Photographic Talks

Over the last few weeks I have been approached by various different people from different organizations who have asked me if I would do some presentational talks.  Upon meeting me my real and genuine passion for the natural world and the origin of this passion comes flowing out, which I feel would form a strong basis to any talks that I may do.  So while displaying my work at the Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, Derbyshire this weekend during their Arts and Craft event I was asked again by a few people from a couple of different clubs.

Its an idea I have been thinking of for sometime as my beginning into wildlife and photography has a real beginning and story, one I’d like to share and hopefully inspire people with, so that you too can see and benefit from the beauty of nature all around us,  at the same time going out exploring, watching and capturing what you see, to show others of the beauty of wildlife and how it can enrich your life.

My journey to become a wildlife photographer was born out of a love and fascination of the natural world from a young age upon receiving my first wildlife book called Animal World.  This was an 8th birthday present from my mum and started my love and fascination for the natural world.  My representation of this world is my interest for creating a unique and artistic reflection of what I see and my images are simplified visions of this seen through my eyes, with the emphasis on composition, lighting and colour at the very heart of each picture, capturing their beauty, fascination and graceful expression with each image.

From those early days I spent so much time being at one with nature, close to and watching, hidden from view on the off chance that I would see a certain animal. I distanced myself from children’s games and activities instead heading to a nearby stretch of wilderness within the mass housing estate I grew up in. By learning to get close to wildlife without disturbing the life of the animal, almost forgetting the outside world and becoming part of the animal I was getting close to, I began to understand the animal better, gaining many skills by observing their behaviours while at the same time giving the subject complete respect which allowed me a private window into their personal and private lives.

This skill is one of many I use within my own wildlife photography today derived from those early encounters with nature.  This lose yourself to nature approach enables me to get close enough to capture the animal’s beauty and behaviour which both feature strongly in my style of photography, showing a wild animal within their natural habitat being the foundation to my work today through the images I see, then framing them through my camera’s viewfinder.

Where my creative and emotional attachment to nature is at the very heart of each image, creating a unique and artistic refection of my time in the field. It is my intention to use these reflections of the natural world to bring people’s awareness of what beautiful wildlife we have on our doorstep and all around us and the importance of conservation and the need to preserve our national heritage.

I will be presenting 3 talks at the North West Bird Watching Festival on the 21st November at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Martin Mere  here I will be going through tips and advice on wildlife photography and fieldcraft as well as presenting a powerful slideshow of my images showing the beautiful winter wildlife that you can see during our winter months, some are migrants to these shores during this time and others become easier to see.  After each talk you are then welcome to join me around some of the pools at Martin Mere where you can try out some of my tips with guidence.

I have also been invited to help with their Annual Photographic Competition- WWT Photo Competition .  A One To One day with myself will be presented as one of the available prizes for the competition.  I will update you with more details in the coming weeks.  In the meantime if you would like to make a booking with me to do a presentational talk then please contact me for more details.