Wildlife Photography across the Water: Its good to talk

Monday 31 August 2009

Its good to talk

Moving to a new area is difficult enough but a new country is a whole new ball game and finding good areas for wildlife can take some time especially local areas, This has been a bit of a dilemma for me the past year, North Carolina is very different to the places i have lived before, The wildlife around the coast is very good and accessible as is the mountains but they are not on my doorstep, Luckily for me i had a mail a couple of weeks ago from a local Photographer Called Juan a Pons, Now i have seen Juan posting on Naturescapes forum and knew he was local to me but i hadn't made contact , Juan offered to meet and do a shoot together on a large local lake that i had visited many times over the last year,

The difference at this time of year is that the water level is very low due to 3 months of very hot weather, This means certain parts are not accessible to boats and jet skis and the wildlife and bird life in particular congregate in these quiet areas, We met early Saturday and had a chat in the car whilst we waited for a shower to pass over then made our way around to the birds, The ground was very boggy and 200 feet before we got to the birds we hit the deck and crawled on our stomachs getting very muddy in the process but it was worth it, There were plenty of birds around although not that close to us and we waited until some flew in and fed, Plenty of heron and Egrets but we were after waders and ended the morning with some very nice Killdeer and Semipalmated Plover, It was quite a slow morning photography wise but quality rather than quantity was the order of the day and i was very pleased with my results, We both had skimmers with wimberley gimbal heads with flash attachments/flashguns and better beamers, As soon as the light improved i swapped my D3 for the D300 for the 'extra reach' along with the 600F4 and 1.4x, Where we were positioned is normally lake but now was very lush vibrant coloured grass making for a nice background, So a big thank you to Juan and hope it wont be long before we shoot together again, You can see Juans work as his website here

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.