Point to Point

As I was leaving Somerset my boyfriend dropped my camera on the floor. Luckily it didn’t completely smash the bits that hold the lens on to the camera broke but I was able to hole it on and use it, as I started using the camera I found it hard to change the distance so I duck taped the lens on to the camera which has temporarily fixed it until I go and get it fixed properly. I took some pictures of the horses at the point to point. I have got some as they are going over the fences and on the last stretch. Some of the images were not quit right due to the lens being broken but I have managed to get a few that are really nice.

Somerset (Vally of the Rocks)

^{I went for a walk around the Valley of the Rocks and decided to take my camera. As I looked over the edge of the cliff there were goats on the rocks looking out to the sea. I also captured some close up images of} the goats too. I am really pleased with these images as they are like living landscapes, which I haven’t done many of.

Somerset (Doon Valley Foals)

^{On the way to Doon Valley I spotted some foals. I watched them as they crossed the road and tried to stop the traffic as some people nearly ran them over several times, which I was worried about. The files had been racing around the moors and worn themselves out so they were asleep in the field, which gave me the chance to sneak up on to them slowly. I managed to get half a meatier away from them which gave me the chance to get some really nice pictures. As I was getting close, the mare was keeping an eye on me. Then all of a sudden the stallion came right up to me, I was starting to get worried just in case the stallion decided that he didn’t like me and kick me, but he hadn’t shown any signs of anger, he came right up to me, sniffed me stallion walked off, it was a really amazing experience. I have also come out with some high quality images for my portfolio.}

Somerset (Tarsteps Foles)

^{I came back down to Somerset as I wanted to capture the foals at they are really young and cute at this time of the year. The day started out quite bleak and no animals in sight. I had headed out to Tar Steps for some lunch and on the way back I caught sight of a foal in the hedge. I got out and followed them for about three miles as the travelled across the moors. I managed to capture pictures of the foals playing and interacting with the other members of the herd. There were over eight foals and fourteen mares there so I managed to get some great shots for my portfolio.}

Somerset (Dear)

^{In the end I managed to get down to Somerset for the bank holiday weekend. I woke up really early so I thought that I would get up and go up North Hill onto the moors. As I got up they’re in the field I noticed something moving so I quietly parked the car and got out with my camera and slowly creped up to the fence hiding behind a tree to keep my self camouflaged. About 20 meters away, was a herd of doe dear. I was watching them for about fifteen minutes capturing them grazing and fighting for dominance before a car came racing up the road and spooked them, as the began to head off, something else caught there eye and as they are curious animals they stopped to see what it was which gave me an opportunity to capture some more images.}

Cotswold Falconery Centre

^{I was suppose to be going to Somerset but unforchantly the holiday home was not free for me to go down, so instead of wasting the day I decided to go to the falconry centre. I feel that this falconry centre was one of the best for photographing the birds as they flew the birds four times a day for you to watch and there would be four or more bird’s flied in each session. Some of the birds didn’t have any jesses which made it easer to make them look like they are wild. I am really pleased with the images that I have captured event though my battery ran out at the very end and I missed the golden and bold eagle being flown, which would have been amazing to photograph. Next time I will bring my spare batteries.}

West Midlands Safari

^{I decided to go to the West Midlands Safari today. I was able to go around the safari as many times as I liked which was good as I was able to capture all of the animals as sometimes they were in places where you could not see them. I had time to capture different aspects of the animals and be able to be creative with the images. I am really pleased with the images that I have captured and I have got a free pass to go again another time to get some more wonderful images.}

Dog Photo-shoot (Connie: Collie, Megan and Lilly: Chocolate Labradors)

^{This was a really interesting photo-shoot. I had set up the studio for high key images. I started photographing the dogs in the studio and all three of them would not sit still or stay in the studio so luckily we had got a field out the back were I took them for some images. I am pleased with the images that I came out with and my quick thinking in a bad situation.}

Dog Photo-shoot (Harry and Daisy May: Great Danes)

^{I felt that a low-key style image would work best with these dogs as it would make there markings stand out. These dogs were quite interesting to photograph as the have interesting angles in there bone structure and the tend to sit up quite strong and proud. I am really pleased with these pictures as they have a high quality look to them witch would appeal to both the owner and other dog lovers.}

Dog Photo-Shoot (Willow: Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, Bruce: Staffordshire Terrier and Nancy: Staffordshire Terrier Cross Labrador)

^{I arrange for some people to bring in there dogs for a photo-shoot. I decided that a high-key studio set up would be the best. I photographed the animals from a low angle so that I wasn’t looking down at them and looking straight into their eyes. I tried different things like just getting them to sit in front of the camera, getting the owner to play with them, using props like a chair, box, old style camera, ect. I am really pleased with the amount of high quality images of the dogs that I have managed to achieve and the owners are pleased with there images too. This also started off a trend, which spared and I have got lots of people now wanting pictures of their animals.}

Laurel Farm and Home

^{As I was at Laurel farm, I decided to take my camera and go down the field and capture some images of the newborn lambs. I tried to capture their cheeky, playful characters, which I feel that I have done.  The lambs are so photogenic and cute which} made them a pleasure to work with. I got very frustrated as me lens kept playing up and not connecting to the camera properly so I kept missing shots. Later I was in my back garden with my cat and I managed to get some really nice shots of her, which was hard as normally she isn’t very photogenic as she frowns a lot. I am really pleased with the images that I have managed to capture today as they show the characteristics of the different animals.

Reptile Photo-shoot

Today I photographed several different reptiles in the studio including a tortoise, Corn Snake, Bearded Dragon, Chameleon, Stick Insect and Tiger and Leopard Geckos. I found this, a really interesting photo-shoot, as I had to change my ideas to suit the different animals. I had three studios set up in different ways one with a black backdrop with a snoot pointing from behind and a soft-box at the front, with the animals on a branch which had been placed on a angle. The other was a high key set-up using a white backdrop and two soft boxes, with the animal’s places on a white piece of per specs to capture the animal’s reflection. The other used a spill kill from the one side, with different colourd paper for a backdrop, with the animals placed on a section of bark. I also had some large leaves to use for different props. I liked the high key set up, as I liked the reflections that I captured in the prospects. Overall I am really pleased with the images that I have come out with.

College photo shoot

Today we arranged to have the animals from collage into the studio to take photographs of every Friday for a few weeks. On Friday 18^th march we are going to take pictures of the reptiles so I created a mood board, as seen above, to get together some ideas and to show the handlers the sort of thing that I am looking at for my final images.

Andy Rouse

At Focus I went to see Andy Rouse’s talk. I found him really interesting and funny. I ended up getting a signed Tigers book from him as I found him really interesting and inspiring. He also gave me a lot of tips for my wildlife photography:

• ·      To shoot into the sun, to create a ring light, set the camera to -2 to create a silhouette. **Tip** Shooting into the sun creates lens glair which can be reduced by putting your hand over the lens and tilt it down until the lens glair has gone.
• ·      Don’t just do close ups, get some wide-angle shots.
• ·      Look for the most interesting shots don’t just constantly click. eg. If the animal is running towards you then just capture it as they are looking at you as it adds more drama.
• ·      JPG is the best for if you are panning a fast animal ad RAW is too slow.
• ·      Encourage wildlife eg if you find some small owls feed them worms so that they go to the places that you would like to photograph them.
• ·      Don’t forget the common wildlife eg. Garden birds, as they are just as good to photograph.
• ·      Set up shots:

o   Put a log down and put mealworms on to it and weight for birds like robins to come and feed off it for the shot that you want.

o   If you no that it is going to snow then place a tree in a prime location, spray it with water and weight for the snow. Spraying the tree makes the snow stick to the tree. Wait and get your picture as the bird lands on the tree and the snow then falls off which ads detail to the image.

Sheep shoot

I was at laurel farm in Rugby, they have a lot of sheep and it is lambing season at the moment. The lambs had just been let out into the field so it was a great opportunity to get some pictures of them. I am really pleased with my images, as the lambs are really photogenic. I have also planned to get some more pictures there at a later date to get some more different images.

New Born Calf

I had a call from my dad to say that our first calf had been born. She is Rocky's first calf (Rockset) so i had to keep an eye on her to make shore that the both bonded, but we did have to help the calf out as Rocky wouldn't stand so that her calf could suckle, so we moved her into the other half of the bard and distracted her with haylage and the farm dogs, which worked. So I managed to capture her first steps and suckle. I really like my images as they have a documentary feel to them, but I don't no if they will be to everyones liking.

Slimbridge

On the way home today I went to Slimbridge. It was really good as I had lots of different types and breads of birds from all over the world. At first I was really into it but a few hours later I was getting a bit tired and uninspired as I had several images of different birds that were similar and there is only so many times you can photograph a bird in different ways and most of the birds were ducks so I couldn’t even capture there different movements. I am really pleased with the images that I came out of and I think I would go again when the winter birds have gone and the spring and summer birds are back.

Exmoor pony shoot

As it is my last day in Somerset for this holiday, due to me going to Slim Bridge tomorrow. I wanted to get out and take some images of the Exmoor pony’s, as I haven’t got many this holiday and it was a nice hot sunny day, bar from a cold wind. I tuck lots of pictures of the ponies, which I am really pleased of. On the way back I came across six Buzzards fighting in the field. As they were too busy fighting, they didn’t take any notice of me and I spent ages taking images of them until the crows came and started fighting and scared them off, but I did get some good images of them as they kept flying right over my head. As there was plenty of time before I had to be back I decided to just pop up on to North Hill, which is one of the other moors. There wasn’t much up there bar from some of the farm animals. On the way back down the hill I noticed something in the field, there were some dear which had jumped the fence into the field as the trees sheltered them from the wind and the sun shone straight on to them, making a suntrap, which dear really like. I did get a few nice images but really they were to far away for what I would of really wanted.

Exmoor Pony centre

Once again it was a really nice day at the chalet but once we got up on the moors it was all misty and raining. We got to the Exmoor Pony centre, and it had stopped raining, the foals were in the yard and I had a go with the Polaroid camera and tried to get sections of the foals, but I couldn’t get close enough, due to them being young, they have also just been taken of there mothers and some of them were wild not so long ago, and when I did the plain of focus was out, due to the camera not having a macro setting. The images that I did take are not so good as the colours were off and gave the image a brown tinge; this was due to the film being out of date. Due to this I then decided to go back out onto the moors and use the rest of the film on living landscapes, which was better. Unfortunately I feel that these images are not good enough for my final work. On the way home there were a huge flock of Starlings, that filled the sky, and I saw a chance to get a picture as they looked like a swarm of bumblebees in the way that they stuck together and the shapes in the sky that they were making. I also found some Buzzards, which I tuck some pictures of, but they are not very good, due to them being quite hard to get a clear image of and it takes time and practice. I’m not so pleased with the Polaroid images but I really wanted to have a try with the different cameras. I am quite pleased with my Starling pictures but I feel that they would have been better on a different backdrop.

Longleat Safari

I went over to longleat to have a look around the Safari Park and to take pictures of the animals. It wasn’t quite as I imagined but it was still really good. I managed to get some good images of the Bongos, Dear, Outrages, Graff, Zebra, Wolfs, Monkeys, Pigmy goats, Amara, Sea lions, Turkey, Silverback Gorilla, Mercats, Rabbits, Otter, Ferrets, etc. I would of liked to of got more images of the Graff, zebra and Lions but they were ether hiding or not in a good place to photograph and the other pride of lions were in quarantine. Also the Hippopotamus were no were to be seen which I was a bit disappointed with. I did get some really good pictures of the tigers as they came really close up to the car and I feel that they were the best images from the whole day. I also held a snake, and the monkeys ate Gary’s car, which was funny. Overall the day was a huge success as I got a wide range of images of different animals. I would like to now go to the West Midlands Safari Park so that I can get another chance at getting the images that I missed and maybe seeing some different animals that they have got like the White Lions.

Owl and Hawk centre

I planned to go to the Own and Hawk centre at Bossington, for first thing in the morning so that I could go to each of the shows/ displays, but due to the rain I put it off and thought that I would go another day, until in the afternoon the sun came out and it was a lovely day. I got there an hour before the flying display, so I had time to get around and look at the other animals and to get some pictures. I was really pleased when the first bird that they brought out was a barn owl as they are one of my favourite, there was also an Bengalese eagle owls and kookaburra. I am really pleased with the images that I have taken, I think that some of them are really strong and detailed.

New Book

I was out shopping and came across this book, Were to go Wild in Brittan. It is really useful, as it has a month-by-month guide of where to go and what to see. It has given me a few more ideas of were I could go for my project. 

Buzzard shoot

I went onto North Hill (Exmoor) and there was just thick mist so I couldn’t see anything. As I headed back down I noticed something moving in the bush. There was a herd of dear in the field next to the road, so I got out and managed to get a few pictures of them before they jumped the fence and ran off into the next field. The images that I got are quite nice, but just need a bit of work to be dun on them. Due to the bad weather I decided to head over to Devon to see if it was any better, on the way I came across the Exmoor pony’s in the mist and thought it might be a bit different to take pictures of them in the mist. They have turned out quite well. I then carried on just driving around and ended up at Ilfricombe, then on the way back I went to look out of the window at the scenery and there was a Buzzard flying right next to the window as I turned around and stopped near to the telegraph pole where he had landed, he tuck off and I was unable to get a picture of him, just as I was about to give up his partner flew towards him and I managed to get a few shots before she landed in the tree next to the first one. I am really pleased with my image; the only thing is that the landscape isn’t very good so I am planning on taking a nice landscape image and putting the Buzzard and sky onto a different landscape, to create a really strong image.

Exmoor Pony Shoot

Today started quite poorly as it was nice and bright at the holiday home, but once I got up onto the moors it was very misty and couldn’t see anything. I decided to travel around a bit and head towards the moors nearer to the coast, where I then found that the mist had lifted. I then came across a big herd of Exmoor ponies. As previously planned I got out my four lens action camera, to capture the different movements that the horses make, the start of my double exposure, so all I need to do is get the tong of the film back out and take the second exposure images on the film, also I used the Ensign – Junior model “B”, to capture living landscapes as I thought I would give the image an old feel especially with the black and white 120 roll film. My four lens action camera images are quite nice, I did find that the key was to hold the camera still and not to pan or the image would come out blurry. The colours are not constant and two of the four images tend to be darker than the others. I really like these images but I don't feel that they are a high enough standard for the work that I would like.

Somerset

I have travelled down to Somerset, so that I could go to the places that I have previously planned, throughout the week. Due to bad weather I decided not to stop off at Slimbridge and to return another day. Due to me not going to Slim bridge, I decided to go to the shop and have a look at what old or different cameras that were in, I found a really nice box camera, Ensign – Junior model “B”, it tuck 120 roll film and was in working order, the other advantage was that it was cheap too, so I will be using this camera in my work. There was also a few small bellowed cameras that I was quite tempted by, so I might be going back to have another look. I have also dried out the skin of a dogfish so that I could go into college and put it into the enlargers and print the patterns in the skin as they have a spotty skin, which has a really nice pattern to it. Below is a mind map of the ideas of were I wanted to go and what I wanted to photograph, with what camera.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition London

Today I went to London and saw The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. To see the images on the screens at a big size was amassing, you could see all of the detail within every image. It has really inspired me to look at things in different ways, think about colour, black and white, long exposure, freezing the motion, different angles, close ups etc. I can’t wait to get out and use this new research, which has highly influenced me, and have an experiment using the different techniques.

Different Cameras

I will be using some different cameras, like lomo or old cameras. So far i have got a polaroid camera, underwater lomo camera, 4 lens action lomo camera and a baby holga lomo camera, also I am going to make my film camera into a colour splash camera by using filters in front of the flash. I will pick up any cameras that i feel will create some different affects whilst i am away. This will give me some images that have a artistic style to them and different from your standard camera.

Epilog machine

Today we used the Epilog Lazar Engraving Machine, I used one of my dog images and engraved it onto glass, I set the image to 600dpi and inverted the image so that the white parts of my image was engraved in white and I put black card behind so that the white stud out and so that the black parts of the image was black (image above). I really like the image/ affect. I found that it works better with a really high contrast image. I also had the idea of engraving the butterfly images onto silk and making a patchwork or onto different colours of acrylic and joining them together, similar to a patchwork.

Dog Photo shoot

I set up a really quick and simple studio. I used a black sheet of cotton for my backdrop. I just used one light with a snoot and a honeycomb attachment to create a single beam of light, which highlighted areas of the dogs; also the honeycomb adds texture to the hair in the image. I was so relived once I saw my images, as I didn’t think that they were going to work, so when I saw these images I was ecstatic and so very pleased. My main worry was having my eight-month-old puppy in the studio, as she is extremely excitable and I could see her knocking everything over. She was very good and just sat there, I didn’t have to bribe her with too many treats because once she got to no what we were doing she did it all by herself and just posed. My other dog who is 11 years old had a little session but was too interested in food than staying were she was meant to, the same as my next-door Nabors westie. I have only enhanced the contrast, lifted the exposure and saturation slightly this gave me a really contrasting look highlighting the detail and bringing out the eyes more with increasing the colour. On some of the images the backgrounds have been adjusted slightly to be completely black or remove the odd distracting little element. Overall I am really pleased with the outcome.

Additional Title/ Topic

After doing a photo shoot with my dogs I have decided to add another topic to my Specialist Practice. This will be a domesticated animal. Which then means that I can take pictures of any animals and it would go into any of my three categories. Also it widens the range if images that I can take and I can now use both location and studio shots, which will widen my skills. it also ties in with the photographers that i have been looking at, as they use both domesticated and wild animals, which really inspired me.

Change Of Plan

After I had arranged to go and see The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum when we were meant to go to London on the 8/2/11. The plan has changed so I will be going with a group of people on the 18/2/11 instead. 

Drew Gardner video

After looking at Drew Gardeners video of his latest shoot with the zebra. I have become very inspired to take an image of a forest and place different wild animals in it to create a fashion like image. After looking at his work I found a hole series called 'the forest' where he has used animals in his fashion shoots. The link to the video is on my links page.

Exhibitions

After looking for more exhibitions in london for wildlife or animal photography and having no look, I found that Tim Flach has got one on in St Leonards on Sea. It is a long way to go for an exhibition, but I thought that it would be worth it if  he was there and I could talk to him and gain more information and knolage, so I e-mailed the gallery asking about the exhibition. I will also e-mail some other people to find out more.

New Forest Images

I went to the new forest on the 2/9/10. I really like these images and I have decided to add them into my Specialist Practice, as they are high quality images. I had never been to the New Forest before and didn’t really no what to expect when I got there. I had great fun photographing the horses and donkeys but I feel that the best thing was the dear as the fawn were still young and kept close to the dows but the stags stayed well out of the way so I didn’t get the chance to photograph them.

Exmoor Book

After going to the Rhubarb Rhubarb meeting. I started thinking about ways that I could get money from my images. I came up with the idea of making a book of my Exmoor images as I am down there a lot and love to photograph it. I thought about talking to the Exmoor pony sanctuary and seeing if they would sell it if I gave them a % of the profit, there are also other places like the Exmoor national trust.

Butterfly Farm Photo Shoot

Today I went to Stratford to the Butterfly Farm. Firstly we looked around the gift shop for more inspiration. I found a butterfly photography book; I found it really interesting as it looked at the butterflies in many different ways, a bit like Tim Flach with his Equus and Dogs book. I then went around looking for different types of butterfly and tried to capture them in different ways. I used my telephoto lens so that the background was out of focus; also it has a macro function so that I could get up really close without getting close to the animal that might scare them off. I also found birds and different animals there. After the Butterfly Farm I went to the River Avon and photographed the birds, looking at different ways of capturing them. I am really pleased with the images that I have taken as they are really bright and colorful. I also like the different patterns and angles of which I have taken the images.

How To Take Stunning Pictures, Episode 5: Animals on Channel 5

I watched this episode due to it being on animals and it was by Tim Flach and he is one of my favorite photographers. I found this video really useful as it gave me tips and advice for better images. The main tips were written on the tips page, so I could spend more time listening than writhing notes. The link to the video is on my links page.

(From Tips page)
For Tim getting to know your animal is vital for getting that perfect shot:

• Try to first think about what characteristics of the animal(s) you want to capture.
• Make a plan and be prepared to adapt your idea, because you never know what your animal might do!
• Think about details and textures.
• Get closer and be bold with your compositions to find fresh ways of looking at familiar animals.
• Animals can be unpredictable, and when you can't get the shot you want, you need to be flexible enough to adapt your idea

Planning Shoots

I have made arrangements to go to Somerset at half term and go to Longleat Safari Park, Slimbridge, The Wildlife Rescue Center, Owl and Hawk Center, Tropiquaria and other places around Somerset and Exmoor. I have also made plans to go to the Butterfly Farm, Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve and the West Midlands Safari Park. Also I have sorted out to go and see The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum when we go to London on the 8/2/11.

Shooting Photo Shoot

I went on another shoot, but the weather was bad as there was thick fog all day so I was once again disappointed not to get many good images. Due to this I then decided that I would change my idea and do wild and captive animals instead of the wild and working animals.

Hunt Photo Shoot

I went to go to the hunt meet to get some images of the hounds and horses. Unforchantly the hunt as called off due to the snow, but the hounds and only three horses showed but not in their gear, so I didn’t get the chance to get many good images.

Shooting Photo Shoot

Today I went out on a days shoot so that I could capture the working dogs at work. I only got a few good shots, which I am quite disappointed with and with the overall shoot. I learnt a lot about how hard it is to get a really strong image of a bird in flight.

Planning Shoots

I have planned to go and take pictures of the hunt on the Boxing Day meet and to talk to some friends and see if I can go with them when they go out. I have also arranged to go out with my dad on his shoot and another shoot so that I can take some images of the dogs at work and the birds. 

Specialist Practice Statement of agreement

We had to decide what we wanted to do for our Specialist Practice. I found this really hard, as I like so many aspects of photography. Once I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, which was Animal Photography, as I haven’t really studied it in detail like I have the others. I then chose two titles for my work ‘Wild Animals’ and ‘Working Animals’. I then wrote up my ideas in my rough first copy of my Statement of Agreement. And had feedback from my tutor.