I was interrupted mid-sentence by a literal bloodbath outside my window. A sea eagle struck its prey, a smaller sea bird. At first, I couldn’t even tell what it had caught because there was too much blood. I was in the middle of a Teams meeting and I completely lost my tongue. Sea eagles are mighty creatures of the sky, and it is difficult not to be in awe when you see them, with their wingspan of up to 240 cm. This could have been one of those moments when you wish that you had a DSLR with a telephoto lens mounted. But instead, I managed to snap the best picture I have ever taken.

One of the best things about having your office “in the middle of nowhere” is that you become so much closer to nature. I follow the seasons in a completely new way, I never miss a beautiful sunrise and I have soon spotted just about every Swedish animal in my region from my window. A couple of years ago I watched a moose walking on the sea horizon with a backdrop of the most beautiful crimson sunrise you can imagine. The only thing I had was my phone camera and obviously the picture I took was laughably bad. With proper equipment it could have been the picture of the century. That same day I decided to never let such a moment slip again. My wife had an old Nikon DSLR with the 55 mm kit lens collecting dust, and I thought that would be the perfect start. But I needed better optics. In the evening, I found and bought a 2nd hand 300 mm lens and now I was prepared.

From that day, the Nikon has been lying within arm’s reach, fully charged at any given time. My wife has managed to grab some perfect shots of deers in our backyard (see below). At that distance, the 300 mm was perfect. But before long, I realized that I needed something with longer range. I kept watching tutorials and reading articles and bought a Sigma 150-600 mm 2nd hand lens. This is a Beast of a lens! I think this mini-telescope might be the limit of how large a lens you manage to shoot freehand without a mono- or tripod. At least at that price point. I can shoot fully zoomed in, but it requires concentration and a steady hand.

The best picture is always the one that gets taken. So, I haven’t felt the need to go further than the Sigma. The next step would probably be to get a tripod or monopod. But that comes with a huge drawback: Speed. When you have a so-called Kodak moment in front of you, I believe you have about 15-30 seconds to act – at best. So, any tripod thoughts quickly go in the trash. That’s why I believe the Sigma is the perfect lens for the job. And the wiser thing would be to invest in a modern camera house instead of an almost two-decades old one that we are currently using.

Back to the bloodbath. At first, the mighty birds were very close, approximately 20 meters. I didn’t even bother running for the camera because I knew it would be over in less than ten seconds, so it was better to simply observe. I have only seen eagles this close one time before, when a massive eagle swept over my head when I was riding my Royal Enfield in the Himalayas, and that encounter I will never forget. I am grateful that I got to experience them once again. But shortly thereafter, I saw the birds again and this time I made a run for it. I grabbed the camera, ripped off the lens cap, flicked the power switch and started twisting the telephoto out to its full length, while I was aiming for the eagles, keeping the trigger pressed. Time is so scarce these times that you must set the shutter speed and all that stuff in advance. The power switch is the only operation you can manage. Even with my exceptional preparation, I managed to snap only three (3) shots of the eagle. The third one, is the one you can see at the top of this page, while the first two were a bit blurrier. I have no concept of time here, but we are talking seconds.

Imagine how many parameters need to be perfect to snap a shot like this. You have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right equipment and the right settings pre-configured. And then you basically have one shot to get it right. On Wednesday, I will drop the eagle photo in the chat window of our next Teams meeting. I think they will understand why I completely lost my train of thought last time.

Luck favors the prepared.