It is early morning and the sun has just come up over the horizon, shining brightly over the little courtyard where I sit and enjoy my early morning coffee. I have spotted various birds coming through this courtyard throughout the summer mornings and decided to bring my camera with me this morning. My luck! As I drank some of my coffee I heard the familiar sounds of the Cape White-eye (Zosterops virens) around me and in the trees. I look up and right in front of me, unaware of me sitting so close, is the friend eating a worm that it found in the palm tree leaves. Perfect shot, I think to myself! And I start bursting photographs with my Nikon D300 DSLR camera. In an instant the friend flew away, frightened by my camera sounding like a high burst machine gun. Distraught, but happy that I could get the shot, I sit back and look at the old technology in my hand cursing the shutter for ruining a peaceful moment.
With the release of the Nikon Z9 I think most wildlife photographers are dizzy with excitement with the idea that there is no mechanical shutter in the camera. If I had such technology in my hands that morning, the silent capturing would not have troubled the feeding bird, and I would have gotten more images of this beautiful bird. But is this the future? Is the future here? Nikon did a revolutionary thing by removing the mechanical shutter. The possibility that this technology will be in more entry-level cameras in the future is there. The Nikon Z9 is well above most people's budget. I can only look in envy at others who can buy it. Maybe one day. But my hopes are that this technology will become standard, the new future. Oh, we can dream. In the meantime, please enjoy this rather artful black and white photograph:
I can only imagine what it is thinking. One of its thoughts must be: what is this clothed animal doing trying to trouble my feast of bugs?
Running after the little friend, I captured its behind as it went into the thicket. I like this photograph, it is rather playful.
And, so we can only hope for the future that is already here. It is scary to think that we are in the midst of moving towards brand new technology. I need to replace my Nikon D300. Its shutter is due to break anytime. It is well past 100 000 standing on around 114 000 images. I think I can still push it, but with every image I take, I fear that it will be my last. In any case. Please enjoy some of the other images before my camera frightened our friend. He/she is truly acrobatic and beautiful.
