Fragments From Floyd

But ya shoulda seen the one that got away.

I'm still having to learn to think in 'long glass mode'. I haven't had telephoto capabilities since 35mm days years ago. Then, I carried a straight 200mm that I rarely bothered getting out of the case, though there's no telling how many miles I toted that heavy sucker for thirty years. Now I have image-pulling power again, but I don't always consider the possibilities for such things as wildlife. One day last week as we set off on our next to next to last walk of the day (when Ann's home we take what seems like dozens) I remembered to change lenses to the long (heavy) one. Tsuga had flushed turkeys from around the far bend up the valley the day before. Odds were low they'd be there a second day at the same time, but hey: I had to hope, maybe.

It was 4:00 in the afternoon. Muted sun shafted down onto the valley floor, diffused by the pines three hundred feet above us along the western ridge. I had the camera on and set for high-speed motion at optimum focal distance for where a turkey might pass on the wing--just in case. We approached the end of the valley, Tsuga as usual taking the lead. He rounded the bend out of our vision, at a gallop and was gone for a few seconds when a flurry of dark shapes came directly at us down the grass-covered road. The first large spring gobbler got past me before I could raise the camera, but the second--who obligingly veered away so as to be both far enough away to nicely fill the frame and in the best possible light against the dark hillside--I framed wonderfully in the viewfinder. I squeezed the shutter triumphantly, expecting the gratifying shock and sound of the shutter. And there was nothing.

Quickly I checked to be sure the camera was on and lens cap off. Yes. What else? WHAT ELSE? Here came a fifth iridescent turkey still flushing from around the bend: set, compose, watch timing for rising of the wings. SNAP! Nothing. The viewfinder showed an odd message: eRR. What the...

Not only had I missed the best wildlife shot I'd thought about taking in a decade, but my camera was broken. I could feel my shoulders droop. I didn't talk much for the rest of the way home.

I figured it out, finally. When I'd put the lens on the body, the f-stop wasn't set to 22 as it should be, so that the lens's electronics mesh with the camera body. That was the eRR and the reason I only came back from that walk with the mental image of the beautifully composed perfect turkey gobbler at just the right distance in perfect light when I was prepared--well, almost prepared--to take his portrait in flight. Sigh.

The deer above were two young-of-the-year who chased each other up and down the neighbor's hillside as I was driving by. They cooperated briefly for a snapshot. There is an innocence in these creatures at this age that makes it hard to vilify them as adults for the harm they do our vegetation and the front ends of our vehicles. (Click image above for larger version.)