For two days, a storm thrashed Quebec’s Gulf of St. Lawrence during my Deluxe Atlantic Puffins Galore workshop—but the Atlantic Puffins carried on.
The wind howled, waves crashed against Île aux Perroquets and sea spray filled the air. The Puffins still had hungry chicks waiting in their burrows, so they continued flying out to sea and returning with bills full of fish.
For us, the storm transformed the water below the island into constantly changing bands of grey and white.
The challenge was acquiring an approaching Puffin, tracking it through the wind and spray and waiting for the split second when it lowered its bright orange feet and spread its wings to land.
This Atlantic Puffin came directly towards me with a bill full of fish. Its feet dropped, its wings opened and the raging water disappeared into a soft wash of waves and sea spray behind it.
My exposure was already locked in Manual mode at ISO 5,000, f/4 and 1/5,000 second. The fast shutter speed froze the landing posture and the tiny droplets of water surrounding the bird while the wide aperture helped separate it from the stormy background.
The rough weather made photography more difficult, but it also gave us something very different from another Puffin against a tidy blue sky.
It gave us atmosphere.
The Workshop Through Alan’s Eyes
Alan Milnes joined me from Kelowna, British Columbia, after someone who had attended the workshop the previous year recommended it to him.
He concentrated particularly on improving his birds-in-flight photography. Here is what he had to say after returning home:
“I joined Chris Dodds’ Dream Deluxe Atlantic Puffins Workshop on the advice of an acquaintance who had participated in it the year prior. She was bang on with her compliments. Chris is very engaging and incredibly helpful especially in the field. I felt like I had known Chris for 30 years he was so easy to talk to whether it was casual conversation or professional instruction.
Unlike other locations where I have seen puffins, Chris’ choice of this small island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to host the workshop is a stroke of genius as well as being incredibly safe. There was absolutely no shortage of birds to photograph at anytime of the day.
Chris made it very clear on day one that his primary duty was to assist, teach and guide US, his guests, and that we should not worry about approaching him at anytime for advice or assistance. His suggestions and recommendations for photographing birds in flight were spot on.
I have made some significant changes to my bird photography based on Chris’ teaching and the proof is in all of the wonderful images I captured.
If you join this workshop, and I highly recommend that anyone reading this should, you will return home with more puffin and razorbill photos than could have possibly imagined. The accommodations were top notch, the food excellent and the ambience of the island exquisite.
Well done Chris. I hope to participate in more of your workshops.”
—Alan Milnes, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Atlantic Puffin lowering its feet to land among the vegetation on Île aux Perroquets. Photograph © Alan Milnes.
A razorbill approaches Île aux Perroquets with its wings extended and feet lowered. Photograph © Alan Milnes.
Alan’s photographs say as much as his testimonial.
Both capture that critical moment when an approaching bird changes from flying to landing—wings spread, feet lowered and everything happening very quickly.
Photograph Atlantic Puffins on Île aux Perroquets
My Dream Deluxe Atlantic Puffins Photography Workshop gives us extraordinary access to Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and the other seabirds of Quebec’s Mingan Archipelago.
We stay on Île aux Perroquets, surrounded by birds, with excellent accommodations, wonderful food and personalized photographic instruction whenever you need it.
Whether the Gulf of St. Lawrence gives us calm water, soft light, fog or a two-day storm, we make the most of every opportunity.