p.1 #1 · A dream two decades in the making - Great Grey Owls
Congratulations to thedutt for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 3 votes - View Previous Winners
Having been inspired by the photos in this forum of the great greys for almost the past 2 decades, I finally made a trip up north to Sax Zim Bog / Northern Minnesota to met the Great Grey Owl in the wild this January. What was meant to be a 3-day trip kept getting extended… I just couldn’t bring myself to leave. It was an irruption year and it was in heaven. More photos of boreal & snowy to come (and one northern hawk as well).
Most of my favorite encounters happened far from the crowds, in quiet moments shared alone with these majestic birds — sometimes thanks to a friendly farmer for whom I did a impromptu photo shoot as I had my 85mm on, or a generous homeowner that I stuck up a conversation with and invited me to his property anytime I wanted to stop by or simply a lucky detour down a snowy road.
Thanks Morris, I appreciate it. Hope all is well at your end. Your snowy owl photos from the shore have been inspiring for a while, and on this trip to MN i was able to see and photograph my first snowy as well. Coming soon
p.1 #11 · A dream two decades in the making - Great Grey Owls
You got a beautiful collection of images. There is nothing like watching Great Grey Owls, magical. Did you get to use your RF100-300 for any of these beautiful images. Lovely work.
p.1 #18 · A dream two decades in the making - Great Grey Owls
johnohio wrote:
These are great. They are on my bucket list. Congrats on your success with these. YGMV
John
Thanks John - I appreciate the encouragement and the vote. Feel free to PM when you plan a trip, I took notes on where to stay etc and would be happy to share.
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tfshaw wrote:
Well your wait was long but worth it!! It's obvious you honed your skills the past 20 years. Fantastic results.
Tim
Thank you Tim - its been a journey to get to learn the craft
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louie champan wrote:
A great set of beautiful images, well done. What a trip!! {voted)
Louie, Thank you for your words and vote.
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csinseattle wrote:
Congrats on your success and beautiful set, it is a inspiration to others, another vote
Chris S.
Thank you Chris, I appreciate your kind words.
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lemmy shoyu wrote:
Great photos with beautiful light. Well done!
Dave_E wrote:
You got a beautiful collection of images. There is nothing like watching Great Grey Owls, magical. Did you get to use your RF100-300 for any of these beautiful images. Lovely work.
Dave
Dave, it was quite the learning curve, I had never shot in this kind of weather, so getting the gear right took me a good 3-4 days; Then initially I was a bit too tight on the owls with the 400/560mm, and soon learnt that the zoom was essential and I switched mostly to 100-300; 1,2,3,4,7,10,11 are with the 100-300 as during the irruption, most of these were juvies and they were way too often flying very close by. 12 is actually with an 85 1.2, @ 1.2 - i have been suprized at how much I have ended up enjoying that lens with wildlife this past 3 months. I have shot owls, super tuskers, lions, cheetahs and tigers with the 85 1.2! More to come as I process the files.
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David83 wrote:
2 and 12 are my faves just for the colors! Great set all together
Thank you David - the light was quite wonderful in both of these, and these are two of my fav moments. For (2), a wonderful gentleman by the name of Travis had invited me to his house to take the photos, after we were chatting in the road about owls and such. 12 was when I had a wonderful day spotting and shooting boreals for the first time , and then turnned on to a final road at sunset that was completely empty and got the opportunity to see this beautiful owl.
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Alan Milnes wrote:
These images are amazing. Happy for you that you have fulfilled a dream.
