6 Years Later...
6 Years Later…
Now with Birds!
It’s been an awfully long time since I last posted. Life simply gets in the way of a good time sometimes and to be brutally honest, photography simply took a sideline to work commitments and to the birth of my son. However, it was whilst awaiting the arrival aforementioned child, I discovered the joy of standing alone in the Somerset Wetlands photographing birds. Specifically, at RSPB Ham Wall, near Glastonbury.
Dawn at Ham Wall
In the shadow of Glastonbury Tor, the Ham Wall Wetlands are a serene paradise for a plethora of bird species.
I bought myself a Nikkor 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 to attach to my (then) recently acquired Nikon Zf, and started to make semi-regular dawn visits, trying to arrive half an hour before sunrise to catch the best light. Waking up at 5am isn’t something that comes naturally to me, but I can attest to the photographical benefits! The light is simply better. An average photograph becomes a ‘keeper’ and standing in a frigid bird-hide suddenly becomes tolerable.
Grey Heron in Avalon
The Somerset Levels gather ethereal mists in the early winter morning, which is handy because they make photography easy. This is one of the few of my own photos I’ve ever printed for myself.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Dave Attenborough isn’t going to be narrating over the top of my images any time soon, but I’ve certainly started to really enjoy photographing even the mundane wildlife that inhabits the area. It’s quite rewarding to wait patiently for the squirrel to look at the camera, or the Heron to open up its wings and then to capture a technically challenging shot at just the right time with all the right camera settings.
On which note. The Nikon Zf is a lovely camera. It’s rekindled my love of shooting by just being a nice camera to carry around with me. Usually with a super lightweight 40mm F2.0 lens, perfect for street photography or capturing family days out. It’s not, however, a speed shooting all action wildlife camera…I won’t be changing it though. It’s otherwise perfect for me in every other way. And it can ‘technically’ do everything I would want it to do for bird photography, it’s just a bit fiddly to achieve those results quickly sometimes.
Hopefully it won’t take me 6 years to post again.
