Darren joined our Autumn Birds of Prey workshop to capture stunning portraits of our charismatic raptors. As you can see, I would say he achieved his goal!
We have been running our Welsh Birds of Prey workshop for a number of years now, so it is important to keep things fresh, especially for guests who have attended before. On this occasion, we took along a water pump & a wooden wheel to facilitate some special setups.
The water pump has been used before but we got so many requests to bring it to the autumn workshop that we couldn’t refuse. The shot we were trying to achieve was one where you could just make out the water pump. This involved experimenting with where to position the pump to ensure that enough light fell on the Barn Owl and playing with exposure settings on the camera. 
We conduct our Birds of Prey workshop in Mid-Wales for many reasons, the main one being that our falconer is also a farmer who has a great photographic eye. He has also allowed some of his buildings to fall into rack & ruin to give us some fabulous settings for our photography workshop.
Amanda joined our Autumn Birds of Prey workshop as part of her birthday treat. It was her first time attending a photography workshop, but as you can see, Amanda has a real talent!
By spot metering on the owl’s chest, she was able to achieve a studio-like image of the barn owl.
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We ran our Autumn Birds of Prey workshop a little later than usual to try & get more autumnal colours. Ian enjoyed our Spring Birds of Prey workshop so much that he decided to join us again.
The workshop started with our usual 2 hours Saturday taster session. The weather forecast didn’t look great, so we brought the workshop forward to avoid the worst of the rain.
We kept the sessions short so that the birds wouldn’t get too wet. Some, like the peregrine falcon & kestrel, didn’t seem to be bothered by the rain as you can see below. I love how Ian has captured the water on the birds’ heads.
Are you may have seen elsewhere, we have launched the follow-up to the 2017 week-long seal photography holiday – that, it has to be said, produced some beautiful imagery – with a week-long seal photography holiday in Norfolk, our first event, for Norfolk Seal Photography is to be conducted in November 2018, specifically November 25 – November 30 2018 & costs £999.
Sean recently spent several days in the area that the Norfolk Seal photography events will be conducted within, & we thought that you might be interested to see some of the types of imagery that he captured during his brief recce trip for us.
In November 2018, Sean will be leading a week-long holiday focussed on Norfolk Seal photography for NaturesLens, specifically between the dates of November 25 – 30 2018.
The cost is £999 per participant which includes five nights accommodation in a gorgeous cottage on a dinner, bed & breakfast basis; your meals will be warming, homely & plentiful to get you warmed through & filled up after a long day on the beach. Numbers are limited to ensure that the trip is sustainable, ethical & enjoyable for every photographer.
Sean has sent in a selection of images that he captured whilst co-leading the NaturesLens Autumn Birds of Prey Photography Workshop during October 2017 – we are splitting them amongst a trio of blog posts – this is the first, focussed on what you’d probably describe as classic portrait images.
We always have a good selection of birds to work with; Steve our falconer ensures that the birds are in perfect condition for us & communicates with us the week before to ensure that the timetable for the sessions take in the best opportunities that we can offer.
One of the barn owls makes a guaranteed appearance on our workshops – we are lucky in that the land which we use has a large number of farm buildings on it that we can make use of – here Sean has framed the barn owl in a ramshackle algae-covered barn door.
Second appearance for the barn owl, this time framed in the broken window of one of the farm yard buildings!
A bird that has – to date – only made a few appearances on our Birds of Prey Photography Workshops, the kestrel, here posed amongst the heather.
Previously nervous, the kestrel was quite happy posing & here is seen posed on one of the fence posts at the back of the farm yard.
Always a rock-star as far as we are concerned, the long-eared owl that we have available is so chilled out & poses so beautifully, always alert & focussed on the photographers.
Until recently, the peregrine falcon had not been used on our Birds of Prey Workshops, however, gradually over the last three, this bird has become a regular feature, we almost always set up the shots for this bird amongst a small quarry area, which leads to some interesting textural contrasts.
Apparently now over it’s workshop-shyness, the kestrel looks to be ready to become a regular workshop subject.
An old favourite, the buzzard, five years ago, this female was first introduced to workshop attendees at one of our events, now, she doesn’t bat an eyelid – as long as she has food from our falconer, in exchange for posing at the top of one of his hills for the group.
Once again in 2018, we are running a pair of Birds of Prey Photography Workshops in mid-Wales; as mentioned above, Sean is taking over the reins from us, we cannot wait to see the results that our guests obtain with his guidance!
The first of the 2018 Birds of Prey Photography Workshops is to be held during May, specifically May 12, 2018 @ 3:00 pm – May 13, 2018 @ 4:00 pm, you can view the full details of the event & make a booking enquiry on the dedicated event page here – it would be great to have you join Sean!
It’s almost time for the Autumn Birds of Prey Workshop – more details of this particular nature photography workshop are available here – but here are some images from Ian, captured during our Spring Birds of Prey Workshop, which is held at the same venue in Mid-Wales.
Ian is a veteran of our wildlife photography holidays & this was his first time attending a captive bird photography workshop with us. He loved the slower pace which allowed him to take his time in composing some stunning shots.
Our birds are so full of character & Ian did a fantastic job of capturing their personalities. As you can see, he also perfected the peeking owl shot!
We have second Bird of Prey Workshop scheduled for Autumn 2017, this is an opportunity for you to undertake photography of our Welsh Birds of Prey for yourself; the photography workshop costs £220, the dates for the Autumn Birds of Prey Photography Workshop are October 21 – October 22, 2017. The format of the nature photography workshop weekend will be a special late afternoon / early evening session with an owl on Saturday, followed by a full day of birds of prey photography on Sunday. Shorter days move in during autumn, giving you the chance to use the soft light in our unique late afternoon / early evening session to achieve creative imagery.
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