The Beginning of the "Majestic Beasts"

Before I begin this blog, I need to thank Herman and José for helping me with naming my blog and choosing my domain name. LOL I would probably still be thinking about it if they hadn't helped me xD


Now...BLOG!!

Today I finally got out to the canal with my nerds :D

Things were great :D I got up in time or the sunrise (and I remembered to set my camera for NEF files) and got some great sunrise shots of Mt. Rainier at the bay, Some shots over the Skokomish Valley...Some photos off of the steel bridge..waterfalls...Some really neat shots.

Spending all morning going snap happy with my camera -pets it- taking pictures of pretty much everything. Then I was to upload the images, right. Yeah...SUPPOSED TO...However the computer that we were using decided to not recognize NEF (raw) files. For THREE HOURS...we tried updating the software, installing programs..ANYTHING to allow the images to be viewed. Not one thing worked...

So despite my freak out and insisting on using Raw,I was instructed to use jpeg format. bleh.

After sitting there staring at the computer, slightly depressed about having to use the icky jpeg format...I started walking around and, once again, began taking pictures. I waded out into the river a bit and was taking some photos of the plant life and (LOL) some mating insects. I began to get bored and sloshed around in the water a bit (waist high...with my camera) and let my head fall back and soak up some of the sun's warmth and something catches my eye...

I kept thinking "No Way" as I quietly and careful moved toward the object of my interest. I shielded my eyes from the sun to make sure I wasn't mistaking some object for what I thought I was seeing...Then he moved his head. I almost squealed with excitement as I fumbled around with my camera to adjust my settings (I don't even remember what I set them to,but I adjusted aperture and shutter speed I think..I had just gone from takin pictures of shaded plants to...[i don't want to spoil the surprise].. usually I write things down...but I was in the water and was sloshing around..so ..I left it on the bank...). Now..I don't have a telephoto lens. The lens I am currently using is an AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm...a pretty basic lens that comes with the camera...so I had to creep as close as I could without frightening my subject. He noticed my presence and ruffled up, so I quickly raised my camera and snapped the photo...and just like that, he was gone.

So what was it that caught my attention? What was it that made me practically drown myself in order to get the shot? Let me show you :D

(make it bigger...the small version looks funny)

Yup...that handsome devil right there. I'm not sure what else to write right now....so..I will let you gaze at his amazing awesomeness while I go find something to eat..

THANKS FOR READING