I mean really, other than me, who forgets to take their tripod when they are going out to shoot with a 600mm lens. Spare battery, sure. Memory cards, maybe…but the TRIPOD?!

Yep, we all have them. One of those days where everything is going wrong and it seems we are just destined to not take any photo’s. I had weather, subject and memory (see above!) issues recently. However, I hung in there and was glad I did…

I decided I’d head out on this particularly cold Janurary morning for some sunrise shots of the frost. It would be the first chance I’d had to use the 600mm in almost 2 months and I was itching to play with it again. I woke up at 7am and looked out the window. It looked very frosty but also very misty…however the weather had predicted a sunny start to the day so I figured the mist would burn off as the sun came up. So I headed out and arrived around 15 minutes before sunrise and that’s where the problems began…!

First up, I opened the boot and realised in my sleepy state I had forgotten to pack the tripod! Not the smartest of moves when you have come out shooting with a 600mm! It usually lives in the boot but I had forgotten I had taken it out a few weeks back. Secondly, the ‘sunny start’ to the day turned out to be a full blown dull, grey, flat foggy one at the park. Even by 9am there was no evidence in the sky of where the sun was, let alone if it had risen! And lastly, all the birds were huddled in small patches of water that hadn’t frozen. So getting my frosty bird shots was out the window as through the viewfinder they were just colourless birds in grey water!

As I headed back to the car I decided to try one other smaller ponds on the other side of the car park. It was here that I managed to find a couple of coots, one of which was kind enough to sit on the ice and allow me to get the shot above. Not having a tripod was a blessing as it forced me to lay on the floor so I was practically at eye level, giving excellent isolation of the bird from it’s surroundings. And the dull flat light allowed me to hold lots of detail in the black feathers without blowing the whites massively in the head, which is always the trick with coots.

So, when all seems lost, never give up! Even if the weather is rubbish or your subjects aren’t doing what you want…keep at it. If you have the energy to carry on, then do so. Don’t be tempted to call it a day too early because you never know what you might find, even when all seems hopeless!