Half a Canoe?

This fellow was just asking for trouble!
He was paddling a canoe that had been snapped in half and a wall(transom) had been built at this point to keep the water out!
To make matters more interesting,he was paddling it backwards!
I came across this guy at sunset and just couldn’t resist shooting him!
Whenever I see a canoe snapped in half ,I think it is because it had been towed by another boat. You cannot tow a canoe behind a fast boat without causing structural damage to the canoe! It’s just dangerous!

Lionsgate Heading out

This boat is called “Lionsgate” and was heading out of the harbour at Sunset. It looked like everyone was partying on board!

Romeo and one of his Eaglets

I found this scene interesting. I first came across an immature on this sand spit by it’s self and it had something it was eating.
This sand spit is very close to Romeo/Juliette’s nest and I assumed that it had to be one of their young.
Than Romeo came over and simply waited. He didn’t take the food from it’s young and just waited for it to be done!
This shot shows the immature taking off and than Romeo hopped over to whatever it was to chow down himself.
I found it very charming that they get along so well when food is involved! Such polite creatures!

Sunset Paddle

A local Native company offers these rides in a Dug Out Canoe.
I caught these guys in the harbour heading out for a sunset paddle. July is always a great time to be out on the water in Tofino! However,the mornings are almost always foggy!

Romeo and Juliette’s Eaglet

This is one of two offspring from Romeo/Juliette (09).
I think one was female and the other a male,just because of size difference.
They begin to flap their wings very quickly and seem to be just as big as Mom and Dad in no time at all!
The golden light of the sunset adds to their already beautiful markings.

Immature Eagle

The texture produced by the light hitting him almost horizontally really gives life to this fellow!
I do not have many good shots of a immature and have never seen one go for a fish. One day I will get one?

Jet Ski

I’m not sure what the technical term are for these ,but I can tell you that they are more a disturbance/pain than anything else!
Fast and noisy!
Perfect for insensitive youth or rednecks!

Fried Egg Jellyfish

For the life of me ,I can’t figure out how they came up with a name like this!!
I came across this fellow in Mosquito harbour and was impressed with it’s size. It had to be 3 feet if it was a inch!
They usually grow up to 2 feet and have a mild sting from their tentacles. This one was exceptional in size!
I have seen thousands upon thousands at times (Moon Jellys) of jellyfish all around me. The moon Jelly’s do not get this big and are more transparent as well. You can see a moon jelly caught in it’s tentacles off to the left and the bottom right.
Jelly’s are on the increase all over the world because of all the fertilizers we are dumping into the oceans.

Harbour Porpoise

I came across a school of these Harbour Porpoises up in Mosquito Harbour and had a hard time just getting this shot!
They come up so quickly,that by the time I focus on them,they are gone!
Fortunately they have a habit. They almost always take two breaths. I shut the motor off and stood up with my camera close to my eye and waited to hear the first puff. When I heard it,I turned very quickly and waited for the second puff. I only got a handful of shots.
I believe these guys are part of the Cetacean family and are the smallest as well.
They are about 1.7 meters and are short lived. They live up twenty years . The female grows quicker and is larger than the male. They weigh in at about 90 kgs.

Moon Sunset Boat Ride

This is a nice simple scene. The moon was setting just as the sun had set and the afterglow was great.
I had to wait for a subject however to come by for the foreground. It’s frustrating to have a great scene like this and nobody comes by.
I got lucky on this evening however!

Banded Eagle

I went up to Mosquito harbour(Meares Island) and came across this guy. After looking more closely,I noticed that he was banded!
I can only make out the number 23 and the other numbers are around the curved part of the band.
I was surprised to see a band and will have to pay more attention from now on.

Immature Eagle Carrying A Stick

I’m not sure,but I think this young eagle is an offspring of the Banded eagle I shot a picture of minutes earlier!
I also think that this Immature is simply testing and learning how to carry things?
Like all children ,we all get out and learn about this big world.

Stalling

These wings are almost 7 feet across. Eagles are masters at flight! I’m always amazed to see them disappear into a forest that is really thick!
They have known tunnel routes through the forest. They can go into thick forest and disappear very quietly!
They come out on the other side of the forest!
Absolutely amazing to see them do this! The first time i saw one disappear into a thick forest I couldn’t believe my eyes!
I than started to see a pattern! I noticed that when they disappeared,they used the same spot! I than noticed that there were many entrance/exit portals all along the forests edge!
I’ve also seem them use the forest as a means of protection!
If they are being chased I have seen them use the forest tunnels to try and shake off the attacker!
I have also heard a few of them crashing in the forest and falling to the ground! They hobble out to the forests edge at the shore and fly off.

The Happy Couple

Juliette was landing,while Romeo watched!

Landing

This shot shows how they stall at just the right moment to land. This is part of what they learn to do when they start flying from the nest.

Juliette Soars

Right at sunset,Juliette jumped into flight,leaving Romeo behind on the nest tree.

Sunset snack

I believe this is Moe . The light over by there nest tree at sunset is almost always poor,but the clouds were reflecting enough light ,that it lite the horizon up enough to get away with this angle.

Romeo

I caught Romeo grabbing a fish at sunset. The light however was snuffed. The clouds were too thick. Ideally you want cirrus clouds. transparent clouds. Thin clouds.

Unusal Shot

This shot shows the “strobing” effect of the eagles head by it’s wing tip feathers. I’ve seen this before,but it is uncommon. The individual feathers are altering the light coming off of the head.
I’m not sure I understand it myself.

Eagle Sunset

It was just shear fluke that this guy was at the right height to go over the sun.

Maggie’s Sunset

I think I have just a handful of shots like this from this location. This was taken beside Morpheus island ,looking west.
I believe that this is Maggie and yes she did get the fish!

Juliette’s Sunset

The only nest that has a open clearing to the west is the Deadman Island eagles. This gives them a added bonus. Thats why I leave these guys to the last when I’m out visiting all the other eagles.
By that time, the sun is perfect and the will last the longest . All the other nests go into shadow by this time. Vargas Island is the only thing blocking the sun to the west. I’ll bet there are nests on the western side of some of these islands. The light would be just as good as Deadman,but last longer,because there is nothing to obstruct the sun light.

Mistake

Once again a mistake seems to work. This is the best one I have. It seems almost 3 dimensional.

Romeo’s Sunset

Whenever I see those Cirrus clouds on the horizon,I know that it’s going to be good sunset!
The only thing is, that you have to have something of interest in the foreground!

Fishing Sunset

I was all done my days shoot and was going to go back home ,when I noticed that the afterglow was going “to go”.
I walked to the end of 1st street and waited for subjects to come by. This is that “spyder/fly” technique I’ve talked about before.
I was waiting for anything to come by and nothing was happening and than I noticed this fishing boat start up it’s engines. I knew than that they would be heading out and got ready for them to leave. I also recognized the boat and knew the direction that they would be heading. I lined myself and did a few test shots and waited for them to enter into my scene.
And the rest is history!

Fishing Sunset

This is the same boat I shot in the afterglow,but was taken earlier .

Sunset Eagle

I never know what direction a eagle is going to come by at, and prefer him well lite. This just the reverse of the sweet angle I want and normally I would toss this shoot out.
However,I think the shadowing is fantastic and has real merit. The eagle shows alot of texture with his feather structure. He was going against a bit of a breeze & that roughed up his feathers.

Kayaking Sunset

These two guys were heading out on a harbour trip at Sunset.

Romeo’s Moon

Romeo was on the top of Deadman Island and the moon was behind him.
Technically,he’s too dark and the moon is too bright! Trying to get both of those parameters lined up is tricky!
The shot still works.

Romeo’s Sunset

I normally don’t like this angle. When the ass of the animal is between my eye and the animals eye.
However,the cirrus clouds diffuse the light very gently and gives this shot it’s appeal.
Romeo is the star of course!

Moon Eagle

I included this shot to show how quickly you can lose the light. The sun had just set and the eagle was not lite anymore. Plus the moon is starting to get too bright.However,it still works because the eagle is boarding on silhouette and the moon is so eye catching.

Moe’s Moon

I’ll often times just continue shooting a specific type of subject for years . Always trying to improve on what I’ve got.
This is Moe & Maggie’s favorite perch on Neilson Island!

Monas Island Eagle Drops A Feather

I saw this feather dropping (& a small tuff of down) and went over to scooped it up. I printed the same picture and matted it. I also matted the feather into the picture’s mat and gave it to my sister as a birthday gift!
There will only be one shot like that in the world. Making it very unique!

Lemmens Inlet Boat Ride

I couldn’t resist from shooting this boat because of the light/shadows.
Monas island is in-behind and one of the eagles favorite perch tree’s is directly above the stern of the boat.

Canada Day Celebrations !

I had been out all afternoon and when I came back to the boat shed,the celebrations for Canada Day were starting.
I wasn’t prepared for this however. In hindsight I should of known that the fireworks were going to happen and I should of brought a tripod with me !
I took some shots,but put the camera up against a sign post for stability. The light was so dark that the fastest shutter speed I could get was too slow to hold by hand.
As a rule of thumb to see if you can hold your camera in low light, the slowest speed to shoot at is the lens focal length expressed as a fraction. If you have a 50mm lens,than the slowest you should go is 1/50 th of a second. Hand-holding! If you have a 70-200mm (at the 200 end),than the slowest is 1/200th of a second.
I’ve met some photographers who are solid as a rock and can hold the lens still at astonishingly slow speeds and others who are at the other end. They have the shakes and cannot hand hold very well. These guys are best to shoot from a tripod.
Which is what I forgot to bring with me on this day. Oh well.
I liked the dark blue afterglow of the sunset.

Kleco

This boat is called The Kleco and is owned by Dennis. He has some passengers with him to watch the fireworks, which is about to happen at sunset.

Canada Day Paddle

These guys and others were paddling over to a sand spit in the middle of the harbour to watch the fireworks.

Juliette’s Sunset

She was flying around and I was able to shoot her looking west at sunset! She also,very politely turned her head to the left for a better profile.

Juliette and Romeo at Sunset / Moonrise

Juliette (left) and Romeo were just chilling here. I knew when the moon was going to rise and was waiting for it. I looked around for subject material and these two spoke up. Trying to get the right exposure for the moon is tough! The point in the sky when it is at a perfect exposure alters each night. The moon rises much later each night and that changes the light tremendously! There's only acouple nights when I could of done this and in that,the amount of time each day that I can shoot the moon when it is at the right exposure,is a matter of minutes! All your ducks need to line up if you want to try to do something like this! Many times the moon would be perfect to shoot,but it's pouring out ,or it's just too cloudy. In a years time, you have 12 chances to shoot something like this and you can count on half of them to be screwed because of weather!
So,to get something like this is good in my books. You can never have enough shots of Eagles with Moon's!!
I shot this on Canada Day and to me when I saw this opportunity, instantly thought that it was a beautiful symbol of the days festivity's! We do live in a Fantastic country!!

Mistake

Once again a mistake that kind of looks cool as a abstract.
I had the shutter speed set too slow and the eagle was moving too fast .

Moe & Maggie’s Moon

I’m not too sure which one it is,but certainly appreciate the posing. These guys have a perch tree on the NE corner of Neilson Island. I think that I have very seldom gone by this spot and not seen one or both on this tree. This spot is perfect for a Eagle. It has an unobstructed view all around .
The tallest tree’s often times have their tops broken off in large winter wind storms. When they start to regrow,the limbs often times ,will look like this. It kind of looks like a Candelabra!

Moon Eagle

When the moon comes up ,I’m always trying to zip around in my boat to get as many eagle/moon shots as possible before the light is gone and or the moon’s exposure is too bright.