This photograph was made at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island south of Vancouver, Canada.
A few of these birds have become quite tame in the Sanctuary. This gave me the time to photograph it with a 500mm mirror lens. The aperture of the lens is only f8, so a tripod was required. These birds like to soar gracefully very high in the air. They are large birds, standing over a metre tall.
The picture was made on an overcast day. The background, which is thrown completely out of focus, is a pond reflecting a forest. A few reeds are visible, their look is a characteristic of a mirror lens.
35mm ISO 100 print film was used. The original digital scan is made at 10000 samples per square millimeter. All tone and contrast adjustments are made during the scan.