30/03/11
Dear All,
I trust our newsletter finds you all well.
With Spring now firmly in the air I felt it was high time I dusted down my camera and started to capture some images from my favourite season. So what better way to start than to visit one of my favourite places, The
British Wildlife Centre in Surrey for an owl and raptor photo shoot, or should I say the very elusive and extremely fast peregrine called Jack!
Apart from portrait shots such as these Tawny Owls,
one of my main aims was to capture birds in flight. If anyone reading this has ever tried to do this, the following statement will come as no surprise....it’s a nightmare!
To get some practice before the big event we photographed the tawny owl flying in the woodland and this Eagle Owl that has a wingspan of nearly 7ft! Having taken numerous shots I finally managed to get one where the eyes were in focus so was getting excited for the big event.....Jack the Peregrine!
I ensured I set my camera to the required settings to enable me the best opportunity of capturing this magnificent bird...Shutter priority..check, Battery on full....check, continuous shooting mode on...check, switch to jpeg to get more frames per second...check, image stabiliser on.......................not checked ! I’m handling a lens that’s 2ft long at full length so need all the help I can get. So, my first effort without the image stabilising turned on resulted in this magnificent shot of Jack gliding over the lake. It also didn’t help that I was focussing on some lovely reeds behind him!
Not put off I then remembered other photographers stating the best chance of capturing a good image of a peregrine is as it turns in the sky before it stoops. So, here’s the next effort. As you can see we had a lovely clear day !
Ok, so let’s give it a go as he flies past me at around 150mph. (Once he’s in full flow he’ll reach around 200mph, the fastest recorded incidentally is around 240mph!). As you can see we needed sturdy boots for the day and yes that is Jack disappearing from the side of the photo !
With my arm feeling heavier by the minute I really started to think that Jack had got the better of me. The head keeper had indicated that Jack would be coming on soon so we had chance for a couple more fly pasts. Then it happened, it’s that moment that always gives me a tingle down my spine. Jack had circled the lake and was coming straight toward me. I once again tracked him in the view finder and hit the shutter and kept it depressed. My spot meter was telling me I was in focus and although my arm felt like lead I managed to fire around 10 shots as he breezed past us. I turned around and he was coming back again, this time low to the ground. Again I panned, focussed and prayed!
Finally, I had got my dream shots. They may not be of a professional standard but the most important thing is that no matter what the standard of your photos, as long as you are happy with them, then that’s all that should matter.
For me, the important thing was to enjoy the moment of witnessing this beautiful bird in close up.
My thanks to The
British Wildlife Centre for allowing me the opportunity of such an amazing experience.
A full portfolio of the day will be uploaded shortly.
In other news both Michelle and I are busy preparing for the forthcoming craft fairs starting with Fort Purbrook over the Easter weekend. Please see our events page for more details.
The web site has also had an overhaul and although still work in progress we hope you like the look & feel of the new site.
We have also started to incorporate some of our images on
www.flickr.com. Please feel free to pay a visit and make any comments if you wish.
That’s about it for now – hope to see/hear from you soon
Best Wishes
Rob & Michelle Dolton
R&M Photography
