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