Reddish Egret - Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, St. Petersburg FL - this image available for fine art print purchase & commercial license - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th tripod mounted with cable releaseI spent a recent afternoon in the peaceful Boyd Hill Nature Preserve on a macro themed shoot. When I do personal shooting I like to give myself a focus, a theme, for that time in order to have a clear photographic goal. My goal that afternoon was to produce macro images. However, that did not mean I would just pass up a chance to photograph this reddish egret friend just relaxing on a small bridge to a small island. I approached the reddish egret carefully by advancing a little, then stopping, never looking directly at the bird, advancing a little more, then stopping. I did not move for a few moments, then casually set up the shot. My Nikon D300 was mounted to my tripod with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens attached, so I had to get pretty close to be able to fill the frame with the reddish egret.
I made sure to have calm feelings inside of me as well giving the bird nothing to pick up and feel anxious itself about. I was able to photograph the bird as close as I wanted and then even picked up my DSLR and tripod and walked past the reddish egret without it flying off. After I did my exploring of the small island and returned to the bridge, the bird was gone.
I was glad to be able to share a few moments with this creature and to also be able to photograph it.
