Real or Painting?

Gallery: AvianPosted January 24, 2011484 views18 comments

So at work today I got this lame Monday morning assignment to go to the Library of Congress and try and get a photo of the coopers hawk that has been trapped in the building for a week. I'm thinking this is a crap assignment and I'm never going to get a good frame. Its just the photo desk trying to keep us busy when there is really little going on. Its Monday and Congress is dead and of course the White House is quiet because the President is getting ready to give his State of the Union tomorrow night. All I had was a 35-70 and a 70-200 my standard street PJ set up not even a tele-converter. Spending your day photographing white guys in suits does not require any special gear and going light is the order of the day because of the amount of walking you do in D.C.
Well little did I know the hawk had set up house keeping in the lantern section the of Library of Congress's Main Reading Room in the Thomas Jefferson Building or the rotunda if you know the building and its grand ceiling. Well I made a nice frame and had to eat a little crow for giving the assignment editor so much grief for having to go over there. Let me know what you think out of my boring crappy assignment.
NIKON D3
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 2000
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/500
Program: Manual

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 24, 2011 at 4:44 PM

Heard about this bird Doug. Nice shot.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 24, 2011 at 5:23 PM

Awesome!

Well done.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Lorna Taylor on January 24, 2011 at 5:32 PM

Great shot ,it is almost like she is covering her head to avoid the hawk.

Registered on November 12, 2010, 254 Posts, 3083 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on January 24, 2011 at 5:33 PM

Looks great to me Doug. You managed to obtain a sharp image with the hawk perfectly positioned with reference to the subjects in the painting. It also provides a reason why the lady in the painting seems to be protecting herself with a cloth.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 24, 2011 at 7:43 PM

Really awesome shot with the full wing/tail extension and it does a great job of giving a sense of scale to that ceiling mural. Congrats

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on January 24, 2011 at 9:55 PM

Whoa, how cool is that??!!!

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Ernie Marx on January 24, 2011 at 10:31 PM

What a great take on what could have been such a mundane subject! Hope the bosses liked it.

Registered on July 14, 2010, 10 Posts, 67 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on January 24, 2011 at 10:37 PM

Much better than taking photos of people. Really cool!

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 24, 2011 at 11:05 PM

When I first opened this i couldn't figure out why it was posted in the Avian Gallery. Now I understand. What a cool image. I'll bet your assignment editor was thrilled

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on January 25, 2011 at 1:17 AM

One of the most original bird photos I've ever seen. You really nailed it!

I can't stop looking at it and studying it.

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on January 25, 2011 at 5:38 AM

Amazing Douglas. Not being familiar with the congress library I initially thought you'd superimposed a shot of the bird on a photo of an old painted plate.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 25, 2011 at 8:10 AM

what a cool shot, Douglas! definitely a one-of-a-kind original. And I love Steve's suggestion about how the woman looks to be shielding herself from the bird. nicely done!

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on January 25, 2011 at 11:03 AM

Amazing story and assignment, plus you still got the shot of a lifetime, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 25, 2011 at 4:24 PM

An excellent piece of photo journalism. Nice work Doug!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on January 25, 2011 at 6:32 PM

Very cool indeed!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on January 25, 2011 at 7:14 PM

This bird made our nbc news tonight...I had hoped they would show your photo! Nice capture of a memorably experience! I look at photography kind of like surf fishing...you never know what you're gonna get! Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on January 25, 2011 at 7:47 PM

Doug,

At first I thought this was a photo of an antique plate then I noticed the hawk. How nice to have photos of this.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Rebecka on January 26, 2011 at 11:19 AM

What an awesome, unique image. I certainly hope this is going to be published prominently?? It really does look like the depicted woman is shielding herself from the hawk. What an opportunity.

What are the plans to remove the hawk from the building??

Registered on February 5, 2009, 170 Posts, 924 Comments