Not a kingfisher...

The sun was shining so I headed over to the inlet to see what was about in the mornings. I don't often go in the mornings because of the sun being in the wrong place for what I want to photograph but as winter approaches it's not so bad.

I saw a few kingfishers flying about but they weren't settling anywhere because there were too many people, too many dogs and the tide was almost in. My focus shifted off the birds for a bit when I saw a very happy (and noisy) pup playing in the water.

A dull wet day but...

It has been a dull wet day but the kingfisher still need to feed so I thought I would pop over and see how the new camera handled bad light.  All of the images were really dark and when lightened they were quite noisy. Regardless I wanted to show you kingfishers on a dull day so here they are.

Getting rid of the left over bits :)

 

From the archives...

I haven't been out with the camera for a few days, the weather hasn't been the best and I have been pretty busy, so today's set of images comes from the archives.  These are from back in December/January when I was playing around with the Dandelion seeds

With Winter on its way and hopefully the rain that comes with it - will be lots of rain drops in the garden. I am hoping that on the days that I can't get out with the birds because of the weather, that I can try my hand at capturing rain drops instead.

Totally obsessed with Kingfishers

 

I went back down to the inlet this evening to try out my hide. There was very little wind so I thought it would work just fine.  All I managed to do was scare all the kingfishers away, it was a total flop and not something I will try there again. I will use it for other places and other birds but not at the beach.

The moment of capture - kingfisher with crab.

These images were shot without a hide and I am happy with them. I know I can do better and WILL do better, it is just timing.  I need to be in the right place with the right light when the kingfishers are out and about. I have patience, I can wait.

Edgy and different - The Alien Balloon

Content Warning:  This blog post contains images that may be challenging for those without an open mind. If this is you then please do not read this post.

Take one outgoing model with great acting skills and give her the brief that the red balloon is an alien that is wanting to devour her and the following images are the result of a morning's fun. Please note that no balloons or models were harmed in the making of these images. The model did enjoy the shoot even if the images show otherwise.

Our model was asked to give us great facial expressions as the red balloon was slowly filled with air and consumed her body within its growing volume. She was absolutely fantastic to work with. You can see the air tube in the image above, this has been removed out of some of the images but rest assured it was there the entire time.

Starting to look like a jaffa girl, or something out of the 'Chocolate Factory' our model is being slowly consumed by the alien balloon.

 

Seagulls...

 

It is very easy to forget about seagulls as photographic subjects but when there isn't much else around they can be very interesting to watch!  Yesterday I went down to the Petone Estuary for a short while and the seagulls were doing some really weird stuff. Not what I have seen seagulls doing before that's for sure.

The gulls were actually leaping into the air and then diving head first under the water and fishing for crabs. I didn't see many of them actually find the crabs, often they would resurface with nothing but a leaf in their beak.  The ones that did find the crabs had trouble holding on to them once caught - several crabs managed to live another day albeit minus a leg or two.

More kingfishers

I haven't been out with the camera for a few days due to an illness in the family. Most of Easter was spent in hospital waiting rooms and wards. Thankfully all is on the mend and if the weather would play nice I might get back out to shoot some more photographs.

These images were taken on Saturday evening at Pauatahanui. Two of my photog friends met me out there and we sat and waited ever so patiently for the birds to come to us. We were rewarded for our patience in the end and these are the results.