Posts Tagged ‘frustrating’

Bird Shots

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

One of the most difficult and frustrating shots for me is trying to get good pictures of birds. It drives me crazy trying to get a good bird shot because they are very hard to get.

  1. Birds are always high up in trees so if you can get close to them it is a ridiculously bad angle on the bird and therefore a worthless shot. Sometimes you get lucky and the weird angles work like in this shot of a bald eagle I got in Michigan where the angle from underneath is actually really nice because it gives an inside view of the eagle’s body.  However, most of the time it just turns out flat and boring as you get a picture of the birds butt. And no one wants to see that.
  2. If the bird isn’t up in a tree seemingly miles away from you, then it is at a good level angle. Sounds good right? not really because it flies away as soon as you get to an acceptable distance from it to be able to take a decent shot. You think you are blessed with a good level shot of the bird but as you stealthily creep closer to where the bird is to get the shot, it gives you that I am watching you look, then flies away before you can get the shot. Devious little creatures i saw, very devious. They know exactly what you want and tease you with their beauty just to take it away. That is so frustrating when you think you got lucky but it just flies away. I can’t tell you how many miniature hissy fits I have had over trying to get bird shots.

Let me just say to all those people who get amazing bird shots out there, first of all I envy you. Second of all you must be photography gods or extremely lucky because for me at least it is near impossible to get bird shots.

On the ride up to Yosemite I was on a mission. I was going to get a good shot of a bird no matter how long it took. My plan was this:

  • Watch the side of the road for fence posts because they would be at a perfect level for a good shot and right up next to the road. Then spend five hours of driving staring at the side of the road in search of birds perched on a fence post.
  • When a bird is spotted, slam on the brakes and veer to the side of the road. Hopefully right next to the bird (and not scare it with the car) roll down the window or get out and get a successful shot.

Simple plan? not really. Driving at eighty miles and hour and trying to slam on the brakes fast enough to not miss the bird is incredibly hard because by the time you actually spot the bird and start screaming and frantically gesturing to pull over, you pass it.

Strange thing is that these birds on the side of the road really don’t seem afraid of cars. However as soon as they see a person emerging from the car they get the flock out of there. So even if you stop in time just as you creep closer it would fly away. Then there is the disappointing walk of shame back to the car without a single picture. Trying times, very trying times. However I finally did get one so the hard times and the disappointment were not for nothing. Here it is, the fruit of my efforts.

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Bobbing for Apples

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Bobbing for apples is one of the funniest games to watch ever. Watching people vainly dunk their heads in water and try to scrounge out an apple is pretty entertaining. That being so, this games is really only entertaining when you can stand back and watch the people getting soaked and frustrated. When it is your turn, it is no longer a laughing matter. The duality of bobbing for apples, fun to watch and torture the people doing it, annoying and frustrating when you are being watched and tortured as you try to bob for an apple.

There are several phases of bobbing for apples that the bobbers go through in the process.

  1. Disgust: It is all fun and games until it is your turn. When you get up to the bucket and you are staring down into that gross pail of water filled with a few measly apples you can’t help but think, God please give me an excuse right now to bail out of this game. Of course you don’t get one, and as you kneel down right next to the water you realize something disgusting. That water you are about to shove your face in, mouth wide open, has been the home to several other people’s mouths searching for apples as well. Yes, you are about to dunk your face into a cess-pool of germs to pick out an apple.
  2. Embarrassment: The embarrassment comes in right as you first dunk your head. Then you lift your head out of the water soaking wet and totally embarrassed that first, you don’t have an apple, and second you just ruined your hair, outfit, makeup or any other thing you put on your face that morning. Yes, you are embarrassed to lift your head out of the water, appleless to face your friends who are now dying of laughter because you look like a drowned rat.                                                                     
  3. Frustration: At this point you have gotten past the initial embarrassment and disgust. Because you have already gotten totally soaked, you are now committed and become an unstoppable force of trying desperately to get that apple. You have to get the apple, and fast so you can get out of here. So very quickly your embarrassment at not getting an apple turns into frustration. After time and time again of not getting and apple you are at the point of gnashing violently at the water in a desperate attempt to grab an apple. All sort of tactics to get an apple fly away from your mind, you are a single-minded apple grabbing machine. 
  4. Victory: The final and best phase of bobbing for apples is victory. And the surge of over exuberant energy where you just start smack talking the apple and its mother. At this point your friends look at you like you are crazy and are thinking, geez you were just bobbing for apples. To this I respond. I was bobbing for my life, you wouldn’t understand but that apple had back talked me for the last time!

A little over the top? Maybe, but it is all justified due to that stage of frustration, when you are frustrated any overreaction is justified, even if it ends with yelling at inanimate objects…. which I definitely don’t do. Bobbing for apples is not a simple game, it is actually quite difficult and takes some amount of strategy, which I am not going to share so next time I see you at a party I can watch you fail at bobbing for apples and then when you finally get one and overreact, you will know the truth. The truth that bobbing for apples is a cruel game meant only for the pleasure of those watching, kind of like gladiators.Yeah it is just like that -.-

P.S. Bobbing for apples makes for awesome photos

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