Fogo - The rest of the morning
This is an extra long post - so please settle in. I am thrilled that so many of you have enjoyed seeing the posts from Fogo - thank you so much for letting me know. I wish that I had time to respond to you all but I don’t - I am working hard on creating these posts for you. I have many more Fogo posts to share with you.
Continuing with that same out of this world morning…. Just a few moments after the whale tail shots - the following happened which I will also never forget. As the boat was moving forward I moved to my right and a combination of a thin marine layer or fog or whatever it was created condensation on my lens. At the same time the bright sun popped out from the clouds behind us and I saw this whale with puffins flying past it!!! I knew that I didn’t have time to clean my lens at that moment. The combination of everything that happened at precisely the right moments created the opportunity for me to capture these images - I used no filters. I still can’t believe this all happened. I hope that you enjoy this series….
That was so incredible for me…. The sun was now out perfectly. We kept heading towards the island that we were eventually going to tie up at. On our way we passed these Razorbils - I have never had the opportunity to see them so perfectly! They are the closest living relative of the extinct Great Auk. They are monogamous and mate for life. They only come to these kinds of islands to breed - they are stunning.
A little further along! :). Puffins everywhere!
Like I said… everywhere! looking behind me ….
Continuing on…. just breathtaking…
pair of Razorbills
Getting closer to where we are going to tie up -
As Tony was slowing the boat down… I bent over and looked down below me - Puffins are affectionately known as “the clowns of the sea”. They are too precious for words!
Tony stayed with the boat while Aidan and I headed off like last year out on the island. I wanted another opportunity to set up on land and try my best at trying to capture Puffins flying by me at 55 mph! We found the spot I wanted to set up at and then Aidan went back to the boat and I spend the next hour and half on my own trying my best. About halfway through my time I sat down and had my lunch - it felt great to take a break, and to take my eye away from the view finder and just take in the Puffins flying past me.
Finally it ALL came together!!! I felt one with my camera - everything just worked on this series. I can’t even explain what that felt like for me - I knew that I was nailing these… vs always being too late, too slow, not looking in the right direction or whatever… I hope that you enjoy! My shutter speed to capture these speedy puffins - 1/8000 of a second!
Wow!! I had to take a break after that series - my heart races just re-living that series - I loved it! I had been going at it for well over an hour to have finally captured that series. I then moved and set up to try and get the puffins coming around the cliff’s edge… and finally that worked for me too!
It was getting closer to the time Aidan would be coming back to get me. I decided to try a slightly different location - and looking over the edge towards the roiling sea I saw this gorgeous pair of Black Guillemots. Unfortunately we can’t see their feet - which are red. They generally lay eggs directly on the ground or in little cliff crevices.
I found my spot to set up one last time for a few minutes…. and it happened again - I was able to capture another series - this time of a single puffin! :)
As soon as the puffin was out of my line of vision - I turned back to my left and caught this Razorbill flying by!
Then down below me!
I turned around and decided to try for a few minutes - I wanted to capture one coming around the cliff’s edge to my left - it worked!
I was speechless by the time Aidan came to get me. I do remember saying - I finally did it this year! We took our beautiful walk back to the boat and then Tony took us on our way back. At this point we had been out for 5 hours - my arms felt like they barely attached to my body. :)
As we were heading back - these are my final shots of this most amazing morning with Tony and Aidan - absolutely more than a dream come true.
It was that kind of morning.…