Domes - Glass or Acrylic?

Dunno about you but Gators prefer glass!

Nice

Could use a model.

Hmmm... that's the same thing the friendly gator said so he took my camera from me and shot this..

As you can see, he's a much better photographer than I am. In all honesty, I was really surprised by the gator's behavior. There were 3 of them cruising around and none would get close enough for a polecam shot then my buddy, Tony (orange shirt) called me over and said there was one fella close to shore where he was shooting. As soon as I got a little close it was obvious he was going to stand his ground. He began to grunt and lift his head out of the water. I stayed there for a while so he would get accustomed to me and after a few minutes with my camera sitting in the water he apparently took interest in my camera. He asked me if that was the new Subal C20 for the Canon 20D.. I said yeah.. He came in REALLY close.. My heart was racing so fast I could actually hear it and feel it through my chest. Swimming with Tigers has nothing on this encounter. Then he did it!! He came right up to the dome, looked in and was looking at the 10-22 when he accidentally bumped the dome. WOW!!!! Feeling the bump on the pole almost sent me into cardiac arrest. After a while I finally settled down and by the end of the whole hour+ session or so I had the fella following me where ever I would put my camera. Talk about a great model! He would rub the dome with the front of his mouth - never using his teeth. Man was I surprised to see how well behaved he was. I would have never thought it would end like that (far from it) from my initial first impression with him.

The funniest moment was when Tony was pretty close to him taking some topside shots and the gator sneezed (REALLY! We blamed it on Tony's cologne, which we've renamed "Pepper by Gator Klein"). Anyways, as soon as the gator sneezed Tony jumped back like 10ft. We laughed are butts off while just 5 ft from us a 6ft gator layed in the water watching these three nutcases laughing hysterically.

We really had such a blast out there. Aside from the gator we found tons of other neat critters (mantis, birds of all kinds) and we found one spot out in the middle of the woods that was as close to heaven as I've ever seen... I mean.. WOW! The cypress trees, the creek of water flowing through it, everything was as beautiful and as perfect as you can imagine the Everglades to be. We will definitely be going back.

Now as far as my photography and split shots are concerned... Boy do I need help! With the gator so close to the dome I could not get his whole head in focus. He was obviously too close (I assume) and I should have been shooting maybe at a small aperture (shot at f8) and should have set the lens to hyperfocal instead of auto. I've got a lot of practicing to do before my next run out there. Any advise?? Aside from don't get bitten and don't break another polecam (darn thing busted in half cuz of the weight - need to find something stronger).

You mean you weren't in the water with it?

I am soooo disappointed!

Cool shot and great story, perhaps i need to visit Florida one of these days,

Awesome!

OK Laz next time I come back we are going Gator stalking. I'll leave the cologne at home.LOL

If you did not know I too have the 20D now. Not housed yet but hopefully soon.

Very cool Laz! I agree that the story really makes the shots. I love the self timer shot looking up - great idea! Now that you've shot sharks and gators that like to rub on your dome aren't you glad you have glass? :-)

Cheers

James

Really, really cool. I've seen some great gator shots and most were with a pole cam. Some, however, the guy had some big brass beans between his legs to actually get in the water with the gators.

Joe