Photo Talk Tweaks

Barn Owl

I am doing a photography talk in a couple of weeks time. I do a lot of talks about the Centre and the work we do here, and of course use my photos to illustrate these, but have only done a few talks specifically about my photography... 

I always promote the Centre in these too, and try to make them educational about the animals as well as photography and convey my passion for British Wildlife. Although photography is a big hobby for me, I still see it only as that... a hobby, a way to enjoy time with the animals and always see myself as an animal lover and British wildlife enthusiast first. 

For my talk in a couple of weeks, I am combining two of my other talks to make it a little different. While doing this I am updating some of the photos and a few other tweaks. While doing this I thought I would share a couple of photos, old and new, that I may be putting in.

Above is one of my latest, and one of my favourites, of Big Pete in flight. The light was a little to high still for the back light I like, but it still came out alright. I enjoy playing around with exposures and metering whenever I get the chance.

Red Squirrel

 One that I have not used before, a very simple and softly back lit portrait of a red squirrel.

Deer on the Run

A couple messing around with panning, a slow pan with the deer above.

Super Owl

And this one is a much more extreme panning shot. Any slower and I think it would be unlikely to know what it was flying through the shot.

Flying Florence

Above is another I haven't used much before. Florence flying on one of our owl days. The light looks quite strong, which is probably why we did it side lit.

Badger

This one I only showed a little while a go, but is possibly my favourite badger photo I have. I don't take to many of our badgers, but was lucky to get this one evening a couple of weeks ago. The light was strong, but again... using it as side light and setting the right exposure and metering created quite a nice effect.

Evening Eagle Owl

A simple portrait, but in the nice warm evening light... taken out on our nature reserve in the autumn, giving the nice warm autumn colours in the background.

Watching the Sunset

And finally, one used before... but not often. I messed this one up a little, but still like it :-)

Thanks for looking.

Harvest Mice

Harvest Mouse

I have had little time recently to go out with my camera, but I am keen to keep this blog active so will try to do a new post at least once a week... this may mean sharing older photos to fill in the gaps though.

These ones are not too old, take a month ago or so now. A second shoot with the harvest mice. I preferred the ones I got on my first go, which can be seen int he archives of this blog, but a couple of these ones are quite nice.

Peeking

Peeking through the stems of the corn.

In the Shadows

This little mouse preferred to stay in the middle of the corn, and so stayed in the shadows making it harder to get.

Stretch

When he did start exploring he really showed of his agility.

Peeking from Corn

These two are probably my favourites of that night. Peeking from the corn above, and a nice softly back lit one below.

Micro Mouse

A simple portrait, and the pose is not great, but the lighting just lifts it.

Who you calling small!

And a little something different. Not sure if I like this one or not really,  but you got to try different things.

Thanks for looking.

Few pics from last few days

Badger, Meles meles

Just a few quick pics from the last few days this time, a bit of a mix. Above is possibly one of my favourite Badger photos at the moment. I changed the exposure and metering in the camera to emphasize the harsh shadow and still keep the detail in the lit side of his face.

Polecat Kit

A few photos of our polecat kits, they are growing quickly aren't they?

Polecat Kit from the Left

I do a lot of photography with the animal looking into the frame... for two reasons really, one I just like it! And two, it gives Liza space on the opposite side of the animal for text for advertisement and articles.

Polecat Kit from the Right

So here is one of a kit looking in from the other side too :-)

The Beautiful Susie

While photographing the kits, I couldn't not miss out on spending a bit of time with Susie. Same as many I already have of her, but she is so beautiful I couldn't resit another portrait.

Red Squirrel Stare

We had a few walnuts, so I gave them to the squirrels for something a little different to what they are used to.

Wide Angle of a Squirrel with a Walnut

They have had walnuts before, so they knew what to do with them.

Red Squirrel with a Walnut

I particularly like this one as it shows off the remaining wisp of his ear tuft :-)

Mother and Calf

One of the evenings I spent a bit of time with red deer, mainly trying to get a few photos of the calves. It may sound easy to do, but they are so wary and don't come that close at all until they are much older... and the mums are more wary too during this time. I keep my distance as I don't want to upset them.

The Creche

This was one of the mothers looking after four of the calves while the others were eating some of the food I took out with me. 

Red Deer Calf

After some time, one of the calves got brave enough to come and see what I was doing.

Startled

I quite liked the expression on this hinds face. She looks startled, but she is actually just eating and I caught her mid chew.

The Boys; Albus and Olivander

The boys! On his own Olivander looks the business, but then when he is next to Albus he really looks quite small!

Albus, Master Stag

Albus, still the Master Stag. Not sure how much of a rut there will be this year, Albus really is the bigger stronger looking stag.

Back Lit Barn Owl Flying

Finally, Monday night myself and the rest of the keepers went onto the reserve to fly big pete, before going to off to watch some wild barn owls. This one was back lit to show off the wings, only just got away with it as the sun was still a little too high and ideally needed to be taken half hour later, but we were watching the wild barn owls at that time.

Side Lit Barn Owl Flying

And a simple side lit one to end on...

Thanks for looking.