# Unexpected Events



## nineyards (Jul 2, 2014)

Share your photos of completely unexpected photo ops, maybe the IQ is not up to snuff but you can't quite bring yourself to delete it because the subject matter is just that good.
I'll start

This guy initially caught me completely by surprise just by being there. I was not aware Great Blue Herons hung out this far north in Canada. A great find, but not earth shattering enough to pull me out of my zone, however, in the split second he took to spear this huge fish, I had turned into a ball of panic and indecision, tripping all over myself on uneven, muddy terrain, trying to get closer and stabilize myself at the same time.
No evidence whatsoever of the calm ,cool, collected professional photographer I aspire to be. And it cost me. 
All I can say is I got the shots, I am able to make no claims as far as IQ goes. But I believe it's still worth sharing the experience.
I have never seen such a slender graceful bird swallow something this huge, pelicans come to mind but somehow I see them in a different category. How he was able to slim down do quickly and fly away so easily afterwards is beyond me. 
Cropped close to 100% due to the woefully inadequate focal length, clicking on a photo brings you to "image shack" and a full resolution copy.
All shots are in sequential order


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## weixing (Jul 2, 2014)

Hi,


nineyards said:


>


 This one look funny... "Did I just grow taller after eating that fish??"... ha ha ha ;D

Have a nice day.


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## nineyards (Jul 2, 2014)

weixing said:


> Hi,
> 
> 
> nineyards said:
> ...


No resemblance to the slender and graceful blue heron you see at the beginning and end of the sequence


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## stefsan (Jul 2, 2014)

Wow, good catch and a very nice sequence! I quite often see herons in my neighbourhood but I never saw one catch and devour a fish.


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## Northstar (Jul 2, 2014)

Very nice Nineyards! That's a pretty nice fish he caught too!


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## Click (Jul 2, 2014)

Very nice sequence. I agree with the others that on this image the heron looks very funny with that fish in its throat. ;D

Well done.


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## nineyards (Jul 3, 2014)

Northstar said:


> Very nice Nineyards! That's a pretty nice fish he caught too!


Thanks, he almost looked like he was having second thoughts about swallowing the whole thing when he pulled it out of the river, I thought he'd just fly away with it and dine at his leisure


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## nineyards (Jul 3, 2014)

stefsan said:


> Wow, good catch and a very nice sequence! I quite often see herons in my neighbourhood but I never saw one catch and devour a fish.


]
Thank you
Devour is the perfect word for it, here one second, gone the next


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## nineyards (Jul 3, 2014)

Click said:


> Very nice sequence. I agree with the others that on this image the heron looks very funny with that fish in its throat. ;D
> 
> Well done.


Thank you Click, right place, right time, would have killed for a longer lens
that photo is my favorite of the sequence


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## sanj (Jul 3, 2014)

Nice.


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## Vossie (Jul 3, 2014)

Very nice series. Huge catch!


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## Valvebounce (Jul 4, 2014)

Hi nineyards. 
I was thinking as I looked through the sequence "that is one huge fish, I bet he had to walk home after eating that!"  
Then I saw the last pic and couldn't believe that he could carry that much extra weight! Or fly with something that bulky in his crop? 
Excellent series, quality not bad, and you have the sequence, well done for not doing a me and trying to switch lenses and missing the shot. 

Cheers Graham.


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## nineyards (Jul 5, 2014)

Thanks Valvebounce
I'm afraid I had to photoshop to the extreme for these shots, as I said, I was bumbling around like a clown on a muddy uneven riverbank not daring to take the camera from my eye for a second for fear I would miss something spectacular, quite comical in retrospect, and my IQ suffered greatly, I do know what you mean by missing a great shot in mid lens change though, tough call to make in many situations.


Valvebounce said:


> Hi nineyards.
> I was thinking as I looked through the sequence "that is one huge fish, I bet he had to walk home after eating that!"
> Then I saw the last pic and couldn't believe that he could carry that much extra weight! Or fly with something that bulky in his crop?
> Excellent series, quality not bad, and you have the sequence, well done for not doing a me and trying to switch lenses and missing the shot.
> ...


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## davet4 (Aug 7, 2014)

I was walking along the beach, with all the fog around and this flock of birds came out of the Fog, i just had time to take these three shots, i had no time to check or change any of the setting.....


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## privatebydesign (Aug 7, 2014)

davet4 said:


> I was walking along the beach, with all the fog around and this flock of birds came out of the Fog, i just had time to take these three shots, i had no time to check or change any of the setting.....



Hey there Dave,

That reminded me of the greatest photo op I ever had where I didn't have a camera! But it was so cool I didn't care, it was a moment like Sean Penn in Water Mitty, the moment was so good I just wanted to enjoy it myself.

I was sailing South from Langkawi around Singapore to Koh Samui off Thailand. Anyway, I was in the Malacca Straits, it was dawn and the sun was just breaking over the fog, I was alone at the helm and the water was deathly calm and there was total silence, to my left occasionally poking though the shrouding fog was the the Floating Mosque, visibility to my South, West and North was perfect and went for miles, but it was less than a mile to the edge of the fog bank to my East, I saw a speck to my left, then another, then more and more until the the entire fog bank resembled a time lapse of grass growing! They were small fishing boats racing out from the coast through the fog to the fishing grounds not too far offshore. Those first few seconds, before I could hear them, the light and totally calm water the sun and the mosque burnt an image into my head I will never forget.

The scene was utterly breathtaking, that was my one and only Sean Penn moment, thanks for the reminding me


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## rpt (Aug 7, 2014)

nineyards said:


> Share your photos of completely unexpected photo ops, maybe the IQ is not up to snuff but you can't quite bring yourself to delete it because the subject matter is just that good.
> I'll start
> 
> This guy initially caught me completely by surprise just by being there. I was not aware Great Blue Herons hung out this far north in Canada. A great find, but not earth shattering enough to pull me out of my zone, however, in the split second he took to spear this huge fish, I had turned into a ball of panic and indecision, tripping all over myself on uneven, muddy terrain, trying to get closer and stabilize myself at the same time.
> ...


Lovely sequence! Notice that in the 6th picture you can see the head of the fish and the eye in his neck!


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