Eagles say “cheese”

By Rex Dolby and Stuart Jewett

Van Wert Area Photography Club members Randy Shellenbarger, Mike Taylor, and Stuart Jewett braved the elements to take an early morning trip to Defiance in search of eagles on Saturday, Jan. 23.    Stuart had his Nikon D600, with a Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens.  Mike used his Nikon 3200 with a  Sigma 150-500 f 5.6 lens and Randy packed a Sigma 120-400mm lens with his Sony A77  camera, which had  internal doubling capabilities. This gave him the equivalent of a 1200mm lens.

As it turned out, Randy was the only one with enough lens to get a decent shot because the birds were estimated by Mike to be 400 to 500 yards from the men.  Mike, however, was able to do some cropping in post editing to produce some acceptable pictures.   Stuart had to settle for enjoying what he could see, and taking a photo of four Volkswagons stacked on top of each other to decorate a security light at Pack Rats in Defiance.   Fifteen eagles were counted at the Power Dam, and another two adults at Independence Dam.

 

The Van Wert Area Photography Club is planning a field trip for members on Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. to Ottoville, where they’ll be given a tour of a photography studio originally started in the 1890s, with all the old equipment still in place.   Jim Niedecken is the current owner. His father before him, and grandfather before that started and ran the photo studio. More information on the trip will be released next week but you might want to mark your calendars now.