Congratulations to Scott Dere for winning the Wildlife In Motion Assignment.
"During the 2011-2012 winter, there were two adult Snowy Owls and two owlets that were found across long island. The Park Officials I spoke with say that this male has been wintering here for 20 years. The adult female could be found on the dunes at Jamaica Bay, Queens while the younger owls were found at the beaches of Breezy Point and Hampton Bays. This was an awesome sighting just miles from New York City.
"I did pre-visualize this photograph, but I was definitely in the right place at the right time. I found the Owl late in the afternoon towards sun down. As the large bird started to become more alert near sunset, I prepared for him to start hunting. Sure enough, as soon as the sun was gone, the Snowy Owl launched off the sand. He was wide-eyed and ready for action. He came right at the camera with no fear of me or the large equipment I was carrying. I used the Al Servo Focus with the settings f/4.5 at 1/1000 and ISO 1250 to get some speed at low-light."
Dere used a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens,a cable release, Gitzo tripod and a Wimberly head.
Wonderful shot! Congratulations. Couldn’t happen to a better picture. It’s easy to see why this won the assignment.
Beautiful. Congratulations.