Wildlife Photography across the Water: Thoughts-Project Photography

Saturday 14 March 2009

Thoughts-Project Photography

With spring just with us it about to become the busiest time of year for the wildlife/nature photographer, Plans need to me made fast so that opportunities are not lost and you will have to wait another year to get them, I work in project fashion, That means that i only take a couple of subjects and try to get as many different types of shots out of them, I normally have shots in mind that i want or need to get and spend as much time as possible to get these shots, Sometimes you dont get them all in one year and the project will run over 2 or 3 years as it did for me in Switzerland with Great Crested Grebe and Ibex, When i started submitting to agencies there comments were that there wasn't a problem with the quality of my work but that there were lots of different subjects and no story, I took this on board and changed my way of shooting, By doing this my photography actually improved as i spent more time with a particular subject i understood the subject better and could react to certain movements and anticipate what would happen before it happened,Take for instance great crested grebes, Once they pair up they do a lot of head shaking,Watching closely i noticed that if the head shaking became very pronounced that the birds would part and dive,once this happened i knew that if both birds surfaced with weed in the beak that they would rush towards each other and dance frantically on the top of the water,It happens very fast and only by watching their behaviour did i manage to predict what was about to happen and get the shots,Once i had got the courting behaviour i moved on to the mating,nesting and then the chicks on the back imagery so when they were sent to an agent they had a full story to work with, This year i have started my projects by watching osprey nests that are placed around the larger lakes in my area, The other day i took my dog for a walk around the lake and checked through the binoculars the nests and low and behold an osprey sitting on one, So i will now go down at different times of the day and see what time the sun hits and leaves the nest area and learn what i can about the birds and try to get some interaction, I have some shots in my mind that i would like so thats a start, Being in a new country means new species not yet on the files and each night i put some food out for the White Tailed Deer, Grey Fox and Possum so these will also be on the list to spend some time with, Being close to home is also a boon when taking a project on and most of my recent projects have been within an hour of home and most within a mile or 2, That makes it easy to pop out and check the areas,put some food down and keep an eye on your hide/blind, When photographing foxes over the last few years i spend weeks putting food down in a couple of areas and watching those areas from distance and learning where the foxes come from,their prefered times and where they go after,Its a puzzle to start with but as time goes on the pieces fall into place,
What projects do you plan to shoot this year?-do you have one? If not then i would advise taking into consideration, Make it an easy subject that is easily accessible like mallards or even lambs and let us know how the project is progressing

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.