Photographing Hedgehogs

Another visit to the local hedgehog sanctuary - they don't deal in anything else: just hedgehogs. As always it's great fun to get so close to these little mammals and I spent a good couple of hours following different hedgehogs around this urban back garden. I decided to use flash photography for these shots to make them look like they were taken at night... I experimented a bit first with my Metz CL4 flashgun; quite a beast and something I've hardly ever used. I placed a clear bag over the flash to soften the lighting - and you can definitely tell the difference. I couldn't help myself where plant pots were concerned... it may look a little twee but these type of shots continue to sell. One of the most fascinating things is to see a hedgehog annointing - they bascially create a smelly saliva mixture and lick themselves. No one apparently knows why, but it's great to get a shot of it! This one adopting a great pose whilst licking..!

And my day was finally complete as I turned my head from the viewfinder to find a baby hedgehog licking my arm... I feel well and truly honoured..!! Hope to get back for some more mammal photography; I've learnt a lot from this visit about the best way to shoot them...

Birds of Prey Photography Course

Our recent birds of prey photography course was probably the best location we've used so far. We try to use new locations and different settings to provide different backdrops, whilst keeping everything looking as natural as possible. The setting for August's workshop was an old farm in North Yorkshire with barns, old buildings and gates... and beautiful rural surroundings including rolling green pasture and ripened wheat fields.
It's the perfect place to photograph barn owl and little owl in particular, with lichen covered stone walls and barn windows. We even managed to fly the barn owl through an open window numerous times providing stunning flight shots! The farm should now be one of our main locations for future bird of prey workshops.

Book Launch with Gervase Phinn - Yorkshire Journey

I recently attended a book launch of the new title: Gervase Phinn's Yorkshire Journey - published by Country Publications at Broughton Hall. I'm pleased to have a few images in the book - including shots of Grassington and Ilkley Moor. It was good to catch up again with the editors and see some new faces too. It was also good to finally meet other photographers who contribute to Dalesman and Countryman - some names I knew... but no idea what they looked like!

Gervase is certainly a character and I'm sure the book will be an excellent read (I did hang around to get my free copy signed!). A successful author and public speaker, Gervase has written numerous books and writes a regular column for the Countryman magazine.

Country Publications seems to go from strength to strength, will a very loyal readership. It's clear too that the editors and designers really care about their product, and this recent publication is a superb example of the quality they produce - beautifully set out with stunning images throughout.

Photographing Damselflies

Yesterday morning saw me by a sheltered pond in West Yorkshire, literally teeming with insect life. It's a recently discovered location - and one that is brimming with butterflies, moths and damselflies. The conditions started off well: a lovely still morning with intermittent sunshine breaking through the low cloud. Damselflies were just everywhere, buzzing around the spiky grasses and resting on the low growing plants that fringe the pond. I've always found it difficult to get close enough to the damselflies - they seem particularly skittish.. But perhaps they were just beginning to warm up and not quite at their full speed. Either way, I was able to get extremely close to a number of them as they rested on various perches. I shot towards the light wherever I could, hand-holding the camera and shooting at about 1/250 at f7.1 on ISO 200. As the breeze picked up, photographing insects became increasingly difficult until virtually impossible... this is one of the virtues of an early start as it's the best time to achieve the the stillness that is so important for insect photography.