Last Friday night, I followed the birders to Frasers Hill & watched the masters at work. Sleeping at 1am & rising at 6am, I was so amazed at their dedication to be the first worms to bait the early birds. Here, I failed miserably to take pictures, resigned to the pavement & coffee station & watched. Dont get me wrong, I wasnt unhappy not being able to take pictures, I was just plotting how I can be a successful WANNABE!
Firstly, I have to learn the names of the birds so that I can rattle off as well as Chien when I see birds coming, or knows what on earth hes talking about when he sees them coming first!!!! Theyre everywhere!
Secondly, I have to wear camouflage. (Done. Ive gotten my spaghetti straps & hipster pants as Jason had suggested. Even got a sleeveless hooded camo jacket to go with it.) A support team has to be inconspicuous & stealth….just like the masters.
Thirdly, I must get over the shock & horror of Phil being able to eat anything under the sun or the fact that he would suggest eating them or catapulting them off trees or shooting a bow at anything with hoofs. Mention a hornbill & hell tell you they are not tasty! And to hear Chien add, Did you suck out the horn off its head too?!?!? Ohmigosh, a conservationists nightmare……Phil can be described aptly by two words, ABSOLUTELY ABO. (Short for aborigines/aboriginal). Hes great to be around though, he kept me awake with all these edible suggestions when I was on the verge of collapsing into slumber on my monopod.
Lastly, one must have the ability to laugh at oneself when you do everything for the first time. Heres an example of the differences:
The Pro (Chien)
The Abo (Phil)
Wannabe! (pummkin)
Cannot Be…
The birds are everywhere, sometimes you hear them but you dont see them. When you see them, you cant find them in your viewfinder. When you finally see through your viewfinder, the bird is so small, you squint & pray that your focus will lock on. Then they flee…….this is so frustrating……
You remember names but dont remember the sequence. Get corrected by Chien many times. You retreat to the coffee station & tell yourself to take a tea break. Then you hear a shriek, somewhat like bird with a sore throat. All you can manage to shout out is Tok tok tok! Thats a tok tok tok! When the surroundings cold, your brain freezes momentarily out of excitement, you say whatever that comes to mind. Woodpecker is non-existent in my vocabulary then. Just tok tok tok. A result of seeing too many PM threads of this name. An Indo Chinese Cuckoo Shrike becomes an Indian Chinese Cuckoo Bird to me. Soon, I was just pointing up in the sky shouting, Big Bird! Big Bird!
Here are some of my attempts but of course, no where near the pros. I stress that Ill stay as a Wannabe & stick to shooting micro underwater stuff, something which Im good at.
Tok Tok Tok…..dont know what kind. Ask Chien.
Forgetful Bird…….think its called Amnesia.
Some kind of thrush…….no, its not a disease.
Racket Tailed Drongo…….this one I know coz it makes a lot of noise outside my apartment every morning.
Phil being powered up by Tenaga!
The Real McCoys
Phil will be joining Philip this weekend & Philip is coming again in December, hopefully Chien can make it. Im going to set up the coffee station proper, be like a Yau Chin Tai-Tai (a rich man’s wife), sit down & wait for the birds to come before I lift my finger to shoot.
Wow, pretty nice shots. But I especially like the one with you in your “Pinkies” ha…ha…ha
They look so cute and cuddly..
Must have been a real experience going with pros for photoshoots. I remembered my first time with pros, I practically had go into stealth mode (try to blend with the surroundings) shy lah with these pros around, what with all the “Giant” lenses on tripods and what nots. Of course my shoot was not nature at that time, But portraiture, The models tend to look towards the “Large” lenses compared to our meagre so called Telephoto lenses. The photo of the “Thrush” was good (now, if only the background could be faded out…hmm…!) Pam, you are so good lah, should join National Geographic, you just discovered a new species of bird called “Amnesia” should make headlines in the next issue of N.G ha…ha…!
Really envious of all your escapades lah..!!
wahh..shooting birds, not easy eh..nice shots u’ve got.
u got a pair of crocs too..mwah also has one, and pink too kakaka…but it’s asadi version of crocs LOL
Wah… Soooo nice! What lense did you use lar?
[…] My foray into bird photography in 2006, was attributed by my best friend, Chien, (who passed away on the 24 August 2011) when he talked to me about how he got those waders by staking out in the water to wait for the right moment. His pictures are astounding. His passion was even more infectious. He was born to teach & by sharing what he knows, he had enlarged his circle of influence to emulate what he did. And everyone enjoyed doing what he taught us to do, birding & learning about the habitat of birds to get the right time & capture the right shots. He had been a great friend & I am a product of emulating what he did with bird photography. I will share with you my discovery along the way just as Chien was so enthusiastic about sharing his discoveries when he was alive. Whatever challenges in bird photography that comes my way, his teachings would always echo in my head. […]
[…] My foray into bird photography in 2006, was attributed by my best friend, Chien, (who passed away on the 24 August 2011) when he talked to me about how he got those waders by staking out in the water to wait for the right moment. His pictures are astounding. His passion was even more infectious. He was born to teach & by sharing what he knows, he had enlarged his circle of influence to emulate what he did. And everyone enjoyed doing what he taught us to do, birding & learning about the habitat of birds to get the right time & capture the right shots. He had been a great friend & I am a product of emulating what he did with bird photography. I will share with you my discovery along the way just as Chien was so enthusiastic about sharing his discoveries when he was alive. Whatever challenges in bird photography that comes my way, his teachings would always echo in my head. […]
[…] the research for me to make sure I didn’t make any wrong purchase. I made it this far since we started birding in 2006 is because his infectious influence in my life. He made me enjoy birding so much. When I was on the […]