the locals then?
What can I say. They will apprecaite you when you are no longer here. Love the pic.

DAB said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DAB said...

I only print the quirky ones I take.(Thanks for the link) TFX

Knoxville Girl said...

I haven't printed any digital photos yet - still getting used to this dang new-fangled twenty-first century techy stuff.
I do like this cormorant shot. Poetry in motion.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean - I'm always surprised when photos I think are OK but nothing amazing get loads of complimentary comments, and others which I'm really pleased with hardly get commented on at all.

I don't generally print out pictures - I've got boxes of photo albums going back years and nowhere to put them! Occasionally I'll print one out, for a present or if it's one I like of my husband or whatever. But usually no - more out of laziness and lack of storage space than anything else!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Babooshka: What a lovely picture of the Cormorant, so well captured.

Tom said...

We get these on our local river in the winter.. Peter as some picture of one in flight and I got a few of them resting drying out their wings... mine were a tad blurred I'm sorry to say..

Sharon said...

Your cormorant picture is wonderful, lots of action. Thanks for the link!

I print some out, but mostly they just stay on the computer.

Lynette said...

First, I take photos all of the time, of whatever interests me if I've got the minutes it takes to stop and get out the camera. So, many of the photos are not something I'd necessarily print but are something I want to remember, to see again on my computer, to show to whoever takes a look at my blogs. Sometimes I make prints at Walgreens and go to art/craft/fairs and try my hand at selling them. So far the ones that sell best are the quirky ones, not the ones I think of as pretty. Is that surprising? No. Does that make me sad? No. I love my hobby!

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