Trip reports-Days 2 and 3

Day 2 was pretty much like day 1 except the lakes were almost completely frozen and the sea was starting to freeze,I spent the morning shooting Snow Geese, There is nothing like tough times to get the grey matter going and as there were really nice clouds over the sea i decided to position myself so i could use it as a background when the geese flew in and out, I used the 200-400 so i could frame the birds better and tried to get them smaller in the frame and have the clouds as the main focus-fingers crossed they come out as i envisaged,Its always good to try something different, Early afternoon was spent on the beach with my wife and puppy, I spent this time testing out my gear on my puppy running at full speed towards me-you never have enough practice on a fast moving target and it gives the dog a good workout, I cannot say how impressed i am with the D300 and its becoming my body of choice unless the light is very low, We decided to drive around and look for a place to shoot the sun setting and stumbled upon a small fishing port,Very rough and ready with a fish processing plant being the main building-luckily we arrived as the workers were throwing the days cast offs in and there were hundreds of birds fighting for the scraps-Gulls,pelicans and black capped herons all flying around,the sun was behins us and ready to set so the light was to die for and i quickly rattled off 4gb of images before the light was gone-freezing cold but great fun

Today could not have been more different,Snow flurries just before sunrise and then light rain,The light was non existant and the water was a horrible muddy colour, I went to a small hide to get out of the rain and there were a couple of dying pike in front being picked off by the gulls,I hoped the Bald Eagle may come over and land-it didnt and after 2 miserable hours i left and headed back, It dried out mid day so a trip to the beach to shoot the puppy again, There were dolphins very close in-we counted more then 20 before we left,shame i didnt have the 600 with me but great to watch,they were only about 100 feet off the shore so very close, The rain came back with a vengance so that put paid for the rest of the day-tomorrow doesnt look promising so it may be an early trip home

If nothing else i met with a couple of photographers who are local to were i live and have swapped details -will be good to meet up locally with them and hope to get some good info on my local patch

Dave