When I am out in the field I take a large amount of photos and there are times I don’t get around to processing them until much later, these are two such images taken at Fort De Soto, Florida in 2008.

Semipalmated Plover in the sand Semipalmated Plover in the sand –  Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

I wish I could get caught up on my post processing and editing but I won’t hold my breath about that. These two files have been languishing in their folders for over 3 years.

While I lived in Florida I very rarely took my 200-400mm VR lens to the beaches with me, I very clearly remember laying down on the sand to get eye level with these birds all the while worrying about what the sand could do to moving parts of my lens. I placed both elbows on the sand and used my left hand to brace the lens from underneath while I used my right to operate the camera, I think getting up was the most difficult part because I didn’t want to put my hands in the sand.

Mia at Fort De Soto Me on the beach of Fort De Soto getting images of the shorebirds on this post
©Al Wallace

My friend & fellow photographer Al Wallace who had walked up and taken a few pictures of yours truly (without me being aware) probably had a good laugh watching me get up from the gritty sugar sand. That’s ok, I can laugh at myself and the weird positions I get in to get images of my subjects.

That is a floor buffing pad in front of me, I’ll never know how that ended up on the beach.

*Be careful; you never know when your sneaky but wonderful photographer friends are photographing you while are so focused on your subject that you are totally unaware of what they are doing! And yes, I look pretty goofy in this photo.

Piping Plover on a sandy beachPiping Plover on a sandy beach –  Nikon d200, handheld, f5.6, 1/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

By getting down to eye level with our feathered subjects the viewers often feel like they are part of the bird’s world, I know I do when I view images taken from low angles. I was almost too low for these pictures.

Sand, water, ice or snow can light up the bottom of your subjects because of the light being reflected upwards, Fort De Soto’s sugar sand is great at that.

So there you have it, a Piping Plover and Semipalmated Plover – my Sunday Shorebirds

Life is good.

Mia