Intuition and the perfect shot

This morning, I finally managed to visit the Squamish River to attempt photographing bald eagles this winter. My preferred location is the Brackendale Eagles Park, situated atop a dike along the river. This elevated position offers an excellent viewpoint of the surrounding area and opportunities to capture images of eagles as they feed on salmon. If you arrive at the right time, you can see dozens of them along the river.

I've been coming here for the last few years and have been lucky to capture great video of them as well. However, it requires a lot of time and patience. Sometimes, I've driven the 90 km to the river, waited for hours, and not gotten a single good shot. A couple of times, I didn't get a shot at all. Yet, in other ocassions, I've been fortunate enough to have my lens pointed in the right direction and captured amazing images without any wait.

I’ve got there, I took out the cameras, tripod, and the big 600mm lens, walked up to the dike, and looked around. Not a single eagle. I walked a couple of hundred meters back and forth and waited again. It was cold (-4C/24F), which feels even colder when you're just standing.

After almost two hours, I packed up my gear and headed back to the car. I was about to call it a day and admit defeat, but then I decided to try another spot further up, to the Cheakamus River.

There were no eagles either. As I started heading back, I remembered a pond just beside the road where I had seen eagles in the past. Driving slowly, I spotted a juvenile eagle through the trees. I quickly stopped the car, grabbed the camera and lens (this time with the monopod), and walked through the snow toward the pond.

There, I got a good shot of the bird.

I took more pictures, but after just a couple of minutes, she flew off. Further ahead, I spotted an adult eagle with a beautiful black patch on his forehead. I got closer, but he was too far away, even for the 600mm lens. I had left my 1.4x extender in the car, which could have given me a closer view, but I wasn't sure if the eagle would wait for me. After a while, I decided to take my chances and go back to the car to get the extender.

I made it back just in time to catch him taking off and managed to shoot a few pictures.

Competence, Determination, and Luck

Over the last few months, I have been reflecting on how the right combination of Competence, Determination, and Luck is needed to be successful. With only one of these, you won't do well; with two, you can do well; and with all three, you are likely to be successful.

We often overemphasize our competence and determination but forget how important luck (that which is outside our control) is for our success.

Intuition

This morning I realized there's also intuition, which involves putting ourselves in places and moments, without knowing why, where luck, combined with the other two factors, could lead us to success.

I had the competence (knowing how to take pictures and having good equipment) and the determination (a combination of patience and masochism), but I lacked luck. I trusted my intuition and headed towards the pond, took the risk of going back to get the extender, and was rewarded with great shots.