Rambler: Terry Drink at Hand: Pinot Noir (boxed, from Target)

No fancy wine tonight...just a nice box from Target. So, the pictures below were taken last year as part of the 2010 POTD project. Of course, only one made the cut. Like most days when I was living in Monterey, I'd go for a run in the evening (of less than 3 miles) and then head out with the camera to get a shot. I usually tried to wait for the sun to get low on the horizon so that I could get the "golden light" and perhaps get that beautiful sunset with the rocks and ocean. Unfortunately, the days leading up to these shots weren't so promising, so I set out to my favorite spot to shoot birds. For some reason, I was in a "try and capture a bird in flight" mode. The spot I like to shoot birds (or gulls) is just before you reach Point Piños on the Bay side.

Usually there are quite a few birds hanging around the rocks. To my surprise when I arrived at this spot, birds weren't the only wildlife playing in the ocean. There was one otter who just seemed to be enjoying the waves. Ditching my thoughts of birds (Massey's jaw just hit the floor as I typed this), I sought to get a decent shot of the otter. And so there I am, with my 100-400mm hiking on the rocks trying to get as close as I can to the little guy without getting wet...400mm only gets you so close (the 1.4 extender would have been nice).

Everything was going well. That is to say, I was snapping off shots not knowing if any were actually turning out, but I was hopeful. And then, it happened. Watching the otter, I stepped on a rock that had some seaweed on it and slipped. Oops! Fortunately, I fell quite gracefully and saved the lens. Whew! The only damage was a big scratch on the back of my 40D. Thankfully, the 40D is metal and not plastic. Slight flustered, I saw that the otter was closer than he had been and was able to get a shot of him just dipping over the wave...and that became my POTD for that day.

So, get out there this weekend and get the shot....and watch your step!

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