Bringing Home Breakfast
A osprey in flight with its wings in the angle wings position, making eye contact with me and clutching a headless fish in one talon. This is my favorite photo ...
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A osprey in flight with its wings in the angle wings position, making eye contact with me and clutching a headless fish in one talon. This is my favorite photo ever. It won me a course in professional photography from the New York Institute of Photography when it took first place in "Popular Photography" magazine's annual photo contest, it was displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris during the summer of 2015, it has been used by National Geographic magazine for publicity and has won many very large International photo contests.
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Apr, 2019Views
3830
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Awards
Winner in Osprey in flight Photo Challenge
Winner in My Best Animal Photo Photo Challenge
People's Choice in pictures must be real life Photo Challenge
Winner in Beauty of Nature Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Genius
Virtuoso
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
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Behind The Lens
Location
Fort Desoto Park - St. Petersburg, FloridaTime
Taken mid-morning. Here is the story of the shot: Story behind the shot I know this osprey quite well. This osprey has made his nest with his mate, in the same spot for about 10 years in a very large county park in St. Petersburg, FL adjacent to a parking lot where I often park when I do a training session on my bike. The regulars call him “Fleck” due to a fleck at the 7 o’clock position of his right eye. I often photograph him and on this day, I was photographing an owl’s nest about a mile away and stopped by to see if there was any action at the osprey nest. I found him sitting on a power line with a fish and knowing that he is uncomfortable around people and other birds when he has caught a fish, I readied my camera for action. He did not disappoint and took off towards his adjacent nest and I started firing my camera. I filmed a complete sequence in which the bird landed on the nest and fed the fish to his waiting mate which the locals have named Jewel. When I got home and was uploading my images, I almost fell off my chair when I saw that I had made this amazing capture of the bird with his wings in the so-called angel wing position, making direct eye contact t with me and clutching a fish in one talon - a one in a million capture!! It appeared in the December, 2014 issue of “Popular Photography” full page, and received a two-page spread in the June, 2015 issue of “Outdoor Photographer.” It is my favorite image of all time! The first prize I received for winning the 2014 “Popular Photography” contest was a course in professional photography from the New York Institute of photography from which I graduated in January of 2015. Update 10-2-16: I have been back to visit Fleck and his new annual families quite often since taking the original shot in the spring of 2013. He can be found daily around his nest on a man-made platform in the Northwest corner of the Gulf Pier parking lot at Ft. Desoto Park just adjacent to the wooden walkway leading to the beach. The photo has not only gone on to winning 45 first place finishes in major photographic competitions, but was displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris during the summer of 2015! It has been published in major photographic magazines and has been used by National Geographic to publicize their annual photo competition. The photo took first place in the annual Veteran’s Administration Art Contest – February 2018.Lighting
It was wonderful morning nature lighting with a cloudy skyEquipment
Equipment was a Canon 7D equipped with a Canon 100-400mm L lensInspiration
Shooting raptors - especially raptors in flight - is my favorite nature photographic subject. This particular bird can always be counted on to be adjacent to his nest and he has offered me endless photographic opportunities. As an aside, this is probably my favorite and definitely luckiest shot ever!Editing
Simply converting from RAW to JPEG and bringing out the best the data had to offer in the RAW fileIn my camera bag
Now I carry a Canon 7D Mark II with the Canon 100-400 mm L lensFeedback
Know your subject. Be patient. Now what you are trying to accomplish with a particular shot and have your camera set appropriately and finally three words of advice: FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!
