It’s nice when you make a plan and it works perfectly down to the very last detail. Based on the weather forecast, I switched our gannet boat trip from Thursday to Friday. As noted previously, Thursday afternoon was fantastic to say the least. And our gannet boat trip, with clouds thank you very much, was beyond anyone’s imagination. Jacke McCurdy (1000 images), here along with sister Arden (2000) –both real troupers!, described it well when she said, “Even though you told us what to expect, I’ve never seen anything like that in all of my 83 years. Good friend and BPN moderator Peter Kes, who has traveled the world photographing birds and animals, said that it was the most amazing wildlife spectacle he had ever seen. Peter created 6308 images in two hours. Newbies Tony Zeilinsky and Chris Loffredo made 2750 and 3500 respectively. Recidivist Phil Frigon made 5500 and multiple IPT vet Loren Waxman made “about 3,000.”. Anita North who has been on too many IPTs to count, was not feeling well and created a very low (for her) 3020. Having been several times, I wound up being somewhat more selective than most with only 1150 images, mostly of single gannets in flight and diving. When we return on Monday afternoon, weather willing, I will do some video. <\/p>\n
Just in case you have not been counting, today makes 20 days in a row with a new educational blog post \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n
Hi Artie, I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say thanks for everything you\u2019ve done to help my photography. The lessons I\u2019ve learned from The Art of Bird Photography I and II<\/em>, through your daily blogs, and on a pair of IPTs (spaced 20 years apart), have been invaluable. They\u2019ve influenced my shooting profoundly and I know I am a better photographer as a result. This week one of my images won an Audubon award (People\u2019s Choice in the 2017 photography competition). Your inspiration and teachings played as large a part in the formation of the image as my hitting the shutter button. At a minimum, the official scorer should show you with an assist. So, thanks! Hopefully it won\u2019t take another 20 years before I capture something special again.<\/em> Kind Regards, Warren<\/p>\n I could not secure the lodging that I needed for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT in Dunbar, Scotland, so I went from Hotels.Com to Booking.Com and was pleasantly surprised. I found the rooms that I needed with ease at a hotel that was not even on Hotels.Com, and it was a nice hotel that I had seen in person. And the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here<\/a> and you will earn a $25 reward. <\/p>\nBooking.Com<\/h3>\n