A PERFECT MORNING
Best moment I have ever spent photographing wildlife.
For weeks and weeks, I had been observing and photographing a same heron, at the edge of English Bay Beach (not too far from the main heron colony in Stanley Park). I always kept my distance, and watched it hunt early in the morning, late at dusk, while it was raining...
Then, one morning, as it was standing on a rock near the water's edge, I settled next to huge logs that had washed away against the Seawall – and the heron just flew towards me, and landed a few meters away.
I stayed put, perfectly still, as it started to walk on the log.... Before stopping, right in front of me, at arm's length. And I could see everything: its different types of feathers, its eyelids, how it groomed itself... As all around us, the weather kept on changing: from grey and dull, to bright and sunny; then to stormy... The sky went from deep blue to baby blue, and the light from diffused to direct.
For over two hours, I observed that heron, up close – which was such a unique, fascinating and exhilarating experience. I took hundreds and hundreds of photos on that day, and more of that same heron during my 2019 stay. So here's a selection, taken during that "perfect morning".
