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Tag Archives: birds
2011 TOP 10 #7 – Birds on the Silos
I love barns. What photographer doesn’t? Barns are prolific in my home state of Wisconsin. So when I’m back there, I love cruising the rolling hills at sunrise searching for a great photograph.
I had spotted this particular farm several days earlier. I made several sunrise trips up there with no success. This particular morning, the shoot was going well with a magical sky and mystical light. But as I photographed the red barn, I noticed all the birds resting on a silo. I immediately changed the shot … and waited.
With camera on tripod (brand new Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-300mm zoom), I waited. And I waited. Suddenly, the birds flew. The sun reflected off them against the darkened western sky. And the magic of the early morning light through the clouds painted a colorful picture on the silos.
It wasn’t what I came for, but it was a fantastic result and one of my favorite photographs of 2011.
Birds on the Silos
It’s funny sometimes on how the best photographs are not the ones you set out to create. I had staked out this particular barn as a sunset possibility Friday evening. It’s brilliant red sides were perfectly in line with the morning sun.
Saturday morning, in the pre-dawn hours, I rolled the dice that the overcast would break. It did not.Sunday was much of the same. But I took a chance again.
After waiting and waiting, the line broke through and illuminated the barn. It was a brilliant shot with my new D700. Then I packed to leave, putting the tripod into the car.
As I looked back, I saw the silos against an amazing sky. I wandered back across the highway – the D700 loaded with my Nikkor 70-300. I knew the birds were there and that the photograph would HAVE TO include them flying.
So, I waited … and waited … and waited. I felt I should go back for the tripod, but decided I could handhold. Then, all of a sudden, a gust of wind send the birds scurrying.
Bang, bang, bang – I blasted off a burst on the motor drive as the birds found a new roost. But in that split second, they gave me a photograph even better than I had hoped from the red barn itself.
Photographer’s Note: The barn is located on US51 in the town of Leeds, just northeast of Madison, Wisconsin.
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