Mini Photo Gathering In Carteret County

[Speed]

If two photographers count as a photogathering. ;-)

My old college buddy Rich came down Sunday afternoon and left Monday afternoon. We shot fireworks on Sunday night, and some local sights Monday. He wanted to start at the Beaufort Waterfront at sunup, so, we got up at 0-dark-hundred, and were on the waterfront at 6:00am.

Rich brought a 500mm lens with him. It's one of those Ritz Camera lenses, but it does alright. Here are some shots taken with it. First one is one of the wild horses on Carrot Island. This was taken across Taylors Creek, which is about 200 yards wide. Second shot is of Rich getting his 2X teleconverter for me. Yes, that's his Corvette. Third shot is the same horse, taken with the 500mm with the 2X teleconverter attached.

Taken with my K1000, and of course, my Bogen tripod.

[Speed]

Taken during our Mini Mini-Gathering(?).

I played with the 500mm lens quite a bit. Here are a few bird shots.

The first gull was shot with the 500mm. The second shot is the same gull shot with the 500mm and the 2X teleconverter. These were taken on the Beaufort Waterfront early in the morning. If nothing else, I got the good light!

The last two were of gulls at Fort Macon. Nothing special, just wringing out the 500mm.

I've got some shots of the Fort itself still in the camera. I'll post some of those as soon as I get them developed.

[paulnj]

Taken during our Mini Mini-Gathering(?).

I played with the 500mm lens quite a bit. Here are a few bird shots.

The first gull was shot with the 500mm. The second shot is the same gull shot with the 500mm and the 2X teleconverter. These were taken on the Beaufort Waterfront early in the morning. If nothing else, I got the good light!

The last two were of gulls at Fort Macon. Nothing special, just wringing out the 500mm.

I've got some shots of the Fort itself still in the camera. I'll post some of those as soon as I get them developed.

way too late in the day to start

your gulls are ring-billed gulls

not bad either !

[Speed]

way too late in the day to start

your gulls are ring-billed gulls

not bad either !

What can I say? We're dedicated, not fanatical. :-O

We were primarily after landscape type shots. Boats on the creek, waterfront shots, and hoping to catch a shot at one of the wild horses. If we were heading into the woods for birding, we would have been on station between 5:00 and 5:30 am. (I know, still too late, but like I said, we're not fanatical.)

Thank you for the ID on the gulls. I knew they were gulls, and I knew better than to call them "sea gulls", (thanks to my birding friend in NJ!), but I wasn't sure what kind they were. I was hoping to catch some shots of some egrets and pelicans as well, but it wasn't to be.

Thank you for the comments my friend!

[paulnj]

yeah ...I always wanted to go to chincoteague and play the ponies

http://wildlifewatcher.com/se/chinco.phtml

[walterick]

done that

Cool shots, Speed-O! I had that same lens for awhile when I worked for Ritz.
Rick

[Speed]

done that

Cool shots, Speed-O! I had that same lens for awhile when I worked for Ritz.
Rick

Did you lay on the ground to take that?!

Great angle, great catch!

[Speed]

yeah ...I always wanted to go to chincoteague and play the ponies

http://wildlifewatcher.com/se/chinco.phtml

Come down to Carteret County! Here are a couple of shots from Shackleford Banks. The ponies there are decendants from survivors of Spanish shipwrecks back in the 1600's. The Park Service does a roundup every year, and they count how many are there, and check them all for their health status.

It is an awesome sight watching a stallion steer his herd down the beach. It's funny seeing them run between beachgoers, and seeing a backdrop of motorboats behind them.

All these shots were taken with a Coolpix 5700. The third one is lousy photographically, but it shows the boats over on Shackleford on the 3rd of July. As you can tell, it doesn't bother the ponies.