Blog

At our meeting on 30^th October we were treated to another superb collection of natural history photographs presented by two of our more experienced and active members, Julie and Alan Walker. This was the fourth in a series of their “travel shows” and concentrated on images taken in winter, but in a wide series of locations.

Their journey started in Japan in deep snow and temperatures as low as -20°C with a delightful series of mainly close ups of Japanese macaque monkeys bathing in hot spring pools.

 

Alan explained that close-ups were one option of managing the steam from the pools and the hosts of fellow photographers and tourists surrounding the pools. He then described the difficulties and gave advice on photographing white Red Crowned Cranes and white Whooper swans against a snowy background.

 

He added in the unique problems of clearing out snowdrifts on a regular basis from within the lens hood and some of the camera controls freezing in the sub-zero temperatures. The final images from Japan were of Stellar Eagles on the sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk.

 

The next stop on our journey was Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico where birds were the main targets of Julie and Alan’s lenses. These included snow geese in their thousands, cranes and a rare photo of the elusive Road Runner ( more commonly seen in Looney Tunes than in real life!).

 

We were shown some very evocative images created by creative use of panning and varied exposures.

 

Returning to the UK images of mountain hares in the Cairngorms opened this episode. From a photographic point of view the hare population is split into “runners” and “sitters”.

 

The “sitters” may possibly be older, wiser hares who realise that they are unlikely to be the targets for birds of prey whilst they are the targets for Julie and Alan’s cameras. Red squirrel images are always popular and Alan and Julie’s did not disappoint. Alan demonstrated how rainfall can produce a balanced soft light.

 

Further south in the UK in Hampshire there were a series of images of owls both captive and wild, and of kingfishers feeding.

 

Winter in the Kalahari desert does not have the extremes of temperature as Japan but offers different photographic challenges of trying to capture images of animals well camouflaged in the dry brown grassland around them.

 

Alan commented that incorporating the essence of the surrounding environment is now almost as important as the creatures themselves. This ethos was well demonstrated in some terrific images of lions and cheetahs.

 

The final episode of the evening involved a return to Arctic temperatures with a series of images of polar bears taken in Churchill, Canada. The extreme cold and a repetition of the problems of photographing white subjects on a white background did not deter Julie and Alan from producing a stunning collection of polar bears images in a variety of poses.

 

The proximity of the bears in some of the images was unnerving.

 

The quality and variety of images shown over 2 hours was very much appreciated and the next episode in their series of presentations is eagerly awaited. Many of their images can be viewed at awalkerphotography.co.uk/

Richard Jakobson

On Wednesday 23^rd October we held our first set subject competition of the season. These competitions were introduced to encourage members to have their images critiqued in an informal environment. The emphasis is on providing positive feedback with the aim of helping members improve their photography. Tony Marsh, our External Competitions Secretary, was the judge for the night. Tony has a particular interest in wildlife and macro photography and had set “Small” as the subject for the competition.

In total six prints and 51 digital images were judged. The overall quality of the images was very high which was reflected in the scores. Tony awarded the maximum mark of twenty to ten images. The choice of a winning image proved difficult because of the strength of the entry but Tony finally chose a charming image of two Harvest Mice on an ear of wheat with their tails linked, photographed by Alan Walker. He commented that the image was “absolutely exquisite”.

 

As expected, the majority of the images submitted were of creatures large and small and the latter were much in evidence. Images which scored twenty included a super sharp image of a bee by Richard Jakobson

 

and a fabulous image of a Marbled White Butterfly by Tricia Rayment.

 

Wendy Jordan scored nineteen for an image of a Ladybird and Tony complimented her and commented on the difficulty of producing a satisfactory photograph of this species due to their shiny and highly reflective shells.

 

Gordon Train also scored nineteen for two of his prints. One was of a tiny snail crossing a road

 

and the other of a backlit spider and web.

 

Some members chose to depict animals in their environment, showing their small scale relative to their surroundings. Memorable images included a Polar Bear in an icy landscape by Keith Snell

 

and another image by Alan Walker of two Klipspringers, which are small antelopes, dwarfed by the rock on which they stood in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Both images scored twenty.

 

There were also a number if images of birds. The highest scoring of these was Keith Snell’s “Fulmer under a Waterfall” which scored nineteen.

 

Tony pointed out, however, that many of the bird images suffered from being taken in bright sunlight which resulted in a loss of detail in the white areas.

Other members chose to interpret the subject of small in very different and imaginative ways. Richard Jakobson scored twenty for a humorous composite of two skiers descending in to a teacup.

 

Another image that raised a laugh from the audience was of smalls hanging on a washing line taken in Venice by Sue Rugg.

 

Flowers were also well represented and Tom Stenhouse scored twenty for his close up of Tulip stamens. Tony commented on the strong composition and sharpness of this image and felt that it would make a good picture for hanging on a wall.

 

Tom also scored nineteen for an image of a Parachute Mushroom.

 

 

Several members submitted images of children and Sue Rugg scored twenty for a print of a young girl and her toddler brother. Tony remarked that the low angle from which this had been taken was ideal for photographing children.

 

Another charming image of a four-day old baby was submitted by Heleen Franken-Gill.

 

Tony made many helpful comments during the evening to assist members to improve their images. He emphasised just how difficult macro photography is due to the small depth of field that a macro lens allows and he also stressed the importance of finding an uncluttered background. The evening was very entertaining and we all learned something to assist us in our photography.

Julie Walker

All the entered images can be viewed in our Gallery