Cypress Stand at Daybreak
Photographer: Tobias Yoder
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1/640 • f/6.3 • ISO 640 • Nikon Z8 • 90mm • Nikon Z 24-200mm
I see this style of image as working like a tapestry of details and sub-compositions to explore. The lack of a prominent main subject lets your eye wander and pick out little vignettes. The birds, the fog, the trees, and the relationships between them. That makes it more fun as a large print that might stay on the wall for a while.
The morning I captured this photo I woke up later than I should have. Even after 10 years of bird photography, I still cut it close sometimes. I had about a two mile kayak to this cormorant composition I had scouted the night before. With no fog at my camp spot in the morning, I told myself, “eh, I will probably find some subjects closer.”
Once I was on the water and first light came, I realized the fog was incredible but it was just only over the lake. There were no nearby birds, I needed to make it all the way to the roost. The shoreline completely vanished, and as I paddled eventually I could hear faint cormorant calls ahead which guided me through the calm foggy void.
Thankfully, I had just enough pre-sunrise margin to make the two-mile paddle in time to watch the sun rise behind my composition.
