![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/swainsons-hawk-9477-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"swainsons-hawk-9477-ron-dudley.\\"")
<\/p>\nIn May of 2007 I wasn’t yet a “bird photographer”, I was only a wannabe.<\/p>\n
I had a Canon 100-400 zoom lens that didn’t have enough reach for most birds, my photography skills were next to nonexistent, my bird portfolio had very little in it to be proud of and even though raptors were a prime photographic objective and had been for many months I still hadn’t been able to get any decent shots of them. They simply would not let me get close enough.<\/p>\n
I was beginning to seriously doubt that bird photography was for me.<\/p>\n
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1\/400, f\/8, ISO 200, Canon Rebel XTi, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 380mm. not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But on May 7 of that year this Swainson’s Hawk changed everything. I’d spent the entire morning at Bear River MBR with typical results for me – lots of faraway photos of birds that I’d just delete when I got home. I’d been seriously whupped once again but a short distance from where I was to get on the freeway on my way home I spotted this bird on an old, weathered fencepost and decided to make one more attempt at getting close enough.<\/p>\n I fully expected failure but this time the bird stuck. Instantly I had buck fever and was shaking with excitement (not a good thing when you want sharp photos). The hawk cooperated for several minutes allowing me to get closer and closer until I was able to get a fair number of detailed photos that I actually liked.<\/p>\n If you look carefully my photography naivet\u00e9 shows. My camera settings were far from ideal for the situation, I was shooting in jpeg rather than RAW and I wasn’t even zoomed all the way out to the 400mm capabilities of my lens, even though I thought I was and should have been. But when I looked at the photos on my screen and saw that the bird was sharp enough, I got the exposure right, I had pretty good detail and I liked the setting my heart literally pounded (I remember that clearly). I was excited for the entire hour-long drive home.<\/p>\n It isn’t being over-dramatic to say that this hawk changed my life. If it tells you anything, and it should, less than a month later I’d spent over $5000 on a Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM lens, $12OO on a quality carbon fiber tripod and another $400 on a 1.4 teleconverter.<\/p>\n Yes, it was an investment but it was a good one and since then it’s been a helluva ride.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Until my encounter with this hawk I was beginning to seriously doubt that bird photography was for me.<\/p>\n