I used to think of wildlife photography as being hard. Then I did a bit and it turns out that once you’ve got the technical bit nailed, getting good images is as simple as having a good idea, following through on it properly, and showing a bit of patience. The rest – including getting published – is basically down to luck and tenacity.
Then I went to photograph the red squirrels off the coast of Poole on Brownsea island, and my conceptions about how difficult wildlife photography is were completely shattered. I’ve been lucky enough to photograph some pretty interesting animals in the wild – tigers, gorillas, puffins and a fair bit more – but red squirrels are, by quite some distance, the toughest thing I’ve ever shot.
Click the image for a closer look
The pics on this page took the better part of two days to get in the bag. Much of that time was spent under a tree with a Kindle, waiting for the weather to get out of the way and the squirrels to come out to play. They’re diurnal – i.e. active during the day – but they spend a massive chunk of daylight hours in their nests, only coming out to gather nuts and undertake other squirrelly tasks in the morning and later afternoon.
I spent an entire day on Brownsea island and came away with precisely one image worth anything at all. Luckily it was this one.
Click the image for a closer look
I wasn’t enormously fond of it at first, but it’s grown on me – I like the inquisitive eyes and the squirrel’s claws clinging on to the branches. At the time I wasn’t sure of it – I was feeling a bit frustrated at spending so much time to get such a brief look, but the more I look at it the more I like it. The Guardian liked it too, running it as a “Week in wildlife” pic.
Day 2
The “perseverance” bit of photography came the next day. Over on the first ferry, I spent an entire day perched under various trees and bits of undergrowth waiting for a squirrel to pop its head up. My bacon sandwiches came and went (HINT the smell of bacon does not appear to interest squirrels), then my coffee, then lunchtime came and went. By two in the afternoon as I was ready to give up, but stuck it out.
Click the image for a closer look
Thank goodness. At four in the afternoon all the squirrels’ tiny alarm clocks went off at once and four of them started zipping around in front of me. This is where the photography got incredibly tricky. Without getting too technical, red squirrels are tiny little fellows – smaller than their grey counterparts – which means getting your camera’s autofocus to successfully grab one requires excellent reflexes and not a bit of luck. It also needs a bit of shoulder strength – for technical types these were done on a 500mm lens. Combined with the size of the reds it their exceptional turn of speed, as they zip across the forest floor, pause for a heartbeat, then zip across the floor a bit more. Every now and then they dart up a tree, which in combination with the light filtering through the leaves above makes getting a successfully exposed shot really quite a bugger.
Click the image for a closer look
In total I would guess I had about half an hour actually looking at red squirrels, and perhaps a solid five minutes where there were actually any good pictures to take. Not sure I’ve worked harder for any set of pics in my life.
Fancy seeing red squirrels?
You can! Head to Brownsea Island off the south coast of the UK. It’s a five minute ferry trip on Brownsea Island Ferry, then about a fiver a head as it’s a National Trust property.
Click for a closer look
If you’d like to see more photographic tidbits, pictures and other random nonsense, I’m on both Twitter and Facebook.
Red squirrels
I used to think of wildlife photography as being hard. Then I did a bit and it turns out that once you’ve got the technical bit nailed, getting good images is as simple as having a good idea, following through on it properly, and showing a bit of patience. The rest – including getting published – is basically down to luck and tenacity.
Then I went to photograph the red squirrels off the coast of Poole on Brownsea island, and my conceptions about how difficult wildlife photography is were completely shattered. I’ve been lucky enough to photograph some pretty interesting animals in the wild – tigers, gorillas, puffins and a fair bit more – but red squirrels are, by quite some distance, the toughest thing I’ve ever shot.
The pics on this page took the better part of two days to get in the bag. Much of that time was spent under a tree with a Kindle, waiting for the weather to get out of the way and the squirrels to come out to play. They’re diurnal – i.e. active during the day – but they spend a massive chunk of daylight hours in their nests, only coming out to gather nuts and undertake other squirrelly tasks in the morning and later afternoon.
I spent an entire day on Brownsea island and came away with precisely one image worth anything at all. Luckily it was this one.
I wasn’t enormously fond of it at first, but it’s grown on me – I like the inquisitive eyes and the squirrel’s claws clinging on to the branches. At the time I wasn’t sure of it – I was feeling a bit frustrated at spending so much time to get such a brief look, but the more I look at it the more I like it. The Guardian liked it too, running it as a “Week in wildlife” pic.
Day 2
The “perseverance” bit of photography came the next day. Over on the first ferry, I spent an entire day perched under various trees and bits of undergrowth waiting for a squirrel to pop its head up. My bacon sandwiches came and went (HINT the smell of bacon does not appear to interest squirrels), then my coffee, then lunchtime came and went. By two in the afternoon as I was ready to give up, but stuck it out.
Thank goodness. At four in the afternoon all the squirrels’ tiny alarm clocks went off at once and four of them started zipping around in front of me. This is where the photography got incredibly tricky. Without getting too technical, red squirrels are tiny little fellows – smaller than their grey counterparts – which means getting your camera’s autofocus to successfully grab one requires excellent reflexes and not a bit of luck. It also needs a bit of shoulder strength – for technical types these were done on a 500mm lens. Combined with the size of the reds it their exceptional turn of speed, as they zip across the forest floor, pause for a heartbeat, then zip across the floor a bit more. Every now and then they dart up a tree, which in combination with the light filtering through the leaves above makes getting a successfully exposed shot really quite a bugger.
In total I would guess I had about half an hour actually looking at red squirrels, and perhaps a solid five minutes where there were actually any good pictures to take. Not sure I’ve worked harder for any set of pics in my life.
Fancy seeing red squirrels?
You can! Head to Brownsea Island off the south coast of the UK. It’s a five minute ferry trip on Brownsea Island Ferry, then about a fiver a head as it’s a National Trust property.
If you’d like to see more photographic tidbits, pictures and other random nonsense, I’m on both Twitter and Facebook.
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