Some of my favourites

As I sit here writing at 8:30am on Saturday morning, it is -6 deg C outside! A sharp reminder that my wildlife photography is a little limited just now! Plenty of birds and squirrels in the garden, and horses and deer in the forest, but crawling around in the bushes? Forget it!

So what to do with my blog? Well, I just thought I would share some of my favourite pictures and maybe give a little of the story behind each one, and where appropriate give away my secrets for getting some of the shots.

The beauty of photography is that a picture does not have to be good! It is the story and memories behind each one that make every one special. So here are just a few while I wait for spring to wake the world up! Stories are below each picture.

This particular picture always appears in my 'Local wildlife' talks under the heading 'Take advantage of nature'. The question is always asked "How do you get so close without it flying off"?

Well, for this one I took advantage of the sad fact that Bees do seem to be having a bad time of it and numbers are reducing year by year. This big Bumble Bee was in the last minutes of it's life and was crawling through the grass in our back garden. A wonderful chance to get up close and see detail that is rarely noticed!

Well, here is another one where the same question gets asked! Anyone who has tried to get close to a butterfly knows how 'flighty' they are! Before I give the secret away - if you thought butterflies were beautiful, just look at that scruffy face! It looks like a teenager after a very long night on the town! Both of the photos so far give away my fascination with insect faces - so much variety!

Anyway - how do you get close ups of butterflies and other flighty things? The secret is using 2 features of the camera together. Nearly all digital cameras have these 2 features, even the cheapies - zoom to bring things closer and macro for close up shots.

Most people are not aware that you can usually combine the two! With camera on full zoom and macro on, you can, with a steady hand, get the effect of an object being very close (normally between 0.5 ins - 4 ins away depending on the camera) when it is actually much further away. In the case of my camera (not expensive) I can get the effect of 0.5 ins away when the object is actually around 8-9 feet away! Try it!



This one was taken while sitting in our garden enjoying a rare bit of sunshine! When creatures like this decide that you look tasty, you rarely feel them 'bite'. Most people, when they notice, quickly knock it away. The trick with these shots is to learn to tolerate them for a few more seconds. Camera on Macro, rest on your arm and click away! Ok, I did itch for a little while afterwards but I love this shot!

The two pictures above are by no means technically brilliant, but what an experience and memory!!! We were in India at the time in one of their wonderful reserves. A paradise for birds, but so much more as well. One of the rangers mentioned that there may be a snake under the rusty old boat hull in the top picture (Picture of me crawling in is courtesy of Gerry).

The trick here? Sheer stupidity I guess, but I live by the maxim "You only get one chance at life so give it everything"! SO - in I crawled. Once fully immersed, I was in total darkness. Flat on my belly, hands in front clutching my camera.

As I could see nothing, not even my own hands, I decided to just pop up the flash and take a shot! There she was - around a foot in front of me was one of the largest snakes in the world! The Indian Rock Python - rated third longest in the world. When I showed the guide the picture he estimated it at around 14 feet!

Keeping very still, I took a few more pictures then carefully backed away - but what an adrenaline rush!

While on the subject of stupidity and adrenalin rushes, 2 more shots that we are very proud of! This swamp in The Gambia was infested with crocodiles. This relatively small female was resting in the heat and we were assured by the locals that she had fed recently! Well, we just had to didn't we??? Stroking a wild croc was a tempation neither of us could resist.

If you look very closely, you can see the tension in my leg muscles as I keep ready to spring if necessary! The friend of ours in the picture with Gerry is Kabs. He works with a charity in the Gambia that works to pair tourists up with local people. You then get to travel around with your new friend rather than see the false picture of the country that you get if you go with the tour companies. It also helps the local economy and community. If you ever go, please give this way a try, you really do see the real Gambia!

On the subject of crocodiles and still in the Gambia - possibly one of the riskiest pictures I have taken! This one was much larger than the others, and in itself was not a big risk. Unseen here are the other three! In a circle around me and approaching slowly..Gerry was saying..6 feet....5 feet ... 4 feet...hurry up Ian!!

Needless to say I got both the picture, and safely out of the way in time! More memories though!

And now a few more local shots and some more of my trade secrets! The first one, above, is a wood ant from the New Forest. Most local people are familiar with these creatures and the impressive anthills they build in huge numbers throughout the forest! Some of the mounds can be 4-6 feet across and 2-3 feet high. The ground is crawling with busy ants for many metres around the hill. So, the question is 1: How do you get close enough for a picture, and 2: How do you make an ant pose???

Well, the answer to number 1 is easy. You stand close to the anthill, you get ants in your shoes, in your socks and up your legs and you get 'nipped' a few times.

...and number 2? A simple trick! get a small twig, get your camera ready, squat close to the hill and push the twig into the hill. Almost instantly an ant will climb the twig and look around from the top! You get at least a couple of seconds to get your shot and get to safer ground! You also, with practise learn to do this very quickly!!!

Another New Forest inhabitant, and another difficult to snap subject! Labyrinth spiders are one of the commonest spiders in the forest but are missed by most people. Their webs are usually close to the ground in the grass and are most noticeable when the ground is covered in dew.

The web is a funnel design as you can see here, but the spider is usually well down in the funnel. They have excellent eyesight and quickly dart even deeper underground when they spot you-normally long before you spot them! So what is the trick?

First, get used to noticing the webs long before you reach them. Then approach from the side, being careful not to move in front of the funnel. When close to the web, squat down and get your camera ready. Now get a blade of grass and 'tickle' the edge of the web. Normally the spider will dart out hoping for a meal! Get the picture quickly because they are quite bright and soon realise they have been conned!

In case you are wondering, these beauties are not big, rarely exceeding 1/2 an inch from toe to toe!

Another of my favourite shots. No special techniques here. Just using the cameras Macro mode to get up close. This Robber Fly was spotted in the New Forest feeding off his victim on top of a wooden fence post. He was so engrossed in his meal that I was able to rest the camera right next to him on the post and take several shots. A rare opportunity as they normally fly away. I have been bitten by these many times and they are one of the more unpleasant creatures to be bitten by. Highly skilled and impressive killers though!

More demonstrations of the value of combining zoom and macro, the picture above and the following one were both taken using the combination of Zoom and Macro! It would be almost impossible to get the camera this close to a dragonfly without using a tripod and remote control! This one however was safely taken from about 6-8 feet away.

This is one of my all time favourites. Every so often you take a shot, and when you get home you just think 'Wow!'. This is one of those. I took maybe a dozen pictures of this dragonfly, again from around 8-9 feet away, and this one shot just worked!

So, the question is, how to get the dragonfly to pose? If you have ever watched them, they never seem to keep still for more than a second or two! The trick is to watch them for a few minutes. Yes, they do settle, then fly straight off again, but you will notice that they patrol a territory and eventually return to the same stick or branch many times! Just identify a settling point, sit, point the camera and wait! Voila!!!

Finally - below - the shot I am most proud of! Taken in the depths of central India, from the back of an elephant, one of the most beautiful creatures Gerry and I have ever had the priviledge of having a close encounter with. Sunning herself on a rock, she was completely unperturbed by our arrival, and the skilled mahout in charge of the elephant manoevoured us into wonderful positions and we took dozens of pictures! Isn't she beautiful?

There is a very poignant story behind this photo. She was the mother of two cubs and very protective. The day after we took the picture, a local villager and her child found the tigers most recent kill. Thinking the tiger was not close, they took the kill for easy meat. Sadly, the tiger returned and killed the child. The tiger cannot be blamed. It was her territory. The locals cannot be blamed for being hungry, but it was a risk that did not pay off.

Anyway, that is the end of this entry. Sorry about the sad ending, but it is another story in our priviledged lives and one we could not show this picture without sharing the whole story!

As always, please do leave comments if you are able, feedback really is appreciated and helps me to develop later posts.

For those who are not aware, I do a lot of talks/presentations about my photography to local groups across Dorset and invitations are always welcome, so if you are a member of any group and would like a speaker - feel free to ask!

Happy Hunting till next time!!!!!!!!!!