📍 Seal Bay Regional Nature Park, Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada ⧉
I spent a good chunk of the afternoon following this Great Blue Heron up and down the shoreline at Seal Bay, trying to keep pace while staying low and quiet enough not to spook it. Watching these birds hunt is honestly mesmerizing — they move so slowly and deliberately that every step feels calculated. Then suddenly, strike. I was excited when it finally caught a small fish, even if the prize came bundled with a string of seaweed.
Great Blue Herons are incredible hunters and can stand perfectly still for surprisingly long periods before striking with lightning-fast precision. Despite looking elegant and almost delicate, they’re opportunistic predators that will eat fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and even small mammals when given the chance. Their long necks work almost like a coiled spring, which is exactly what lets them spear prey so effectively in shallow water. Seeing one working the shoreline like this always reminds me how prehistoric these birds look up close.
Compositionally, I really like how the heron’s body forms this long sweeping S-curve across the frame, leading directly toward the catch. The low shooting angle helps flatten the perspective and emphasizes the reflection in the water, while the soft overcast light keeps the tones muted and natural without harsh shadows. Shooting at 300mm compressed the scene nicely and isolated the bird against the smooth water background, helping every detail in the feathers stand out. The fast shutter speed of 1/800s was a good choice here because it froze the exact moment the heron lifted its catch from the water while still preserving a tiny bit of movement in the dripping seaweed and ripples. Stopping down to f/8 also gave enough depth of field to keep most of the bird sharp from head to tail while maintaining a pleasingly soft background separation.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Developed my first rolls of black and white film at home, using Cinestill Df96 monobath. Pretty easy, and rather good results! I camera scanned these myself. All of these shots are from the same roll of Ilford FP4+, shot in my trusty Pentax K1000.
The two winter scenes above are shot with a 24mm lens, and the cat with a 50mm. The architectural shot below was shot with a 300mm lens, and @beaujagr took that shot of me with a 135mm lens.
