Persistence Pays

In the age of digital photography there is a freedom that I never felt with a 35mm film camera in my hands. The person behind a digital camera can point it and fire it off as many times as they like with no cost except a time penalty on the back end when they have cull through and edit the massive number of photos they’ve shot. I spoke to my son the other day who recently covered a sporting event and shot over a 11,000 images in one weekend. I average 150-200 per outing (I try for one outing daily). So that’s 1,050 to 1,400 shots per week. You hope there comes a moment when all that time you’ve put in pays off and pays of grandly.

The family (two adults and one sub adult) of Bald eagles where I hike routinely hunt over what’s left of the lake. They don’t keep a schedule. They don’t post on X or Instagram when they are about to go on the hunt. They just go. All of the sudden these massive birds with 7 foot wing spans arrive and begin doing things that terrify all living creatures below. So you have to be lucky and you have prepared. When the moment happens you just might be able see what they are doing and maybe…just maybe catch the drama on camera.

Bald Eagles are apex predators and eat just about anything. They kill American Coot on the water, rabbit, fish, eat carrion and just about anything else they can sink their talons into and carry off or eat on the spot. In the series below I caught the female (identifiable because she is larger than the male) hunting the American Coot one sunny morning.

Some might have been satisfied with these photographs. Frankly, they just inspired me. These enormous, elegant creatures are more inspiring and graceful up close in the wild (like thirty feet over my head) than I could have imagined. I was hooked and went back for more. I learned their wing shape, wing beats, how they circled when hunting and where exactly I needed to be and I’ve made certain I’ve been there.

Back a third time on an overcast day that was less than ideal for photography, one of the pair (later realized it was the male) circled overhead twice and dove on something in the shallows near my location. This time he came up with a huge bass and hauled it out of the water to a nearby mud bar. Once there, his female counterpart arrived and a squabble erupted. The female clearly wanted the fish and he was having none of it. Eventually, she backed off and stood by watching the smaller male try to take off with the huge fish with a smug look on her feathered face. Eventually, he managed it. She flew to some nearby grass (I think she was wiping mud off her talons) and then flew after him presumably to try to share the sushi elsewhere.

I hope whomever you are reading this that you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed seeing the live. I hope that I can encourage you to pursue your passion(s) persistently, doggedly and maybe, just maybe over time you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing things come together. I’m quite certain that my neighbors are slowly getting used to my shouts of surprise and joy that emanate from my study when I am editing photos.

None of these photographs is of the quality that I aspire to, so I’m headed out to shoot some more as soon as I finish typing. Persistence.

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