Lying Eye Level with an Alligator
It’s been several months since I’ve been to Brazos Bend State Park so I got up last Sunday morning and decided to head that direction to check out the local wildlife. It was very dead from a bird perspective. The weeds growing in 40 acre lake have killed most of the action along the trail on the north side of the lake . Luckily found this alligator lying along the trail.
Took the first shot from a standing position with my tripod to give the perspective of him near the trail but thought that it was a boring photo. Got closer and took my camera off of the tripod and went down on one knee for a little lower shot. Didn’t like that one either so ended up lying on the trail to get the second shot, handholding my camera/500mm lens. Only minor cropping to panoramic format. Needed elbow pads for that one.
The gator looked pretty calm so I walked past him on the left side of the trail. He didn’t move his body but raised his toes up off of the ground as I walked by, which was interesting. Got to the other side and laid down on the trail again for the last photo.
Getting down low works great for gators as well as birds, as long as they are well fed….
Aperture priority, 1/1000 sec @ F 4.5, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/1600 sec @ F 5, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F 10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, 500mm
Tim Timmis Photography 