Announcing a new wildlife workshop I’m doing in conjunction with Calumet Photographic covering fieldcraft. After the great response to my article in Practical Photography giving my top ten tips and advice on fieldcraft I will be running this workshop over two days enabling you to learn one of the most important elements to wildlife photography. The dates for this workshop are Saturday 27th October and Sunday 28th and can be seen by clicking here
All wild animals that have no or very little contact with humans are scared and fear man. They see and smell us the moment we enter their world of which they are designed for and we aren’t. They have an in built fear of man and see us as a threat to their lives. For me, it’s how the person deals with that level of fear and stress using their fieldcraft that’s important.
Good fieldcraft is especially important for the effectiveness of wildlife photography. Concealment is what keeps you from being seen and allows you that private window into the subject’s life. Fieldcraft is the art of looking and reading the animals behaviour in parts dealing with the visible signs the animal will show you.
Come and join me on this two day Fieldcraft/Rutting Deer workshop. On the first day I will present some slideshows, go through what fieldcraft I use within my own work. I will demonstrate what you need to do in order to improve your own wildlife photography. The second day will start just before dawn and fingers crossed with get a frosty morning with some nice light as this will add a great deal to your images.
You will be able to put into practise what you learned on the first day on the ground on the second day. Wind direction, smells and watching for the behaviour that will be around us all. The month of October is a key time in the Deer’s own calendar, it’s a time when the males fight to keep control of their females that they will later go on and breed with.
Many male Fallow Deer’s want this chance to mate and so the rut is born. The air will be thick with testosterone as we witness one of autumn’s magical times. You will learn many skills during these two days,where fieldcraft for me is one of if not the most important tool in any wildlife photographer’s box.
For more information or to book this workshop then please click here to be taken to Calumets website many thanks.
I’ve just updated the dates for my photo tours in 2013. I have added second dates on my Tigers of India trip as the first dates have sold out. If you’d like to visit and photograph Bengal Tigers in one of the best places in India with a backdrop of an old fort then click on this link for more details. The first ever Tigress I saw, several years back now, will be having cubs next year so again like this year my clients maybe lucky enough to see cubs alongside the Tigers there.
I have also added a new trip called Jaguars of Brazil. You can now join me on this amazing 8 day trip to Pantanal in Brazil to see the beautiful Jaguar in its wetland, woodland habitat, as well as a chance to see this amazing big cat. We will be working on the ground in Brazil with the very best guides to deliver the best opportunities for you to see and photograph Jaguars. Towards the end of the dry season as open water areas shrink, wildlife becomes more concentrated and visible. Areas in the western and northern Pantanal are the best places to see Jaguars in the wild and the chances of success on this tour are very high, click here for more details.
I also have a couple of places available for my Falklands trip next year should you wish to come with me and photograph the amazing wildlife this place has to offer, with amazing light and images everywhere. For more information on this trip then please click here to be taken to the photo tour.
In late August I’m off to Madagascar leading my 11 day photo tour photographing the amazing wildlife that’s unique to this island. I will be running the same trip next October should you wish to join us, again click here to see more information on this amazing 11 day photo tour.
In mid-September I will then be embarking on a two week trip to Sumatra on my own, photographing the Sumatran Orangutans there along with the other amazing wildlife that lives on this island. I will be working alongside a UK charity I fully support and help, SOS- Sumatra Orangutan Society, spending time camping and trekking through the forests of Sumatra in a bid to capture our closest living relative with my camera.
More news on this amazing trip on future blogs. A part of Sumatra, Tripa is in trouble at the present time and if you can help to sigh a petition to help then please click here.
I also offer One to One wildlife workshops, where I take clients to many places across the UK from dawn until dusk. Showing them everything I use in the field, along with fieldcraft, using natural light and capturing images with great impact. These days are very popular, where I enjoy helping people to understand nature, at the same time learning more about the craft of wildlife photography.
I have several projects I’ll be working on in between all of my travels, plus workshops for Calumet Photographic. Email me for further details on anything I’ve touched on or just general advice.
WWT Photography Competition 2011-2012
I have just finished judging the spring round in the WWT Martin Mere photography Competition with just the summer round to go before the overall winner of this brilliant photography competition is announced. A great standard all round and its a pleasure to be a judge, good luck to you all.
The days just flew passed during our time in Ranthambhore, India. We settled into our routine with twice daily safaris surrounded by nature, culture and the colours of this amazing country. By now all my clients had seen and captured some amazing images of Bengal Tigers which I was over the moon with. As the host of this trip I organise and run myself with great help from my friends in India. Everyone’s wish was to see these animals at the same time and maybe capture them on camera and that’s exactly what they all did.
There are seven ‘old’ gates within the national park and twice a day we’d pass through the main gate, which is the way to one of the 5 zones that you are allocated before each trip. Each zone is around 25 km plus in size, where your jeep has to stay on a small path which takes you around the chosen zone. There is a very strict code of conduct on board eg. no shouting/loud noise and you cannot get out of the jeep, it’s all controlled really well with the Tigers welfare being paramount.
It was great to see some of the guards which I had made friends with during my many trips to this place over the last several years. They do an amazing job with limited resources keeping just over 30 Tigers safe from the ever presence of poaching. They showed me around and were very kind and helpful to my group by letting us pass through the main gate and onto our zone for that day with minimal fuss. The photo below shows the ‘chef’ as he’s known, he’s worked for 38 years in Ranthambhore and knows every inch of the place, his wisdom and experience you just couldn’t learn overnight.
I took some presents this year for them, images of Tigers for their homes. I always get out of the jeep at checkpoints to shake their hands and introduce my clients to the guards. A warm embrace and smiles all round. They all deserve respect for the job they are doing and I try to show that to them in my way, as respect is earned not given my late mum always taught me.
I only wished the many politicians and people involved with Tiger conservation around the world could see the frontline in the battle against poachers and give them more equipment and resources, because on the ground we are asking these fellows to risk their lives against a well organized band of poachers. Once these Tigers have gone the whole area falls and the Tiger will not return, very sad but money has to be channeled into helping the guards around India in keeping the Tigers alive. I was shocked and saddened by how these guys stop poachers with their limited resources.
As on so many other safaris the lady of the lake-T17 was hunting and patroling mainly in the morning. Both jeeps had some wonderful moments photographing this lovely Tigress. Its real heart in the mouth stuff though as they seem to except the small jeeps we are in but I truly don’t think they know there’s an easy meal for them inside. This is always going through your mind as you take photographs as they pass by your jeep. Nothing can ever prepare you for this, you have to witness this for it to truly make sense. I hope these images convey those special and priceless moments I took with these amazing and extremely rare Tigers, showing just how beautiful they are.
Salim my guide headed off on one such encounter and we parked up alone some distance in front of this patrolling Tigress. We could hear the distant calls of Peacocks sounding the alarm, letting the whole area know a Tiger was around, we just waited and waited until she came over the hill, paused and walked down and pass our jeep. I chose to shoot with my fisheye lens trying to convey the habitat which I love to show in my work and give the subject a sense of scale among her kingdom.
This image below captured her as she walked past our jeep and then vanished into the cover of the jungle, this was close, an experience I can see so clear in my head as I type now, but truly magical.
During one safari my clients and I witnessed a part of history, for a few minutes but what seemed like hours we were priviliged to witness something that’s been rarely spoken about in the past and even rarer to see. A male Tiger rearing his young, totally unheard of in the tiger world. Only the female tigers were known to raise the cubs, but the male Tiger known as T25 has shown that the males also do it. Wildlife experts say cubs are usually raised by their mothers and male tigers often kill cubs they come across. Officials believe there is no recorded evidence of males behaving like this.
It is common for male tigers to never even set eyes upon the cubs they father, especially when the mother is not present and many male tigers will simply see cubs as food. Their mum died on 9 February 2011 and ever since T25 has reared them and looked after them which is just an amazing story in its self but to see them on this day was magical, truly magical.
We had been in place for over an hour, waiting at a small natural drinking hole that had been refilled with the overnight storm we’d had. Then without warning we saw T25 coming from the shadows of the jungle, walking with great strength and power. The males are completely different to the females. They are shyer and very aggressive in their nature. Their physical size is alot bigger, with a rounder head and massive frame. You know when looking your witnessing a top predator with great power and presence.
We had gone through apertures, shutter speed, iso and making the adjustments to our cameras with the fading light, making sure should anything happen that we were ready. T26 a male Tiger walked down first, slowly but full of life, he sat down close to the water and began drinking fully aware we were there and he gave us a look to let us know that. An air of total confidence and control with no fear of nothing, thats when you know your king of the jungle. We watched him quietly.
We heard a few small calls as he looked around at the different noises he’d heard as he was drinking. Then from nowhere one of his cubs appeared from the forest. She stood there few a few seconds looking for reassurance it was ok to join her dad before heading down to the water to drink.
She settled alongside her father as they both drank aware of the shutter noise from our cameras. It was a moment I’ll never forget, but at the time you’re just concentrating so much on capturing the moment it really doesn’t sink in until after. He was always on guard, so to speak, and you sensed his protection of her by just seeing them together so close. The other cub never showed but both are doing very well I am told.
They drank for a few minutes before T25, the male got up and headed back into the dense jungle with his cub following.
He led the way as he’d done when first visiting the watering hole, his cub waiting behind until he went first. I managed to capture him here just looking back and giving a slight call to his cub. She then came from behind a tree and followed her father into the jungle. It was very touching to see this bond between them both played out before us, thousands of miles from home as we witnessed history in Ranthambhore one of if not the best place in India to see Bengal Tigers in the wild.
The whole week was brilliant and each evening my clients had their own best images from that day to talk through. Each year the trip seems to get better and you really have to see one of these amazing animals in the flesh to truly appreciate their beauty. With so much wildlife in Ranthambhore the photographic opportunities are everywhere. A paradise in more ways than one for a wildlife photographer.
There’s something very human like when we look into the eyes of primates. Something that touches deep inside our soles where we see so much of our own human mannerisms. I did a close up of this young black faced langur monkey sitting close to his mum. I slowly walked forward as not to disturb the young one or the mum and this was the result making best use of the side lighting to bring out detail, shape and texture to the image, another wonderful and touching moment from Ranthambhore, India.
The week there passed far to quick and before we knew it the time had come to leave Ranthambhore and head off home. I wished I could have stayed as I really love this place and its Tigers. It has a magical feel to it, an old fort taken over by nature. We headed for the airport the same way we came, packed lunches in hand as we started the journey home.
A big thank you to my clients for your company and another big thank you to Rag and Salim for your help and expert tracking and guidance with the Tigers. Many thanks to the staff at the Ranthambhore Bagh where we stay, great food, warm welcome and a great base for this trip.
I will be releasing a few more limited edition prints very soon to go along with the 3 others I currently have, where 50% of the profits go to a charity I work with to help rise money for Tigers around the world; 21 Century Tiger. Where they spend 100% of your money in helping Tigers around the world, these animals are in real danger of extinction and need as much help as possible so that future children get the chance to see this amazing animal in the wild.
Next years dates and information is up on on my website here, so if you wish to see these amazing images and capture some beautiful images working alongside myself and two of the best guides in India then contact me for more information.
I’ll be giving my top tips on fieldcraft in July’s issue of Practical Photography, which is out the second week of June. Fieldcraft when working with wild animals with their natural fear of man, away from per-planned perches, baited set ups and captive animals is the most important tool in any wildlife photographers toolbox.
Capturing real images as seen on the ground and not changed by the hand of man is what wildlife photography means to me as a professional, its the way I work when among nature. I go through what works on the ground and how you can almost think like wildlife and become part of the landscape. All built on respect for your subject and wildlife around you, this is the foundation to my work today so I hope you enjoy the article.
And just before I go there are still a few places left on my Summer Tide workshop in Norfolk in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, for more information and bookings please click on this link. or click on their seminars page for Manchester and Drummond street branches with more workshops and talks planned very soon. For an idea of what you may see on this day then click on a previous interview I did here with Practical Photography covering my passion for this amazing event.
There is a real air of spring around at the moment among the UK countryside, with the odd spell of frost or even snow on the higher grounds, just to add to the confusion for nature. 2011 was one of the warmest years on record with lengthy periods of warm weather each month right up until the end of the year. In with the New Year and again those mild, warm temperatures seem to be still with us with little promise of the cold spells we’ve had in previous years.
On the ground nature is confused, the sudden warming temperatures for this time of year is playing a cruel game with nature, one minute warm the next an overnight frost. You can see and hear the birds singing to attract a mate, defending their territories with great cause. Dippers displaying and starting to gather nesting material, the countryside really feels like it should be much later than it really is due to the influence of the warmer weather.
Mother Nature is powerful though and animals and plants will overcome and survive. I believe as nothings is as powerful as nature. While being among wildlife you get the impression that you’ve missed something or they have, what I mean is by watching the behaviours of the wildlife its seems that winter has been by-passed and were heading straight into the season of spring. I really hope that the cold spells of weather that nature has endured in 2010 and 2011 wont now come along and catch the wildlife out as that would be one of the cruelest lessons in which to learn from. However, I fear that this could happen quite soon.
As each year passes and we hear that a warming record has been broken, or nearly broken again, it provides further evidence that unfortunately we are not just seeing a natural cycle of global warming, but instead humans are having an effect on the climate. I am not qualified on paper to start debating what is right or wrong I just know on the ground among wildlife things are changing and I do hope nature won’t be caught in between these warming temperatures and strange happening among the seasons.
Over the last three months though there has been one bird that seems to be doing really well within the warming temperatures and that is the beautiful Short-eared Owl that seems to have invaded many areas of the UK feeding on the bountiful supply of rodents. The internet is awash with brilliant images showing this often rarely seen owl outside of the breeding season. Recently I have spent back to back days there trying to capture different angles and images of these stunning owls.
Over that time the owls are late risers and rarely come out before the early afternoon but I go there at dawn and wait as you never know what may happen, as the site has other birds of prey. Fortune often rewards me and I was lucky enough to see a lone Shot-eared owl hunting in the morning light. I’d located an area in which these ground dwelling birds roost overnight and then just suddenly appear in the afternoon. I set my gear up overlooking this area, not to close to disturb them, placing my converter on my long lens as I waited.
Often the periods of waiting were greater than the time I’d see them but for me it’s just the enjoyment of being around wildlife. That’s enough for me anything else is always a bonus. I often say I could sell all my camera equipment tomorrow and still be happy sitting and watching with my binoculars.
I have witnessed them diving for prey, perched in the morning light, and hunting in the pouring rain, which is very rare to see. This is a costly exercise for owls as they don’t do well in rain. As I witnessed this it does pull on my heart strings as you just know that owl is hungry and gathering enough food to stay alive. It was tough viewing this.
I also have had some lovely encounters with a pair of Barn Owls that have lived in this area for some time now. They appear when they want to and unlike some Barn Owls I photograph in Norfolk they are rarely seen in the day. They don’t have any routine here and this Barn Owl came out as the sun was setting and gave the whole area a lovely warming glow and feel, which is a welcome relief if you have been there since before dawn. You have to use fieldcraft skills and patience when photographing owls as they sometimes fly past you, and in this case straight at me. Another amazing encounter as the sun was setting. I am really lucky to see and witness this.
Their hearing is one of the best in the animal kingdom so great care when you start to shoot is needed otherwise they will bank off from where they hear that noise, in this case the camera shutter, so hold your nerve and wait and then press when you’re happy. I’ve seen some wonderful behaviour in both the Short-eared owls and this pair of Barn Owls recently that I have tried to capture within these images.
After the success of my previous wildlife workshops with Calumet Photographic I have several others now lined up on their seminars page. Two dates for the amazing Spring/Summer Tides in Norfolk covering this event which has captivated me for many years and Sping Time on the Moors in the Peak District. For those that live in and around the capital, London, I will be doing a two day Beauty of Wildlife workshop at Calumets Drummond Street branch on April 14th and 15th. These workshops are open to all skill levels and backgrounds within wildlife photography.
The workshops are designed to give you the best opportunities to take the best images from your day in the field whatever nature throws up. To ensure that everyone’s needs are met the workshops are limited to 8 participants. You’ll be in good company, sharing your ideas, images and love of photography amongst the beauty of wildlife.
You’ll take your photography to the next level and in the process you’ll immerse yourself in your photography and I will be right there giving you a personal photography lesson. For more details click here to be taken to Calumets seminars page, then either click on the Drummond Street branch in London or the Manchester branch to see the full list of wildlife workshops that I am doing in conjunction Calumet Photographic.
In October I ran my “Beauty of Wildlife” workshop in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, one of the leading photographic suppliers in the UK. It was a great success with a full contingent of clients who really enjoyed the two days. Two more of these workshops are now available one in late January 2012 and one in March 2012 with more workshops planned with this leading camera supplier company throughout the year and at diffent places around the UK.
The Autumn issue of Calumet Photographic magazine arrived today and there’s a nice little piece in their about my workshop, info and dates etc, thank you to the guys that attended and I hope you are all using what I showed you still
The first day will be based at their Manchester branch, where we I will go through camera settings, compositions, setting up of each person’s camera and sharing/passing on my knowledge in order to improve individuals photography. I will also show you some slideshows, touching on the various different skills needed for wildlife photography, use of light, what to look out for, fieldcraft and lots more.
Tea and Coffee will be provided during the day and I’ll answer any questions in regard to wildlife photography that you may have in order to improve or move along your own existing skill level. I demonstrate to everyone that attends my one to ones and workshops what works and cut through all the ‘minefield’ of what’s best and what should I use, which mode etc that can drag people down.
I will replace all of that with a usable workflow that works on the ground, the same as I use, with no secrets, no hidden settings. Once clients have seen this I feel it gives them a more relaxed approach to their own work, knowing full well they weren’t really doing a lot wrong in the first place. I am self taught with over 30 years of knowledge of wildlife, which is the real key to wildlife photography.
The second day, unlike the first which will be classroom based will be in the beautiful Peak District, as a wildlife photographer the great outdoors is my office, a place in which I capture the beautiful images I am blessed in seeing. The beauty of photographing wildlife is that it is always changing and evolving, encountering the unexpected. In this environment the photographer must learn to work with these changing environmental conditions and behaviours, and the result cannot always be predicted.
My images represent an event that occurred in the wild,something that I witnessed and recorded with my camera. Learning to get close to wildlife without disturbing the life of the animal is the key to my work and this 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.
Fieldcraft is the most important tool in a wildlife photographer’s box I believe, because if the animal is not use to human contact, isn’t tame or use to you putting food out, then they will be very difficult to get close to in the absence of hides. Learning fieldcraft skills will improve your photography, as a subject going about its life, free from human contact always makes for the best photographs.
I feel you cannot learn real and true fieldcraft from anything other than a wild animal, in the wild. I have never worked with captive or tame animals as their behaviour is too contrived for me and is as a result of contact with man. I will show you simple and key elements to fieldcraft on the second day where you’ll greatly benefit from the wonderful wildness that is the moors of the Peak District and its wildlife.
Many clients who attend my workshops all go away with a better understanding of photographing wildlife, where it’s not about what you have but how to best use your equipment to obtain those lovely images you see with your eyes. Things change very quickly in the wild and I will give you ideas and a workflow that empowers you to capture and improve your own work. Seeing an image takes time, this skill can be learned by watching your subject and understanding its behaviour.
We will start early to capture the beautiful wildlife as the sun rises against the backdrop of the Peak District which will make for some amazing images. During our day in the Peak District we will be concentrating our efforts on Red Grouse among the autumn/winter landscapes and Mountain Hares, the only place outside of Scotland where there is a healthy population of these mammals.
We will also have the opportunity to see Short Eared Owls and many other birds which stay in this area all year, and don’t migrant like alot of other birds. You will need to provide your own photographic equipment
or alternatively you can hire equipment from Calumet Photographic, Manchester and we will meet in Buxton train station car park. It will be a great day, where you will learn alot more about the ‘wild’ in wildlife photography, capturing images that will be around you, gaining subject awareness which again is key to capturing a wild animal’s character and behaviour.
So if you would like to book onto this wildlife workshop then please click on this link, which will take you to Calumets website. If you would like to hire any camera equipment for the day of which I will help and go through with you on the first day then again just ask at your time of booking. I look forward to seeing you in 2012 and should you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact myself or Calumet Photographic Manchester.
Where did the time go I asked myself as yesterday came to an end? Two wonderful days showing eight clients ‘The Beauty of Wildlife’, firstly at Calumet Manchester in their brilliant studio/classroom and the second day out on the moors of the Peak District, Derbyshire, on my wildlife workshop in conjunction with Calumet. The aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the simple techniques that I apply to my own photography and to then share these with the group.
I demonstrated to the group how to approach their subject using fieldcraft skills without causing any distress to the animal, this in turn lets them relax, which will present you with the best opportunities to photograph their beauty, expressions and behaviour.
The first day was a mixture of talks, slideshow presentations and photographic tips and advice, followed by a cup of tea and biscuits. After which I went through each clients camera showing how to get the best from each make and model in readiness for the second day out on the moors, where those tips could make all the difference to a well composed image while at the same time learning more from the wildlife that live in this part of the world. All the information and advice we discussed was contained in a handout I’d prepared for each client as seen above, this would help once the group had gone home to use as a reference guide.
Photographing wildlife in ‘the wild’ is the only real and true way of learning about behaviour and fieldcraft, so it was very important for me to show the group on the second day how I work and go about getting the images that I achieve, while working with subjects that are free to come and go as they please and have fear for humans, where you have to work the land and the environment to try and obtain an image, straight from the wild so to speak. The group was a great mix of people, from all over the UK at varying levels of competencies and were really good company.
We had some amazing light on the second morning of the workshop. We met at 5am in the pitch black of the morning and there was a low lying mist, but above I could see the world’s atlas as I call it, the stars, so I knew this would clear as we made our accent. I had gone through some key elements to wildlife photography the previous day in my presentation to the group. One of those elements was ‘light’. Find it, work with, and create your image alongside what light you have. So after a 40 minute accent in total darkness, guided by our small tourches we reached the area in which the grouse, hare and other wildlife of the Peak District make their home in.
Straight away over to the east the sun was just beginning to force its way up, burning off that surrounding mist and exposing a warm, wonderful glow to the area. I quickly saw a silhouette of a Red Grouse, let the whole group know and watched as they all used fieldcraft, slow movements and got themselves into place, went through the settings, checking shutter speed and so forth, using the key skills and elements I’d touched on the previous day.
The images above show that wonderful moment and all of the group had at least one image, capturing several elements that came together during the few minutes this grouse allowed us into his life. Light, colour, silhouette, composition and exposures all working together to produce a lovely and different image, what a great start to the day. I couldn’t have asked for more for the clients. I wanted to try and capture some of the colours and shapes of the clouds during this amazing moment so I used a wide angle to try and focus on the bird while showing the colours. He took off not long after and you can just make him out over to the left, very small in the frame with blurred wings. It gives you an idea though of the wonderful site the group had that morning.
During the morning we were all treated to many different encounters as the heathland and moors came to life. Grouse flying, landing, settling down on rocks to call and state their claim to a given area, wondering who these shadowy figures were at that time of the morning, moving around this beautiful and unique environment. Rain and mist came in afterwards, so we all took shelter and waited for the visibility to improve and for the mist to go away, which it did sometime later and the sun shined all day there afterwards.
The group followed the advice I’d given the day before on another real key element within wildlife photography, fieldcraft! Approach with care, stay low, and see and read the signs on the ground in front of you, look for light and above all respect the subject more than any photograph. All the group were brilliant and got some amazing encounters and images through their hard work , ‘you only get out what you put in’. This is the key.
After lunch the group were free to explore for themselves, put into practice skills and tips I embedded throughout those two days and it was really good to see them all going about their own work and capturing some lovely images with strong composition, good use of natural light and above all listening and watching wildlife to build a picture of whats happening around you.
Being in the wild really showed the guys how to capture images using fieldcraft and watching and listening to wild animals in their own environments. This is the only true and real way people will learn this key skill I believe. When I met up with the bosses at Calumet Photographic I stressed that I would only like to work among nature, showing people key elements you must learn and use to be able to photograph wildlife. After the two days I think the whole group enjoyed those two days, learning and benefiting so much this way, which is my main aim when delivering this beauty of wildlife workshop to the public.
A big thank you to all the clients for your time and efforts during the two days. I really hope you got a lot from the days and learned something new. You were all great on the second day and looking back now you can see through the images you captured why the early start was so important to capturing lovely images of wildlife.
I have another two wildlife workshops planned in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd January and Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th March, with other ideas for the spring including a 2 day workshop in the beautiful county of Norfolk, photographing the spring coming alive with wildlife. More details will be posted on Calumets events site very soon and I will update my blog when they are finalized.
Also many of the workshop participants hired camera equipment on the day from Calumet which worked really well for the clients, so if you’d like to attend and hire your equipment then just speak to Calumet, Manchester and it can all be arranged for you when you turn up as their service is excellent. The same goes with the many wonderful workshops I run here in the UK and abroad where you can hire from your nearest Calumet dealer before you come on any of my workshops should you wish to hire. For details of prices and rates contact your nearest branch on the link here.
Calumet, Manchester have a Autumn open day on the 9th November where I will be in attendance to help or answer any queries or questions about wildlife photography, they have lots of other things going on that day including a free camera sensor clean, special offers along with some brilliant companies offering advice and help. So if you are in the area pop in to say hello.
These workshops have been included in this months BBC Wildlife magazine as part of their photographic tours/trips, again for the second year running along with one of my favourite images of a Barn Owl hoovering and hunting as their main image, covering two pages 112-113 of the October issue, it looks amazing, or you can view online here and last years, where have the last 12 months gone. Many thanks again to all the clients who booked, it was nice to meet you all and thanks for a great two days.
The onset of autumn is just around the corner now, as the trees and plants lose their prominent green colour and replace it with those wonderful yellow and red colours. Symbolizing the changing seasons, as we leave the summer and enter into the lovely season of autumn, trees are left exposed to the elements, giving that minimalistic feel in its place. Woodland and parkland echo to the noise of Red and Fallow deer roaring and grunting during the annual ritual of the rut. All is quiet until the silence is broken with the dawn roars during this period of frenetic activity.
I have been really busy with one to ones and my own work over the last couple of weeks as I’ve noticed a slight nip in temperatures and the evenings are beginning to draw in. I have found a few new sites that look really promising, more news in the future fingers crossed, and while spending quite a bit of time at one I managed to capture this male Stonechat in the setting sun, with the slight autumn colours forming the background.
I’ve also been revisiting my Watervole site, watching where this fellow feeds and comes ashore, I was able to photograph him on the riverbank here, just sniffing the air in the image below, such wonderful creatures to watch.
Birds are on the move everywhere now and autumn is a great time of activity as young birds seek their own territories as migrants birds undertake their extraordinary journeys around the world. All around our coast you’ll see alot of action too, with Seals, wintering flocks of birds, vast influxes of Pink foot, Brent Geese.
I really look forward to welcoming our winter visitors that spend their time on our shores during this time, returning in early spring to the breeding grounds back home. The bounty of food that litters the land during the autumn months brings many species out as they gorge on natures offering before the cold of winter sets in. You also get lovely light with the shorter days and colder temperatures all adding so much to any image.
Whooper Swans are one of my favourite as they travel south from their arctic breeding grounds to spend their winters in the UK, a beautiful and elegant bird. Another great event in natures calendar shortly is the deer rut, an event that reaches its peak in mid October. This year as well as visiting the sites within the UK I will be making my way north to Scotland hoping to capture this amazing event within the dramatic surroundings this part of the UK offers, along with some lovely autumn light fingers crossed.
The Red deer stag is Britains largest land mammal, during the rut they advertise their presence, power and control over a harem of females with dawn roars which echo for miles. When rivals cannot be separted on their roars alone things turn physical then as the stags with antlers locked push each other, trying to force the other to the ground. The risks are high though with massive, sharp antlers which can inflict seroius, even mortal wounds. The rewards though are great, as the dominant male wins the chance to father all of the next years offspring from the harem.
Lots of wonderful events within natures calendar coming up over the next few months which I am hoping to capture with my camera. Wildlife changing with the seasons, one such animal I have spent a lot of my time on during the summer months is the Mountain Hare which turns white with the onset of autumn/winter. The Peak District is a great place for this mammal and outside of Scotland is the only other place they live in the wild after being introduced some years ago now.
Towards the end of September I will be at the Outdoor Trade show at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire with 511 Tactical UK clothing stand. I have been testing some items kindly sent to me from 511 over the last six months in different climates, I have found them to be really comfortable and very hard wearing in the field, a full review will be posted soon on my blog. Ray Mears, TV presenter who also uses this brand of clothing will also be there on the Monday so if you are in the area drop in, or alternatively see their website here for full product range.
PhotoTraining4U is aimed at both professional and amateur photographers alike and is structured into bite size learning films, over 800 at present, each around 20 minutes. It’s online quality training for photographers for an affordable price. This type of training enables photographers of all levels to learn new techniques on every subject.
After a recent meeting I am pleased to say I have been asked to do some filming with the team, covering how I work in the field, giving helpful tips and advice in order that people can capture those amazing moments in nature that they see. At the same time learning more about key elements when working with wild animals, that in turn will help you read what’s happening around you, giving better results with your own wildlife photography. I will update my blog once the filming is complete which is due to start in the last week of September.
All the new dates for my workshops and photo tours are now up for next year, please click here to see them. Thanks you to those who have booked onto the Beauty of Wildlife 2 day wildlife workshop I am doing in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, Manchester. I look forward to meeting you all and helping you capture and see the beauty of wildlife.
I have a few places left for my Winter Waders, Norfolk 3 day photo tour in December. The Wash is England’s largest tidal estuary and one of the country’s most important winter feeding areas for waders and wildfowl and you’ll be spellbound as you watch tens of thousands of pink-footed geese from Iceland leave their night time roost site and head inland to feed. Norfolk in the winter offers so much in the way of wildlife and my aim on this 3 day workshop is to get you some of the best images of the winter wildlife Norfolk has to offer.
And lastly, I have an exhibition called “The Beauty of Wildlife” for one week from Sunday 27th November until Sunday 4th December 2011 at the amazing Winter Gardens in Sheffield. Officially opened by Queen Elizabeth 2nd, on 22nd, May 2003, this is one of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK and a beautiful place in which to display my work, with trees, plants and other fauna around creating a peaceful and tranquil environment.
I will be in attendance throughout the week. There is also coffee and light refreshments available within the site. So if you are in the area then please pop in to say hi and have a look at the exhibition. And if you have any questions or require any help or advice on the equipment you are using then I will do my best to help. Look forward to seeing you there.
In October I will be running a two day “Beauty of Wildlife” workshop in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, one of the leading photographic suppliers in the UK. It will be the first workshop of many planned with this leading camera supplier company. The first day will be based at their Manchester branch, where we I will go through camera settings, compositions, setting up of each person’s camera and sharing/passing on my knowledge in order to improve individuals photography.
I will also show you some slideshows, touching on the various different skills needed for wildlife photography, use of light, what to look out for, fieldcraft and lots more. Tea and Coffee will be provided during the day and I’ll answer any questions in regard to wildlife photography that you may have in order to improve or move along your own existing skill level. I demonstrate to everyone that attends my one to ones and workshops what works and cut through all the ‘minefield’ of what’s best and what should I use, which mode etc that can drag people down.
I will replace all of that with a usable workflow that works on the ground, the same as I use, with no secrets, no hidden settings. Once clients have seen this I feel it gives them a more relaxed approach to their own work, knowing full well they weren’t really doing a lot wrong in the first place. I am self taught with over 30 years of knowledge of wildlife, which is the real key to wildlife photography.
The second day, unlike the first which will be classroom based will be in the beautiful Peak District. As a wildlife photographer the great outdoors is my office, a place in which I capture the beautiful images I am blessed in seeing. The beauty of photographing wildlife is that it is always changing and evolving, encountering the unexpected. In this environment the photographer must learn to work with these changing environmental conditions and behaviours, and the result cannot always be predicted.
My images represent an event that occurred in the wild, something that I witnessed and recorded with my camera. Learning to get close to wildlife without disturbing the life of the animal is the key to my work and this 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.
Fieldcraft is the most important tool in a wildlife photographer’s box I believe, because if the animal is not use to human contact, isn’t tame or use to you putting food out, then they will be very difficult to get close to in the absence of hides.
Learning fieldcraft skills will improve your photography, as a subject going about its life, free from human contact always makes for the best photographs. I feel you cannot learn real and true fieldcraft from anything other than a wild animal, in the wild. I have never worked with captive or tame animals as their behaviour is too contrived for me and is as a result of contact with man. I will show you simple and key elements to fieldcraft on the second day where you’ll greatly benefit from the wonderful wildness that is the moors of the Peak District and its wildlife.
Many clients who attend my workshops all go away with a better understanding of photographing wildlife, where it’s not about what you have but how to best use your equipment to obtain those lovely images you see with your eyes. Things change very quickly in the wild and I will give you ideas and a workflow that empowers you to capture and improve your own work. Seeing an image takes time, this skill can be learned by watching your subject and understanding its behaviour.
The Red Grouse by nature is a very elusive bird, always hiding away and making best use of the habitat in which to disappear, as shown in this wide angled image of a Red Grouse hiding, blending in very well. They will see you long before you see them.
We will start early to capture the beautiful wildlife as the sun rises against the backdrop of the Peak District which will make for some amazing images. During our day in the Peak District we will be concentrating our efforts on Red Grouse among the autumn/winter landscapes and Mountain Hares, the only place outside of Scotland where there is a healthy population of these mammals.
We will also have the opportunity to see Short Eared Owls and many other birds which stay in this area all year, and don’t migrant like alot of other birds. You will need to provide your own photographic equipment or alternatively you can hire equipment from Calumet Photographic, Manchester and we will meet in Buxton train station car park. It will be a great day, where you will learn alot more about the ‘wild’ in wildlife photography, capturing images that will be around you, gaining subject awareness which again is key to capturing a wild animal’s character and behaviour.
So if you would like to book onto this wildlife workshop then please click on this link, which will take you to Calumets website. If you would like to hire any camera equipment for the day of which I will help and go through with you on the first day then again just ask at your time of booking. I look forward to seeing you in October and should you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact myself or Calumet Photographic Manchester.
Over the last seven days I have had four one to ones. Two in Norfolk photographing Barn Owls and Waders -thank you Ian and Daniel. Then travelling onto the Peak District for two days of one to ones photographing Red Grouse, Dippers and Watervoles with repeat customer Andrew, many thanks for your company gents. The weather was testing at times but I hope you all got everything and more from your one to one days with myself and look forward to seeing you all in the future. Many thanks.
