Water Rail and Other Birds from a Hide in Suffolk

Water Rail and Other Birds from a Hide in Suffolk 

On Monday, I went along to a RSPB reserve in Suffolk, - with the target species being Water Rail. Although the weather forecast was overcast, I thought I would give it a try, as I had been told that Water Rail had been showing well in front of one of the hides at this reserve.  Fortunately the Water Rail came out, and stayed for about 5mins, so I was able to get a series of shots. The Water Rail is a bird that I had never really photographed well, so I was pleased with these shots, which were a big improvement on all my previous attempts. 

 There was also other many other birds at this site, and I manged to get decent shots of Male and Female Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Female Blackbird and Wren. 

The pictures from this session will be part of a new print/digital talk I am putting together since changing from Canon to Olympus, so any camera club wanting to book me can contact me via my email address which can be found on my web site at    www.rogerhancefrps.com 

All shots taken using the Olympus M1X, 300mm F4 Pro Lens and the MC14 Converter. All at ISO 800, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/200th sec to 1/320 sec, and using the continuous autofocus setting, with burst rate set to Sequential Low. 

Water Rail

Water Rail

Male Reed Bunting

Female Reed Bunting 

Male Reed Bunting

Male Reed Bunting

Male Reed Bunting 

Wren 

Wren 

Female Reed Bunting 

Female Blackbird

Goldfinch

Blue Tit 

Female Greenfinch 

Male Reed Bunting 

Water Rail 

Great Tit 

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Long Tailed Tits and Blue Tits on the Feeders 

More Seals on the Norfolk Coast

More Seals on the Norfolk Coast 

A few more images taken a week or so ago, at two locations on the Norfolk Coast. I had travelled to Horsey Gap earlier on in the year when you could actually get down onto the beach , but now that the adults have given birth to their pups, you are very restricted as to how close you can get. I did manage to get a few decent shots though by using a long telephoto lens, which gives you a good working distance so you do not disturb the Seals.. All images taken on my new Olympus OMD M1X and the 300m F4 Pro lens with the MC 14 converter. 

Steve Hackett Concert

Steve Hackett Concert 

I have always been an `early` Genesis fan. By this I mean their first few albums when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer, and also the two following album's with Phil Collins on lead vocals. During that period of that time, the lead guitarist was Steve Hackett. After that, Steve left to follow a solo career.  I always felt that Genesis followed a more `commercial` route after Steve Hackett split from the group, and although some of the later genesis albums are O.K. I never felt that they were as good as when Steve was lead guitarist. (but that my own personal opinion) 

Since going solo, Steve Hackett has produced some fantastic music, and last week I went to see him at the Cliffs Pavilion at Southend-on-Sea. He is touring the country with his `Selling England by the Pound Revisited` tour, and this was the last but one leg of the current tour.

 I had decided to try to take a few shots during the concert, but was not sure what the Pavilions policy was for taking shots during the performance.  I had been to another concert at the same venue a year ago, and loads of people were photographing with their mobile phones. I however wanted to use my Olympus, which was a bit different. I didn`t take a camera bag along, but just put the camera body and lens in an ordinary backpack, with my coat on top of it.  As I didn`t look like a photographer, none of the officials challenged me, so I just took my seat and enjoyed the gig. Fortunately, my seat was up in the balcony seating, a few rows from the back, and towards the middle of the row. From this position, I could photograph looking down onto the stage, which gave me a great viewpoint.

 I waited until well into the first half before I attempted to take any shots. A number of people were taking shots with their mobile phones, but I had took my OMD-EM1 MkII and the 40-150 F2.8 Pro lens. I was a bit nervous about spoiling other peoples enjoyment of the concert, so I asked the people either side of me if they objected to me taking a few shots. Neither of them had a problem with it. I did set the shutter onto totally silent, but the music was so load, they would not have heard it even if I hadn`t !

I only photographed for quite short bursts, and once I had taken half a dozen or so images, I put the camera down for 5 minutes or so, before taking a few more images. This was partly because I didn`t want to annoy people around me watching the gig, and also because I was slightly concerned that the officials would object if they saw me continually taking photos, but fortunately no one challenged me.  

I had the Olympus set on Aperture Priority, and set the ISO at 1600, shooting wide open at F2.8 throughout. Because the lighting was changing continuously, the shutter speed varied between 1/125th sec to 1/1250sec. I just watched the histogram in the viewfinder to check I was getting correctly exposed images.  The advantage of seeing the exposure in `real time` on the Olympus was a big advantage over a normal DSLR. The only problem is that high ISO`s can lead to very `noisy` images with Micro Four Thirds`, but I was quite pleased with the results at ISO1600.

The line up of musicians he has on the tour are brilliant. They are : Steve Hackett -Lead Guitar and Vocals, Nad Sylan-Vocals,  Roger King -Keyboards,  Rob Townsend- Sax, Flute, Percussion & Keys, Vocals,  Johnas Reingold - Bass Guitar,12 String and Vocals, Craig Brundell -Drums and Vocals.

The lighting set up was incredible, as I hope some of the photos will show.

The one and only - Steve Hackett