Autumn Bird of Prey Photography Workshop

Many thanks to Ben and his team for providing us with some excellent birds on yesterday's photography workshop. The male goshawk is a really special bird and a joy to photograph in the pine wood habitat; I particularly liked the autumn colours in the background. Everyone got really natural looking images and we had a free flying barn owl with no jesses for flight. Ben also went to huge efforts to create a very convincing habitat for the white tailed eagle - complete with a freshly caught cod!

Thanks to everyone who attended this autumn birds of prey workshop. It was a very enjoyable day - despite the rain..!

The next birds of prey day will be next year on March 30th at an old farm near Masham. View Ben Potter and Birds of Prey Displays in North Yorkshire for shows, demonstrations and pest control.

Summer Returns!

With temperatures increasing to a completely unseasonal level, I managed a couple of productive days photographing agricultural landscape images. Many of the fields had been cut, providing lovely tramlines of fresh green grass running throughout the landscape. The lines were so powerful I decided to return early the next day to capture the scene at dawn. The forecast was accurate and the sky clear. Composition was the hardest part of this photography shoot; so many different angles. As often is the case - the simplest composition seemed to be the best..

Later in the day I was treated to a wonderful wildlife sight; an adult fox casually wandering between the tram lines, investigating the green mounds in search of food. I love to capture natural images like this one - something that says more about the animal, rather than a straight portrait... Funnily enough I had just been talking to a guy who had described badgers doing this very thing during the last hours of daylight.

How to Photograph Roe Deer

Although I've entitled this blog "how to photograph Roe Deer" I'm not sure I still really have the answer to that. Having said that, after many hours of watching these incredible animals and trying my hardest to get close to them, I've finally managed some close up shots of the deer in their natural habitat on the farm.

It's funny how some days, everythings seems to happen at once. This was the case on the morning I took these images. Hidden behind a straw bale, with my camouflage, I was treated to a beautiful buck wandering into the field at close range. the sun was just beginning to break as I watched him sniffing and snorting. I had to make a few clicking noises to get him to look up: he eventually decided not to trust the strange 'clicking' straw bale and slowly stepped through the hedgerow into the next field. About an hour later I spotted a female grazing at the edge of the field and was able to use one of the bales to quickly move about 50 yards or so to get withing shooting distance. I hit the ground with camera on beanbag and waited for her to step out. I didn't have to wait long before she was in full view, allowing for some lovely portraits..

I've learnt a lot about the deer - particularly in the last couple of months. Above all it's important to keep your head camouflaged, and I've found that with no movement they will largely ignore you - even at relatively close range (provided they don't catch your scent). But perhaps the biggest lesson has been in realising just how easily they move around the farm without being seen. I totally underestimated this - and now I know to keep a constant check with binoculars when approaching their feeding grounds. Many a time they stick to the hedgerows and are surprisingly well camouflaged. This probably explains how I have suddenly come upon a deer when turning a corner on so many occassions!

With the grass now getting longer I will go for pure hand-held stalking, using the long grasses as concealment. Watch this space as hopefully there will be more roe deer images to post.!

Photography Contract with FLPA Picture Library

I have just finished getting together my first photography submission for FLPA which offered me a contract just a couple of weeks ago. FLPA are one of the top natural history picture libraries in the UK, reaching a wide range of clients in the editorial, commercial and advertising world. I am delighted to be one their nature photographers and will be submitting new material on an ongoing basis. It's been a long time since my last blog post, so new wildlife/landscape photography posts to follow very soon... I promise..!