Snow…

was everywhere, as I drove down a country road at a fairly high rate of speed. The sky was white with clouds and snow, the ground was covered in snow, and the air was full of it as well. Temps were in the middle teens and the wind was churning threw the tall turbines in the distance, which are also white. In the midst of the whiteness there would be a momentary interruption of color as a barn or house went by, along with an occasional tree. There are not too many trees out there in the flatlands of Michigan’s Thumb, all thanks to a booming agricultural industry. Now and again there would be a fence post or few. On which, something, somehow caught my eye; it was white.

Then, in the whiteness…

Perched atop a fence post was a very lovely snowy white owl. At first I thought it was a wood carving. I had to turn around for a second look. Driving past at a slower speed I watched as the owl’s head made a 360 degree rotation, I knew he was real now! I parked a respectable distance away and put on the flashers. I popped the trunk open and grabbed both cameras, with my longest lenses on them. I figured I would start with a 450mm f/4 (1.5x for cropped sensor) and if I could get close enough to frame up with the 225mm f/2.8 I would. I made a direct crossing of the road and was greeted with the following site.

  The darn owl had decided that even though I had not gotten any closer, my approach to his holy side of the road was enough of an offence that he needed to reward me with flying away. So off he went into the white sky and almost disappeared.

Almost…

I was able to track the flight of the mostly white owl in the white sky enough to see that he landed on the edge of a barn roof. He perched there taunting me to trespass onto the old man’s farm. I waited for a while to see if he would come back down again but with the cold and the wind my patience wore thin quickly. I went down the road a little ways so that I could get as close as possible to his perch. I used the longest lens available to try and catch a good look at him.

Since it was the holiday season, I decided that it would be best to not disturb the home-owner for permission to bother his cattle to get a better shot. Knowing that greater resolution and or a longer lens was needed I came to the determination to try and get the best I could from my position.

So there he was perched atop the barn, looking all owley.

Cropping the photo down I was able to make the proportions and composition acceptable.

So, what are your stories of those fish which got away? Comment below!

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