TRAGOPAN Grouse V+ photo blind
The avid reader of my blog may remember that I mention quite often the use of my ”mobile blind”, and that’s of course my car. But that big ”photography tool” is not available while walking into the deeper parts of a habitat. I guess I know about the limitations a blind can have, mainly a limited view to the surrounding activities of wildlife. But after debating the acquisition of a blind with myself for several years, I finally bought the”Grouse V+” blind, made by TRAGOPAN, a camouflaged pop-up tent designed for wildlife photography.
Today was my first real test (after unfolding it once on the carpet of our living room) and it took place just in our ”front yard studio”. It took about a minute to unfold the pop-up tent and another one to prepare it to stand in the wind. Below you see a couple pictures that I would have not been able to create from the viewpoint of our house. Within a few minutes of trying it, I was able to make some photos that seem to justify the purchase. So what is it really about? As often mentioned, I’m still an advocate for ”getting it right in camera”, long before a digital file will be uploaded to the hard drive of the computer. With other words, I try to prevent excessive cropping, just because I was too far away from the animal. So the blind will hopefully help me to get much closer to the critters and birds and who knows, maybe lead to some shots otherwise impossible to make.
This female Red-bellied Woodpecker may not even come close, if I would just stand next to this tree trunk with the camera on a tripod and out in the open. It took the birds only a few minutes to accept the blind.
This pair of Mourning Doves walked right up to me and foraged between the seed droppings from our bird feeders. They are not totally shy but always keep a healthy distance to us humans. To be fair, the doves didn’t pay too much attention to me anyway, they were already playing their ”mating games”… The low sitting sun made for some great light yesterday evening and was perfect for trying out the new blind.
A big window in the door on the backside allows for shooting with a wider opening. Folding the tent to a circle that fits in the 20”x20” backpack sack takes a little practice but can be done in less than two minutes.