The latest meeting of the Society featured award-winning wildlife photographer Alastair Marsh. He visited us hot on the heels of multiple successes in the latest British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA). One of Alastair’s hedgehog portraits is featured as the front cover of this year’s BWPA book. His talk was subtitled ‘trying something different’ and was illustrated with stunning photographs of native species mostly close to his home in North Yorkshire. The images were outstanding both in their technical quality and the inventiveness of his compositions.
The inventiveness came from the ingenuity with which he arranged the photographic set-ups used to capture unique aspects of animal behaviour. The overriding aim was to remain as unobtrusive as possible so that the animals acted in a natural manner. To achieve this, much of the photography relied upon the remote triggering of the silent shutter of a camera that was often positioned inches away from the subject. He also subtly exploited remotely-triggered low level flashlights to illuminate either the subject or its immediate surroundings to produce evocative naturalistic images.
He started by showing us close-up images of a hedgehog in his garden and of a hare in a nearby field, all captured at eye level with the animals. Also, near to his home, there are some nesting little owls. One owl below an apple tree revealed its diminutive stature as he caught it standing next to a group of windfall apples. Other images that were taken with a wide-angle lens showed much more of the background surroundings with the animals small in the picture frame.
Another technique which Alastair showed us was the use of trail cameras which can be set up at opportune locations and left unaccompanied by the photographer for long periods of time. Equipped with motion sensors, the camera shutter is triggered to fire by an animal crossing in front of the sensor. With thoughtful positioning of camera and flash guns, this approach proved very productive for photographing pine martens whilst on frequent family holidays in Ardnamurchan in Scotland. One of the images from these photo shoots was the winner of the Animal Portraits category of this year’s BWPA.
There was inventiveness at play in his project to photograph Cumbrian red squirrels that used stepping stones across a stream as their highway. Progressing from straight images of the squirrels crossing the stream and jumping between the stones, Alastair decided that he needed to get down at eye level with the squirrel. So, purchasing a small fish tank, he positioned the camera in the tank and placed it down in the water. The sides of the tank were lined with black paper to eliminate any reflections, particularly because he was using flash at the same time. Another creative development was to construct a black-lined box that he set up in the water to provide a jet-black background behind the stones that the squirrel jumped between. By delaying the flash so that it fired later during the opening of the shutter, he created a ghosting effect in the image of the leaping squirrel. This strikingly emphasised its movement over what would otherwise be a somewhat static arrested movement of the jump.
Alastair’s stunning wildlife images and his explanations of the novel techniques he employed were appreciated by all present and received enthusiastic applause. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 23rd September and is our first competition of the new season. Competition nights are always popular and give club members the opportunity to receive constructive advice from a judge and for their photos to be seen by other members. Prospective new members and visitors are always welcome to join us on any Wednesday, at 7.30pm in the Quaker Meeting House, opposite Booths supermarket, Keswick or alternatively via Zoom. Please contact us with with any questions or to reserve a place.