Frosted Alpaca
Our alpacas had been reaching for snow laden branches but getting more of the snow than the branch.
Our alpacas had been reaching for snow laden branches but getting more of the snow than the branch.
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Jun, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This is a photo taken at Christmas time at my family's farm. They recently started farming/working with alpacas. There were, at the time, 6 of them. 3 Suris (wavy hair with bangs) and 3 Huacayas. In the pasture are pine trees and alpacas like reaching up to grab the needles. There had been a fresh snow fall coating the trees the night before and of course every time they tugged on the needles snow fell on them. Sulu (the lighter alpaca in the foreground) in particular kept getting dusted with it.Time
Usually they go out for a run before they get oats and it was still light so around 4 in the afternoon.Lighting
It was still a little greyer out. There was more snow moving in and being that it was later in the afternoon there wasn't going to be any brilliant sun. There was enough light, just enough, to get the detail on Sulu's head with the snow frosting him.Equipment
Nikon D70 - this was the first Nikon digital body that I used. No tripod no flash. I do have a tripod but my good one broke, my temporary one ... got me in trouble with airport security in one country (it collapsed, they thought it was a weapon until I showed them) so I don't take it with me many places any more...still need to get a better one and then we'll see. If there are walls, stones, trees I tend to use those before the tripod - but not here.Inspiration
The alpacas are mischievous and fun to watch. They do crazy things. Make crazy facial expressions.... To try to catch some of the way that they deal with their surroundings... and to catch a little bit of the innocent with the obvious we were doing something that was getting us snowed. I had watched them playing in the snow for a bit, had watched them trying to get the needles and having snow fall on them - when I pressed the shutter release on this one though it just seemed that right combination.Editing
So I try to do as little as possible - mostly just cropping if something photo-bombed it at the last moment. Also I've tried Photoshop and find that sometimes I do not have the patience for it... it's just a me thing. I have a friend who is a professional and an absolute amazing master at all things re-touching/Photoshop...I'm like the nemesis ...I screw it up more so tend to avoid it when I can. It also is partially that my original career out of university (the first time) was newspaper journalist and photographer for a small newspaper. Because I developed all the pictures and did very little adjustment I tend to depend on the camera more first, the framing of the picture first... although with the digital camera I can play around with settings and views way more without worrying about print cost.In my camera bag
So I have two bags... crazy but I can't bear to part with my original Minolta (it takes amazing black and white) or my original Nikon that I got when I got my first journalism job. They are still functional and still take great shots and as soon as I get a dark room back up and running they are definitely never going anywhere. My Nikon d70 stays with those. In the bag that I take with me most places these days I have 3 cameras. My Nikon D7100, with my up to 88 mm lens, my telephoto (first splurge - all my main equipment is used my first telephoto was $25 and the rings melted in the Amazon in Peru so I splurged on $100), and my wide angle....which was also $25 and mounts a little wonky sometimes but does awesomely otherwise. I also have a Nikon aw100 - my first for underwater. And then I got a GoPro - which I put in a sealed mount ...and use underwater...still working on that though - how to do video it's a learning curve. I have my polarizing filter, a couple of sepia tone ones that I got cheap while living in Tokyo (so miss it for camera equipment...it was awesome), my lenspens, micro cloths, adaptor for my ipad for uploading when I travel... collapsible bag for covering things in case of well... rain since I keep going to rainy rain forest type places. I think I still have my old lens cleaning brush the one that blows out air when you brush them off in one bag. I had the perfect camera bag / backpack that I bought in Tokyo that let me carried everything - almost and the kitchen sink - unfortunately it came apart after many many years of going many many places. I am still searching for the perfect replacement of durable / totes the 3 camera bodies and lenses (I want a macro...) but is light enough to go on a walk through the Amazon or somewhere equally as humidly hot without slowing me down etc.Feedback
Be patient. I love photographing animals and nature on all the trips, journeys and places I go. Sometimes you get amazingly lucky and that awesome shot is the first one. Sometimes. I find though with animals, fish etc...the more I just sort of give them a second to adjust to me, go back to ignoring the crazy hairless ape with the thing pointed at them, and "do their thing" the better the shots will get, the more detailed, the closer you can get. I find also different angles of view (on dry land... water is more...complicated) but angles help...when I was in my last year of university and in my last photography class my professor always used to have us take that one last picture from another position... if you were standing, squat, lean, look down, look up. Also paying for the better telephoto? Totally worth it. It's just sharper on the shot and lets me sneak up on them and sit a little further away and again let them ignore me and do that animally thing they do. Also it keeps you more out of harms way of animals with sharp fangs. Luckily alpacas only spit.
