I love nature photography. I love to look at and shoot photos of plants, animals, mountains and seascapes. This week I have been practicing sunset photography on the Oregon Coast. As I tend to do when I am having fun with a hobby, I was completely immersed in the moment and in this case was searching for the right light to silhouette my subject, Haystack Rock. A very big mistake, I would learn a short five minutes later.
The sunset last night was alright. It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the strawberry cotton candy pinks that I was hoping for. At one moment I heard some excitement from the people behind me. I was fumbling with my camera settings and completely focused on the reflection from the water that I ignored the movement on my left.
When I finally got around to looking at the disturbance, I was just in time to watch a bald eagle take flight..... on Cannon Beach..... at sunset...... with Haystack rock as a backdrop.... Less than 150 feet away... And my camera was attached to a tripod pointed in the wrong direction.
I think that I could have pulled this shot off. The light was intense and it is possible that this magnificent bird would have been washed out from the intense sun, but I am pretty sure that minimally I could have caught a silhouette shortly after take off. Instead I left with a big fish story about the one that got away.
Lesson learned:
Don't get so focused on shooting one subject that you miss the obvious. One thing that I love about nature photography is that, like fishing, you can have good days and bad days. Some days you won't return home with anything remarkable and other days you will not believe how lucky you are. But once in a great while you will be presented with a rare opportunity and to capture something spectacular. And as they say about fishing, a bad day shooting sunsets is always better than a good day at work.