Leap for your life

I was down on the spit at the creek one morning earlier in the year, waiting for dawn as the tide came in.  I noticed  fish jumping, no doubt escaping the jaws of a predator and took my chance to see if I could get a shot, albeit at some distance. The result is at left, a little fishy jumping for its very life into an atmosphere which would kill it if it stayed too long.

A bit like us going the other way, I suppose, jumping from a burning boat into a freezing sea.  What a choice. Hurl yourself into the unknown and hope for the best or stay and face a more certain death.

A while later, while walking on the beach in broad daylight, I noticed a school of tiddlers trying to escape an unseen marauder and I tried my luck again.

This time, the subjects were closer and I was able to get some better shots. How? I was lucky, of course. I couldn’t hope to press the button when I first saw a fish rise into the air because by the time the shutter clicked they’d be gone, but quite a few were jumping in the same vicinity. Using sports mode, I took a succession of shots in the same area. I ended up with a lot of pictures of the sea. But some captured that split second while the fish was out of water. It felt very special.