This post sort of follows up on yesterday’s gift theme hummingbird shot, but while the hummingbird shot was fairly unique, I have lots of pictures of Pelicans in flight. Pelicans are relatively easy, since they ride the updrafts at the crests of waves, often well inshore. One of my favorite places to photograph them is the Tide Pool area at Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego. There, the combination of the wave lift and the lift of the abrupt cliffs brings the Pelicans in as close as you might like. Add the often vigorous breaking surf for a background and you have the makings of some good Pelicans in flight shots.

This year I also have the advantage of the new Canon SX50HS, with its Sports Mode. Sports Mode has proven to be ideal for birds in flight (ideal being a relative term…it  certainly makes birds in flight very possible with what is, after all, still and Point and Shoot.) I have come to appreciate being able to spin the control dial to Sports, and catch an approaching bird in flight just about as fast as I can think to do it.

And sometimes Sports Mode surprises even me. This bird was coming so fast and so close that I only managed get it in the frame in time for a short burst. I had no time to pre-focus so I was pretty sure I had not gotten the shot. Imagine my delight when I got the images up on the computer! This is the first shot in the sequence. In the following shots the bird is already leaving the frame.

This one, as I see it, has it all. The light. The position of the wings. The foam of the heavy surf behind. It is a shot that I can look at for a long time! It makes me smile out loud!

Canon SX50HS in Sports Mode. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 80. Processing in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

And for the Sunday Thought: Both this shot and yesterday’s hummingbird are shots that I could feel proud of. I am indeed very happy to have been able to take them, but, somehow, pride does not come into it. Pride would imply that my skill played a predominate roll in their creation…and that thought just amuses me. I mean, what part of the making of these images was not a gift?

I feel blessed to have a camera that can catch these moments. I had nothing to do with its creation. The engineers at Canon should be proud of the camera. I am just delighted to have it to use.

I feel blessed to have a job that takes me to places like San Diego, and justifies my spending time at Cabrillo National Monument watching the Pelicans fly by the Tide Pools. And I would have to say honestly, that while I do a good job at my job, by any objective standard I did not earn it…I just kind of fell into it…in a way that only builds my faith in a loving God. It is a gift that I am well aware of.

And even the eye to see the possibility of a shot like this when the bird is still in the air and the camera in its case…the appreciation of the wonder of nature around me that keeps me alive to photographic possibilities…and that drives me to keep taking pictures…that has grown in me since I was a child. It is so deeply part of who I am now that it just is. It continues to grow and develop without any conscious effort on my part. I consider a gift certainly…and more…a part of my inheritance as a child of God.

So where does pride come in? Delight? Certainly. Thanksgiving? Certainly. Like I say, shots like this make me smile out loud! And, far from making me proud…they keep me humble! Happy Sunday.