Entries Tagged ‘Wildlife Workshops’:

In 2016 I will be heading back to the wonderful island of Madagascar. A truly amazing place and so diverse in the species of wildlife there.This trip is now live on my website and already a couple have places have gone. So if you’d like to join me on this amazing photo tour in August 2016 then see the following link for more information and trip details.

The 12 day trip is open to non-photographers also who simply have a love of wildlife. Also its open to people living outside of the UK as we can all meet in Tana the capital at the start of this amazing adventure. This image of a Black and White Ruffed Lemur was taken on my last trip there and its what in most parts the island is famous for, its many species of beautiful Lemurs found nowhere else on the planet. And below is a close up of the truly amazing Leaf Tailed Gecko also taken on my last trip there.

After a week on my own on the Shetland Isles which can be seen on my blog post below called Solitude my photo tour kicked off with some amazing weather and sightings. After picking my clients up from the airport and ferry port of Lerwick we headed to Sumburgh Head, the most southernly tip of Shetland. We spent the day with the Puffins there and they are just stunning and so beautiful and comical to watch and spend time with.

All my clients got some wonderful images of these stunning seabirds which are so funny to be around and spend time with. It was then back to our cottage and settle in for the week. Each night we have a home cooked three course meal cooked for us made from local ingredients made by my friend Anne, the wife of a good friend Iain who loves on Shetland.

The next day it was a return to one of my favourite places , Hermeness, the most northernly point of the UK and a remote and wild place. Its home to thousands of nesting Gannets and other seabirds, including one of my favourite the Puffin.  After the walk out there we spent most of the day there with stunning weather, then it was two ferries and home once again.

We had an amazing day at Hermeness and all my clients got some great moments and loved the place. Our routine each night was the same so it was back for our home cooked meal after a full day out. The next day we had a trip to Noss again where I chartered a boat with my friend and D-day veteran Geordie.

Our last day on Shetland turned out to be the very best for my clients with a male Otter coming close and all clients finishing a wonderful week with the best moments. The following images are some of my favourites showing him coming ashore, eating his fish, then smelling his scat or poo and then remarking his territory before heading back out to sea.

Otters are one of the hardest mammals to get near, they mark their territory often and always at the highest point so the tides dont remove their scat or poo. Look for this, build a picture, learn, watch, look, smell, and sit and with a pinch of luck things will happen.

Its been an amazing two weeks for me on Shetland, my first week alone camping at various places and seeing some beautiful wildlife.

The second week really followed the same path as I showed my clients the amazing wildlife these islands have to offer. I showed them all fieldcraft, photography and many other skills they will be able to take home with them and use within their own photography.

I’d like to thank all my clients for their company over the last week and to my good friends Anne and Iain Sloane who have helped me with my trip also. The dates and information for my 2015 trip to Shetland are now up on my website. Click here to see all these details and to book, should you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact me many thanks.

As the trees lose their leaves and the countryside is turned in to a mosaic of stunning colours, animals all around the country are feasting on the bounty of food that is plentiful now, from berries to horse chestnuts, the countryside is a wash with food.  Birds starting to migrate to and from the UK with lots going on.  Over the last two weeks I have been to several different places throughout the UK with clients covering the Deer Rut, Red Squirrels and Short-eared  Owl.

One of the places I visit in the UK has a really good woodland area and when you walk through these woods with their well established and majestic trees there is always a lot of Deer activity around. With the Autumnal colours the Deer blend in so well within these habitats and their coats are beautiful to see, with clear markings throughout. All my clients got some amazing images from some great encounters over the last two weeks.

We had a mixed fortune with the weather after one of the wettest periods in autumn so far, but there is always an image to be taken I say not matter what the weather throws at you. Also over the last week or so I have visited my Red Squirrel site in the North west coastal region of the UK with clients booked in on my One to Ones. This whole area is managed by the wildlife trust who keeps an eye on the population of Red Squirrels that were almost wiped out 4 years ago.

Numbers are slowly increasing with the hard work and dedication of the local trust and volunteers.  We visit this site in the morning and then head to one of my Short-eared owl sights in the afternoon as this is one of the many duel-One to Ones I run. The full list can be seen here. These places are all built off the back of my extensive knowledge on these areas and time served there.

Every living animal for me has their own spirit, their own character and I really try to capture that within my work and try and show and get clients who come with me to see differently and to engage in the bigger picture which in turns makes for better images I believe. Unplanned, unscripted in its truest form, watching wildlife and capturing those briefest of moments when you witness their unique behavior, this is priceless.

These days have only just started so if you want to book on or see what I offer then please click on the following link. I have many other one to ones and workshops that carry on throughout the Winter offering a real encounter with nature.

I do have a few spaces free due to a cancellation on my Tigers of India tour next April. I have been going to India since 2009 and working with the same guys year in and its an amazing trips where clients have some amazing images and times. To see this trip and past blog posts of what we got up to click on the following link and I hope you can join me next year, many thanks.

A good Photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. Four years ago today my website went live and I turned my childhood hobby into my profession. I don’t see this as work but a way of life for me.  My first blog post was about one of my images Family Life being commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards- BWPA. It was the very first time I had entered any image into any form of competition and in the year that my website had launched it was a nice moment for me.

When I first started out I had no clue really how to work a computer, I had no knowledge of  working Digital cameras, no formal photography training or background, I had no business or marketing plan, no money and had to borrow and beg off credit cards. I brought a prime lens with what money I had saved from working on the mobile cranes and rope access work I did for a living before photography. I learned how to work my camera and get the best from it in a way that works on the ground. I learned how to process images really getting the image right in camera rather than changing it in Photoshop.

I knew I had alot of knowledge of wildlife, I had great skills in fieldcraft and approaching animals and my heart was always among nature. I set up a few workshops that took clients to places I had visited since I was a kid to see and photograph some of my favorite wildlife and so my business started and grew. I was one of the first to start One to Ones with clients, offering a real encounter with wildlife at the same time learning key skills to improve my clients own wildlife photography. I still run these and my other trips very successfully today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you for the support of my clients, editors, and people over the years that I have had the pleasure of working alongside. I am launching a photo competition today where the prize is a One to One with myself in the UK. With my ethics as the backdrop to this competition I want those that choose to enter to have captured a truly wild moment. No props, no perches, no animals made to do something in return for food. I just want a simple image taken by the photographer who used his/her own skills and knowledge.

During those four years I have tried and will continue too be as real with my images as possible. Capturing truly wild moments using my own skills rather than rely on bringing the subject to you through bait, food or using captive animals. In an age where you can almost buy any set-up image you want, choosing your perch or prop, setting the background. Where the animal is made to jump, fly,dive and stand on two legs and so forth in return for food and getting the paying guest his or her chosen image.

My wildlife photography was born out a sheer love and passion for nature from a young age. 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 I would see a certain animal. 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 or watching. By doing this I could understand the animal better, gaining many skills by observing their behaviors at the same time giving the subject complete respect which allowed me a private window into their personal and private lives.

My images represent an event that occurred in the wild something that I witnessed and recorded with my camera. My skill lies in interpreting and presenting this in a way that invokes beauty, mood and emotion with each moment captured. Respect for wildlife has to be the first thing in any image obtained, love nature and she will give up her secrets to you.

The result is real images where the subject is completely relaxed by your presence.  At the same time the photographer will learn so much more about the subject and the environment in which the subject lives. You have to learn about your subject and fieldcraft to really embrace the world of wildlife I feel and in turn wildlife photography.

Wildlife photography for me is capturing a moment in the wild, I make no bones about disliking set up images, captive images or where the animal is made to do something in return for a reward, this is image making not true wildlife photography where the subject becomes a commodity in order to facilitate those paying guests.  Where the photographer has  given no real explanation to how and what was behind the image.

The photographer has a duty of care not only to the wildlife but also to the general public who view your work. And in my eyes if you do this for a living and you work in this manner than you should have the integrity to tell those that judge you how you got the image and what skills you used in the pursuit of such an image. Wildlife is not a commodity in which you use to make money from one minute then try and use it as a vehicle to promote your own interests and cause the next.

What I’ve always tired to offer with my workshops here in the UK and abroad is an experience, a true moment in nature where you have learned how to work the land, learned abit about the subject and other skills. The hope is you go home afterwards and apply these skills learned and apply them to your own photography, this is my aim and what’s behind my workshops/trips.

Those clients that have spent time with me really benefit from this approach and learn much more in my eyes. Many have wrote their own thoughts on my Testimonials page which can be seen here.

So with all this in mind I have launched my competition today and its meant to empower those that enter to work in a more ethical way, love wildlife first and foremost and the rest will fall into place I believe.  Its open to anyone and by showing a total understanding of your craft and the ethics behind the image you send in.  I will look forward to seeing all these images and the winner will learn more of what they have already demonstrated with their winning image.

Competition

The competition will run from the 1^st October until the 21^st October.  The winners will be announced by Friday 25th October. You don’t have to have any fancy camera gear, or be a pro or think you’re not good enough if you think you have a nice shot your proud of and its a truly wild moment then enter. The prize is the One to One day with me. Where I will show you everything I know, how I work and it will be fun at the same time very rewarding in terms of knowledge shared and fieldcraft learned.

Please email/message your image at 600 x 600 and 72dpi to my Craig Jones Wildlife Photography facebook page here.

The rules are very simple:-

1. Anyone, any standard may enter the competition.
2. Only one entry per person.
3. The competition is open only to UK residents.
4. Your image must be completely wild were nothing has been changed by the hand of man.
5. The competition will run from October 1st until Monday 21^st October.
6.  The winner will be announced by Friday 25th October.

I would then like a brief explanation of the story behind the image as I am very strong on this and again it tells the full story to those not lucky enough to have been there when the image was taken.

Good Luck to everyone who enters.

Spring time for me is the best time of year. Wildlife is everywhere and bird song fills the air, even more so over the last several days, waking up to several inches of thick snow which I thought this maybe an April fools too far. A cruel trick of nature where I do hope not to many species have suffered with one of the coldest March’s for many decades. I have been working on my projects in between my One to Ones. Hopefully they will bear some fruit over the coming months and I will update my blog with them fingers crossed.

I’ve just spent two days at Caerlaverock Wetland Centre, a spectacular 1,400 acre wild reserve situated on the north Solway coast of Scotland with clients. During our winter months this area becomes home to the whole Svalbard breeding population of Barnacle Geese, where some of the best views of this great wildlife spectacle can be seen from the hides within this beautiful place on the North West coast of the UK. On one of the morning we were treating to the most amazing sunrise where twenty minute or so before the sun actually came up the sky was turn bright red. The warm air meeting the cold air resulting in a beautiful dawn.

With another year almost over this brings my 2012 photo tour programme to a close. What a year it has been, from the beaches of Norfolk to the heat of the Indian forests of Ranthambhore in search of the majestic Bengal Tigers and the amazing and unique island of Madagascar and its famous Lemurs, to breaching Humpback Whales in the Indian Ocean. Thank you to all of my valued guests for your custom and company and I hope you’ve had a wonderful time on my trips as well as learning more than you knew at the start of your adventure.

My 2013 tours are filling fast, with new destinations added along with my popular and favourite destinations.  The emphasis of my tours is to maximize wildlife watching and photography options for everyone while at the same time enjoying and learning more about the habitat and the wildlife that coexists alongside our target species.

I’d be delighted if you’d join me next year or in the future to witness the amazing wildlife my trips offer, while learning more about the subject and photography. The locations chosen for all of my tours offer unrivalled photographic opportunities. The pace of each trip is such that there is ample time to indulge in all that is on offer and maximise the photographic potential of each location.

Here you can read just a few of the reasons why lots of other photographers have chosen to join me.

In February 2013 I will start the year with my amazing trip to the Falklands which is now fully booked.  For details of my 2014 trip please click here for more information.

In April you can catch the season moving from winter into spring and see the wildlife of the Norfolk coast come alive on my Early Spring in Norfolk trip with 2 places remaining. Click here for more information and booking form.

Then in the middle of April I travel to the wonderful Dutch island of Texel for my Texel photo tour run alongside friend and fellow wildlife photographer Jeroen Stel who lives in Holland. It’s a haven and paradise for thousands of waders and waterfowl during the spring/summer months where they choose this picturesque island to play out their courtship routines and breed, feeding their young all quite close to you, presenting some of the best opportunities to photograph Avocets, Spoonbills, Caspian, Black Terns, Oystercatchers, Kentish Plovers, and many more waders. Click here to see this photo tour.

Then I round April off and follow through to May with my second trip and head to Ranthambhore for my Tigers of India tour. The Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is the single largest expanse of dry-deciduous forest left intact in India. It is one of the best places in India to see these amazing animals in the wild. My first trip is fully booked and I have a couple of places left on my second trip. For details please click here. If you would like to buy one of my limited edition Tiger prints that help a charity I support then please click here to be taken to 21 Century Tigers website.

The month of June finds me travelling north to two amazing places for wildlife. Firstly my ever popular trip to the Isle of Mull which lies on the west coast of Scotland. It has a breathtaking coastline of 300 miles and the climate is a mixture of rain and sunshine. The island is a wonderful place to see Golden Eagles, White-tailed Eagles, Otters, Porpoises and a whole host of Hebridean Wildlife. Come and join me as I take you around this beautiful island on this amazing 6 day/5 night trip. I still have places available so click on this link to see the details.

Later on in June I have a new photo tour-Stunning Shetland, where we will spend a whole week on this wildlife packed island. I will be working with my friend who lives on the island to deliver you some of the best animal and birdlife in the UK. I only have two places left so for more information please click here.

I start the month of July off with a brand new trip to the wild forest of Finland. You will get the opportunity to photograph wild Brown Bears, Wolves and the very unique Wolverine all from purpose built professional hides perfectly designed for photographers. These shy, iconic predators will go about their business around you, giving you a unique insight unto their lives at the same time giving you some if not the best opportunities to photograph these rare and elusive predators. I have a couple of places free so for more information or to book click here.

Another brand new photo tour for 2013 is my Jaguars of Brazil trip. Join me on this amazing 8 day trip in August to the Pantanal in Brazil to see the beautiful Jaguar in its wetland and woodland habitat. Wildlife in the Pantanal includes Anteaters, Howler Monkeys, Jaguars, Giant River Otters, Caimans, Anacondas, Ocelots and Capybara, along with a host of colourful and exotic birds. I have places free on this trip at present so for more information or to book please click here.

In September I am planning a 9 day trip to Sumatra which hopefully will be completed and ready for you to view very soon.  Then in the month of October it’s my Madagascar photo tour. After this year’s successful trip to this amazing island I am doing another 11 day trip photographing the very unique wildlife this island has to offer. For more information click here.

I then finish the year off with my Winter Waders in Norfolk trip. This place is famous for its winter flocks of Geese, Wildfowl and Waders who begin to gather here to make their home during our winter months. I have places free at the moment so for more information please click here.

In between all of these trips I also offer workshops to Skomer to photograph the Puffins, Mountain Hares, Spring Tides & Barn Owls. I also run workshops for Dippers, Red Grouse and Water voles which are still as popular as ever, all these worshops can be viewed here. I take clients to places I have visited since my early teens so they are very personal to me and make great one day workshops photographing these subjects as they go about their lives in the wild.

Lastly, my One to Ones, which are still very popular. The list of places throughout the year and more information can be seen by clicking on this link. Many thanks to all of the wonderful people that I’ve met this year and I look forward to meeting new and existing clients in 2013.

Just before I go if your looking for a wildlife calender for 2013 that helps and supports the amazing work of the wildlife trusts then click here to purchase this amazing calendar. I am proud to say that my Otter image has been chosen as the front cover and also January image of the month.

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.