Saturday, September 26, 2009

Bushy Park Deer Rut


Morning light kicks ass, sadly, I missed it :( This good day I was out at Bushy park to see how the deer rut was coming along, as well as to scout out good positions when I return. Woke up rather late (6.30am) and after the usual snafus, reached the park about 8.30. The fog was still around and beautiful, but quickly burned out.


This is the first male deer (and his herem) that I encountered. Being quite wary, I stuck on the 300/4 to begin, and didn't dare go too close. The shot was done with the 300/4 and a 1.4x TC.


I followed this herd closely, mostly keeping an eye on the big bull. The sun was coming straight at me - shooting with the sun behind would have the main road in frame. So, sillhouette shots would mark the beginning of the day.

Lucky side lit shot. It was pretty cold in the morning, I was also huffing out breaths, slightly fogging the viewfinder. By this time I think I had spent too much time with this deer group, so I went on to the west side of the park where the light was horrid and the deer were only munching food, so I went east. A jogger had earlier stopped to chat, and told me he say a whole bunch (!!!) of photogs shooting near a lake further up. I decided to just walk in that general direction.


It was already about 10am, and I saw a few bucks just resting in the shade. I thought this big fellow above would be a nice shot, and the jackdaw came in to make a nice "conversation" piece.

Having had enough of deer at the moment, I went around the Heron pond where people were fishing. I took this chance to take some reference photos for work, as well as shoot a bunch of brackets for hdr generation. The 9 shot, 1-stop bracketing rocks.

Loads of waterfowl to entertain the masses. There is also an area where people were sailing sail-boats - neglected to take any shots of those.

Finally decided to make a move home, and found this fellow resting by the side of the road.


I spent a fair bit of time with him, shooting stills as well as a video on my compact.

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