April 30, 2010
Looking up
![[IMAGE] bald eagle](/blog/blogpix/eagleflight2.jpg)
![[IMAGE] bald eagle](/blog/blogpix/eagleflight3.jpg)
…about the musicMusic to glide by.
I’m pretty sure that if anyone watched me just outside my studio, they would have no idea that I’m a musician, and instead assume that I’m a photog for National Geographic or something. I am almost never without my Big Camera With The Long Ass Zoom Lens; a paparazzi lying in wait for feathered and pawed celebs that lurk in my ‘hood.
Of course, much as those of us with honkin’ digital project studios are always jonesing for the newest, latest hardware and software, well, now I can add to my addiction: I am seriously wanting a Bigger and Even More Long Ass zoom lens. This is just too much fun, especially because I have no clue whatsoever what I’m doing. I liken myself to a dog dancing on its hind legs: it’s not that it does it well, but that it can do it at all.
![[IMAGE] bald eagle](/blog/blogpix/eagleflight.jpg)
These are certainly not great shots. I ain’t gettin’ no naturalist photo gigs out of this point-and-shoot portfolio. But the pleasure I get from stepping outside to the deck or shoreline many times a day and shifting my concentration from all the sonic chaos in my head, to the visual serenity that surrounds me, is the most amazing “second job” I could wish for.
![[IMAGE] bald eagle](/blog/blogpix/eagleflight4.jpg)
![[IMAGE] bald eagle](/blog/blogpix/eagleflight5.jpg)
Eileen said,
April 30, 2010 @ 2:32 pm
I love seeing the birds, but it is fun taking photos of them. I ejoyed your eagle shots.
haha said,
April 30, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
Cool pics…
The longing for a longer lens is the same as a yachtsman never buying a smaller yacht.
Christy said,
May 1, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Absolutely stunning. I remember my husband and I were hiking up in Mammoth, coming over Duck Pass, and as the valley at 9,000 feet stretched out before us with Duck Lake nestled like a blue jewel in the middle, we looked up and saw an eagle just like this gliding along on the breeze. It was such an amazing moment! I love, love, love the music. Perfect to imagine oneself flying…
Paul Muller said,
May 1, 2010 @ 6:05 pm
No question – you have the eye for it. Just like ears with music – you gotta know what to look for and the rest is just technology.
Glenn Buttkus said,
May 3, 2010 @ 9:39 am
Alex:
Wow, those shots of that majestic predator soaring over your studio are incredible. And as was pointed out by Christy, your music chosen for today, Chakra Suite @3:10 gave us great expanses of flight and space to enjoy your images. And the explication of the music, how you were contacted by, and then collaborated with Thakur Chakrapai Singh, would make agrand documentary; another vivid chapter in the colorful life that you are so fortunateto inhabit. The 32-string veena is a joyous noise to our Western ear, and your guitar and electronic soundscape do augment and flesh out and merge with it superbly. We kelphistos who have followed your adventures, musings, and music from Malibu to the SJI, have always marveled at your posted images, your sharing. You have been an inspiration to me, for as I ready myself for my June Retirement, I will pick up a camera, and add photography to my lexicon of creativity. You wrote a sly self-deprecating sentence that cried out tobe loosed as poetry. It follows:
Joy of the Dance
I liken myself
to a dog dancing
on its hind legs;
it’s not that
it does it well, but
it can do it at all.
Alex Shapiro May 2010
Bill said,
May 4, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
I think they are pretty great shots. What a thrill! Of course, having eagles around your house is cool in the extreme. Thanks for sharing.
Whidbey Woman said,
May 8, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
Hi. I blog about Whidbey Island. I love living here. This entire region is incredible. I never get tired of watching or listening to the eagles. It is fun to watch their nests this time of year. Hope you’ll explore my blog.
Alex Shapiro said,
May 11, 2010 @ 12:48 am
A pleasure to discover your Whidbey blog! And folks– check out that “kayaking along side the Orca” video on it!
notes from the kelp » All wet said,
August 8, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
[…] behind it, and my posting today is a fine example. If ya want slightly better bald eagle shots, try this earlier entry. Regardless, I offer these pics, taken in a rare moment of ingenuity as I precariously held my […]