While I was on vacation I noticed a guy on the beach feeding seagulls and I was quite impressed to see just how close he was getting to the birds. Was this a photo opportunity?
Later that night as I sat by the fire, faithfully testing the blueness of the Coors Light Mountains, my wife noticed that I was rather quiet. Concerned that I may be contemplating the purchase of more camera gear; she asked me what I was thinking.
I was actually deep in thought developing a plan to capture these famished gulls in a unique way but I wasn’t about to share this with her. My mind is focused (most of time) on a few things and regardless of what I say, her answer usually is “Don’t you ever think about anything else?”. So I replied that I had enjoyed the day and was looking forward to tomorrow, which was true, just not what I was thinking.
Operation REGULAR
Throughout the next day I did the Dad thing. The beach, the Midwa
y, the Mini-Put, Dairy Queen you name it. When the time came and the sun was where I wanted it to be, operation REGULAR was engaged. Before I started I had to shelter my daughter and wife in a safe location and what better place than a shopping area with plenty of stores. My assistant (son) and I were then cleared to execute the mission.
We stopped at a local convenience store and bought two bags of REGULAR potato chips and headed to the beach. I purchased regular flavored potato chips because that was part of my back-up plan. You see my assistant loves regular potato chips so if he got bored during the mission, he too could have some!
The Location
We found a location where cars are allowed on the beach and spotted a flock of poorman’s wildlife. When you think of wildlife you imagine tigers and grizzlies not seagulls. And when you think of wildlife photography lenses, a telephoto come to mind and not a wide angle lens, even less, a super-wide. So why not shoot seagulls with a super-wide angle lens? Neither are wildlife related.
The Calling
My assistant and I sat on the tailgate of my truck and began the operation by opening the first bag of potato chips. And just like the cracking sound of opening a cold can of beer in a locker room would get any man’s attention, every bird within a 10 mile radius heard that bag of potato chips pop open! Within seconds they were swarming around us and we were ready to execute.
The Setup
I got my brave assistant to hold a potato chip with his fingers as high up as he could and held my camera out about a foot away, under the ch
ip. I rallied the gulls by throwing a few potato chips near our feet and into the air. They were as excited as I was the first day I set foot in B&H Photo in NYC. The gulls aggressively fought for the food and it didn’t take too long for the braver ones to start going after the potato chips in my assistant’s hand. I shot blindly (camera help out by my hand) and pointed the lens toward the bellies of the approaching birds.
The Pain
As the bag of chips emptied, the size of the potato chips got smaller, making my 
assistant’s little fingers more and more attractive to the gulls. Between each feeding/photo shoot my assistant checked to see if his throbbing fingers were still connected to his hand and began to complain. I felt like saying “Listen Trooper, when you enrolled in this regiment did you think we were going to wear Phentex slippers and take walks in the park????”
Then I realized that he was only 10 years old and that he was a real Trooper and had done an excellent job. So we called it quits and emptied the remaining potato chips on the ground for the birds to feast.
The Camera Settings.
At first I shot with a flash, and experimented with different shutters speeds. I soon realized that the birds were moving too fast and that I needed a very fast shutter speed, at least 1/2000. Although my camera can flash up to 1/8000, the exposures were not always what I expected. I opted to shoot without a flash and set the camera to 1/2000 and some at 1/4000 of a second in shutter priority. The action was very fast and focusing was taking too much time so I set the lens on manual focus and set it for the estimated distance.
The Result
The results were amazing. I managed to get many images that I had never imagined doing with my super-wide lens. And the exposure? My trusty Nikon D300 did an incredible job in Shutter priority at getting the perfect exposure almost every time. Minimal and in any PP was required.
The Second Bag
During operation Regular we only went through one bag of potato chips and kept the second one for a repeat performance later that evening. Unfortunately on the second go around the gulls were not cooperative but I did manage to get good images such this in-flight potato chip bite (not with the super-wide).
What luck?
At the end of our vacation as I quietly drove the 8 hrs journey back home my wife noticed my mind was elsewhere. She sked me "What are you thinking about?" We had been camping for 9 days and sleeping with our kids in the intimate confines of our camper trailer. It was a beautiful family vacation and not a honeymoon. Now we were heading back home and I could not stop thinking that I was finally going to get into some 'real' wildlife activity. Now I was not about to say this as both you and I know what her answer was going to be. So I told her, "I'm tired, I can't wait to be in bed tonight!", which was definitely true. She smiled and replied "Oh honey, you must be exhausted with all that driving but you are in luck! You will sleep well in our bed tonight, alone. The kid's have asked me to camp-out with them in their bedroom tonight!"
From the brighter side of darkroom,
Pierre
Now while most photographers were looking outside I was out there taking pictures and getting wet, really wet.
Seal – The rain gear seals around the lens with a pull cord and the bottom of the cover seals up with velco so that I can seal it around my hand.
window so that I can look in the viewfinder and see the LCD display. With my right hand inside the cover I can adjust any setting.
his design 100 % for normal rain, wet or snow conditions. However, for torrential rain such as in this test, the nylon fabric eventually became drenched. No water got through but I could begin to feel the dampness on my hand. This was undoubtedly more rain than I had ever imagined testing this gear. It was raining so much that pouring buckets of water over the covered camera would not have been any worse. That said, I've made a second version made out of 100% waterproof marine canvas. This on is fully sealed model and you must operate the controls from outside the cover. I made a 1/4" hole under a sealed flat for a tripod mount or the adapter of my fantastic Rapid-R strap. This unit designed for extreme conditions and I can't wait to try it out.
