Catching up and planning

This is a quiet time for my photography so I have started to catch up with processing the images from the year. These two were pleasing ones from the Shetlands. I never seem to tire of photgraphing puffins! Conversley these were the first decent common seal shots ever for me.

I have also done a bit of planning for the year ahead and booked some dates. I get very excited when planning projects and love having trips and local encounters to look forward to. 2011 is looking good too with a week in the Highlands, two possible trips to Finland and my first go at fish photography...watch this space!

Waxwings

With the waxwing invasion arriving in the Midlands and the sun shining, it seemed only right to don the gloves and head off to a rowan tree in Ludlow. Tricky light and very hungry and mobile birds meant that even with over a hundred to choose from it was hard to isolate any individual and capture a nice pose. I liked the background colour in this image though so worth the cold fingers!

Getting Started in Wildlife Photography

Following much demand and the great feedback from previous ones I am now offering another Introduction to Wildlife Photography Workshop at Middleton Hall. The day will run from 10-4.30 on the 3rd October. Cost is £28 per person and includes refreshments morning and afternoon.

The workshop is based around a presentation of pictures and illustrations interrupted with demonstrations of equipment and accessories. There will also be a practical session where attendees will get a chance to practice techniques with their own camera.

Each topic will be illustrated with a series of case studies and the day will be littered with top tips and tricks of the trade!

Topics to be covered include:

Camera equipment and accessories
Camera settings
Composing the picture
Learning your subject
Getting close to the subject
Using hides
Processing, printing and publishing

Interested? contact me at nick@martinimages.co.uk for more details and a booking form.

Kingfisher

Barely picked up my camera since the Shetlands but finally managed to get out and was well rewarded. Thanks to Mike for the opportunity.

The Shetlands

Back and finally managed to get a blog post online.

The Shetlands were great, loads of great wildlife and lots of lovely places to visit. Weather could have been a bit brighter but I guess it could have been a lot worse too!

Best bits were with bonxies, puffins, tysties and some very special encounters with otters.

A Highland treasure!

After receiving a tip off that a capercaillie was showing well in the Highlands I was desperate to go and take a look. With only one day off work though it was a long drive followed by fingers crossed very tightly. After 11 hours searching the forest though it all paid off and I am delighted to have added this absolutely stunning bird to the portfolio!

Local stuff

A couple of shots from the last couple of days. A quick dash to a local fishery in Worcestershire was rewarded with this smashing Slavonian Grebe. It was very confiding and by lying in the goose poo I was able to ensure a low profile and nice background colour.

This nuthatch has been vistiting the feeders outside my office window all winter and eventually I happened to have my camera with me! I got some sunny shots too but they were too 'contrasty' so I preferred the flatter tones of this.

Welney and Slimbridge

Last weekend was one of my most productive for photography for months. The forcast was good for Saturday so I headed to Welney to try and catch up with the barn owls. They performed pretty well and for once the light was with me. We even were treated to a couple of short eared owls too so that was a welcome addition to the portfolio.

We also booked a photography hide beneath the observatory which resulted in some great low level waterfowl shots. Sunday it was another WWT site on the agenda and we headed to Slimbridge where again the light was good and the birds performed. Check out Alamy for some of the better shots.

New Year Plans

People talk about swans but I think I am more akin to a grebe...lots of action under the surface and actually nothing to see above!

I have been busy though doing lots of talks and planning for this years trips, shows etc. I have also moved house and have no internet so hence the break in blog updates.

I have now given the Secret Wildlife of the Cairngorms talk four times and it has gone down well, plans are now afoot to add to it for next winter though and there is even rumour of a Shetlands trips!!

I have also been accepted as a photographer for image library Alamy so will start to make my portfolio available on there as and when I get the time.

Two trips to Gigrin Farm in the last couple of weeks were a bit dissapointing as the weather did not live up to the forecasts. The snowy weather bought out the combatitive spirit of the herons who challenged the resident buzzards. The photos were only records of the event but encouraged me to head back a couple of weeks later. One kite seemed happy to sit in the tree above the hide and look down on us for an hour or so while we tried to get the best angle from within the complex of branches! I also added some more red kite and raven flight shots to the collection.

Plans this month include an owl chasing trip to Norfolk and begin to build the new hide for some late winter feeder photography...watch this space.