It made for an early morning, but I was up at 0430 to be out the door by 0510, to be at Buddy’s house in East Syracuse by 0530, to be at the Wildlife Preserve by sun-up. All went according to plan.
When we arrived at the preserve, there was a considerable fog that surrounded the area. There were a few ducks in the water, but not much else aside from thousands of swallows that were flying through the marsh 100+ yards away. I had traveled with hopes of seeing some eagles and while the eagles might be seen later as the light improved and we changed location, this scene required a bit of a shift in expectations.
The scene was moody and I was going to need to push my ISO, so I was already thinking in black and white. A tree in the distance caught my eye, so I framed it on the left side and clicked the shutter button.
I thought that – while well balanced with the small tree on the right – the strength of the image was in the tree on the left, so I zoomed in further and focused a little in front to the tree in hopes of capturing a series of images with the birds on focus. I acquired a series of such images, but the birds were sparse, so this was the best that I walked away with:
I tried to capture an interesting of the swallows and their reflections as they were flying over the quiet water, but the poor light was too much of a hindrance.
But as the sun rose above the trees, there were pockets of light that were illuminating the fog in front of us, but (again) there was no single compelling subject, so I found a scene with some foreground interest and captures a series of images of the swallows. This scene was better lit, and the light was warm enough that a color treatment was plausible, if not warranted:
The sun would continue to burn off the fog over the course of the next 15-20 minutes, but before it did, some geese flew into and landed in the water in front of us. I was not quick enough with my setting changes and they made an abrupt and unexpected change of direction immediately before landing, so I was forced to crop in almost 50% on the original frame, which (with the fog) created a very soft image that has an almost (unintended) painterly quality.
We would continue from the visitors center and drive through the preserve and – no – there were no eagles to be seen. There would be a lot of herons to be photographed throughout the drive, though. None of the scenes or images that I captured with herons, however, were spectacular. This was mostly a result of the distance that they preferred to keep from the road and the cars/birdwatchers that it harbored.
That left me to capture my best images of the day in the early morning light as my eyes hunted for interesting backlit subjects in to the east as I traveled north through the preserve. There were a few scenes and subjects that caught my eye as I drove. They are all pleasing, but – as is always the case – shy of spectacular, although I have a sweet spot for the glowing tree with the mist coming off the river in the foreground.
My biggest missed opportunity was probably this roadside flower that I captured with the macro lens. If I was alone and more patient, I could have gotten out the tripod and done a focus stacked image of the water beads with the flower reflected in them (I think). As it was, I hadn’t even brought the tripod, so that image was impossible the moment I pulled the Corolla out of the driveway.
Perhaps I’ll consider bringing the tripod next time.