A short distance up the road from my place there is a pond that in the spring always has new families of geese. I write about my attempts to get photos of parents and their offspring every year.
Two weeks ago the weather warmed a bit and I finally could see some tiny heads poking out of the tall grass near the pond, so this week I went prepared with my 150-600mm lens and beanbag support for my car window.
As I neared the pond I slowed my car, rolled the window down, setup the beanbag and got my camera ready by prefocusing down the road and making sure my exposure settings were correct. I slowly turned the corner expecting to see nests of geese on the hill, but instead of geese all that were there were cattle. Darn my luck, the landowner had moved his cows to the lower field and that disturbed the nesting geese.
I looked everywhere, and was rewarded by being able to photograph goslings paddling in the water behind their parents at the far edge. There were also some on a low rise, and I got some shots of those too. Fortunately, the actual pond is fenced and the cattle can’t get close.
I am sure there were more than 20 geese there last week, but I could only see two in the water and the one on the rise pond side of the fence this time. I think I’ll need to make lots more trips to that pond and get photos when I can.
There are always lots of birds in the reeds to photograph, and although there is another small pond down the road that doesn’t have geese, there are always turtles on sunny days to point my camera at.
I expect the geese will get used to the cows, and have moved their goslings to the safe side of the fence, and as they grow I am sure to get some good photos.
Although it seems as though many of the geese have moved, those that have stayed will not be out of site behind the hill like they were last year. The cows will keep them near the pond and I should eventually be able to get some good photos.
I think I’ll try again in a few days. I remember the first time I visited that pond about forty years ago. Not much has changed, but the photography sure has gotten easier.
Film limitations of 400ISO and eventually 800ISO, plus the need to keep the big heavy manual lenses still and in focus and metered correctly made shooting a real chore compared to what I shoot with now. Black and white film was more forgiving and much less expensive than colour negative or slide film that was costly to purchase and process.
I have been photographing that pond in all seasons and under all sorts of weather conditions. Now with the travel restrictions and danger of getting too close to people, that pond has become more a part of my weekly excursions. That’s not such a bad thing, its nice to watch the changes.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, “I think most hobbies are time consuming and easily ward off boredom and loneliness. Photography: Well, photography to me, captures my mind and makes me think about the subjects I am photographing and the environment I am in at that moment.”
Stay safe and be creative.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
