Dale Matson

So, I was sitting in my truck near Millerton Lake before sunrise and waiting for the local bald eagle to drop by and land in a nearby tree. It was a cold morning and after shutting down the engine, I rolled down the window to get a clear shot if the eagle landed. It began getting cold inside the cab so I rolled the window back up but then I couldn’t take a clear shot at the bird. I had the telephoto lens on but brought my Zeiss Batis 85mm 1.8 and Loxia 50mm f2 for some early sunrise shots before it became too overcast out over the lake.

Well, the sunrise looked nice and I guessed I could switch lenses, drive over to a good spot for a few shots over the lake and come back for a shot of the eagle in a minute. I switched lenses and drive about a quarter mile for my landscape shots.

I got a nice shot in low light with the Batis 85 followed by a couple nice shots in low light with the loxia but what was that…Oh shoot, here comes the eagle. I got a low light shot of the eagle flying by and disappearing in the distance with my Loxia. If I had only shot first with the Loxia and then the Batis 85, the Sony fe 70-300 shot at f 5.6 would have been too grainy in the low light anyway. Next time however, I need to ask myself the basic question. “Why am I here today?”