Facebook Page

Please check out my Facebook page, for the latest news and updates about my work and photography!! My most recent project looks at how rivers in the UK have been and are still being affected by mans actions. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oliver-Wilks-Images/139562292799229

Scotland

Hey Everyone,

I am now up in Cairmgorms and will be updating my activities when ever I can, mainly through my twitter account but do not worry I will be keeping this blog updating as well.

So far we have traveled from Falmouth, Cornwall up to the Lake District where we stayed in YHA Windermere, which had to be one of the well kept Youth Hostels I have ever been in!! With a beautiful view across the lake from our bedroom window. Today we carried on the journey up to Cairmgorms, to Easter Corrie Holiday Cottages, where we are spending the next 7 nights before we make our way back down to Sussex.


P.S
Africa blog is still to come and I am slowly putting it together, there is so much to say it was unbelievable !!

Down on the Lizard

Not only was I in the studio on Thursday, where I was shooting portraits of Emily for her portfolio (Posted on my twitter and Facebook Page) but during the day I was able to get out in the sun down on the Lizard, the focus of the shoot was to look at locations that I could photograph for one of my new projects that focuses on species that are the focus of a Biodiverisy Action Plan in Cornwall, I've included a link to the main species included in this, it is worth a look at and then matching them to their plan just to get to know each of these species a bit more.

http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/Resources/Cornwall%20Wildlife%20Trust/PDF%20Documents/Cornwall_Biodiversity_Action_Plan_Volume_4_species_list_Oct_2010.pdf

Back to the shoot, well I started at Windmill Farm, a Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve that I visited a lot back in the summer months of 2013. This was my first visit of 2014 and I wanted to focus on the ponds that can be found there. As per expected their wasn't much to been in these areas at this time but they were still great to see how they have coped with the recent storms, another bonus of the location is that is it near the army base and they use the air space a lot to practise flying their fighter jets and helicopters, making windmill farm a great place to sit and watch them fly over.

The next location on my list was Lizard Point, in summer this is the place to go to see coughs, unfortunately they haven't arrived yet but the site is on the coast and is home to skylarks and other coast birds along with some great views as the waves crash against the cliffs creating a dramatic atmosphere to photograph. While I was there I found a new favourite spot to add to my list for locations which involved walking down what they classed as "slippery steps" it turned out this meant wet smooth rocks angled at different angles and a small ladder and a jump to get onto the beach, but boy was it worth it!!

My final visiting spot before I headed home for the shoot in the evening was Kynance Cove, an amazing location, that everyone with a camera should visit. This time I was focusing on a small stream that runs down into the sea. This captured the location from a different angle and I believe it is this that makes it my favourite shot from the shoots, especially as it is one that I have never thought about doing before and so stands out from the classic shot of the cove.

Having selected these locations and taking these images, I am now looking at way to make them more aesthetic and stand out against another image.

Rockpool Project

Over the weekend I had a great opotunity to get my hands on one of the Panasonic GX-1 cameras with it's underwater housing. This gave me a great chance to start my latest project into the rockpools around Cornwall, with main focus on Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth. Although the weather above the water hasn't been great this weekend, life underwater has gone on unchanged. Below is one of my first images towards the project, showing a Hermit crab in its underwater habitat and also showing that it is in a rockpool.

Porpoise & Seal pup Autopsy

Today I got the chance to film and photograph a autopsy that Exeter University had arrange in their science lab. Throughout the process they talked everyone through what they were doing and how the two species had specially adapted to life under the sea, from their eyes to how the insides of the porpoise is design to lower nitrogen getting into the blood stream that if it did would have the same affect that divers experience if they spend too long at depths underwater.

The porpoise had died from a head on collision with a bottle nose dolphin. which was most likely started because of territory although they can not be certain as they found it strained on the beach. Below I have put some of my favourite images from the process, I am back there tomorrow where they will be carrying out a similar process on a Bottle nose dolphin and a porpoise fetus that they came across today.

WARNING THESE ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED 

Screech Owl Sanctuary

Spent today at the Screech Owl Sanctuary with a few course mates and David Chapman. They trip was organised through the university and was discounted for us. The Screech Owl Sanctuary itself is run by the Screech family, ironic and shows the family was destined to look after owls. For those of you who don't know a Barn Owls other name is Screech Owl.

During the day David setup a verity of different sets where the birds were placed, which allowed us to capture some amazing images that we would have never been about to do if we tried to photograph these birds in the wild. Each set was put together to allow us to capture the best images but still look natural so that the viewer could mistake the image for one taken in the wild. Below I have included my favourites from the day, I hope you like them and let me know what you think!

Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus

Great Grey Owl - Strix nebulosa

Barn Owl (Screech Owl) - Tyto alba

Barn Owl (Screech Owl) - Tyto alba

Burrowing Owl - Athene cunicularia

Tawny Owl - Strix aluco

Tawny Owl - Strix aluco

Long-eared Owl - Asio otus

Godrevy, Hell Mouth and Swanpool

Today I managed it, I went out on a shoot for the first time in two weeks! My first decided was what camera to take and then where to go. The answer to the first question was simple a Nikon D800E with a Nikon 300mm F2.8 from the university and the next answer was Godrevy. One of my favourite spots in Cornwall.

Upon arriving there I took some photos of the waves has they smashed against the rocks, it is amazing the force that they hit the cliffs surrounding the coast every day. On my walk around I also noticed a small stew of Oystercatchers on the rocks down below so I decided it was a good idea to make my way down, as you see below it was a bit of a drop, your be glad to know I made it back up safely. Unfortunately though me sliding down the cliff alerted the Oystercatchers to my presence and they flew off before i could even lift my camera.

The cliff I hiked up.

After leaving Godrevy I headed to Hellsmouth to see if the Falmurs had returned to the cliffs that make this location so popular. When I arrived there was the sound of the males calling to the females trying to attract their mates. This gave me a great opportunity to photograph this behaviour and as they flew down and landed on the cliffs. 

My final stop before I went home was to Swanpool beach, where I made my way around the rocks trying to have a second attempt of photographing the Oystercatchers, this time with more success although not the final image I wanted but a great start !

Regents Park & British Wildlife Center

I hope you all had a great Christmas, I had a great time catching up with all my family and friends and find out what they have been up to during 2013.

Even during the bad weather we have been having over the last few days I have been able to get out and about and get a few photos, my favorite of these were taken in Regents Park, London which I traveled up to with Dad on our way to the Natural History Museum where we were looking at the images from this years Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

These images of a Great Crested Grebe were all taken on the large lake by the cafe in Regents Park and by using my fold out screen on my Canon 60D I was able to hold the camera just centimeters above the water giving you this view across the water. In my eyes I much prefer images taken like this as it draws the attention straight to the grebe and by using a wide aperture it has minimized the depth of field meaning only the grebe is in focus.

On Sunday I was with Jack again, on a Workshop at the British Wildlife Center. This gave him a chance to put the skilled he learnt in his first workshop into practice while using my equipment. We also looked into how these same skills can be transferred into his own camera and how with a few little things he can improve his photography massively.

After the workshop I just caught the start of the owl display, so I decided to go and practice my own photography on the owls as they flew by. During the display they showed 5 of the 8 species they keep at the center, below I have included two photos one of a Barn Owl in flight and the other of a Short eared owl.

Red Sea 2013 - Taster Blog

Hi Everyone I'm Back,

Now where to begin.......in a word it was amazing. I was in the water everyday and saw some amazing fish species in a variety of different shapes and colours, each as eye catching as the next. From swimming above the coral to swimming along side Green Turtles. It was amazing over the next few days I will be putting together a full blog post of all that I got up too, so think of this as a little taster into what is to come!

Below are just three of the images I took on the trip, don't worry there are many, many more to come and I can't recommend highly enough how much I suggest you all plan your trips there.

A family of Humbug dascyllus

Squaretail Coralgrouper

Porcupine fish 

Back in Horsham

I got back to Sussex from Cornwall on Saturday and straight away on Sunday I was setting up shots from my shoot at Rangers Lodge Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre where I was photographing two of their rescued Hedgehogs in scenes which show one of the threats that they face in the wild.

While there I photographed them next to a fork, with slugs and slug pellets and more. I will be editing them all over the next day before I go to Egypt on Wednesday so keep an eye out for more of these images and take into account the threats that these wonderful creatures face in the wild and more importantly from us.

Today I was out at Park Cameras where I have invested in a GoPro strap from the Red Sea, before I left Falmouth I borrowed a GoPro Hero3 white edition from a friend. This will be my first time using one so could be interesting and take some time to learn about the gizmos on it to capture some great footage of me snorkeling when I'm away.

After Park Cameras I headed too Arundel Wetland Center, just outside the center you go down a road with a stream down each side as we drove down there I said to Dad, I have never seen any Water Voles down here even though we always see them at the center. Just after making that remark I spotted one and we quickly pulled over and got out and started photographing the little guy. As he seemed so quite friendly I wanted to try taking some with a flashgun. Below is one of the results.

After we took some photos of the Water Vole we moved on to the Arundel WWT where we made our way around the reserve to see what we could find. The main thing we were looking for were the Water Rails, which eventually we found and one that swam right in front of us and into the reeds before we could get any photos. Our other "targets" lets say included Snipe, Kingfishers and the Bittern which of the three we saw two, the Snipe and the Kingfisher sadly both too far to photograph from the hide.

Tomorrow I will be packing for Egypt and if I have some time photographing a Hyperlapse of my car so I can practice ready for doing some when I'm abroad.

Below are two links to my favorite time-lapses that I have found so far:

One of the desert:
http://vimeo.com/14352658

Probably the best time-lapse made to date:
http://vimeo.com/76440793

Hedgehog Photograhy

This afternoon I was back at Mawnan Smith Hedgehog Rescue to photograph their hedgehogs. For those of you who don't know I have had a slight accident with my arm meaning it is in a sling at the moment until it sorts itself out. This meant that I needed a helping hand with my photography today so asked two of my house mates Dan and Ferne to come with me and help me photograph the hedgehogs and set up some scenes.

Below is one of my images from the afternoon showing a Hedgehog in a Bonfire, I will point out now before anyone get concerned for the hedgehogs safety that I created the bonfire and put him in place and photographed him then put him back before taking the shot again with the smoke which was created using burning paper.

Diving

Had a great dive today off Pendennis Point, swimming out to the wreak off the coat and capturing some great images using the wide angle lens. This allowed me to capture some interesting shots of the starfish that I found on the wreckage.

Unfortunately the dive had to be cut short due to me having an asthma attack and not being able to breath so well through the rig. Thankfully I was near the shore and able to get out the water quickly and all good now as if nothing happened. Just want to get back down there and dive again!

Richmond Park

On Thursday me, Dad and Dan left early and headed over to Richmond park for opening, in the early morning sunlight we were able to capture some amazing shots. While there I was mainly using a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 300mm F2.8, while using the equipment I noticed some of the images appearing slightly blurred. I put this down to me being used to using Canon kit and the screen being slightly different, but when I got home I found out that 99% of the images had focused about a foot behind where the focus point was really pointing. I straight away notified the Uni and they had suggested I used manual focus until I bought it in on Monday and they can check it out.

While there I used a Nikon 600mm F4 which seemed to be producing great images, below is one shot I took laying down taking a shot of a Great Crested Grebe on one of the many lakes at Richmond deer park.

I will try and save as many as I can and hopefully be uploading more soon.

Other posts to look forward too include my trip to the wildlife rescue center and a trip to London where I visited Billingsgate Market and Borough Market before wandering around photographing the spectacular buildings that create London.

Diving - Tuesday 5th November

On Tuesday I had a great dive at Pendennis Point, while down there I saw some great creatures and captured some of my favorite images I've ever captured, below I have attached some of these images.

Leach's Spider Crab

Nearer the end of the dive Dan (my Buddy) was in the sea weed photographing some blemmies and so I went off to find my own subject, I soon came across a cave and stuck my head in as I shone my light around from left to right as it move to the right I suddenly realized the next to move getting closer was the largest Lobster I have ever seen, it's claws bigger then my hands. I quickly moved out f the cave took a few photos before getting Dan and showing him the huge creature. 

Godrevy at rough seas

A quick trip to Godrevy yesterday lead to an amazing site as they waves smashed against the rocks. Before I'd left the house however I came across of a major issue, probably the most stupid thing I've done this year when it comes to photography!! I left my Nd and Polarising filters inside a bag I hired with a camera from the photography stores last week when I was photography the tide at Swanpool beach. I quickly went and reported my stupidity and am now in wait in hope who ever has the bag notices and is honest enough to give them back.

But back to the shoot itself down in Falmouth it was a bit windy but nothing compared to what we were met with when we got to Godrevy. We could feel it from the car as it hit the sides, when we looked out at the sea the waves were crashing hard against the rock in which we normal stand to photography to lighthouse, even the surfers which normally coat the beach weren't in sight. Most people watched it from the cars, upon arrival we got out the car and had only a short about of time before our lens were coated in water and we were unable to photograph anymore.