Never work with...

I've been trying for months to get some good photos of my lovely fish. This is not, however, an easy task, as there are a variety of factors which need to come together to make it possible:
1). It needs to be sunny.
2). The pond water needs to be reasonably clear (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, and we don't always know why!)
3). It needs to be a weekend- we have to remove the netting and give the fish time to get settled and confident before we can try and get them out for photos.
4). It needs to be a weekend without other plans, or I simply don't have the time to sit around and wait for a good photo.

Today, all the factors came together, and I sat and sat and snapped around 90 photos. I've sat here looking through them, and picked this as my favourite of the bunch.

This is Shrek, the largest fish in our pond. He's over a foot long, and is definitely the boss! He's a greedy little so-and-so, but also quite skittish, so the slightest change can frighten him away. We have about 8 koi carp, plus various other goldfish, shubunkins and comets in there with him.

We love our fish dearly- they are endlessly entertaining (and I think quite beautiful!) I hope you like this shot- my first blip from my real camera!