Wow! Is this book an inspiration or what! Call of the Kokako by Jeff Hudson has been on my shelf for a while and yesterday I picked it up to read on my commute and could not put it down. Any spare moment I found during the day I carried on reading this book and…
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Which bird should I photograph first?
Whatever your level, if you’re not a seasoned bird photographer, where should you start? The answer is simple. Think of the most boring bird in your local park and that is the bird you should photograph first. Birds are a difficult subject when you first start photographing them. There are so many species, each with…
Top tips for taking beautiful wildlife photos
I’ve put together a list of my top tips for taking beautiful wildlife photos. Over the coming weeks, I am going to focus on each tip individually with more detail. Here is a rundown of my top tips: 1) Learn to predict how your subject will behave Knowing your subject will help you to be…
Review: Peak Design Capture clip
One of the best purchases I’ve ever made is the Peak Design Capture clip. It’s an ingenious plate that clamps on to a rucksack strap, belt or another strap. On the plate is an arca quick release plate that can lock in place with a simple click and be released by the push of a…
Capturing a bird in flight: beginners tips
A few of my recent posts include pictures of birds in flight. The kingfisher, the fantail, and the welcome swallow. I’ve photographed other birds in flight but the agility and speed of these birds has pushed my skills to the limit. You might now be asking “How do you take great photos of these birds…
Welcome swallow, the insect hunter
I recently posted about the fantail, an insect hunter that swishes its tail to flush out insects before grabbing them out of the air. The welcome swallow is another insect hunter. However, unlike the fantail, it is much more graceful flyer and focuses its efforts over lakes, rivers, and marshy ground. If the fantail is…
The cheeky Fantail
Fantails, or piwakawaka in Maori, are amazing. They are beautiful, acrobatic birds that come close as you walk past. Sitting on a branch nearby you, flapping its wings, swishing its tail and darting across behind you. Like a rhythmic gymnast standing in the corner of their mat preparing mentally before running as fast as they…
Review: Tui, a nest in the bush by Meg Lipscombe
“Tui, a nest in the bush” is a beautiful book by the Rotorua based photographer Meg Lipscombe. It documents the first 37 days of two young Tuis lives. With a view directly into the top of a Tui nest beneath her balcony she captures the beautiful moments that lead up to the Tui’s fledging the…
Getting excited: motivation and mistake
Why does anyone choose to go out and do something? There may be many reasons but one that will come up regularly is “because they enjoy doing it”. This is probably the reason you go out and take photographs – or at least why you started going out and taking photographs.
For me, the enjoyment comes from those moments you share with nature. Quietly observing the beauty of the natural world. A shag diving for fish repeatedly coming up empty-handed and finally appearing with a catch; a tui getting itself ready before singing its heart out to attract a mate; a house sparrow playing with a gull’s lost feather. When I’m close to the action I get excited, especially when it is something I haven’t witnessed before. I enjoy being a part of it. This is why I go out to photograph wildlife: to share these moments. And this excitement is also one of the biggest problems with getting a great photograph.
What’s in my bag
One of the questions that every photographer gets asked is what’s in your camera bag. I shoot with a very limited set of equipment for two main reasons: weight and cost. I take most of my gear with me wherever I go. Be it down to the river for a couple of hours or up…
Do birds yawn?
This is a question that I’ve only recently thought about, but do birds yawn? The other day, I was sat under a tree eating my lunch. I was watching and photographing 13 pied cormorants who were sat in the branches above taking a post-lunch siesta. I decided to hang around to see what their plan…
Matariki and the birds
Last week was Matariki. In Māori culture, Matariki signifies the beginning of the New Year. Close to the southern hemisphere’s winter solstice, it is the time when the Pleiades group of stars (or Seven Sisters) rises just before dawn during the week before a new moon. The Māori used the stars to measure the seasons…