Almost got bit by a rattlesnake tonight taking these images! Just after sunset, I had my eye in the viewfinder trying to catch the magical colors of a desert southwest mountain as the light changed dramatically. I thought I heard a hummingbird buzz by and thought nothing of it. A few seconds later, I stepped back and almost stepped on a rattler that had come up behind me. It was his rattle that sounded like a hummingbird's wings. Wow! I tossed rocks at it to get it to move away and at the same time kept clicking the shutter so I wouldn't miss the light!
Images taken with the Loxia 21, FE 28/2, and Pentax SMC 50/1.4
Dedication! Might need some snake boots though... At least your snakes warn you with a rattle. Our Copperheads and Water Moccasins stay silent till they bite you...
mudlake wrote:
Almost got bit by a rattlesnake tonight taking these images! Just after sunset, I had my eye in the viewfinder trying to catch the magical colors of a desert southwest mountain as the light changed dramatically. I thought I heard a hummingbird buzz by and thought nothing of it. A few seconds later, I stepped back and almost stepped on a rattler that had come up behind me. It was his rattle that sounded like a hummingbird's wings. Wow! I tossed rocks at it to get it to move away and at the same time kept clicking the shutter so I wouldn't miss the light!
Images taken with the Loxia 21, FE 28/2, and Pentax SMC 50/1.4
More shots from the Zeiss APO-Sonnar 135/2. This lens is too nice, it might make me a 135 shooter... Or maybe I'm just enamored with a new toy. Whatever, here ya go.
Even 560mm looks too short to cover the distance to this bird, the most beautiful bird in Central America. The quetzals are getting rare and are considered endangered as their living habitat, the cloud forest in the high elevation, is rapidly dwindling. The size of the bird is about that of a small dove but the tail is long during the breeding season, like around that time. This image is one of the several so-called insurance shots just to make sure I would not go home empty-handed. Yes, I took a gradually bolder and bolder approach in photographing this bird later on. Actually, I considered myself lucky that I could see and photograph the quetzal on both of my CR trips...