EON GROBLER
Canon EOS 1200D Canon 18 – 55 mm lens
EON WRITES: I’m 13 years old and took this photo outside Stellenbosch on the farm where we live. This spotted eagle-owl appears outside our house most nights to show off its catch – usually mice, like this Krebs’s fat mouse ( Steatomys krebsii). In the past, he has also brought us rain spiders, rats, frogs, moles, shrews, locusts and small snakes like common slug-eater and olive house snake. We often hear him at night and he’s quite tame – you can stroke him (he’s very soft to touch). Sometimes he even sits on my head!
I always rush to get my camera ready when he arrives. This time my aperture was f14, shutter speed 1/200 second and ISO 100. I used my camera’s pop-up flash – there’s usually just time to take one photo before he flies off again.
This is my best photo of him, ever. I love it!
TOAST SAYS: Toast says nothing! I’m dumbstruck! Usually, to take this kind of photo, a professional wildlife photographer will hide in a haystack for seven years – after having rubbed himself with owl pellets, to hide his scent – waiting for the owl to sit in a specific spot so that one of his 10 remote triggers will set off a flash and he’ll (hopefully) get the owl nicely in-frame. And that’s not even mentioning the dead mouse!
This shot is doubly incredible considering it was taken by a 13-year-old, sommer outside Stellenbosch somewhere.
Sure, Eon was lucky to have this owl on his doorstep. It seems used to humans and its behaviour to “show off” its catch to Eon’s family is unusual. It has given Eon intimate access to its habits.
But still, it’s no lucky shot. Consider the two very difficult things that Eon – and his entry-level
D-SLR camera and lens – had to get right: Firstly there’s the autofocus, which can be finicky at night. The focus is perfect. Then there’s the pop-up flash, which is only effective when your subject is nearby. Luckily the owl was so close that Eon could almost touch it. Therefore the picture is also perfectly lit. Although the spot of blood on the mouse might be gruesome to some, it’s actually the detail that elevates the photo. I also like the contrast between the dull, lifeless eye of the mouse and the fiery, orange eyes of the owl.
Well done, Eon. The camera bag is yours this month!