Sunday 9 October 2016

New Talk - `The Law of Averages Says ..!`


New Talk  - `The Law of Averages Says ..!`

Just finished putting together a new talk for camera clubs / photographic societies.  Its entitled
`The Law of Averages Says ..!`
At present, it is a digital talk, but I am printing up a lot of the images, so this can be either a print talk or digital presentation. It is a mixture of both colour and monochrome images. Subject matter includes landscapes, sport, natural history , portraits and photojournalism.

Below are a small selection of images from the talk

















Friday 16 September 2016

Migrant Hawkers


Migrant Hawkers

On Sunday, I went out for the day with Richard Revels to photograph Migrant Hawkers at the Summer Leys Nature Reserve. Weather conditions were ideal, and there were lots of Migrant Hawkers flying about near the edge of the lake. These Dragonflies `hover` nicely, which gives the autofocus on the camera time to `lock on`. All shots taken hand held, with Canon 7 D Mark II, and Canon 100-400 Mark II lens. (with the exception of the habitat shot)
















Friday 9 September 2016


Spotted Flycatcher

Whilst away on holiday earlier on in the year, we found a pair of Spotted Flycatchers busy catching insects in a churchyard. Both male and female were busy feeding young, which we could see were nesting behind a pillar on a ledge on the outside of the church. They appeared to take no notice of us at all, and carried on catching insects while we stood and photographed them. All shot taken with a Canon7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 Mark II and a 1.4 tele-converter.








Tuesday 12 July 2016

The Farne Isles


The Farne Isles

Last week I spent the week in Northumberland with Matt Clarke and David Schenck. Whilst there, we spent two days on the Farne Isles, going on the all day trip which takes you to Staple Island in the morning, and Inner Farne in the afternoon. You get about two hours on each island, so it gives you a reasonable amount of time to photograph the Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittywakes and Arctic Terns. All images taken with the Canon 7D Mark II , using either the Canon 100-400 Mark II lens or the 17-40 Wide Angle lens.

Classic shot that everyone does of a Puffin on rock with a beak full of sand eels.
Puffin in flight, coming straight at me
Head shot of Puffin with a full beak of sand eels
Puffin coming in to land
Wing Stretch
Another wing stretch
Kittywake and chick
Kittywake in flight.
Razorbill
Staple Island
Shag
Shag in flight
Shag preening
These two seemed to be displaying to each other
Mating
Feeding young
Fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmars displaying
Guillemot in flight
Bridled Guillemot
Guillemot chick
Herring Gull with Guillemott chick
Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern in flight
Arctic Tern chick.
Arctic Tern chick
Adult Arctic tern and chick sheltering from the rain
Arctic tern in flight
Arctic tern in flight
Arctic Tern in flight - Wide Angle lens as it dive bombs me
The Terns come very close ! Photo courtesy of Matt !
When it rains it is very important that the adults shelter the chicks. On this shot you can see the water droplets on the adults back
When the Puffins come back to feed their young, they are often ambushed by Herring Gulls, Back Headed Gulls and Black Backed Gulls which lie in wait .
Puffin burrows
Adult Puffin sitting on eggs in burrow
Puffin in flight
When you land on Staple Island, the Puffins are sitting there waiting to be photographed !
When you go on Inner Farne, the terns will attack you, so make sure you take a wide brimmed hat to stop them drawing blood with their sharp beaks. Unfortunately, the hat does not stop them dropping `bombs` on you ! Photo courtesy of David