This thread is awesome and one I look forward to every year. Glad to see so many of the long time members still active! Funny, as I haven't been overly active this year as I promised myself to spend more time shooting. This may very well be my first image posting this year in the NW section.
I actually had a bunch of "favorites" but this is the one that started it off for me this year. Caught this one towards the end of January. One of my favorite birds and not easy to get close to, let alone it snapping a fish in half like a nutcracker. What a highlight.
Thanks for starting this Laura! Happy Holidays, All!
Awesome "best of the year" post. It's fantastic having all these great photogs in one place to view their best stuff. Here's my best 2007 shot. It is a ghostly display of Sandhill Cranes during an early morning take-off in mid November. The shot comes from the Jasper-Pulaski NWR in Northern Indiana during the Sandhill's annual migration. A lot of you know I've been working on backgrounds this year, especially dark ones that really highlight the bird subjects. This shot is the kind of contrast between dark and light that I've been striving for. The wooded background absorbed nearly all the weak lighting leaving just a muted white reflection off of the birds. Thanks to everyone for all the help over the last few years.
thanks Rob, yep too bad for that chipmunk, but i was happy to finally see this hawk get some food on his own. They had been screaming all day long begging for food. For a couple of days, they try to catch squirrels, wich led to very funny scenes but they quicky became very efficient hunter. What a joy i had to see their evolution.
Keep on posting, i've tried to pick a favourite among posted pictures but i just can't, there's too much quality work here.
I got my first Yellowstone trip in this year and while it was quick and I didn't get to see the grizzlies and wolves, I enjoyed seeing the elk in full rut. They are such magnificent creatures.
Another favorite image of 2007 is my close encounter with a Great Horned Owl branchling that I had been watching since birth. While its sibling watched from high above I had the unique experience of watching this little one. It was very relaxed as I photographed it sleeping and awake until it finally made its way down the sapling to the ground and waddled away.
Another reminder of why I enjoy this nature photography thing
What a strong collection of images! Even though I'm on dial-up it has been well worth the wait while all of these pages load up. Good stuff everyone!
Since we seem to be having a second go I'll add another. My favorite this time around, (my favorite seems to change from day to day ) is this shot of a Peregrine Falcon. While it's not technically a very good shot, the experience of the capture puts it near the top of the heap for me this year. While out on a local marsh one morning to shoot waterfowl, this angry bird made a diving pass on me from the rear and surprised me with a loud and very close swoosh! It sounded as if something large was going to fall right on me! Turns out I was under a nesting sight and a pair of them had discovered my presence and were determined to run me off. Under gunned for situation at hand I decided I would fill the rest of my card and hope for at least one frame to be in focus. The only lens I had with me was an older version of the Nikon 70-300mm but it did well and I came away with this one mostly in focus but underexposed shot.
Oh well...I learned my lesson and next time I will be better prepared with longer glass (so I don't have to get so close) and remember to adjust my exposure settings!
Jason
Yes... the image was rotated a bit, centered and cropped.
