Today I worked in the studio for the first time in a long while and my reason for doing so was to focus on Gastropods or much more commonly know Snails. I have begun to photograph them in their natural habitat and environment but using a studio I can take away all the other distractions that environment may bring so you can focus on the detail of the subject matter. This is done by using a white backdrop so that all the other colours will stick out more, this can also be done using a black or grey backdrop but in this case I used white. My idea for this was inspired by one of my favourite photographer Charlie Hamilton James who recently bought a part of the rainforest and to catalogue all the species he found he decided to photograph them in a studio setting similar to this. I was also inspired by "Meet Your Neighbours" which was founded in 2009 and is a photographic project to show people the wildlife around them by giving the animals/creatures the celebrity treatment. The reason I chose snails is because they are often over looked, so I am hoping through my photography that I could possibly make people pay more attention to what's around them and to appreciate how wonderful this small creature is up close if you give your self the time of day to stop and admire. I used a variety of garden snails (Helix Aspersa) of all sizes and also tried to photograph them interacting with each other. It seems snails can be quite a social creature and enjoys climbing onto the other snails shell, which was about to happen in the photograph here but then they soon seem to loose interest and move away. The shoot went quite well today, I used a Nikon D810 with a 105 mm Macro lens, along with a studio light system 5000 on a shooting table which is used for this type of macro photography. Here is the set up I used below: ( Three lights, two using barn doors and one with out) Having one light above meant I could highlight the top of the snails shell, along with one of the left and right to light each side of the snail or snails in some cases. It also helped having a shooting table because that also lit up underneath but not as powerful as the rest. Overall I feel todays shoot went well but there is still more to try out and develop on with this on going assignment. Work will be added shortly to the Macro/Microscopy section of the website.
0 Comments
And I arrived in the beautiful sea side town of St.Ives, I was only walking around five minutes before a very friendly Turnstone decided to introduce him self. I have photographed turnstones here before and its always a joy to be able to get close to such a lovely looking bird, along with the rather tame starlings which I manage to photograph later in the day. The weather was a mixture of sunny and windy with a shower of rain thrown in every now and then. For this shoot I used the Nikon D810 (36 mega pixels) with a F.28, 70-200mm lens, these both have to be some of my favourite kit I like using because of the amazing quality they help produce in your images. Today I didn't just get to photograph birds such as Turnstones, Starlings and this years Juvenile Gulls. I also got to photograph a very curious seal from the end of the pier at hight tide but he didn't stay around for long but when he did pop up I managed to get a few shots, although when I got a good look he seemed to have a very swollen eye but lets hope he get better and won't get into anymore fights if that was the case. As for the starlings they just seem to get more and more tame each time I visit...is this a good thing? Well, in a way YES for wildlife photographers like my self can get close up photographs of this stunning bird but watching them today they almost looked and acted domestic, as if they were a family pet waiting for a treat. Something about this just didn't seem right and I understand that reason why they are not afraid of humans is because they are becoming the source of their food and overall survival but surely this will make them more fundable to predators. Overall today was a really enjoyable day for photography and the fact Wales won in rugby against Fiji, 17 v 13! (A little unprofessional I know) Photographs will be added shortly to the wildlife and landscape section. Tomorrow I will be continuing my on going assignment on gastropods and will be working in the studio. Today I went to a very interesting and inspiring talk by Doctor Wendy Darke a marine biologist, who is the first woman to be the head of the natural history unit for the BBC in its 56-year history. She is in charge of BBC earth, which is home to all the shows we all know and love, such as Attenborough's Programmes e.g. Life Story (which is currently playing on Thursday Nights on BBC One) Spring Watch, Autumn Watch ,Winter Watch , Deadly 60 and many, many more. It was fantastic to watch a promo for the upcoming 2015 series based on the world sharks and I can tell you know its going to be an another jaw dropping series, it was also great to hear her talk about the 2017 based on the Oceans. Wendy said that the BBC has not filmed a series just on the ocean since Blue Planet. Film cameras have really advanced since then considering that Blue Planet was shot in film, so like Life Story and Africa it's really going to have that cinematic feel to it. Wendy also talked about her career and how she got where she is today and how she was also inspired by Sir David Attenborough's shows at the age of 14 but it took many letters to the BBC and hard work to get to be the head of the programme but she encourage us not to give up and to take every chance possible, something I am sure everyone in that room today already knew! Overall I really enjoyed the talk and I hope this won't be the last I will see of Wendy as my career grows because I am determined as ever to photograph, film and educate people about the natural world around us. Early rise this morning to visit Bissoe's Nature reserve, I had not been before so I didn't know quite what to expect. On arrival the sun was golden as it began to rise over the misty stream, there were also the sound of birds in the surrounding trees. And as I stood looking at the beautiful scene before me, I had a feeling of great joy because it was one of those moments when I knew this is what I love about nature photography. For this shoot I was again using the Nikon D810 with a 24-70mm lens. Having the lens at 24 mm meant I could get a good wide shot of the landscape, although I did have the fisheye lens on me for once in a long time it wasn't really needed for this particular picture I wished to create. To make sure I got the mist in focus I switched the lens to manual focus. There was also plenty of birds to see at Bissoe such as Buzzards, Robins and Gold crests but I seemed to focus all my attention on landscapes today, along with some macro photography on some fungi. All in all it was a lovely morning, photographs will be added to the landscape sections shortly: Today I began my independent project, which is focusing on gastropods but are formally known as Snails. I had high hopes that todays shoot was going to go well because I had the subject matter and the kit (Nikon d810 and 105 mm Macro lens). The weather was very changeable today, one minute I was getting caught in a rain shower and the next there were sun rays bursting out of the clouds, this always becomes a bit of a pain with exposure but nothing that can't easily be changed. Having the occasional rain shower was quite good for the snails because they like the moisture, which seems to make them more active and easier to get the shots you want. The main focus of todays shoot was simply to try and begin to photograph the snails characteristics such as their eyes, shell, slime, etc. Which I did successfully do but I am still not happy with the outcomes... As this is the first shoot there is no need to be to critical on my images but I think the only way I can get the images to the standard I want is to try the technique of image stacking. This will then allow me to get the subject matter completely in focus, which will help show the amazing details this creature has. Unlike today when the macro lens only allowed me to get certain focal points in an image. I may also have to consider using a macro flash to help bring my subject matter out. Overall I think today was a good start to the project and I am looking forward to see what will become of it. P.s. a quick note to all photographers out there, its great to have passion and enthusiasm for what you love doing. And I know we all go the extra mile for that perfect picture but be mindful of your safety because you may not have someone to get you unstuck. Loud explosions going off in every direction can only mean one thing...Bonfire night. One of my favourite times of the year because there is nothing better than gathering around with a few friends to admire the colourful spectacle of the fireworks. I haven't photographed fireworks in a long time, so I took the chance to do so tonight. For this shoot I used a 10.5 mm fisheye lens on my favourite camera the Nikon D810. The reason for using such a wide angle lens was to capture as much of the display as possible. When photographing fireworks it is best to use a shutter speed of a few seconds, for example I used a shutter speed of "2.5" seconds. Having my shutter speed at only just over 2 seconds meant that the photographs wouldn't be blurry when hand held as I didn't have a tripod with me. But it was long enough to capture more than one fire work at a time. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the wonderful fireworks tonight or sometime this weekend but if not, photographs from tonight will be added shortly. Todays Estuary trip with Ak Wildlife Cruises was different to any other I have ever been on or crewed on before, for many reasons. Firstly because I have never done a trip up the estuary aboard the "free spirt", so it was nice to have different scenery. But the main reason this trip was so different was because for this trip our clients were two families who came aboard for their child's birthday party. Now we don't normally have kids aboard that are 6-7 years old so I was a little worried they wouldn't be that interested or would get bored but I am happy to say that I have never been more wrong in my life. They were telling me all the wonderful facts about wildlife that they had read in books or seen on Deadly 60, a television series in which I can relate too because I am also a massive fan. It was absolutely brilliant to see them with such a great passion for wildlife and willing to learn from both Ck (Captain Keith) and my self. The future for our planet relies on us to protect it for the younger generation after us and with hope they will do the same, so they to can share the wildlife experiences we have had but after today I was happily proven wrong that not all kids are lost in to the world of technology. And that it's a bright future for the next generation of naturalists... This morning I had the absolute delight of photographing my favourite bird, often referred to as the jewel of rivers and estuaries. Sometimes only seen as a blue and orange bullet darting across the water or if your lucky you will catch a little splash in the corner of your eye as it dives into the water for a fish. But today the very elusive kingfisher put on a spectacular show for me and fellow birders in the Ryan Fields Hide at the Hayle Estuary. On first arrival I heard the high pitched call as it landed on some pampas grass, I manage to get a quick glance through my binoculars before it flew off in the other direction. So after discovering that the bird was here, I set up my camera kit. For this shoot I used a Nikon D810 with a 600mm lens to get to as close to the subject as possible. After waiting no more than 40 minutes the bird returned, again calling with its high pitched song. It darted across the estuary then landed on some near by nettles that were close to the hide giving me the chance to get some nice shots. It stayed there for a while scanning the waters below before diving in to the water but this was to be an unsuccessful hunt by the king. So as it darts back out of the water it seemed a little dazed an unsure of where it dived from, so to my fortune is lands on the nearest thing it can find which was a rock that was half submerged in the water. The rock was just in front of the hide giving me the chance to get an even closer perspective of this little blue beauty. But as soon as it appeared it was gone again and dashed off leaving one very happy photographer and naturalist. As well as the Kingfisher there was also another bird I set out to photograph today...the starling. But this shoot was to focus on the birds beauty rather than the wonder of the murmuration. To do this I headed to the arty cornish seaside town of St.ives but on this occasion it was tourist invested. Not where you would normally expect wildlife photographers to visit but sometimes it's not all mud and hides. For this shoot I had to change my lens from the 600mm to a 70-200mm, f.28 lens as the subject matter was going to be a lot, lot closer than the Kingfisher. At first I could only see starlings sitting on the roof tops and chimneys which was too far away to get a detailed shot. So I decided to head along the seaside front where there was shops, cafes, chip shops and restaurants. This is where I could find the really brave and tame birds, it was amazing to see them just sitting on bins, walking in amongst the crowds and hanging around families with picnics. These birds had obviously evolved to become tame in order to survive by picking up scraps that people leave behind. So all I had to do was tread carefully towards the starlings and get down low for my shots. This was the end result: I am also beginning a new assignment shortly which I will keep you informed on. The assignment will be focusing on the common garden snail, the point of this project is to try and get people involved in all types of nature. Because as a child we are extremely fascinated by the world around us and some of us loose that spark as we get older, so I hope to reignite that flame by making the often referred "little brown jobs" more exciting through my photography. More photographs to be upload shortly from today and can be found in the wildlife section of my website. What another absolutely fantastic day crewing off shore today! Firstly my crewing skills have already improved since yesterday I came over my nerves of shouting out species for the clients and CK (Captain Keith), I still have a while to go before I perfect my rope skills but they will come in time. As for wildlife we saw 11 Harbour Porpoise which were rather close to the boat and even up behind us when we stopped to scan around. I instantly regretted only having a 300mm lens with me but did manage to get a fin identification shot. Also bird is almost certainly word today as we saw 4 peregrine falcons, which were two mating pairs, along with many gannets, Kittiwakes, Auks (guillemots,razorbills), 5 little egrets, Cormorants, Shags, 6 Grey Herons, Dark Phase Arctic Skua and oystercatchers. And not forgetting another Great Throated Driver in summer plumage which didn't hang around for too long but I did mange to get a nice view through my binoculars before it dived. My favourite moment had to be when we were sailing passed a gulp of cormorants when Ck noticed two seals which were very well camouflaged laying amongst the rocks. So my 300mm came in handy at last. Photographs can be found in the wildlife section from past and pervious Ak Wildlife Cruises. Hope to see you aboard soon! Today was my first official day as an AK wildlife Cruise member! I have crewed before in the past, so today was literally all about learning the ropes to refresh my memory. It was so great to be out at sea with Captain Keith again, who is a man I truly admire and look up to. Anyone who spends time to protect, educate and care for wildlife is a true inspiration to me and that is certainly Keith. On our four -hour trip we travelled up to 38 miles and came across loads of wildlife from common birds such as Grey Herons, Greater Black backed gulls, Kittiwakes, Juvenile shags and Cormorants. We also saw wonders such as Kestrels, three peregrine falcons, oystercatchers, gannets and a great-throated diver in summer plumage. As for cetaceans we were lucky to see three porpoises but they didn't stay around for long, as they can hold their breath for up to half an hour if they need to. The weather was very changeable throughout the trip with the odd shower here and there but this led to beautiful dramatic clouds, which made you stop what you were doing for a second to watch the sun rays shine through. Overall I had an exciting first day off shore but still have much to learn. (Pictures from the AK Wildlife Trips can be found in the landscape/wildlife sections), Hope to see you aboard soon! |
Archives
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 |