Wildlife Photography is About Waiting

Much of wildlife photography is about waiting, sometimes for hours, in the cold and wind or even bugs and heat.  (I'm more a fan of cold and wind than bugs and heat) As a photographer you must wait for the wildlife to show up, for them to be in the right light, at the right angle, with the right background, for them to catch that fish, be close enough for you to capture it. When those things happen, you have to have all of your settings right for correct exposure or be able to change it as your tracking your subject, freezing or blurring action, your lens on panning or static mode, be sure to get that eye in focus or it's a failed shot, and more.  So many things must fall into place for that "winning shot". This is not that shot as many of the things did not come together in this shot, however some of it did and he did catch the fish. 

One thing I learned about photographing fishing birds in flight, after 2 days of standing in the cold and wind from sunup to sundown is that it's harder than it looks and I need a lot more practice.  This particular shot was taken from the boat of an eagle watching cruise out of Coeur d'Alene, hand held, so I'm happy to have it at all.  Standing on a moving boat in the cold and wind and sometimes freezing rain presents a whole other host of challenges.  Boy was it worth it though!  I hope I get to do it again next year.  In the meantime, I have a lot of practicing to do. LOL