Here I talk about more of that story, share other images and my experiences in photography.
The following day was less of a photography day, we did vacation stuff. Went out sightseeing, to the beach, etc.
I did take a few pictures throughout the day. mostly from the car.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/320 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Some of the buildings down there are so nice.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/400 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/2000 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
That is just a fantastic sunset.
That’s it for that day, the next would be another photo heavy day.
Christmas Morning.
2019.
7:30 AM.
It begins.
Canon 5D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/3200 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/4000 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400
Sunrise on the beach.
Went out with my significant other for a walk on the beach. All my camera gear.
Oh and my girlfriend came too. ;)
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 160
Although the sun was towards where I was heading, still managed to get some great shots. Like this silhouette of a gull.
Something that was different to me, from all the beach trips I’ve gone on, was the sand in Destin. White sand was not something I’d seen before. It was pretty nice, although compared to say much further down in the gulf it was only nice to look at. I mean it was also nice to walk on, kind of soft. But what I mean is that where I always went to the beach was a lot dirtier sand. And there you find a lot more life. Sharks teeth or shells washing up along the beach, little fish coming right up on the surf. That’s not what is there in Destin, it’s too clean. Makes it easy to see into the water, which is cool. But easy for a predator to spot little fish prey.
Don’t get me wrong, there was still plenty of wildlife for me to photograph. Just a noticeable difference from my own experiences.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 500
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 500
Plenty of Laughing Gulls out getting some breakfast. I am especially proud of capturing this moment of a Gull in mid catch of some kind of nut.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Others had spied his treat and came over.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
This went on for a bit, capturing images of the Gulls.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400
Here I manged to get a bit further insight in to why I caught the Gull above in mid beak catching food. The smart little guys rinse off whatever they catch before they eat it.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Perfect. Exactly what I had been wanting. Nice profile shot, sharp as a tack. Nice detail. Yes, very happy with my choices so far.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4.5 - ISO 640
Spotted out in the water was something I had never heard of at this point. A waterfowl that would dive, not just stick their head under like a duck or goose. But completely submerge for many seconds, maybe half a minute at a time.
A loon of some kind, very hard to identify because of the light source being behind them.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 125
As I mentioned in the last post, the sky really was that color. I really like the way it contrast it provides for the silhouette of this Pelican.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
A different kind of gull this time. The Ring-Billed Gull would be my next subject, and amazingly I managed to witness this one enjoying a seafood breakfast.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
A Sanderling would catch my eye next. Cute little bird running across the sand.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 320
The next thing that happened I couldn’t believe. I had absolutely no idea that worms were under the sand.
Simply amazing that I manged to be aiming at the right moment ready to take a picture.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 250
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 125
We moved further along down the beach to a little park in the dunes. More scrub here and hopefully more birds.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 500
Bit hard to identify this one honestly. Because the golden sun was putting so much yellow onto things I honestly don’t know just how much yellow is the bird or not. I think this is a Chipping Sparrow. As it most closely resembles what the bird book I use shows.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 200
This one has me a bit stumped. The eye suggests a thrasher, the coloring doesn’t quite match a few different variations I’ve seen in the book. Possibly a Sage’s Thrasher as it specifically mentions the FL panhandle in winter. Which is exactly where I was when I took this. However it very closely matches one that I currently have identified as a Long Billed Thrasher that I spotted just down the road in metro Atlanta.
Anyway, soon it was back along the beach to where we parked. Shot a couple more birds along the way.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100
I did take one last image before leaving for the day. Back before the walk along the beach I swapped to the full frame and regular telephoto and took a picture of the resorts. A bit different, but I was happy with how it came out.
Canon 5D Mark II w/70-200 - 1/4000 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400
Easily one of the best Christmas’ I’ve ever had.
Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, it was real quiet because we went on vacation.
Possibly the best vacation I’ve ever been on. And the last one of the year, duh. Probably the last one for a long time. Who knew how much the world would change just in the last six months. More than it ever has in my lifetime. And we’re not over, not by half I think.
But just before Christmas we packed up and went on a vacation for a week. Christmas to New Years, just skipped both of them with any family besides the two of us. Which was perfect. No hassle of having to go to places you don’t want to go, see people you care or don’t care about seeing. No children, thankfully. Not my thing at all, being around screaming kids.
I was much happier with our plan to head to the beach. We went down to Destin Florida, I had never been. Girlfriend had been several times with her family.
“The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village” as it is called, and it is truly a beautiful place. I would never go there during the summer though. This was probably one of the best times to visit, it was very empty most of the time all the places we went. I would have liked to get a bit more history of the town and why they’re so lucky, but when I thought of it and looked up the museum that was in the town. They were closed for the holidays, can’t blame them.
So, early morning trip we head out. 5 or 6 hours trip down, and we got there before we could get into the condo we were staying in. So lunch, wander around get some groceries because the next day we knew everything would be closed because it was Christmas. Finally get in, unload the car and headed right back out to the beach for sunset. But first I went out to the lake that was inside the complex we were staying in. Which by the way, was just an apartment. I don’t know the difference between a condo and a two bedroom apartment. But I’ve been living in apartments for 10 years. This was no different.
On the lake was some wildlife which was great. Took a picture of this Mallard.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/100 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
And then I turned around and saw this.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Just beautiful.
But, to the beach! Where we arrived just as the sun was setting. The pictures that came out of it, just amazing. Never in my life have I seen a sunset like this before. Even the beach sunsets from growing up when we would take a Florida vacation.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm 1/15 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/25 Sec - F4 - ISO 800
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm 1/60 Sec - F4 - ISO 640
So much orange, this is even what the raw pictures came out like. And for once it is what my eyes were seeing. Just amazing to see.
And as we got ready to leave I turned around to a restaurant that we would take advantage of once. Couldn’t afford too much of that, but it was excellent.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/8 Sec - F4 - ISO 1000