Birdfair 2010

I have just returned from three wonderful days at this years Birdfair.  It was my first time as an exhibitor at the Birdfair after many, many years going as a visitor.  We both really enjoyed the three days and found the organisation of the event brilliant and very professional, so full credit to the staff and volunteers.  My stand was set up in the same way as my other exhibitions at Buxton, Derbyshire, with the idea of creating a gallery-style format giving people space to walk around and the oppotunity to ask anything they wished about my images.

As every image I take has a name and meaning to why I took it, I like to explain the reasons, style and what I was trying to achieve in the image.  Where its so important in my style of wildlife photography to capture the wild animal, within their natural environment and showing how they live, breed and go about their lives, their behaviours and so on.

The stand and my images went down really well I feel.  I managed to sell some of my Limited Edition Tiger images, which was great, with the cheque having been sent this morning to 21st Century Tiger Charity where I am trying to help in anyway I can towards the survival of the wild Tiger throughout the world, so thank you on behalf of the Tiger for the sales.

I met so many very nice people and made some many good contacts, so a big thank you to all those that came to see me.  There were many people from the various different forums I am on, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter etc, where it was great to put a face to the name.  I have a few ideas I will be working on alongside my current ventures.  I will be field testing a range of brilliant products and equipment from Stealth Wildlife after meeting up and getting on great with their owner Neill.

I will be trying to give him a different customer perspective on an already great range of products from a ex-sniper’s, fieldcraft experts point of view eg-shape, shine, silhouette, toughness, durability, camouflage pattern etc so I’m really looking forward to promoting and adding value to Neill’s products.  The first one will be very soon on his Bag Hide I will be using this on a Kingfisher project that I have been working on from scratch on the river Trent for the past three weeks.  This part of the river runs through the beautiful Trentham Estate, a place I’ve known from my childhood.

With the help of Jack the head warden from the Deer Study Resource Centre who has shown me around this brilliant estate.  I will be running Wildlife One-day Workshops, set in these amazing grounds, where they have a healthy population of Fallow deer, Badger, Fox and Kingfishers that have never been photographed before due to the privateness of this beautiful area.

We are just finalising this great event where I will show and teach everything I use to produce the images, I get from the wild, with the key focus on fieldcraft, tracking skills,approaching your subject with minimal disturbance,wind direction, all designed for you to read whats happening around you and help you to build a picture of the wildlife in the area.  Pool these skills together with the simply composition and camera skills, I will show and teach and you all the ingredients for a great day and in turn improving your wildlife photography skills and competancies throughout these one day workshops.

The day will include hot or cold lunch, drinks and refreshments and will last all day.  More details will follow and I will keep you updated.  Should you want more details in the mean time then please send me an email here or contact Jack at the Deer Study & Resource Center.  With the start of the Rutting season soon these days will be up and running to coincide with this amazing time, capturing the stunning autumn colours of this beautiful countryside.

Just to say thanks again folks to those I met, many thanks for your trade and bookings on my One To Ones/Workshops and I look forward to meeting you all in the future, many thanks.