I’ve written here before about my dog and his penchant for walks at Robinson Preserve. It’s practically a daily ritual now. We all get up, my wife and I have some coffee and breakfast and the dog starts talking to us. I mean that too. There are whines and yowls and some other vocalizations that I can’t quite describe. He’s not allowed to bark at us, although that happens too, but he has found other ways to let his demands be known.
So I grab my camera while my wife grab’s the dog’s leash and we head to the preserve. The ritual has brought me plenty of photo opportunities and I have great shots from Robinson Preserve, but the routine started to fill a little stifling. I felt like I was getting the same photos over and over and I was getting creatively frustrated. It’s what led me to grab an old 500mm reflex lens as I headed out to Robinson Preserve one morning last week. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but it was “different.”
With the old lens over my shoulder we hit the trail. Our first encounter was a Bald Eagle…and about 7 other photographers with cammo covered monster lenses. As I struggled to see into the dark abyss of the f8 mirror lens to focus on an eagle i can barely see, a photographer beside me commented, “Oh I see you are using a 500 reflex…you need to look at this….it’s a new Nikon 500mm PF ED f5.6, it’s real nice.”
A little embarrassed, I quickly assured him I had other lenses, but I am not sure he really believed me. With frustration as my companion, I moved on to a less crowded part of the preserve and continued to search for something different. After a morning experimenting with the lens, I came home with my eagle picture and all the little doughnuts that a reflex lens creates. It was nice to have something different, but my wife saw me getting stuck and arranged for me to go out to Myakka State Park with a friend that weekend to get something different. It helped. And then the next time I visited Robinson Preserve a pair of hawks helped me get further out of my rut.
I learned too, that I am not the only photographer who feels that way. The Preserve is close by and it is rich with opportunities to photograph many beautiful bird species. I know how fortunate I am, but every photographer should know it’s ok to want a change of scenery or if that’s not possible to remember it’s a great time to think about experimenting with the equipment they have. Pull out an old lens every now and then and see if you can make some magic happen.
