Wildlife's contribution - a little tale

[ahab1372]

This is not what I consider a great shot, but it comes with a little story attached that I thought you might enjoy.
Here is the shot, story below:

_AH05828 - Version 2 by ahab1372, on Flickr



I wanted to repeat the night time shots that I did about a week ago at the little airport in Palo Alto. I parked at the little parking lot which is close to the runway. Across the little street that leads to the parking lot (and extends further into the Baylands park) is a little path which leads closer to the beginning of the runway. Incoming airplanes pretty much fly directly over your head. After taking a few shots from the parking lot, I decided to try a few shots of the runway itself. So I crossed the street, and walked a few feet into that little path. I did not go very far, because I did not want to disturb the birds that were resting for the night in the ponds right next to the path.
Camera was on the tripod, camera bag on my shoulder, and I put the tripod bag on the ground. While I was taking the second or third shot, I noticed out of the corner of my eye something small move on the ground - it walked right under my tripod. My first thought was “oh, a cat”, and I mumbled a friendly welcome.
Then, within a split second I suddenly realized that something was off: The way this creature moved, and the outline of its silhouette did not match that of a cat. It was more like a small - you might have guessed it by now (which animal has a similar size, and is bold enough to walk right across your feet) - skunk. I still had not caught a clear sight of it to be 100% sure, but I did not want to take any chances. The little guy was obviously as surprised to see me as I was, and changed direction and walked off to the side into the higher grass, otherwise he would have walked right across my feet. “Yes, retreat is a great idea - I will do the same” I thought, grabbed my tripped by the neck, the bag from the ground, and quickly retreated back to the street.
Then I heard another plane approaching in the distance, and thought it might be a nice shot to capture the incoming plane with the tree in the foreground. I quickly set up the camera (isn’t working with a tripod supposed to slow you down?), composed through the viewfinder, changed settings, and was glad I got it all done in time before the plane was close enough. First exposure - way too early. The second exposure seemed to work out nicely. The plane flew across my head, and I still had a few seconds left of the 30s exposure. That’s when I heard a rustling sound behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and saw the little guy again emerging from the taller grass on the side of the road, and I got a much better look this time. Definitely a small skunk. I only wasted a split second considering if I should wait for the exposure to finish before I decided it was not worth it, grabbed the tripod by the neck again (fortunately tripods are very forgiving in that respect), and walked away with the shutter still open. This time I had not put anything on the ground. So if you were wondering about those neon light snakes in the lower right corner - that’s a skunk’s contribution to the creative process.
I only tried a few more shots from the very center of the parking lot so that animals had enough space to walk around me, and kept looking over my shoulders most of the time. I called it a night after just a few more minutes. No skunks or photographers were hurt during that night.