gbh
It just seems the impossible become real sometimes... I guess if you work a particular spot, in a particular way, for a peculiarly long amount of time, you will find something special in the ordinary, the mundane, the obvious. Here again is the typical great blue heron shot, but the lighting was just amazing. Perfect profile, perfect shot, and a perfect gbh. I just can't get over how good this shot looks, and all with a boring old 300mm AI-s I picked up on eBay. Look at the out of focus rendering of this relatively slow lens, it begs the obvious question, how far has nikon come? One day I will pony up for something exotic in the nikkor lens lineup, but for now I will have to find the value in the old things, the manual focus lenses, and the eBay experience. Not such a bad thing really :)))
tricolor
I had never really thought that the tricolor heron lived up to its name until I got this shot.. in full sunlight, the bird is amazingly colorful. Its easy to miss, as there are a great abundance of these birds where I live, sometimes when things are so common, we neglect to reflect on their beauty. Anyways, this was shot at Green Cay, in just perfect shooting conditions, good looking bird.
the long delay
greece
People are obviously getting ready with their plans
for Europe this time of year. I personally love
Greece in the early summer. The people, the food,
the street photography, and the laid back attitude
of the whole country all make it wonderful to
visit. There are some good suggestions in this thread at dpreview, and
my own contribution:
You are in for a real treat, greece has the
best light, architecture and street shooting I have
ever come across... its a photographers dream,
almost anywhere you go. I want to say +++ to all
the suggestions already made. They are all great. I
have some other things to tell you, but pictures
are better than words, no?
http://homepage.mac.com/taran/artist/hellas07
and just bw:
http://homepage.mac.com/taran/artist/hellas07bw1
All shot in greece last year. In athens, visit the
Plaka, anytime day or night for great street
shooting. Its in the middle of town right next to
the parthenon, you could walk there from the
Syntagma station and get some nice shots along the
way. Here is a good map of athens:
http://www.athensguide.com/map/athens.htm
and the metro (best subway I have ever been on, and
the best way into town from the airport):
http://www.cretetravel.com/...
.../Athens_mini_guide-Metro_map.htm
If you make it to Santorini (for the others
visiting greece and also you if you get to make it
there ever) you are best just to skip Thire (where
you will arrive) entirely and camp out in Oia
(another smaller more pictueresqe town on the edge
of the island) all day. You can get there easily
via cab (@13 euros/each way) or bus (probably ok
this time of year, but season starts soon, and its
just not worth your time then). I can recommend the
seaside hike of 11km between Thira and Oia, you
can't get lost and its the best way to fully grasp
the beauty of the island. The path is well marked,
but make sure to bring a good set of hiking
shoes/boots and maybe a walking stick, as the path
is quite rocky and uneven due to the volcanic
nature of the island.