Gull Walking in the Sky and Other Photos

It was a nice, calm day today. With the sun out and no wind, the temperatures in the high forties actually felt warm. I decided to go out and shoot some photos this afternoon. My first stop was False Bay since the birding has been so great there. The tide was out, so the "bay" was really just a huge mudflat with some great feeding puddles for the gulls. The mew gulls were out en masse, and although I didn't see any foot-paddling, they were all marching about the puddles and seemingly finding a lot to eat.

I really like this first photo because it blurs the distinction between water and sky. Since the water was so calm it was reflecting the sky quite nicely, and to me it looks like the gull is walking in the sky. It's only the rocks in the top of the photo that bring your perception back to reality by reflecting in the water.

Since I was shooting into the sun, the lighting was harsh and the colors didn't really come out in many of my photos. Without vibrant colors and with almost a silhouette effect on the gulls, I thought a black and white photo might turn out cool. Here's one I thought worked well - notice why I used the word marching to describe what the gulls were doing.

I never have much success shooting landscape shots with a mountain in the background, because it's hard to get everything to expose properly. If any of you other photographers have any tips on getting the mountain exposure right, I'd love to hear them! Still, I thought this shot with grazing sheep in the foreground turned out kind of cool. It looks better in a larger version, and as always you can click on the photo to see it bigger.

Finally, before I was heading home, the late afternoon sun was looking beautiful through the clouds and back-lighting the trees. I wanted to add another element to the photo to make it more interesting, and the closest thing at hand were these cows. I had to jump across a ditch, crouch down, and shoot the photo through a fence, but I think it was worth the extra effort. There are actually three cows in the shot - notice the mom and calf nose-to-nose under the trees in the right side of the image.