Timing is Everything

There is an old saying in photography that timing is everything.

After six days on the road with a wonderful couple from the United States, I think we may have taken that saying a little too literally.

Timing is everything became something of an inside joke during this trip. Sometimes it was about the birds. Sometimes it was about the weather. Sometimes it was simply about being in the right place at the right moment.

And, as it turned out, it was a pretty good description of the entire adventure.

Starting in St. John's

Our first day was spent exploring St. John's and the communities along the coast.

We made our way through Pouch Cove, Torbay, Flatrock and Petty Harbour, taking in the coastline, the communities and the ever-changing landscape that surrounds the Avalon Peninsula.

But the real surprise of the day came when we made our way to the beach at Kelligrews.

What looked like a fairly ordinary stretch of shoreline turned into an excellent wildlife photography opportunity. We were blessed with a wonderful assortment of shorebirds, including Spotted Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and several other species.

It was a great way to begin the trip.

And, as would become a recurring theme over the next few days, it was a good reminder that sometimes the best photographic opportunities are the ones you don't necessarily plan for.

The Steller's Sea Eagle

Day two brought one of the biggest attractions of the trip.

The Steller's Sea Eagle.

We headed out with Craig March of Saltwater Pleasyres in search of this amazing bird, but also made stops at Shag Rock and Red Rocks. The Steller's was certainly the star of the show, but it was far from the only thing worth photographing.

Bald Eagles were around, Common Terns were hanging out on the rocks, and Kittiwakes and Guillemots added plenty of activity to the scene.

There is something particularly exciting about photographing a bird like the Steller's. It is an enormous and spectacular bird, but seeing it is only the beginning. The real challenge is being ready when it decides to do something interesting.

You can watch.

You can wait.

You can anticipate.

And then, hopefully, you are ready at exactly the right moment.

Timing is everything.

Cape St. Mary's

That afternoon we headed south to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve.

The Cape delivered exactly what we had hoped for. We had a wonderful visit with the Northern Gannet colony and plenty of opportunities to photograph these incredible birds as they moved along the cliffs and out over the ocean.

But there was one problem.

The weather.

More specifically, the heat.

And the black flies.

Cape St. Mary's is normally a place where the wind is almost as much a part of the experience as the birds. That wind keeps the air moving, takes the edge off the temperature and, perhaps most importantly, gives the black flies something else to worry about.

On this particular afternoon, there was almost no wind.

The result was an unusually hot Cape St. Mary's and clouds of black flies that seemed determined to make sure we didn't stay too long.

It was a rare combination.

Beautiful scenery.

Thousands of gannets.

Almost no wind.

And enough black flies to make three people reconsider their life choices.

So, despite having a great visit, we eventually decided that our timing at the Cape had run its course.

It was time to head toward Bonavista.

More Than the Wildlife

While the birds, particularly the Steller's Sea Eagle and the puffins, certainly stole the show on this trip, they were never the only reason we were out there.

We also had plenty of quiet time to explore and photograph the landscapes that make this place so special.

From the rugged coastline around the Avalon Peninsula to the rocky shores, sea stacks, open ocean and small communities around Bonavista, Newfoundland gave us no shortage of opportunities to put the wildlife lenses down and simply take in the scenery.

Those quieter moments are an important part of these trips for me.

Sometimes we were actively looking for birds. Other times, there was no particular target at all. We could stop somewhere that caught our eye, take our time, look at the light and find a composition that told its own story.

And while wildlife photography may have been the focus of much of this particular adventure, Newfoundland doesn't need a puffin, an eagle or a gannet in the frame to be worth photographing.

The landscape has a story of its own.

In fact, some of the most memorable photographs from a trip can come from those moments when we aren't chasing anything at all.

We simply stop.

We look.

And we appreciate where we are.

Mifflins, Partridgeberries and Planning the Day

Bonavista became our home for the remainder of the trip, and before long, one particular place became part of our daily routine.

Mifflins Tea Room.

Breakfast at Mifflins quickly became one of our favourite parts of the morning. It was where we would sit down, have a good breakfast, talk about the previous day's adventures and figure out what we wanted to chase that day.

It also became the place where one of my guests discovered a genuine appreciation for Newfoundland's partridgeberries.

I suspect that particular discovery was not on the original itinerary.

But that's one of the things I love about these trips.

You can plan every minute of a day and still end up remembering the things you never planned at all.

And yes, partridgeberries became something of a recurring theme for the rest of our time in Bonavista.

The Puffin Challenge

Of course, the primary focus of our time in Bonavista was the puffins.

And specifically, puffins in flight.

Photographing a puffin sitting on a rock is one thing.

Photographing one flying directly toward you is something else entirely.

These little birds are fast, unpredictable and remarkably good at changing direction just when you think you've figured out what they are going to do.

For the three of us, photographing puffins in flight quickly became one of the great challenges of the trip.

We worked at it.

We tried different positions.

We watched their flight paths.

We anticipated.

We missed shots.

We got shots.

We missed some really good shots.

And occasionally, we got one that made us stop and say, "Okay, that one worked."

It was one of those situations where the equipment can only take you so far. You can have the right lens, the right shutter speed and the right autofocus settings, but eventually it comes down to reaction, anticipation and being ready when the bird decides to cooperate.

In other words...

Timing is everything.

Out on the Water with Skipper Bob

We also had the opportunity to get out on the water with Skipper Bob from Discovery Sea Adventure Tours.

The zodiac trip gave us another perspective on the Bonavista coastline and another chance to see the landscape and wildlife from a completely different angle.

There is something special about being down at water level, surrounded by the cliffs, sea stacks and open Atlantic.

And, naturally, it gave us even more opportunities to photograph.

Because apparently we hadn't taken enough pictures yet.

The Last Morning

And then came the final morning.

After several days of trying to capture puffins in flight, we finally got the conditions we had been waiting for.

Near-perfect conditions.

The light was good.

The birds were cooperating.

The flight paths were giving us opportunities.

And by this point, we had all become pretty familiar with what we were trying to accomplish.

We were ready.

And then it happened.

Puffins started flying exactly where we wanted them to.

The light came together.

The backgrounds worked.

The birds were close enough.

And suddenly, those frustrating attempts from earlier in the trip started to make sense.

All of that watching and waiting had paid off.

There is a particular feeling when you see the bird coming, track it through the viewfinder and realize that everything is lining up.

You don't know exactly what the final image will look like yet.

You just know that this might be the moment.

You press the shutter.

And sometimes, you get it.

That was our final morning.

After days of chasing the perfect puffin flight photograph, we were finally given the conditions we needed to make it happen.

The timing was finally right.

Six Days, One Very Good Inside Joke

Looking back, this trip really did seem to revolve around timing.

We had the right timing at Kelligrews when the shorebirds gave us such a wonderful opportunity.

We had the timing of the Steller's Sea Eagle and the other birds around Shag Rock and Red Rocks.

We had the timing at Cape St. Mary's, although perhaps not quite the timing we wanted when the wind disappeared and the black flies arrived in force.

We had the timing of breakfast at Mifflins, where plans were made and partridgeberries were discovered.

We had the timing of the zodiac trip with Skipper Bob.

And finally, we had the timing of those puffins on our last morning.

That is wildlife photography.

You can control your camera.

You can control your settings.

You can choose where you stand.

But you cannot control the bird.

You cannot control the weather.

You cannot control the light.

You cannot make the puffin fly where you want it to fly.

All you can do is put yourself in the right place, pay attention and be ready when the opportunity arrives.

Sometimes you get lucky.

Sometimes you don't.

And sometimes you spend several days working toward the photograph you want, only to have everything finally come together on the very last morning.

Which brings us right back to our inside joke.

Timing is everything.

Six days.

A lot of miles.

A lot of birds.

A lot of photographs.

A few partridgeberries.

More than a few laughs.

And one wonderful couple who were willing to chase the next photograph with me.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend six days exploring Newfoundland with a camera in hand.

And when it was all over, I think we had one thing figured out pretty well.

The photographs are important.

The memories are better.

But if you want both...

Timing is everything.