Texel island, the Netherlands.

Time to take a much needed break from work.. A vacation was in order! We went to Texel island.

The last one in stylish black and white... A great island for photography! Lots of birds, very nice beaches and overall lovely scenery.

Re-shoot

We decided it would be fun to do some re-shoots of the pics we took during the 365 project. Just to keep us busy and to show how Mini-man has grown over the year. We chose this photo to re-shoot as nr 1. Since Mini-man is in less then a cooperating mood when it comes to taking pics these days we resorted to bribery with some raisins, a scenery change and a move outdoors. It kinda worked. Here is the result; That wasn't all we did today.... We went for an early morning walk in the Amsterdam Drinking Water dunes. Mini-man walked almost all the way with us. When he needed a rest we put him into his chariot..



We did a quick snapshot shoot with him on a branch of dead wood;



During the walk we ran into this young buck fallow deer. An awesome specimen.


When you have something like this in your crosshairs, its when the investment in the 300mm F/2.8L pays off.

Review Tamrac 5793...

The super Telephoto Lens Pack.
The bag has one main compartment specifically for a large telephoto lens. (in case you were wondering about the name...)

On the sides there are two little pockets that will hold your phone, keys etc.. One of them holds the raincover.

It holds the 300mm F/2.8, ready for action, with ease. (Thats camera attached, lens hood fixed in proper position)

The stitching, zippers and velcro on this bag is what you can expect from Tamrac; High Quality.

The 300 with hood fixed and attached to the 7D

Depending on what lens you have you can adjust the inside of the 5793. There is a sturdy "neck-like" thingie that will hold your combo in place.




One of the reasons i got this bag is that it will hold the 300 with the lens extenders attached.

This is with the 2x MkIII extender attached. A very easy fit.


The bag is outfitted with Tamrac's Modular Accessory System. Since you get very little space in this bag for anything besides your lens i ordered some of the available attachments.

I got the wide angle lens pouch, which i will use to carry the extenders in. Also got the water bottle pouch and a pouch that should hold the 100-400L, in case i want to bring it along.



It comes with a raincover. Havent tried it yet with the Modular Attachments in place. That might be the tricky part. ;)
Overall i can highly recommend this bag. Its very well made, and works as advertised. And with the use of the M.A.S pouches, its very versatile too.


Here it is in action;

Busy, busy, busy..

But not too busy to take pics! Did a bunch of stuff this month, besides the 365 project. Last monday we went to our favorite area for photography, the Amsterdam Drinking Water Dunes. The results were... Well, see for your self; We had a great day. Lovely weather. Probably the last good day of the year. Good thing about that is that mushroom season is about to start.. Time to break out the macro stuff!

Time for an update!

Finally got around to doing some photography... Been very busy with work, babyrooms etc.. Luckily with a babyroom, comes the opportunity to try new-born photography.. :)

I took these yesterday in the Amsterdam drinking water dunes reservation. De deer are in rut, at the moment. Had a lovely few hours there.



Too bad i had to toss the first 100 or so pics i took... It took me that long to realise the IS on the 300mm was [\] OFF [\]..










Took these today, in my garden. Which im in the process of completely re-doing. There just isnt enough time in the day..

Skomer Island 2011

After last years vacation we really wanted to visit Skomer again. Photographing puffins = good times. So, keeping an eye on the weatherwatcher on the I-pad, we decided that the 30th of may was gonna be our day! When we arrived at the harbor, we werent the first, but we sure would be getting tickets!

Immediately after landing on the island the sun broke thru the clouds. It was a great day.. Ill let the pics speak for themselves, enjoy;










The puffins arent shy, they come really close. Humans keep the seagulls away, who are trying to steal the puffins sand-eels. On many occasions the 300mm couldnt focus because they were too close.












All photos taken with the Eos7D with F/2.8 300mm.

I can seriously recommend visiting Skomer Island, if you are in the neighborhood. Be there early, to ensure landing tickets.

Wales 2011, Red Kites

Ive been vacationing in Wales the last two weeks. Offcourse i humped along a big bag of photo-gear. In the first week we visited two places where they feed the Red Kite. A beautifull sight to see.

And a heck of a workout with your camera, those birds move fast!!

I took these first three at the Red Kite feeding center in Llanddeusant. It was a very cloudy day with horrible light. Also the place where they dump the found is some sort of an enclosure with a fence, so no good pics of a Red Kite with its claws out that day...









It also didnt help that when i took my backpack out of the car my 7D with 300mm attached bounced on the ground... Along with two extra lenses i had in there... Scared the crap out of me. Always check if the bag is zipped up!! Luckily no harm was done to the equipment.

The other place was Bwlch Nant yr Arian. (Dont try to pronounce that, you'll break your tongue.)

This is an awesome place. Lovely to walk around, and with good views on the feeding. Before the feeding started i took some pics of a mamma-duck with 4 ducklings.



During the feeding they decided they wanted their share of the goodies too! So, in the middle of the mayhem of about 60 kites feeding, mamma duck brought her younglings on the shore...











Last year we were at the same place, and then we witnessed a Kite snatching a duckling... So we thought this wouldnt end well. But! After all the little ducks had enough to eat they all went back in the water. Still... Bad parenting on mamma ducks part, in my opinion...





All of the above were taken with the 7D with 300 F/2.8 IS USM on a tripod with swinghead. (Yes, i brought it along!)


I also took this landscape with the Sigma 10-20mm;



This is the view from the parking lot. Stunning, eh?

Another update soon!