We started off the trip to Cassville on a sour note. The weather sucked all the way out here. First, heavy snow, then rain. It was 19 degrees outside and the rain would freeze on contact with the windshield. I must have went thru a gallon of washer fluid. But we made it out here ok at about 11pm last night. Ed and I mixed a few drinks and went to bed about midnight.
We woke up this morning and headed over to Cassville Coffee for a latte and a cinnamon roll. After that we headed over to the high school to meet Herb Lange and watch his wildlife photo slide show. It was a very nice presentation and he knows his stuff.
After that was a quick class given by Helen Anderson called "Wildlife Photography 101" http://www.helenanderson.net/ She also gave a very nice presentation and was giving pointers on how to find opportunities to shoot wildlife right in your own area. Some of her favorite photos were taken right in her own yard.
So, the lens rental is paying off so far. I'm getting shots that I could only have hoped of getting with the 70-200. After all the (photography) presentations were over, we left to go down by the river to see what kind of activity was going on. At first we only saw one or two up in a tree. They don't take kindly to you trying to sneak up behind them and usually fly away, even when well outside of the 400mm range. So we went over to the observation deck that they have set up down on the rivers edge. Again, at first, not too much going on, but then out of nowhere came about 7-8 eagles flying around in search of fish. I managed to squeeze off about 5-6 really strong keepers out of about 130 shots taken. then the battery decides to go dead. Spare is in the car and only has a small charge left on it. Apparently I had underestimated how much juice the image stabilizer uses. No big deal, we were going to head back for lunch anyways. So they are charging now and we'll be heading back out in a little bit.
I didn't get a chance to take or post a shot last night, so this is going to be for the 25th. My PAD, my rules. :)
