modern pet photographer west sussex

Drusilla’s, East Sussex {Pet Photographer East Sussex}

Lindsay — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:03:32 +0000

In my job it’s true to say that personal outings don’t happen very often, and it’s been quite a while since I was last at Drusilla’s animal park in East Sussex. It’s a lovely place to visit, it’s a good size but is manageable in half a day and the animals are easy to view. You won’t see massive things like giraffes or rhinos, but you will see a great collection of small animals such as monkeys, lemurs, servals, meerkats and many other popular creatures. Taking pictures at zoos can be quite difficult because many of the animals (if not most) are housed behind glass screens. The staff at Drusilla’s keep the glass very clean, but the problem with glass is reflections so you will need to move around a bit to find the best angle to shoot from. Consequently most of the images you see below were shot through glass, although I was able to hold my camera over the top when it came to the otters, meerkats, and coatis.

The other reason for this outing was to test a new camera, the Canon 5D MkIII. This is quite a beast, and given that I now do a lot more pet and animal photography I needed a camera with very fast autofocus, since animals move around far more quickly than most humans ever will. This meant giving up my lovely 5D MkII, which is known for its exceptional image quality. I’d read great reviews on the MkIII and I was really expecting something special. The image quality is very good indeed, providing you shoot RAW – I found that the JPEGs were disappointingly soft and lacking in detail. The other benefit of this particular camera is the lowlight capability, which is superb – some of the images here were shot at 4000 and 5000 ISO, which this camera manages with ease. The high ISO images also retain plenty of colour and detail, providing you shoot RAW.

The animals themselves were as delightful as always, the ring tailed lemurs are always very entertaining, and it’s interesting to see how different lemur types exhibit different behavioural characteristics. For example, the ring tailed lemurs share their enclosure with some black lemurs who are apparently the delinquents of the lemur world, being very naughty at times and prone to play fighting and even stealing. We met a juvenile black lemur who can get away with murder, he has been highly spoilt by his mother and the other lemurs don’t dare tell him off for his bad behaviour in case his mum has a go at them. You can’t fail to notice who I’m talking about in the shots below.

The otters are always lovely to watch, one of them was playing with a stone as feeding time approached, and as a means of chivvying up its keeper this particular otter likes to bang a stone against the glass.

Birds, Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands

Lindsay — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:44:45 +0000

At this time of year ducks, geese and swans will have their babies with them, so it’s the perfect time to visit your local nature reserve or RSPB centre. We live quite close to Arundel in West Sussex, so it’s easy to pop down to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre for a snack and a walk around the site. Sure enough, there were plenty of tiny fluffy baby birds to see and photograph. It’s incredible how independent and resilient these tiny creatures are. These are all wild birds who fly to the centre to enjoy the safe natural environment, you’ll see seasonal migrants and some rare species which are homed there as part of breeding programmes. There are also many water voles living along the reedbed banks – we saw an absolutely huge vole today, but it was gone before I could photograph it.

You’ll need a long lens for birds – I’m a portrait photographer so I can’t justify an expensive long telephoto lens just for personal outings like this, but I do have the excellent Canon 70-300 L. On my full frame DX body this acts as precisely that, but if I’d taken my APS-C body the extra reach would have come in handy – but at the expense of image quality if I have to raise the ISO significantly as you often have to do when photographing wildlife.

Long Eared Owl, Surrey

Lindsay — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:43:56 +0000

The long-eared owl is medium-sized owl, smaller in size than a woodpigeon. It has distinctive head feathers (known as ear tufts even though they are not ears) which it raises when alarmed. It is buff-brown with darker brown streaks, and deep orange eyes. Long-eared owls breed thinly across the UK with fewer birds in the south-west and Wales. Northern birds migrate southwards, including birds from Europe coming to spend the winter in the UK, while southern birds are residents and only move short distances to find food.

Long-eared owls are nocturnal and secretive, so it’s unlikely we would normally get to see one unless it was migrating (when birds may turn up on coasts at any time of day) or when leaving or returning to a communal roost site in winter. I certainly have never seen one in the wild, and Archie here lives in an animal sanctuary in Surrey, where he is regularly flown and displayed with a number of other British owls. Given that these owls tend only to raise their “ears” when alarmed or disturbed, don’t expect to see Archie looking any different to the image we captured below. I think he’s a bit of a poser, he likes to stare right into the lens so it’s not difficult to capture attractive portraits of him.

Barn Owl, Surrey

Lindsay — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:38:03 +0000

Barn owls need little introduction, and many of us have been lucky enough to witness one of these magnificent birds on a summer evening as the owl sets out to hunt. They are able to fly silently thanks to incredibly soft feathers. They feed on mice, voles, and shrews, and thankfully these birds are still widespread. The barn owl I encountered recently lives in an animal sanctuary in Surrey, and she is a real character, taking part in talks and educational displays. She was enjoying an afternoon nap when I sneaked up and captured this image.

Associate Panel, in Print {Animal Portraits West Sussex}

Lindsay — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:09:29 +0000

It was fantastic to open the glossy pages of Professional Imagemaker magazine today, and to see my recent Associate panel published across one of its spreads. This is a magazine which has inspired me for so long, and it’s very much a dream come true to see my images regularly published amongst the work of photographers I have admired and learned from as I have worked to build my career as a professional photographer. I already hold and Associate distinction in portraiture (with the Royal Photographic Society and the British Institute of Professional Photographers) but I have always wanted to reach this level with nature photography, a genre I have so much affection for. My nature images are very much portraits rather than documentary shots, and as always I try to bring out the character of the wonderful animals I encounter both personally and professionally.

To see a couple of shots of Imagemaker magazine visit our news section here: News

Pine Marten, Surrey

Lindsay — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:28:21 +0000

Photographing weazels is tough at the best of times – Pine martens are members of the weasel family, and have a characteristic creamy yellow throat bib. Found throughout most of central and northern Europe, they are now extinct from most of England and Wales, though they do remain in Scotland. They nest in hollow trees and old animal homes. Pine martens eat small mammals and fruits and berries. They are also treetop hunters and can race along branches, leaping from tree to tree in pursuit of squirrels.

I met this beautiful pine marten at her home in Surrey, but photographing pine martens is never particularly easy, as tends to be the case with any animal which belongs to the weasel family. Pine martens are large animals, the one I met wa the size of a small fox, and they are undeniably beautiful. They are rarely still, and enjoy racing around their substantial enclosure and chasing each other through the tunnels provided for them. I love the way this particular animal liked to poke her head out of her nest box to stare at me. We were in dense shade so it was a matter of having to crank the ISO and shoot several frames given that autofocus is not always reliable in dark conditions.

BPPA Competition, March

Lindsay — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:37:31 +0000

For the last couple of years I have done my best to enter images in each round of the BPPA professional imaging competition. This is an enormous affair, attracting tens of thousands of professional entrants from around the globe, and to make the competition manageable for entrants and judges there are 11 rounds in each competition year. Thanks to my persistence in entering throughout 2011 I was delighted to gain the title of Pet Photographer of the Year at the awards ceremony this January. In this month’s round I’m absolutely thrilled to gain the Gold medal in the Wildlife category and Highly Commended (which has replaced the previous Silver medal) in both the Monochrome and Pet Portraiture categories.

Red Fox, West Sussex

Lindsay — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:33:49 +0000

Foxes are commonplace but without doubt a well fed rural fox will look much healthier than its urban counterpart. We have some beautiful foxes here in West Sussex, and I know that my foxes often help themselves to the birds’ food which supplements their diet. On a sunny late afternoon they will doze quite happily in fields or country gardens, so it’s not difficult to get pictures of them.

Black and White

Lindsay — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:06:45 +0000

When it comes to photography the term “monochrome” usually refers to a standard black and white image. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the image is devoid of colour, it just means that there is a single tone present. As such, a black-and-white photograph can have any number of tints, from sepia through to delicate blues and eggplant tones. I like most of my black-and-white photographs to have a very subtle warm tone.

By the way, this gorgeous Polecat does not live in the wild, but instead occupies a rather spacious natural enclosure with lots of tunnels to explore and lots of friends to play with.

Cat, At Home {Pet Photography West Sussex}

Lindsay — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:49:55 +0000

Well, my home to be precise. This is a very cute and much loved little visitor, but she’s a dynamo of energy so getting some shots of her is always a challenge. Shooting indoors usually means that the light isn’t all that great, this isn’t a problem if your subject is static, but a moving subject requires a shutter speed fast enough to freeze motion. This usually means bumping up the ISO. Natural light like this works very well for the kind of photography I do, given that supplementary lighting isn’t ideal where some pets or animals are concerned – however bouncing a bit of flash over your shoulder into a white wall can be very helpful and will not startle the animal.

I like slightly quirky, characterful shots, and I really like the way this little cat’s profile was framed between two stair spindles. Cats can be very tricky subjects to photograph, since many are playful and inquisitive and will not want to stay where you put them! Patience is key and timing is everything so that we can capture interesting moments which show the animal’s personality. We usually need the help of the owner or handler for this, and we’ll guide the owner as to their task for each scene that we envisage. It’s really important that there are no additional distractions for the pet – if there are other family members about this can make it more difficult for us to get a good range of shots for our clients. If the family would like to be present then we would recommend a family photography session instead, where we’ll include the pets.