My trip to Arsenal today had no right to be as good as it was. I had planned on an early trip to the Denver Zoo, but a late night at work left me sleeping in until 1400. Woke up, had some breakfast, and decided to go to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge instead. It was 95 degrees out, the sun was very bright, and I expected a boring drive.
Right upon entering, I saw a Swainson’s Hawk sitting about 60 feet off the road on the ground. I had the 150-600 on my F5 so I could finish up a roll of Ilford 3200 (more on that to come), so that was the camera I grabbed. I did what I thought I’d never do with a film camera and stuck it into continuous high. 9 bucks for 36 exposures, plus about $20 for developing and scanning is 80 cents per shot. That means the F5’s high speed of 8 fps is $6.40 per second. I had 12 frames left before I got to Arsenal, I had zero after that hawk took off. Excited to see how those turn out, though I’ll admit getting to use that machine gun shutter for a second and a half was worth the 10 buck cost of entry.
Beyond that, the highlight of the day however was this beautiful boy. He and what I assume were a couple of his brothers were munching around in the grass. Something spooked them, and the other two booked it. I tracked them, but once they went around the windshield of my car I turned back to see where #3 was; he was walking right toward me. Well okay, self-declared zoological portraiture person, make a portrait!
I still think my Lemur shot with this lens is the most beautiful photo I’ve ever made. But this is certainly the most beautiful photo I’ve ever made that I’m allowed to sell!
The Zootographer 