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I’m writing this with one hand — my right. Though I’m somewhat ambidextrous, my left is predominant so gets the most use, hence that wrist has lately taken to limiting the amount of work I can demand of it. I now have it heavily supported in a tensor bandage and “vitamin i” (ibuprofen) is my friend. Would that I had something stronger, pharmaceutical or mechanical.
Preparing a base, adding a skirt, and painting a new shed* was more than the aging joint could handle. I suspect that, over the years, millions of front derailleur gear-throws, rock-climbing “hand-locks,” and water feature boulder-rolling has forever damaged my sinews.
Unmounted photography is a pain … literally. Mounting the camera on the tripod is a scary procedure as well — cradling the camera in the crook of my left elbow while tightening the knob on the Swiss-Arca head with my right hand, which at least is the hand I favour for such things, as well as pressing a shutter release.
On the weekend, I was setting up my Nikon Z6 camera on the balcony for a time-lapse video of a clearing storm over the Olympic Mountains. The clouds were moving fast, so I chose a shutter interval of 1 second and started the movie. A few seconds in, a pair of Cooper’s (sharp-shinned?) hawks dropped in for a visit at the end of the garden.
Luckily, I’d decided to go in for a telephoto view of one of the summits, fitting the AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens, coupled with the TC-20E III 2x Teleconverter, and FTZ adapter (to fit F-Mount lenses to the new Z-mount camera). I had moments to cancel the time-lapse, adjust ISO, focus and grab half-dozen shots before they went on their way.
What you see here represents about 1/8 of the camera’s 6048 X 4024 sensor area. Shot in jpeg, Manual mode, 400mm, 1/320 sec @ f / 5.6, 2000 ISO.
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Pretty decent for a 24.5 megapixel sensor, though 400mm at my disposal and consequent cropping disqualify it from inclusion in my Fauna gallery and printing much above the size you see here.
This compromised wrist, unlike those impressive hawk talons — just look at the comparative size of them! — does not lend itself to capturing prey on the wing, but as long as I have a shutter finger, a hawk’s eye and a tripod, I’m still in the game.
The shed is now a smart-looking home for all the gardening tools I can’t put to use.
*If you’re looking for a quality product on Vancouver Island, I can recommend The Shedguys without hesitation. They turned up at 7am and whipped this up in 3 hours. I made time-lapse of that too!
Brian - Lovely bird (and shed)! Isn’t pain a pain? And you know it well. We don’t play where we used to play…October 13, 2019 – 5:06 am
Raymond Parker - Ah, yes, as our treasured, dearly departed Lenny put it, “I ache in the places where I used to play.”October 14, 2019 – 8:43 am
Susan - amazing!!!!! so beautiful! thank you for sharing this, such a beautiful clear photoOctober 7, 2019 – 2:34 pm
Raymond Parker - My pleasure, or should I say worth the pain. 🙂October 7, 2019 – 2:56 pm