My attempts to get out this Autumn and make the most of its colours, have failed miserably for one reason or another. The weekend was probably two weeks too late with most of the leaves fallen and those that have, already turning brown and mushy. I had to settle for some riverside images and the odd one in the woods – nothing very exciting unfortunately.
I think, for those of us who are wildlife or landscape photographers, we each have our own reasons for being so. For me it’s an interest in wildlife which I’ve had since I was a kid, together with art, something I was always good at, joining up with photography, a subject I took up as an art student at college. Together, however they make up a third part. Living and working in a city I find the noise, crowds and even the day to day stupidity and selflessness of people more and more oppressive.
So, going out early in the morning, preferably somewhere remote and quiet, I find relaxing and if you can watch a Fox hunting or a sunrise over the sea, it just makes the moment just that little more special. Unfortunately it’s hard to avoid people when out and about. The first below three images were taken in a hide. Now I normally stay away from these places exactly because they tend to have a lot of people and worst off, photographers. On this occasion, I was by myself at first but was followed soon after by two photographers who spent most of time talking with intermittent rattling off at full frames per second, at anything that went by.
Then came in the worst kind of ‘wildlife photographer’. He was the type who was decked out head to toe in camouflage though clearly never walks more than a hundred or so metres from his car. He then proceeded to non stop talk about how much gear he had, how many camera’s he had brought over the years, but had to ask ‘how to make the picture on the back screen go bigger’. He later phoned a camera store, hands free so everyone could hear, asking about a Sigma tele lens and talking to the poor woman who answered as if she should have known him personally because he had visited the store before!
Whilst he was doing this and with the other two still talking, a Kingfisher, what they’d seem to be waiting for, landed in front of the hide (below image) for less than a couple of seconds and, possibly scared by the noise, was off. If everyone had remained quiet they would have heard the call of it before it arrived and maybe managed a picture or so. With the noise continuing and more people arriving, I left.
I try and avoid other so called, wildlife photographers. When you go to a hide or even go to online forums and you listen to what they say, they mostly seem to be the same. They are either gear heads, obsessed with their equipment, the mega pixels, the dynamic range (though often don’t understanding what any of that actually means) or they collect images of wildlife, like a type of modern day stamp collector – the rarer the animal, usually a bird, the better. Then they will put it up on a forum or Flickr in the hope of fame or adulation. Usually they know or care little for the subject or it’s wellbeing as long as they get the image. Thankfully, I see little of them out in the actual wilds as that would involve their requiring patience and some skills and knowledge of the subject and with often only a slim chance of success, I’m guessing this would be too much work for most of them.
Images like the below Wagtail was taken at a location I’ve learnt from experience I can find them, but they will normally be spooked by someone nearby, but if you just sit there quietly there’s a chance they will come to you as in this case, a pair of them did, but I was there for nearly an hour.
Landscape photography has it’s own set of problems. Sunrise is my preferred time but this regularly means lots of dog walkers. Many of places I go to have restrictions on dogs, such as the location of the two images shot below where, at the time, dogs were not to be using the location or meant to be on a lead. These were completely ignored. Not by one or two people but by everyone! So finding a quiet spot without dogs running round you, barking, sniffing your backpack and either the owner shouting at it at the top of their voice or just ignoring what their dog is doing, is nearly impossible. It also just really spoils a tranquil moment.
And then there’s the dumb questions you get asked. Your camera is set up on a tripod, it’s sunrise and your pointing the lens towards the sunrise and some bright spark askes what you’re taking a picture of!! Or ‘are you that photographer who took that picture in the paper’! And of course there is the ‘that’s a big lens, how close can you get with it’.
So, yes I am an anti social photographer. I like to get away from people and avoid them when I’m out. I like the peace and the quietness. Being out in the woods, waiting patiently for a deer to come by and managing to photograph it without it knowing you were there and achieving an image that might have an technical and artistic merit is a bonus, but if I don’t get anything, that’s ok because I still enjoyed the walk, the exercise and just being out in nature.
Canon 6D + Samyang at 14mm f22 1/15 ISO 100
Canon 80D + Canon 18-135 at 18mm f9 1/125 ISO 100
Canon 6D + Canon 17-40mm at 34 1/200 ISO 100
Canon 80D + Canon 18-135mm at 20mm f11 1/125 ISO100
Canon 80D + Canon 18-135mm at 135 f9 1/320 ISO 100
Canon 6D + Canon 17-40mm at 17mm f11 1.3 sec ISO 100
Rydal Water Panorama Stitched from 5 images - Canon 6D
View point of Rydal Water from one of the surrounding hills - iPhone 6s
Lake Windermere Panorama Stitched from 6 images - Canon 6DAfter a bit more of an interesting recent month, it’s back down to ‘normal’. I decided rather than plan anything inparticular recently, I would just go out and enjoy the day though I did hope on the two of the ocassions I did go out, that I might photograph some Roe Deer. Unlike my sucess with the Foxes, I spent some three hours searching for a sight of a Roe but nothing, just a few tracks. Large parts of the woodland were covered with a thick undergrowth, particularly ferns but still, I would have expected more.
As I was giving up I walked passed what I thought was a ray of sunshine shinning off a tree stump but after a few steps further, thought it might be a deer so walked back a little. There in the distance was a Roe staring right at me. Their eyesight isn’t great, better at picking up on movement so I just stood still and waited, and waited, and waited and still it stared without flinching. It was a case of who was going to move first which luckily it did first. As it move off I thought I might be able to set up my camera at a location I thought it might pass by – a small clearing which, if I was correct, it would have to cross. So this is what I did and waited. After around 30 minutes I figured it must have gone in a different direction so got up and started to move away when I saw to my left barely five metres away, the Roe Deer followed by a little fawn. How I didn’t see it before or it me while I was just standing there, I don’t know, but all I could do was watch it pass. Any movement and it surely would see me and I didn’t want to scare it. Strike on photo opportunity.
My second visit to the same woods proved equally futile and again I made my way back stopping at a clearing to enjoy the morning sun and the view. After about a minute I noticed a male Roe, again about five metres in front of me just starting at me. How did I not see it before and why did it not run off before? Had it been there all that time or had it walked into view before noticing me? It was another case of who could outstare the longest which again, I managed and it quietly walked into the undergrowth.
It’s amazing how an animal the size of a Roe Deer can just blend into the surrondings. Admittedly, on both these occassions I had ‘turned off’ and lost concentration, having given up on seeing anything, but still!
Above – Roe Deer (left) and Fox (right) tracks together
Below – The type of countryside visited in recent weeks from woodland to grassy fields
Another visit to the spot I photographed Foxes in early July, though the grass was even longer than before so when I did eventually see a Fox if was barely visable. I could hear alot of alarm calls from a Blackbird so I know it was around in the area, I just couldn’t see it.
A few shots from woodland areas of Grey Squirrels, Pheasants and a Jay.
Within the wetland areas I tried a fancy slow shutter speed shot of a Tern hovering. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t face towards me which would have help make the shot.
The final image was a macro attempt. Strictly not macro though as it was taken with a 300mm lens and cropped. I do have a 105mm true macro lens but I find this type of photography a completely different challange from what I normally do. There’s no way I could have got close enough to this Dragonfly with a 105 lens. Even at over 2 metres distance with the 300mm, I had to patiently ‘stalk’ it and this was taken at close to the lenses minumum focusing distance. I think maybe why I’ve never really taken up this type of photography is because, to get the best results you need sunshine and low or zero winds, not at plentiful supply in this part of the world. On this occassion I didn’t have the latter and only some of the former.
| A day that promised lots of sunshine, took up inland along the Tyne this weekend. Between Newburn and Wylam is an area I will visit between May and August because of the Sand Martins that nest along some of the banks. There are also a number of ponds dotted around the area, of which one of them I stopped off at. What caught my eye was the colour and pattern the reeds were creating at the back of parts of this particular pond – a nice backdrop for a picture of a bird I thought. Only trouble was, it wasn’t exactly a hive of activity and there was only two sections that stood out and had a clear view of, so I decided to get my camera out at a low view point and wait. The only obvious birds around were a nesting pair of Swans, two pairs of Moorhens and a Mallard family. At first, apart from the Swan, the others were wary of my presence and stayed at the far back in the reeds. After about half an hour, they started to swim around, cautiously at first, but eventually ignoring me. The only trouble was none were going past either of the two ‘ideal’ locations. It was an hour before the Moorhens started to go past the furthest of these spots though moving quickly making it difficult to get a good picture, especially due to the very low angle (I was lying down flat) and it was hard to see through the view finder correctly, keep a straight horizon and focus accurately. |
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| After a while, it became obvious as to why the Moorhens were moving quickly back and forth past this spot, it must have been the territorial boundary between the two pairs of birds and a fight broke out, with eventually all four birds involved. Unfortunately for me, as had been concentrating on photographing a single bird at distance and had just attached my converter on the lens to give me a bit more reach but a slower focusing speed, a narrower depth of field and slower shutter speed. The action was over in a flash, sweeping from right to left and with my camera set on a slow frame rate and the other disadvantages, I wasn’t able to get a decent image. |
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| A few minutes later, everything was back to normal, a Swan swam past as did a Mallard family and the Moorhens had withdrawn to their respective parts of the pond. By this time I was back down to a bare 500mm lens, which was fortunately as, while positioning the lens on an ideal spot of reed for what I was expecting a Mallard to swim past, instead he took off and all the disadvantages I had previously had with the Moorhens were gone and managed to get a series of decent image of the bird as it went past. |
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| Of course the main purpose of the trip, was to check on the the Sand Martins this year. I’ve been watching them for a number of years and recently they had moved further up from their previous nest site, but, unfortunately, due to the fewer nesting opportunities there has, correspondently, been fewer Sand Martins. The image below shows the bank where they used to nest. It’s changed. There has been no obvious erosion from the river or from the top, but the bank is not as steep has more of a slope and so grass has managed to get a better hold, making it easier for predators to access the nests within the bank. Previous examples of my successes here at this same spot (and a predator attack) in the past when the birds were successfully nesting here in large numbers. There was then today very few Sand Martins compared to others seen at the same spot at the same time of year on this day. It could still be early and it still seems quite cool, but I’m guessing the nesting area will have moved elsewhere for the most part. |
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 Panoramic view point of the same spot |
