stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!.Nicely done, the "Hood Canal" was my backyardfor many many years. Now I live in the junglesof S.E.Asia photographing wild monkeys.ps: yes the oyster shells are razor sharp !.

Hansa Yindee wrote:stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!.Nicely done, the "Hood Canal" was my backyardfor many many years. Now I live in the junglesof S.E.Asia photographing wild monkeys.ps: yes the oyster shells are razor sharp !.Thanks! It sounds like you are still having fun even with the change of scenery.

Big wow  Mark!!! Awesome narration , plus you camera take nice pictures too.

stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!Great video Mark.  It was like being with you. I bought a couple of your books afterwards.

Rolleix wrote:Big wow Mark!!! Awesome narration , plus you camera take nice pictures too.Thanks so much!

Laslo Varadi wrote:stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!Great video Mark. It was like being with you. I bought a couple of your books afterwards.Thanks so much. Enjoy the books!

Absolutely beautiful, stunning eagle images!  Real eye candy.If you don't mind, what lens / AF tracking mode did you use?  How far away were you from the action?

grepper wrote:Absolutely beautiful, stunning eagle images! Real eye candy.If you don't mind, what lens / AF tracking mode did you use? How far away were you from the action?Thanks. Really good questions too. I like d9 for moving birds. I am using a Nikon 500mm f4 g. I would guess 100 to 150 feet?

The complements are well deserved. The images are a joy to behold and get absorbed in. That's amazing detail for being 100-150 feet away with 500mm.  I suspect DX helps.Thank you for the info.  Have you spent any time playing with AF-3D?  The reason I ask is that I've been trying to improve in songBIF shooting.   I've tried d9, but for the little fast birds 3D seems to work a bit better.  Any tips you might wish to offer on shooting birds would be appreciated.Anyway, thanks for sharing.  Great photos!  I've been a devoted fan of the Decorah Eagles for years.  Eagles are amazing  and beautiful animals! Your photography is an exquisite tribute to them.

stitchlips wrote:Hansa Yindee wrote:stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!.Nicely done, the "Hood Canal" was my backyardfor many many years. Now I live in the junglesof S.E.Asia photographing wild monkeys.ps: yes the oyster shells are razor sharp !.Thanks! It sounds like you are still having fun even with the change of scenery..Hi Stitchlips,I just noticed you live in Florida and I want to add a littlebit more info about the eagles in the Pacific Northwest.68+ years ago I was born in Washington St up by theCanadian border. So my entire life was surroundedby these majestic birds. Over time they just seemedcommonplace. Fast forward to 1983 when I movedto a small lake one mile, as the bird flies, from theHood Canal. Large firs in my front yard was alwaysfull of eagles waiting to swoop down and grab a fish.When your standing under them their wings soundlike a spinnaker sail when taking flight, awesome !Daily they were fighting over fish while in flight makingfor quite the sight. Now this next part might seem a bitstrange but here it is. - I belonged to a pellet gun web siteat the time and would use my scope to watch the eaglesflying about in front of our lake house. The eagles werementioned to other members and they would often sayget some photos of the birds. At the time I had a Sony Mavicawith a 31/2 inch floppy disc.The birds would be spotted withthe 10X scope then the mavica would be turned upside downplaced against the scope and a photo was taken. I must admitthey were real sketchy photos at best ! But most importantlythe photo was uploaded onto the pellet gun site and peoplewent nuts, like really nuts. It's then I realized other people fromaround the world had never seen a bald eagle, the same birdthat I had seen as a commonplace bird. Sold my pellet gun andpurchased my first real digital camera, a Nikon D50 and a  Tamron18-200 lens. Remember I was just starting out in the digital world.Soon the Tamron was history and a Nikkor 70-300VR was added.About that time my wife and I were moving to Thailand where Iapplied the same formula - but with a Nikon D300/70-300VR lens.Monkeys now became the main target along with a bunch of abusedabandoned street dogs that have been dumped in a brutal, dangerous,unforgiving, wet, triple canopy jungle ! For many years I've cared forthese dogs giving them a real life when they had lost all hope.So now people from all over the world watch this saga unfold beforetheir very eyes on my flickr site. Might mention, there's 3000 + wildmonkeys where I do my work and semi reside with all the dogs.One more thing, a Nikkor 17-55 2.8 does most of the heavy lifting.The D300 an 17-55 2.8 combo has been fire tested and survived10 years in this brutal environment, just saying.Ah, forgot, one more thing. For a number of years I did a lot of workup on Vancouver Island where quite often 50-80 even as many as 100eagles could be seen ridding the thermals on the inward passage .Sadly it was pre-digital,  but I do have many fond memories of that time.Hope this wasn't to long winded or to far off topic ....;-)Jon in the Jungle.My mobile office. Really old Honda 125cc, homemade sidecar. One of my jungle dogs ..;-) .

grepper wrote:The complements are well deserved. The images are a joy to behold and get absorbed in. That's amazing detail for being 100-150 feet away with 500mm. I suspect DX helps.Thank you for the info. Have you spent any time playing with AF-3D? The reason I ask is that I've been trying to improve in songBIF shooting. I've tried d9, but for the little fast birds 3D seems to work a bit better. Any tips you might wish to offer on shooting birds would be appreciated.Anyway, thanks for sharing. Great photos! I've been a devoted fan of the Decorah Eagles for years. Eagles are amazing and beautiful animals! Your photography is an exquisite tribute to them.Yes, the D850 with the 500m F4 have a really great resolution. I shot in full frame and crop in post. The detail is still there as long as you don't have heat issues that create shimmer.I haven't tried AF-3D only because I've had such good results with D9. I don't really have any tips other than keep doing it. Tracking gets easier and easier with time.Eagles are incredible creatures and I am happy to have shared this experience. Thanks again for the compliments.

Hansa Yindee wrote:stitchlips wrote:Hansa Yindee wrote:stitchlips wrote:I had the sheer pleasure of spending 4 days on the west coast of Washington observing and photographing Eagles as they fought for food and prime fishing spots. I used my D850 to capture the action and put it all together in this story driven video. Enjoy!.Nicely done, the "Hood Canal" was my backyardfor many many years. Now I live in the junglesof S.E.Asia photographing wild monkeys.ps: yes the oyster shells are razor sharp !.Thanks! It sounds like you are still having fun even with the change of scenery..Hi Stitchlips,I just noticed you live in Florida and I want to add a littlebit more info about the eagles in the Pacific Northwest.68+ years ago I was born in Washington St up by theCanadian border. So my entire life was surroundedby these majestic birds. Over time they just seemedcommonplace. Fast forward to 1983 when I movedto a small lake one mile, as the bird flies, from theHood Canal. Large firs in my front yard was alwaysfull of eagles waiting to swoop down and grab a fish.When your standing under them their wings soundlike a spinnaker sail when taking flight, awesome !Daily they were fighting over fish while in flight makingfor quite the sight. Now this next part might seem a bitstrange but here it is. - I belonged to a pellet gun web siteat the time and would use my scope to watch the eaglesflying about in front of our lake house. The eagles werementioned to other members and they would often sayget some photos of the birds. At the time I had a Sony Mavicawith a 31/2 inch floppy disc.The birds would be spotted withthe 10X scope then the mavica would be turned upside downplaced against the scope and a photo was taken. I must admitthey were real sketchy photos at best ! But most importantlythe photo was uploaded onto the pellet gun site and peoplewent nuts, like really nuts. It's then I realized other people fromaround the world had never seen a bald eagle, the same birdthat I had seen as a commonplace bird. Sold my pellet gun andpurchased my first real digital camera, a Nikon D50 and a Tamron18-200 lens. Remember I was just starting out in the digital world.Soon the Tamron was history and a Nikkor 70-300VR was added.About that time my wife and I were moving to Thailand where Iapplied the same formula - but with a Nikon D300/70-300VR lens.Monkeys now became the main target along with a bunch of abusedabandoned street dogs that have been dumped in a brutal, dangerous,unforgiving, wet, triple canopy jungle ! For many years I've cared forthese dogs giving them a real life when they had lost all hope.So now people from all over the world watch this saga unfold beforetheir very eyes on my flickr site. Might mention, there's 3000 + wildmonkeys where I do my work and semi reside with all the dogs.One more thing, a Nikkor 17-55 2.8 does most of the heavy lifting.The D300 an 17-55 2.8 combo has been fire tested and survived10 years in this brutal environment, just saying.Ah, forgot, one more thing. For a number of years I did a lot of workup on Vancouver Island where quite often 50-80 even as many as 100eagles could be seen ridding the thermals on the inward passage .Sadly it was pre-digital, but I do have many fond memories of that time.Hope this wasn't to long winded or to far off topic ....;-)Jon in the Jungle.My mobile office. Really old Honda 125cc, homemade sidecar. One of my jungle dogs ..;-).Absolutely fantastic story! I love how eagles got you into photography. That is so cool. I know all too well about birds being common place. In Florida, Brown Pelicans are everywhere but I have met plenty of people who have never even seen one and most likely never will. It is hard not to get localized and keep a global train of thought.I'm a dog lover. We joke and say our family is dog rich. We have four of them. That is really awesome of you taking care of those dogs. I looked at your shots and they are adorable dogs! I really like the action shots. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm going to go read your post to my daughter. She will just love it!

Excellent as always, Mark!  Just amazing!I just happened to be in the Puget Sound area today and figured out the spot and went there this morning. I was greeted by a photographer packing up and he said only one eagle showed up today. But he has seen more than 40+ eagles there and they have recorded as many as 80+ eagles coming in at low tide.   Got the place locked in memory and I try again when I am in the area.I appreciate your videos and appreciate what you can do with the equipment. Your stories add depth to the visual media.Thanks for posting, Dave

1elementin7groups wrote:Excellent as always, Mark! Just amazing!I just happened to be in the Puget Sound area today and figured out the spot and went there this morning. I was greeted by a photographer packing up and he said only one eagle showed up today. But he has seen more than 40+ eagles there and they have recorded as many as 80+ eagles coming in at low tide. Got the place locked in memory and I try again when I am in the area.I appreciate your videos and appreciate what you can do with the equipment. Your stories add depth to the visual media.Thanks for posting, Dave.Hi Dave,A good place to see the eagles is Big Beef Creek near Seabeck.This is on the Hood Canal. Often I would meet photographersthat came over from the Seattle area just for the eagles. Realeasy to get to an from, tide schedule is an important factor.I lived real close to The Big Beef for many years..

Quite amazing Mark! What a great experience you had. Spectacular images!jacob

1elementin7groups wrote:Excellent as always, Mark! Just amazing!I just happened to be in the Puget Sound area today and figured out the spot and went there this morning. I was greeted by a photographer packing up and he said only one eagle showed up today. But he has seen more than 40+ eagles there and they have recorded as many as 80+ eagles coming in at low tide. Got the place locked in memory and I try again when I am in the area.I appreciate your videos and appreciate what you can do with the equipment. Your stories add depth to the visual media.Thanks for posting, DaveThat's great that you found the place. I was told late May - Early June is best. I was there on the 10th of June. Thanks for the compliments and for watching the videos.

jm10 wrote:Quite amazing Mark! What a great experience you had. Spectacular images!jacobThanks! It was a great experience for sure!

Hansa Yindee wrote:1elementin7groups wrote:Excellent as always, Mark! Just amazing!I just happened to be in the Puget Sound area today and figured out the spot and went there this morning. I was greeted by a photographer packing up and he said only one eagle showed up today. But he has seen more than 40+ eagles there and they have recorded as many as 80+ eagles coming in at low tide. Got the place locked in memory and I try again when I am in the area.I appreciate your videos and appreciate what you can do with the equipment. Your stories add depth to the visual media.Thanks for posting, Dave.Hi Dave,A good place to see the eagles is Big Beef Creek near Seabeck.This is on the Hood Canal. Often I would meet photographersthat came over from the Seattle area just for the eagles. Realeasy to get to an from, tide schedule is an important factor.I lived real close to The Big Beef for many years..Hi Jon, thanks for confirming, that is where I was! Next year maybe I can be there early June!  Any other months good besides late May, early June? I have to come up from California.Dave

.IMO many of the eagles that reside aroundThe Hood Canal are there most of the year.Plenty of food and mild weather conditionsin comparison to winters in  Alaska orThe Northern Territories.Here's what I'd do. Use google and contactphoto clubs in Kitsap and King county.Kitsap is the county you were in and Kingis the general Seattle area.Somebody willjump in and offer up some help.Quite oftenthere's a lot of eagles when the salmon arerunning up stream.Like an eagles buffet ..;-).Here's a little something from a couple days agowhen I was out caring for the abandoned dogs..Triple Canopy Jungle, Mangrove Swamp. Mom has hold of his tail ...;-)~ .

Wonderful Mark, I have really enjoyed following you the last 6 months. You just come across as a really (really) nice guy. I wish you continued success and look forward to all you have to offer to the photography fraternity.