Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a lecture by brilliant pro wildlife photographer Tom Mason as part of the virtual Birdfair. If you haven’t had a chance to check out this year’s virtual event, get over to their website now as there are tons of lectures and online events for wildlife lovers to get stuck into.
Tom’s session was on how local projects are important for your wildlife photography. Using his images to illustrate his thinking, Tom explained how working on a local project allows you to get to know your subject, as well providing you with the opportunity to get shots in varied weather and light conditions. It also gives you the time to “build your frame” and get the shot planned in your mind before trying to execute it. Also, if you can see your subject regularly, you can try some more experimental shots as you haven’t lost anything if they don’t work out as you envisaged – something that is much harder to do if you only have a few hours, or even minutes, with a subject. It was an inspiring talk.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that until mid-March my local patch was a park near my office. I used to take my camera to work with me and would head out with it on my lunch breaks to photograph the wildlife that shares the park with the people strolling through it. However, since lockdown, I’ve been working from home and so my local patch has changed. I’m now starting to get to grips with the idea of a new project that will mean that I can work with a species that is not only a regular visitor to the area around my home but is also a bird that tends to get a negative reception – the lesser black-backed gull.
I already have a couple of specific images in mind and, following Tom’s words of wisdom yesterday, I feel like I’m ready to start building my portfolio. I know it will take well over a year to capture the images I want, but I’m excited to see what I can achieve.
This lesser black-backed gull was photographed from the window of my home “office”. In this image, you can see the yellow coloured legs of this species, which is one way to tell these birds apart from the similarly sized herring gulls, which have pale pink legs.