Quick Shot: Frozen Geese

I'd been hiking my favorite local spot, Mason Neck State Park, when creativity struck and I found myself looking at one of my least photographed subjects..... Canadian Geese! I rarely photograph Canadian Geese - they're such a common subject and have never excited my creativity - until yesterday.

I'd been out looking for eagles and other raptors, but towards the end of the hike I walked up to the edge of the Occoquan Bay to watch sunset. I was watching some water fowl fishing amongst the ice floating in the bay as the sun dipped behind a cloud. As that happened, the scene went from a washed out "meh" to being absolutely spectacularly bright yellow. I have rarely seen the sun make the water so brilliantly bright! I decided the best way to capture the scene was to get two silhouettes of the geese feeding amongst the ice chunks.

Of course, that's easier said than done - I had to wait for both birds to offer a profile view because they just looked like dark blobs on the water when they were facing me! It was a challenge to juggle the brilliant light with birds that weren't exactly cooperating, but I was patient. When the bird on the right turned for just a second I fired away and got this shot..... and good thing too! Just a minute later, the sun had emerged back out and the bright colors were gone. 

Photography is often a waiting game to get the perfect lighting or scene and when the moment is just right, we've got to be ready to take advantage of it! As photographers, we refer to that moment in time when everything is perfect as the decisive moment - I think I got it this time!

Shot with my Nikon 80-400mm on the Nikon D800. Minor edits done in Adobe Photoshop CC. If you like this photograph, you can purchase a copy as a limited edition on my website.