SEO

Gallery: AvianPosted March 31, 2017353 views10 comments

For once both weather and luck was on our side, albeit almost 5 hours of nothing apart from some Harriers floating by, teasing us.

Taken towards the later part of the day, having waited in a location which was prime Real Estate hunting ground for these guys. Having moved off, we found ourselves almost tripping over these guys, quite literally, however one guy was so chilled he just sat there not a care in the world, it was crazy, as I've never seen an Owl being so relaxed. The habitat was very annoying as you could not get too low, plus we ensured we did not enter into his comfort zone using long lenses. Little did we know that it was the Owl that would come to us, to the point where we ran out of lens, as my good friend Jamie resorted to a 16-35 at the end of the session, ridiculous, but the SEO was not phased at all.

This was early on tense the kit. The two OOF grass blades are not ideal, however I was not expecting this guy to move, if I did both SS would have been a tad higher and I might have moved a fraction more to the right.

Steve

Subject: SEO (Asio flammeus)
Location: Canada
Camera: Canon 1DX MKII
Lens: 500mm f/4 MKII with 2x MKIII HH
Exposure: 1/2000s at f/9 ISO1600
Original format: Portrait, very slight crop, almost FF
Processed via: LRCC & PSCC2017

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on March 31, 2017 at 11:54 AM

Pretty cool. Love the one foot up. As you said, the OOF grasses weren't ideal, but not deal breakers eithers.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 31, 2017 at 2:26 PM

Great pose and a nice low angle, Steve. Too bad about the oof grass blades, but it sounds like you ended up with plenty of opportunities. When you started talking about being too frozen to move I thought at first you were talking about one of your fellow photographers.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on March 31, 2017 at 9:22 PM

Interesting shot.
I,ve worked with these guys for a long time and never seen one come towards the camera llike this...
I presume this was baited as the bird is coming on strong for something. in front.
JR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on April 1, 2017 at 3:20 AM

Sorry John, but you are in fact totally and utterly incorrect here. If you clearly knew the location, then you would very easily understand that 'baiting' would not only be impossible to implement, but also you would be in breech of the Wildlife policies there and be reported very quickly. In addition, the location is used by many photographers from Washington State & Canada, so even the suggestion of baiting would not get off the ground. You really had to be there to fully grasp the whole situation with this subject and the uniqueness of the encounter.

I would suggest John that you should know all that facts before making suggested comments like baiting first. If I did 'bait' a subject then it would have been stipulated within the intro as requested in the NPN Guidelines as you do with you archive images.

In the meantime, you would be more than welcome to come along next time 14-16 Feb 2018 if you want to, just let me know.

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on April 1, 2017 at 3:22 AM

Thanks Keith, he did catch both of us off guard with this, so happy to get what I did. Thereafter he just sat & chilled allowing for more 'Portrait' shots as the sun began to set.

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on April 1, 2017 at 3:25 AM

Cheers Dennis, I'm sure you know the location I am referring to, as a lot of folk come across the border to shoot here. Close by was also a good spot for Snowy Owls too. If you fancy a drive i can tell you where it is via a PM.

Cheers
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on April 1, 2017 at 1:59 PM

Amazing experience, and as it seems one in every so-many birds doesn't seem to have any fear for humans.. nice encounter, great shot ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Skip Layman on April 1, 2017 at 3:16 PM

He sure looks like he is stalking something or maybe he wanted to scare you off. This would be really scary if you were a mouse or vole. I really like the shot.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 558 Posts, 1704 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on April 2, 2017 at 11:45 PM

This one really draws one's attention as it is so unusual. If I had this one on my CF card I think I would be smiling all the way home.... devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on April 4, 2017 at 7:17 PM

Looks like he's an owl on a mission! I would absolutely love to be in that situation. I find the OOF grass just above the right eye a bit distracting, but honestly you just don't get images like these too often, so it's not a make or break for me. Lovely capture, Stephen!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments