My month in Wales has gone very quickly and shortly I will be returning back to Cornwall to finish off my gastropod assignment and take on something new. So I made sure to spend another morning in the river, which is something I have really enjoyed since being at home but now I wish I was an Otter so I could live by the river more or a Kingfisher (Even one would be fine by me). Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with double exposures and slow shutter speeds, something I have tried before but haven't done in a while. The weather in Wales has been perfect for slow shutter because its be quite dull, cloudy and of course there has been plenty of rain! Although the weather doesn't have to be cloudy for you to try slow shutter photography. Today was a perfect example as the sky was a beautiful crystal blue, full of clouds and due to where the sun rose upon the mountains it cast a big shadow upon the river, so I was able to open my shutter for tenth of a second. Then layering both images together on Photoshop you are left with the final results below: Work will be added to the landscape section of the site!
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"Baby I'm from New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothing you can't do, Now you're in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you... " And New York did inspire me but it wasn't due to the big lights but the birders with their passion for wildlife in Central Park. Last night I watched a wonderful documentary, that followed a few birders throughout four seasons of the year. Starr Sophir was one of the birders that starred in the documentary and she made a living from taking New Yorkers and tourists around the park showing them the migrates and common birds. In one of the interviews Sophir said that: “I am enormously lucky in that I absolutely love what I do everyday that I do it. It doesn't mean that sometimes it’s not tedious for moments or for hours or the day when you have to come up with 38 birds, and the birds are not cooperating, and you end up with 37. And doing the lists, you’re sometimes really tired by the time you get home after maybe a six-hour walk or something. I still have to sit down and do my list. There, it’s work, but I could keep this up, I think, for hundreds of years. Nobody gets a chance to find that out, but I love what I do.” The documentary also followed birder Chris Cooper who only said he went birding in the Spring season because this is when you likely to see more birds. He said that a lot of his friends teased him for being a birder, so he came up with the seven pleasure of why people enjoy bird watching! And if you have also wondered why? maybe these will enlighten you a little: The Seven Pleasures Of Birding 1. The beauty of the birds 2. The beauty of being in a natural setting 3. The joys of hunting, without the bloodshed 4. The joy of collecting (in that the practice of keeping lists -- life lists, day lists, etc.-- appeals to the same impulse as, say, stamp collecting) 5. The joy of puzzle-solving (in making those tough identifications) 6. The pleasure of scientific discovery (new observations about behavior, etc.) 7. The Unicorn Effect--After you've been birding for even a little while, there are birds you've heard of or seen in books that capture your imagination, but you've never seen for yourself...and then one day, there it is in front of you, as if some mythical creature has stepped out of a storybook and come to life. There's no thrill quite like it. And being a natural history photographer number seven couldn't be more true because its like seeing a celebrity. Seeing the creature you studied for a long time and finding out it does exist an isn't just a picture/painting in your field guide, its one of the greatest joys in the world. The reason why the DVD is called the central park effect is because that in the middle of the concrete jungle there is a lovely forest full of birds and other wildlife. An due to there being so much human interaction in New York, the birds land in the only bit of green they can see from the skies and they call this the central park effect. I was also surprised to find out that this wildlife haven wasn't in fact wild but man made...is this our future? Who knows... Overall I believe the film is completely worth watching for birders an even no birders because Birders will want to visit New York and non birders may want to pick up a pair of binoculars them self's or just simply understand why we do it. As I have only mention who people stories from the documentary the film does follow some wonderful people, that I hope I may bump into if I ever go birding in central park one day. I was also sad to find out after watching the DVD that Starr Sophir passed away in 2013, which I found very sad because it would have been a pleasure to have met you person. So I rate this documentary: Rating: ***** More information on Starr Saphir below: Starr Saphir died on February 5, 2013, at Calvary Hospice in New York after an eleven-year battle with breast cancer.Her skills as a birder were legendary. For nearly forty years she gave birding walks in Central Park and around the world that were noted for their unusual sightings. She was a friend, teacher, mentor, and inspiration to many. Her daughters Shawna and Lara loved her very much. Starr began birding in 1946 gave birding tours across the world for nearly 40 years. She kept written logs of all the birding she did since the day she began. She had 259 bird species in Central Park alone. She has compiled some extraordinary birding records locally, nationally, and overseas. Firstly Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All... Speaking of the new year there are many exciting things to look forward to. This is down to the great encouragement from friends and family, recently I have received many lovely comments on my work. This has now led me to taking the next step as an aspiring nature photographer, what I mean by this is that a good majority of people have requested prints. I have done a few exhibition but never sold work and I rarely print work out to give as a gift but this is simply because I am quite critical when it comes to my work. However this Christmas I have had to pleasure of seeing people unwrap my photographs which was followed by joy in their faces, especially when I sat down with that person and discussed how the image was made and where it was taken. So coming soon to my site in 2015, selected prints of all sizes will be available to purchase at reasonable prices but however this is not all! You will also be able to purchase T-shirts with up to four of your favorite prints and I am currently experimenting with other novelty gift ideas. (Modeled by my beautiful girlfriend below) Also some other great news, I am currently working on making a few films which will be added to the video section later on in the year. More information on the production of these films can be found on this blog in the nearby future. Any enquirers please feel free to comment or email me. Thank You... Here are some of the people who received prints sizing from 12x10 and 16x12! Today's shoot was a little larger than normal and when I mean large...I mean the Snails! This was my first shoot photographing our common snails cousin...the African Snail. Having a larger subject matter meant I had to build a much bigger set up. As the snails are roughly the size of my hand, a branch or a flower simply wouldn't be big enough to hold their weight but I was lucky because half way up the river there was some left over wood from a recently built bridge that I was able to commandeer. Now if you consider trying something like this, I would recommend planning your shoot before hand because as these creatures are from a different climate they do not take kindly to the cold weather. In the process of editing through pictures, work to be added shortly to the Macro Section:
Today I decided to let my snails have a break and just spend an hour or so photographing the river. The water was still quite high from all the rain and I thought this would be the perfect time to just have some fun with slow shutter speeds. I am currently playing around on Photoshop with multiple exposures and think I am on to something. No work to be added today as it is mostly all experimental but I shall be back into my waders tomorrow...I will also have two new subject matters to photograph for my gastropod assignment all away from east Africa. Oh yes you guessed it right...African Snails! Today I came to the simple conclusion that I simply love my waders... They are a must for any nature photographer because they give you almost total freedom compared to stranded wellies. There is just something simple but really enjoyable about sitting in the middle of the river. It was still a little cold but I layered up and I was just sitting there with my Camera filming some test shots for my film 'Walking Amongst Giants'. It has been raining a lot lately so the river was quite deep and rather furious but it was really nice to forget the world for a bit and to be lost in my surroundings. The film is based on one of my favorite places in the world which is the rivers, mountains and forests that surrounded the valley I live in, I guess you could call it a sense of place film but even though I am sharing what I love about nature I hope it will inspire people who also love nature to may spend a little more time outdoors what ever the weather or maybe inspire people who don't go out in much to find a new love for whats on their doorstep. The more I think about it the film is sort of a love letter to Wales and overall nature as a whole. I hope to film more over the next few weeks.... But filming some footage for the film wasn't the main reason I was up early on this cloudy, dull but delightful morning. I was up to photograph some gastropods and unlike my previous shoot here in Wales in went rather well. Because it was raining on and off it helped give this beautiful shine to the snails shell. I set up my shots by putting the branch across the water and used the 105mm macro to capture the detail of the snail. I converted the image to black & white to bring out all the textures in the branch, snails skin and the shell. I am also in the middle of planning my next assignment on Otters so I am currently reading up on as much as I can about these wonderful creatures, one of these books is 'The Track Of The Wild Otter' by Hugh Miles. (I will leave a link below to the episode that goes along side the book.) And I also received a welcome pack in the post from the Canal & River Trust who I have began to sponsoring about a week ago and they help keep 2,000 miles of canals & rivers save, clean for hundreds of species that live in this habitat. From Otters, Kingfishers, swans and tiny dormice. Work will be added shortly. YouTube Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVMh7r0LHW4 As I am back in Wales for the next month I decided not to get to relaxed and went out on a shoot. For today's shoot I wanted to continue with my independent assignment on Gastropods as I have been doing so over the past few weeks in Cornwall. The Kit I will be using over the winter break is a Nikon D7000 with three lens, a 16-85mm, 105mm Macro and a 10.5 fish eye lens. I am also using a manfrotto tripod, which is a brand of tripod that I would highly recommend to any landscape/nature photographers as it a lot more versatile than basic tripods. Over the coming weeks I will be spending a lot of my time in the river photographing the Snails, along with filming for two other projects in the forests. The reason for photographing the snails in the river is because as I have mentioned in previous posts that, this is when the Snails are most active when surrounded by moisture. Also photographing them by the water means I can shoot a slow shutter speed making the image a little more artistic, which is some thing I have tried previously in Tehidy Nature Reserve and I thought it worked really well. Heading up to the mountains the sky was a lovely crystal blue. I could feel the cold air on my face the higher I walked up the path scanning down at the river to find a perfect spot in which I could set up my kit and get into my waders. As I walked along all I could hear the sound of the birds flying by and the river below, after a short walk I headed down the muddy bank and prepared for the icy welsh waters. Once in the river I moved a few rocks and had some shots in mind in which I could place the snails but after half an hour of taking pictures and I wasn't 100% pleased with the outcomes. So I quickly changed the lens to a fish eye lens and made the subject matter the location it self and things were going well. The outcome is below and can be found in the landscape section on the site shortly. Overall a slow start for the Snail assignment here in Wales: |
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January 2016
AuthorI believe that I was born in the wrong century and should have been born in the golden days of exploration I am also wildlife enthusiast. Find Out more on the home page. Categories |