20 years of lecturing
I have been giving talks for many years now on nature and wildlife photography. Infact, my first one was some 20 years ago to the Swale Group of the Kent Wildlife Trust. Since then I have, easily, given in excess of 400 to all manner of clubs and societies throughout England in the autumn and winter months, ranging from gardening societies and WI’s to the RPS and National Trust. I just love communicating, whether it be about wildlife in general or nature photography. Typically, at some point, I’ll digress as I recall a particular moment while out in the countryside watching and photographing, a funny (to me, at least) story or get on my soapbox and have a moan or two about current issues, not least the proposed airport on the Thames Estuary…..Grrrrr!! But this, I feel (and hope) gives the talk a personal touch. Otherwise I may as well hand out scripts for the audience to read as I move from one image to another.
It goes without saying that you need to structure a talk, particularly if it is about a certain area but, I have to say, the one I enjoy most is that which I came up with after returning year upon year to the same clubs which were, as a result, rapidly exhausting my portfolio. The title I have given it is “Bob’s Best of the Year.” It does what is says on the tin. A selection of my favourite images taken over the last year (to 18 months!). It not only gives the audience something different every year but, from a personal perspective, it allows me the opportunity to review my own work taken over that period. As photographers we tend to go from one subject or project to another and rarely look back at what we have achieved and, dare I say it, even pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. Nothing wrong with a little self gratification!
Ultimately, it is the response of the audience either during or after that keeps me on the lecture circuit, particularly if members come up during the interval or afterwards to comment on how much they enjoyed it or to ask questions. As I said, at the beginning, I just love communicating and so, if after a talk, I have enthused or inspired a member of the audience to try their hand at a field of photography they hadn’t yet considered or made others think that actually, it’s not just a piece of marsh with sheep on it and that it REALLY is worth conserving, then I shall remain on that treadmill for many, many years to come. That is, if they sill want me!
Below are just a few letters I have received over the years and, if you belong to a club and are on the lookout for a speaker, then why not get in touch.
On behalf of the Clacton Camera Club a very BIG THANK YOU for coming all this way and giving your lecture and showing so much of your work. I think and hope you could tell by the atmosphere, chatter and enthusiasm of your audience what an excellent evening you gave us. I am sure we will be talking about you and your images for many weeks to come. The evening seemed to go all too quickly, and we have had many phone calls thanking us for the evening, an evening which you made special.
Jean Pain, Programme Secretary, Clacton Camera Club
Many thanks for coming along yesterday and speaking to the Croydon Group both in the afternoon and evening. Your talk on Wildlife of the North Downs went down very well and your photographs were superb. I understand we had a record turnout for both meetings! I hope you had a safe journey home and look forward to inviting you back at a future date.
Judith Dunworth, Indoor Meetings Organizer, RSPB Croydon Local Group
I would like to thank you very much for such an interesting talk entitled ‘Field Techniques in Nature Photography’ and I know members were impressed with the amount of information received on wildlife, as well as all the various tips on taking such wonderful photographs. I particularly like the hares! Many members were enthused about the evening and I was very pleased with the turnout – one of the best.
Margaret Rimmer, Secretary, EPIC (Eynsford Photographic Image Club)
Workshops and Tours for 2012
A whole host of new and exciting wildlife and landscape photography workshops and tours can now be found on my website here.
I’ll be replicating some that were very popular last year including the Bluebell Photography Walk, Heathland Sunrise and Kent’s Wildlfowers as well as amending the Lady Orchid workshop to make it a half-day instead of a full day which, as the Walks have proved, are both easier on the commitment (just 3 hours instead of 6) and pocket! 
Tours new for this year include Northern Gold – Lapland in Autumn, Bison of Bialowieza- Poland in Winter, Prague and South Bohemia in Autumn and Dark Peak Landscapes – Peak District in Autumn. Below is a brief description of each and the link to take you straight to that page. The lapland tour already has bookings and the Bison tour is proving particularly popular with the first of two dates in 2013 already fully booked. I’ll be leading a tour there in just three weeks and cannot wait to go back there! Thermals at the ready
Lapland in autumn
I have visited Finland 6 times now and in autumn twice and I have to say, this is my favourite time of the year here. The colours are just spectacular with the yellow of birch and aspen and vibrant red of northern bilberry. And, if this wasn’t enough to whet your appetite how does photographing the northern lights sound?! 2012 is The Year of the Northern Lights and should we have clear skies, there is a 50/50 chance of witnessing them and, of course, photographing them!
To find out more about this tour, click here.
Just 2 places remaining!
European Bison in Bialowieza forest, Eastern Poland.
Those of you that follow my blog may, or may not recall, the piece I wrote about my trip some years ago to photograph Europe’s largest mammal, the Bison or Wisent, in the primeval forests of Bialowieza. Well, in partnership with acclaimed Polish nature photographer Marek Kosinski, I shall be leading a 6 day photography tour to this amazing place with Marek as our guide. There is simply no-one better to guide us. Marek, who lives in Bialowieza itself, has been published worldwide, and received many honours.
To find out more about this tour, click here.
West Towers on Charles Bridge, Prague.
Over a period of 5 years, I visited Prague on no fewer than 50 occasions and several to Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, photographing for my agents and my own library, as well as providing articles for magazines, one of which was featured in Outdoor Photography. As a result, I know these two places extremely well and would hazard a guess there are few photographers more qualified to personally escort you around to photograph ‘The Golden City’ and the equally beautiful Cesky Krumlov.
To find out more about this tour, click here.
Peak District in Autumn
Over the last few years the Peak District has become my favourite location for landscape photography in the UK. Indeed, as a result of those images I took on my first visit, I had an article published in Outdoor Photography magazine and subsequently held 5 workshops to this region, such has been its impact.
The reason I am doing this workshop during the week and not a weekend is that some of the places we will be visiting are very popular. By holding it mid-week, we will have The Peaks to ourselves!
To find out more about this tour, click here.
I look forward to welcoming some of you along on either the workshops or tours and if you prefer to talk to me in person regarding these, do feel free to drop me a line on 07939 117570.
Winter Sunrise on the Marshes print
To say I am overwhelmed by the popularity of this image would be somewhat of an understatement! I put it up on 500px yesterday and already it has been viewed by 1600 people and counting! Thank you for all the nice comments and to the 111 that have added it to their favourites. Surprisingly, I hadn’t put it on my website within the galleries but, I have now where you have the opportunity of purchasing it as a fine art print.
To purchase one, please click on the image below which will take you to website gallery page.
Here’s a little background information. It was taken on Elmley Marshes National Nature Reserve in North Kent, an area I have been documenting for the last 15 years. Conditions such as this are not all that uncommon over there where, with the combination of freezing winter temperatures and fog, rime frost is formed and produces spectacular conditions in which to photograph. Having spotted the image I had to work quickly as the sun was rapidly rising and burning through the mist. With the camera secured to a tripod and set to its maximum height, I had to stand on tip-toe to prevent the fence posts from merging with the land.
Nikon D2x, 12-24mm @ 16mm, 1/15 sec. f16, iso 200, 0.9 ND grad filter, Manfrotto 055 tripod, mirror lock-up, cable release.
The image was used full page in an extensive article I wrote for Practical Photography magazine on Discover Winter Wetlands. The article can be viewed here.
Sunrise over Elmley Marshes
500px
For the last few months I have been uploading my favourite images onto 500px. What I like about this site is that they are displayed nice and big and the site’s interface is extremely easy to navigate as well as professional looking. To see my images on 500px. please click here.There’s a wealth of great imagery to be found and it will undoubtedly open your eyes to new photographic talent.
Autumn past
With autumn now past I thought I would share a few images I took over that period, in particular, during a walk around a nature reserve near Canterbury in Kent. The conditions were (as any photographer could wish for when shooting autumn colour in the woods) still, overcast and ever so slightly misty. Aside from the vegetation remaining perfectly still the soft light muted the colours and give it more of an autumn feel. The first subjects I came across were these fly agarics. Autumn came incredibly late this year and ordinarily these would have been showing at least a month earlier. As it turned out, it worked in my favour as the woodland colours were at their peak the same time as the mushrooms themselves! I have dozens of images in my library of this species but the two together were irresistible. I like to work in a methodical fashion when shooting plants, especially when encountering a new species as I then feel I have covered all the bases. I’ll start with one of two straight record shots then, possibly, a wide-angle and finally I’ll look for something unusual. An angle that had, perhaps, initially elluded me. Anyone that shoots these subjects will appreciate how time consuming it can be, especially the “gardening.” Taking out bright leaves and the like that detract from the subject.
Fly agaric mushrooms
Even though my tripod goes to ground level, it still wasn’t low enough to create the vantage point I wanted. Ordinarily I would have used a beanbag but Ididn’t have one with me on this occasion so I used what I had. Gloves, hat, filter case and a lens cap!
Nikon D300, 12-24mm @ 14mm, iso 200, 1/8 sec f16, tripod, mirror lock-up, angle-finder.
A little further on I came across this attractive little area of birch and bracken and spent the next while shooting a panoramic which consisted of 5 upright images stitched using PTgui software. One of the biggest problems encountered when doing this work is parallex error and unless you have a head which corrects this you will be restricted to the closest you can be be to the nearest point of focua. The one I use is made by Nodal Ninja. Beautifully engineered, lightweight and compact, it makes the whole process that much more enjoyable.
I ventured deeper into the woodland, off the beaten track, and there were pictures all around. The colours were breathtaking. The task was not as simple as I first thought, to make sense out of nature’s chaos!
Nikon D300, 70-200 @ 98mm, iso 200, 1/6 sec f8, tripod, mirror lock-up.
The sun threatened to burn through the mist but it never did. Sometimes, it would clear marginally, but mostly it remained so.
Another panoramic. Sometimes, there is no other format that will do the scene justice. In order to gain the perspective I was after (telephoto “stacking” effect) shooting with a wide-angle then trimming the top and bottom wouldn’t have achieved this so, several upright images stitched was the only answer. Quite a simple composition yet, typically me, I still managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill and spend close to an hour taking it. It’s a good job I work alone!
Parasol mushroom
The two below were taken in woodland in a nearby village. A break from the computer was in order and fortunately I live near such places. As the previous image, the panoramic format lent itself to the two scenes, especially the last one when mist becomes more pronounced the more you shoot through.
Beech tree in coppiced woodland.
With the marshes being but a short distance away, they are never far from my mind. Such a dry autumn resulted in dry marshes and the result is there were few birds within photographable range. That doesn’t stop me from going over there however and on a morning such as this, who can blame me!
A week in The Peaks….well, almost!
Once again I found myself in the Peak District ready to give a landscape photography workshop. This was my fifth in the last 18 months concentrating primarily on 3 Edges. Stanage, Curbar and Baslow. Although, on previous occasions, I had explored much of the Dark Peak (North) area, there was still a number of places I wanted to visit, not least as I am planning on holding a two day workshop in the autumn of 2012.
I arrived at the campsite late in the afternoon, 2 days before the workshop. It was raining. That incessant, drizzle where you can see no end in sight. I got out of my car and surveyed the site looking for a suitable place to pitch my tent. The site was on a slope so clearly the lower fields were out of the question since these would become progressively waterlogged and, of course, somewhere flat! Most importantly of all was not to be too near to other tents but there was no fear of this as on the whole site there could have been only around half a dozen. I found where I wanted to pitch, got back inside the car and again, waited. It wasn’t going to stop so, with a sigh, I got on with it. There is no fun putting up a tent in the rain especially when you have one where the inner has to go up first! Who, in their right minds, designs a tent where you put up the inside first?!
North Lees campsite, Hathersage.
I don’t camp often, perhaps only a few times a year (mainly in the early spring and autumn, when campsite’s are most quiet and the countryside is at its most photogenic) and, although it may seem like a cold, inconvenient way to spend 6 days, I am always glad I did. You not only save yourself a fair bit of money but you can eat as and when you please and not endure finding somewhere to eat after you’ve had a long day shooting. Instead, I can return to my tent, prepare dinner and put on the radio or read a book. The best part, if you have chosen your campsite well, is that you can just lay there and listen to nature. I always choose those sites with the most basic of amenities and far from shops etc. This invariably stops families with children, barking dogs and teenagers and attracts hardened hill walkers with a respect for their fellow campers. I may sound like an old misery but really, who wants to spend the night in the tent in earshot of chattering families or hoots of laughter at 2 in the morning! Instead, I had a pair of vocal tawnies and pheasant in the adjacent woodland.
On my first morning, I headed for Curbar Edge in the hope of shooting a misty sunrise. I arrived at dawn and spotted a stag and hind just 50m away. It was still too dark to take pictures but wonderful to see, all the same. The sun did appear, at intervals, and the mist/fog cleared and thickened for the next hour or so.
View from Curbar Edge towards Baslow Edge, at sunrise.
Silver birch in mist
I scouted a couple of other locations and that evening walked up to Higger Tor. It was a relatively clear evening and shot until dusk. I also bumped into a couple of other photographers and chatted about the kind of things photographers talk about, cameras and the weather!
Higger Tor
View from Higger Tor
Photographer on Higger Tor at sunset
The following day’s workshop went very well with, unfortunately, periods of more cloud than sun! As we met, we were greeted with the sight of a lenticular cloud overhead. It was a great day and the group were really good fun.
Lenticular cloud
The morning after, I returned to Higger Tor in the hope of a decent sunrise but the fog put pay to any landscape work. Places such as this, in this kind of weather, take on an otherworldly character and as I wandered amongst the heather and boulders, I took this image of a carrion crow.
The fog didn’t look as though it was going to budge so waterfall and woodland photography it was going to be! I drove to the north east of the Dark Peak region where, earlier in the year, I stumbled upon an incredibly photogenic area where, it seemed, not too many others were aware of and this is where I stayed for the next 3 hours. I was looking for something different other than the usual waterfall shots so I turned my attention to this pool which had “captured” fallen leaves that slowly swirled within. It was barely visible to the eye but with the aid of an ND filter and resulting shutter speed of 8 seconds, the motion was exaggerated. With images such as this, it really is a matter of trial and error to get the desired effect. How time flies when you are immersed in photography as I spent close to an hour and half shooting these three compositions.
I rarely change the WB, preferring to do this in the post-processing stage but, on this occasion, I tweaked the setting in cloudy to accurately replicate the colour of this dark, peat-stained water.
Wanting to reach another site some distance away, in time for sunset, I slowly walked back to the car and noticed the play of light on the rocks and water produced by the late afternoon sunlight on a distant hill side.
I then drove to Curbar edge and enjoyed an hour of glorious red light.
Once the sun had set, I laid on a soft patch of heather, with not a soul to be seen, and took in the silence. The sound punctuated, only, by a Train of Jackdaws flying overhead.
The following day was forecast as being cloudy so once again, into the woods I headed. This time it was to be Padley Gorge. The colours of the beech were amazing and I spent an enjoyable few hours shooting foliage and waterfalls.
On my final morning, with clear skies forecast, I visited Mam Tor which has wonderful views across the Hope Valley. I arrived in the dark, stars overhead and walked to the summit full of optimism. But, as dawn broke, I breathed a heavy sigh as the landscape was clothed in heavy fog. I stayed an hour in the hope it would clear but alas, it never did completely.
I headed back to the car and began the drive to the campsite to pack up when I noticed this view. I was drawn to it by the graphic lines of the stone walls and subtle shades of autumn colour. A nice end to a thoroughly enjoyable and productive trip.
I will be leading a 2 day workshop in Autumn next year to the Dark Peak region, taking in some of the places mentioned here. If you would like to attend, please register your interest by contacting me at rmcanis@msn.com or tel: 07939 117570. Numbers will be limited to just 6 participants.
CIWEM-Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition
Last Thursday, along with my partner Martina, I headed up to London to attend the private viewing at the SW1 Gallery showing the winning and commended entries of the CIWEM- Environmental Photographer of the Year competition. Situated on the Roof garden within Cardinal Walk, the gallery is situated just a stone’s throw from Victoria station. It really is an amazing venue. Light and airy and very minimalistic. Perfect for exhibitions!
My image of a female glow worm, glowing was awarded a Highly Commended in the The Natural World category. With over 10,000 entries from 105 countries, it is one of the biggest of it’s kind. There were some stunning images. My personal favourite was Item with fungi by Kerekes M. Istvan. Click here to see the commended and winning entries.
Me standing next to my image
Female glow worm, glowing
SW1 Gallery
Number 1 – Stephen Dalton
In short, Steven Dalton pioneered high-speed nature photography, revealing aspects of behaviour never before seen. And, although you could argue that there were others before him (Eric Hosking, for example) who used high-speed flash to arrest movement, no-one before or since Stephen Dalton has done it with such mastery. It was as much about aesthetics and authenticity (very tricky in a studio environment) as it was about getting it sharp and well composed. And this, was in the days of film!
Steven Dalton’s hey-day was the 80s and 90s and although still practising his craft today, he is not, understandably, quite as prolific as he once was was. Saying that, however, he has recently returned to photographing insects in flight, largely due to the acquisition of a medium format Phase One digital back and an increased flash duration of 1/60,000 second! An exhibition in London is being planned for 2012.
Although he is the master of high-speed flash, there is another side to his work that had a profound influence (in my younger days) on my own. It was with the release of one of his best selling books The Secret Life of an Oakwood (1984). It revealed all aspects of nature within an oakwood and not just the obviously beautiful such as butterflies and birds. A snail crawling over fungi, a leaf in mid-winter covered in frost, rays of sunlight penetrating the canopy. I would, quite literally, study each image and enthused with what I had seen, go out into my own local woods and “try” to emulate. Of course, I never succeeded but he got me out there, looking for details, in all weathers. Other images, such as that of a dormouse, that required a controlled environment also urged me to try my hand at this kind of work. Two books followed in this series, At the Water’s Edge. The Secret Life of a Lake and Stream and The Secret Life of a Garden and, although they also contain some wonderful images, my personal favourite will always be his first.
In 1987 I had the great pleasure in meeting Stephen at his home in Sussex. At the time I was studying photography at Paddington College and, as part of the course work, we were asked to speak with a photographer we most admired. So, I wrote to him and he kindly agreed to meet me. I wasn’t driving then so I had to catch a train then a taxi to his house, deep in the Sussex countryside. To say I was nervous, is a huge understatement, but with his calm and understated manner I soon relaxed and we chatted about photography. We pondered over medium format transparencies on his lightbox showing me Polaroids of a barn owl in flight (using a toilet roll as a barn owl substitute!). At the time he was working on a book called Vanishing Paradise and took me into his dining room where he had been photographing a hummingbird. There in this (very large) room was a huge set consisting of a pond and waterfall with authentic rainforest plants. A camera and 3 high-speed flash units were set up and when he turned on the tap to “activate” the waterfall, down came the hummingbird to bathe. Amazing stuff! I left in awe but just before, like some Take That fan, I got him to sign one of his books called Secret Lives.
Stephen has very kindly granted me permission to use this image of a barn owl returning to feed it’s young with a rat. It is one of his most iconic and I am sure you will agree that aside from the obvious, it is his mastery of light that sets this image apart from others. It was taken in the mid 70s and in order to get the lighting just right he made a scaled replica and experimented with lighting in his garden.The following is from an email I received from Stephen enquiring how he got the image.
Barn owl returning to nest. By Stephen Dalton
“The whole operation was very complicated and long-winded, before I developed all what was then considered sophisticated equipment, but by modern standards very crude. (1950′s high voltage unit designed for press use, manual ‘open flash’ for the shutter, but at least I got the bird to fire the flash). It took 2-3 weeks and I was perched high on top of a roof with a wild bees nest at my elbow. The full story can be found in ‘Caught in Motion’ published 1982.
The photograph was taken on a 1969 Leicaflex SL with standard lens set at full aperture (f2.8) on 25 ASA Kodachrome (with a wait of a week before the results could be checked!)
Nowadays we have the facilities of instant digital and ‘films’ 30,000 times faster than Kodachrome, and the use of off-the shelf flash guns that provide the necessary speed. That’s progress!”
Rarely, these days, do you see images of barn owls taken with flash. The advancement of digital cameras, cropped sensors and high iso’s inclines nature photographers away from nest work and shoot using available light. Indeed, there are some fantastic images of these birds on the web, (often hunting low over a reedbed) but, in my opinion, they do all tend to look the same. You will gaze over one image to another but this one, this one has and will stand the test of time.
Most influential recap and competition
Over the last 6 months, yes 6 (sometimes I really need a good kick up the backside to get writing!), I have been running a series outlining 5 nature photographers that have had the most influence on my own work, particularly in my early years. And so, before I reveal who (for me at least) is at the top of the tree, here’s a summary of the other 4. If you’d like to read the entire piece about that photographer, just a click on the name.
Whoever correctly guesses who is at number 1, either on this blog or facebook, will receive a copy of Hannu Hautala’s acclaimed book, To Everything a Season. A year in the Finnish wilds, of which I have two copies. I’ll even stump up the P&P! Sorry, UK only.
Below is how I bagan the piece….
Those of us that have been taking photographs for some time will have undoubtedly been influenced by those we have admired. Certainly I have! I started taking wildlife photographs 27 years ago at the age of 13 and seriously from 16 at a time when we weren’t bombarded with imagery found on the Internet. My influences came from those around me and those credited with images gracing coffee table books and magazines such as BBC Wildlife and National Geographic.
From a very early age I would tag-along with a great friend of mine, called Ted Coleman who was 40 years my senior. He was a quite brilliant naturalist and no mean wildlife photographer, to boot! I would find myself trying desperately to emulate his style and quality (very poorly, I have to say) but as I grew older and saw other photographers’ work, I began to follow my own inclinations and would attempt to record what I saw in a more artistic manner. Ted, in his rural, gravelly voice would call this “arty-farty”! I couldn’t disagree. He was right! You see, this was the early 1980s and ”artistic” natural history photography wasn’t at all common, at least not in the UK. By and large, photographers would record what they saw as opposed to putting their own personal “stamp” on it. However, there were a number in that period that started to do just that and over the coming weeks, I’ll be going through those, in ascending order, that have influenced my own work the most.
I won’t be including Ted in this as I don’t feel as though I need to state how much he influenced my work, particularly in those early days. Indeed, as time went by and we returned from trips together, to Wales and Finland for example, many an evening would be spent projecting our images and seeing just how different our styles had become. One thing never changed though and that was an ethic he had instilled in me all those years ago. “That no matter how badly you want that picture or how hard you have worked to get close, the subject’s well-being must always come first.”
5 – Hannu Hautala
The top 5 nature photographers that have most influenced my work starts with Finnish wildlife photographer, Hannu Hautala. I toyed with placing him further up the list but those that will follow have had a more sustained influence on my work, particularly in the early days.
Hannu Hautala is undoubtedly the most famous Finnish photographer. So much so, that he is, or at least was, regularly shown on TV, advertising products, something which, unless David Bailey ever became a wildlife photographer, I very much doubt you will ever see in Britain!
He was one of the first to place the subject, be it a bird or mammal, small in the frame. To put it in context with it’s environment. This was done with thought and not by mistake. Before him, pictures of birds and animals were almost always big in the frame and if the photographer couldn’t get close enough, then just “clumsily” snapped. From the 1990s onwards this “style” became a trademark of Finnish wildlife photography.
4 – Laurie Campbell
Laurie Campbell was once described by wildlife film-maker, Simon king, “as the doyen of Scottish nature photography.” Who could argue? Laurie Campbell in so many ways epitomises how a nature photographer should behave. In other words, he conducts himself in such a way that rather than talking a good picture, he lets his pictures speak for themselves. An incredibly knowledgeable naturalist (unfortunately, an increasingly rare trait in a nature photographer these days), Laurie is a great all-rounder. Equally as good shooting birds and mammals as he is landscapes, plants and insects.
He has a style of that goes beyond the ordinary. Careful use of light and viewpoint. Indeed, I would go as far to say that Laurie was one of the first British photographers to adopt the “low-angle” approach when shooting wildlife, something that is the norm these days.
3 – Frans Lanting
Frans Lanting is regularly hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time and, when it comes to nature photography, I cannot disagree.
I first became aware of his work back in 1987 after purchasing a copy of National Geographic which ran a story of his titled “Madagascar: A World Apart.” Very little was known of this island back then and he even photographed a species of lemur which hadn’t yet been named! Three years later he had another, this time on the Okavango Delta in Botswana. He spent a year living in the region photographing elephants, eagle and hippos. He would sleep during the day and follow a pride of lions at night, lay under camo netting close to a waterhole where lions would pass by just yards away, too intent on quenching their thirst to take any notice. It was these images that really brought him into prominence and which led to him being awarded BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
2 – John Shaw
The final 2! John Shaw made the complexities of photographing nature, possible. This may seem like a sweeping statement but in the early and mid 80s there was a kind of secrecy behind photographing wildlife by many leading nature photographers incase others produced similar “competing” work. It’s ridiculous when you think of it, especially now when “How to” photography books fill up book stands at your local Waterstones. But back then when it was all about transparency and getting it right first time, such things as exposure, filtration, camera supports and the most important element, technique were not extensively covered at all. John Shaw changed all that.
Aside from his methods and explanations, I adored his images. Simple, graphic lines. His landscape images are rarely complicated and some of his most memorable, at least for me, are as simple as a tree at sunset or a frost covered leaf. It wasn’t necessarily about the subject but the subject’s placement within the frame. Here is clearly a man equally at home shooting dew laden grasses as he is bison in Yellowstone. He explains, strong images are very much about making sense of nature’s chaos. Deciding what it is that you like about that scene and leaving out what detracts from it.
Misty Moodiness
There is, in my opinion, no better place to blow the cobwebs away and relieve you of the daily stresses and strains, than a walk in the woods. Couple this with completely still, misty, ”golden” conditions and you have the perfect tonic. As a professional photographer, I am always on the look-out for exciting (commercial) images and occasionally lose touch with why I love nature photography so much. Those four hours I spent, a few days ago, wandering and losing myself in the intoxicating solitude, reminded me so and was one of the most rewarding forays I have ever had. Oh, and as I retraced my steps along that woodland path, a fox walked across it, right infront of me!
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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