It’s been a while since I’ve gone out of my way to try something new with my photography. Which is sad, because how else am I supposed to learn things and get better? So this week’s blog post is about bird photography and how utterly infuriating it is. Seriously, I’m not a very patient person 99% of the time.  I usually take photos by walking around in random places and shooting as quickly as I can at things that amuse or interest me while trying to not get left behind by the group that I’m with. (there may be a reason I don’t get invited to go hiking a lot…) But for some reason I’m currently obsessed with shooting the fickle little hummingbirds that live in my backyard. Actually, the reason is probably due to the following graphic on Pinterest:

Turns out Rashell likes hummingbirds and had been trying to shoot them out of her own living room window… So I guess my first thought was “yay hummingbirds!” without really analyzing why… That and it was Christmas day, presents had already been opened, and I was just sitting around the house relaxing.

Fun facts about hummingbirds: They’re tiny and very fast.  I would spot one out by the feeder and gather my camera to go shoot and it would be gone. This went on for probably a few hours.  Eventually I sat in a chair by the window with my camera up and waited.  This kind of worked, however I would get bored and wander off only to have the little buggers immediately come over and start circling the feeder. Figures!

Also apparently bird photography is one type of photography where the gear actually does matter quite a bit.  It is vital to have long lenses with as much speed as you can afford.  My longest lens is a 300mm F4 old film lens made by Canon and adapted to my Sony camera after the fact.  Did I mention it’s manual focus only? Yeah, that’s important. So not only am I trying to be in the right place at the right time to shoot these stupid hummingbirds, but I have to do it old school with manual focus.  I’m an idiot. 😉

So, while this was a fun experiment, I’m pretty sure that shooting birds isn’t going to be my new hobby.  It was frustrating but it did keep me entertained for a few hours.