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View Full Version : Andy joins the Egret Fest :-)


Steve Cavigliano
Mar-22-2005, 09:35 PM
Hello All,

I had some fun today and thought I would share :D

It all started this morning when I arrived at work and checked my emails. Along with the numerous ads for cheap drugz :cool , impotence cures :rolleyes and the normal business mail :snore , I found an email from Andy :D . He asked if I wanted to go shoot some and maybe do dinner, once he arrived. When given the choice between shooing pics, or working, it's a no-brainer. Yeah, I'm easy :lol3

After days of rain, the weather this morning didn't look too bad. Until lunch. Then it started pouring :cry I called Andy after lunch and he was bummed, too. Anyhow we agreed to talk later, in the hope that the skys would clear. Well the weather did improve marginally by 4. There were gaps of minutes at a time without heavy rain....lol Andy was really itchy to go shoot and see the Perc Ponds, where Ian and I shot last month. Personally, I think the boy was just anxious to get an Egret shot :lol

So I met him at his office and we took off. When we got to the Ponds it wasn't raining, but it was pretty poor light. As in ISO1600 dark, if I wanted decent speeds from the Bigma :rolleyes So I went with the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 with a 1.4X TC. Andy was using his white 70-200mm and, I believe he was also using, a 1.4X TC. We saw a pair of Snowy Egrets on the lawn as we parked. So we got our gear out of the back and went stalking. We circled them, Andy on one side, me on the other and got some decent shots.
Some of the backgrounds were pretty bad though :lol4
http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18062610-L.jpg

Too bad this little fellow decided to move (with two bug-uglies like Andy and I stalking him, no wonder.....lol). I had a sharp, near perfect reflection of Andy, in the water until he decided to move :rolleyes

We were able to get really close before they spooked. The Sun also peeked out every now and then :clap




http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18062616-L.jpg

Between, standing under trees during spurts of rain and those too brief glimpses of the Sun, we got our cameras and lenses wet and shot what we could.

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18062614-L.jpg

Finally we were rewarded.

http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18065791-L.jpg

If you see any small, strange objects in the sky, it's probably raindrops :rofl

A beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky and Andy and I have 150-450mm zoom lenses attached :huh .......LOL The rest of our gear was safe and dry in the car :rolleyes Oh well, at least Andy might have gotten a decent shot or two at an Osprey the was buzzing the Ponds, because of that long focal length. The Osprey was pretty far away though :dunno

Well we both wound up with wet tennis shoes and big smiles :D Not so much due to the pics we got, but because we knew now that the shooting was over, it was time for DINNER :hotfood :binge :eat :food :slosh

We had an excellent dinner of steaks, shrimp, carpaccio, au gratin potatos, spinach, soups and salads. About now, I bet your wondering how Andy and I manage to maintain our girlish figures, while eating like this? :lol Would you believe that we burn it all off shooting ? :wink Me either :lol4


Well, that's about it for today. Stay tuned, for further news regarding the Left Coast leg of Andy's Travelin' Road Show....lol Comin' soon to a city near you :yikes Next stop San Francisco on Thursday. Look out street folk and North Beach restaurants :rofl

Thanks for looking,
Steve

gus
Mar-22-2005, 09:46 PM
Beautifully written mate...brought a tear to a glass eye ....well done :thumb

jwear
Mar-22-2005, 10:10 PM
We had an excellent dinner of steaks, shrimp, carpaccio, au gratin potatos, spinach, soups and salads. About now, I bet your wondering how Andy and I manage to maintain our girlish figures, while eating like this? :lol Would you believe that we burn it all off shooting ? :wink Me either DId you wait in the dinner for the early morning lite don't know how you walked out :D you have a great set of shot :thumb :1drink wow with all that black i thought it was a nikon you did real well with only having that canon to shoot :rofl Jeff

Adrian van Ammers
Mar-22-2005, 10:28 PM
[QUOTE=Steve Cavigliano]Hello All,

I had some fun today and thought I would share :D

Hi Steve, I'm glad you did :D . You both had a ball and thanks for the - early morning(overhere it is) - smile.:clap
The rainbow picture is my favorite. Beautiful colors.

Andy
Mar-23-2005, 12:31 AM
http://freezeframephotography.smugmug.com/photos/18062616-S.jpg


steve, i had a ball, thanks for going out with me and keepin' me company. that close up egret profile, that one could put harry in the hospital!

see you thursday :deal

4labs
Mar-23-2005, 02:51 AM
Steve as usual great pictures and great commentary. I agree the profile of the egret is wonderful shot.

Harryb
Mar-23-2005, 03:43 AM
Hey Steve,

Love that profile shot. :thumb Thanks for introducing Andy to the wonderful world of egrets. :D I just hope he didn't scare them too much.

ehughes
Mar-23-2005, 06:34 AM
Steve, that profile is great but I'm really jealous of the rainbow shot. Great work

bfjr
Mar-23-2005, 06:44 AM
Life sometimes is so Hard !!! :rofl:rofl:rofl

Excellent set guys, I actually really enjoyed raindow/geese shot, very nice :thumb:thumb. Left your stuff in the car, in N.Y., :huh whoa trusting souls :D.

I once left stuff in a car in N. Y., they left the stuff and took the car :wxwax:rofl

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 08:19 AM
Beautifully written mate...brought a tear to a glass eye ....well done :thumb
Thanks Gus, glad you liked it :D

One thing about Andy and Steve shoots, no matter what level of success we have shooting, we always have a great time doing it. Lots of laughs (mostly talkin about Harry :lol ) and lots of excellent food, to help us "cool down" after shooting :lol4

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 08:25 AM
We had an excellent dinner of steaks, shrimp, carpaccio, au gratin potatos, spinach, soups and salads. About now, I bet your wondering how Andy and I manage to maintain our girlish figures, while eating like this? :lol Would you believe that we burn it all off shooting ? :wink Me either DId you wait in the dinner for the early morning lite don't know how you walked out :D you have a great set of shot :thumb :1drink wow with all that black i thought it was a nikon you did real well with only having that canon to shoot :rofl Jeff
Thanks Jeff :D

Nah, we didn't stick around for the sweet morning light. After slogging around in the wet grass/mud and eating that huge dinner, it was time for us to call it a day. We are, however, planning a Sunrise shoot on Friday morn up in the mountains. We're gonna be looking for big game :uhoh Like bobcats, turkeys, deer and raptors. OK, so none of these are "big".....lol Then we're heading down to Elkhorn Slough for more wildlife and meeting up with the Ed Hughes' Camera Club :D

You may be right about having a Nikon instead. I sure wouldn't have worried as much about getting it wet :rofl

Thanks for commenting,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 08:29 AM
[QUOTE=Steve Cavigliano]Hello All,

I had some fun today and thought I would share :D

Hi Steve, I'm glad you did :D . You both had a ball and thanks for the - early morning(overhere it is) - smile.:clap
The rainbow picture is my favorite. Beautiful colors.
Thanks for the nice comments Adrian :D

I'm glad this short story helped you start the day off with a smile :): As I mentioned, stay tuned. We've got more shoots, and more short photo essays, coming up in the next few days :uhoh Don't say I didn't warn ya :lol


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 08:55 AM
steve, i had a ball, thanks for going out with me and keepin' me company. that close up egret profile, that one could put harry in the hospital!

see you thursday :deal
No, thank you :clap I was really trying to tough it out until Thursday. But, I needed a piccies fix too..........lol Even though the weather could have been much better, it didn't seem to have a negative effect on us having a blast....lol


See ya tomorrow,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 08:58 AM
Steve as usual great pictures and great commentary. I agree the profile of the egret is wonderful shot.
Thanks 4labs :D

Well my credo is to get the best pics you can, but by all means, enjoy yourself to the max :cool When Andy and I get together, we definitely have a great time. The pics are almost secondary.

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 09:05 AM
Hey Steve,

Love that profile shot. :thumb Thanks for introducing Andy to the wonderful world of egrets. :D I just hope he didn't scare them too much.
Thanks Harry :D

We'll he did sort of walk briskly, right towards them as we started shooting (you know those city boys? :lol) He caught on quickly to the idea of keeping his distance and moving forward only when they had their head turned. As far as introducing him to Egrets, it was his idea :clap I think he just couldn't bear seeing all of us having such a great time shooting Egrets. I think he just wanted to join in on the fun :rofl Plus, we all know that this place could always use more Egret pics :lol3


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

evil eggplant
Mar-23-2005, 09:06 AM
nice to see you all here. thats all i have to say. that, and i am still waiting to see my first egret.

wonderful pics, even if a sony didn't take them *sigh*

later

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 09:09 AM
Steve, that profile is great but I'm really jealous of the rainbow shot. Great work
Thanks Ed :D

When the Sun kept peeking out, while it was raining, we talked about whether there might be a rainbow. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, we got one. Not only that but it started to go into a double rainbow :wink But, with our wide lenses in the car, it was impossible to capture :rolleyes As it was, we had to shoot towards the highway, businesses and powerlines to get these shots.

Anyhow, thanks for your comments and we'll see you Friday :thumb

Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 09:26 AM
Life sometimes is so Hard !!! :rofl:rofl:rofl

Excellent set guys, I actually really enjoyed raindow/geese shot, very nice :thumb:thumb. Left your stuff in the car, in N.Y., :huh whoa trusting souls :D.

I once left stuff in a car in N. Y., they left the stuff and took the car :wxwax:rofl
Thanks Ben :D

Ya life IS hard, so you have to take a little time off to lighten the load :): These getaways rejuvenate me :clap They help make this hard life, more bearable....lol

No, we left our stuff in the car (always within our view) in Los Gatos, California. Which isn't much better than NYC, but is definitely much better than San Francisco :huh We will be strapping our kits to our backs and carrying them with us everywhere we go, up there :rolleyes Between them, our packs are probably worth upwards of $12,000, so believe me, we do pay attention :uhoh We even take them, with us, into the fancy restaurants where we eat. Just so we can keep an eye on them. :-)


Thanks for taking the time to look and comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-23-2005, 09:34 AM
nice to see you all here. thats all i have to say. that, and i am still waiting to see my first egret.

wonderful pics, even if a sony didn't take them *sigh*

later
Hiya Rich :wave Where ya been?

Thanks for the comments :D

Nope, the Sonys have been relagated pretty much to IR only duty :dunno Since I was set to ISO800 yesterday, I don't think either of my Sonys would have given me much to look at :uhoh Andy is getting a DReb IR modded, and I will be bringing the 828, for IR shots at Yosemite :clap Plus Dee, Nee and Kudbegud will be bringing their Sonys up too :thumb I hear there might even be a Nikon or two coming as well :huh .....lol

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

evil eggplant
Mar-23-2005, 01:58 PM
Hiya Steve


I've been having a lousy time on DP[*CENSORED*] forums. Man, those guys need to take some more pictures or something.

Just like before, I see lots of familiar faces here.

I guess I'll get to work wearing out my welcome over here :-)

Glad you're doing well, Steve.

Take care

jwear
Mar-23-2005, 03:33 PM
You may be right about having a Nikon instead. I sure wouldn't have worried as much about getting it wet :rofl one up man ship is not that funny steven :rofl :rofl that was a very good come back :thumb Jeff

Kirwin
Mar-23-2005, 07:07 PM
Fun story with illustrative images. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Thanks for sharin' a bit of your day.

ian408
Mar-23-2005, 09:04 PM
Steve! You both got some nice shots!

Especially the profile shot.

ian

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-24-2005, 09:53 AM
Fun story with illustrative images. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Thanks for sharin' a bit of your day.
Thanks Kirwin :D

Yep, we always have a ball and are happy to share our pics and stories. Just don't be touchin' our food :lol


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano
Mar-24-2005, 09:55 AM
Steve! You both got some nice shots!

Especially the profile shot.

ian
Thanks Ian :D

Other than those dumpy middle-aged guys that kept getting messing up our backgrounds, it was throughly enjoyable :cool

Manana?

Steve

ian408
Mar-24-2005, 10:21 AM
Manana?
See you then.

ian