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 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.
November 2017 saw Gladys joining one of the NaturesLens Seal Photography tours, the intent, to spend a week intensively capturing images of the Seals of Lincolnshire coastline in all lighting & weather conditions, under the guidance of Sean, who led the trips for us & offered mentoring & advice.
The group experienced all types of behaviour throughout the week of seal photography, but apparently the most daunting & loud was when this pair of bull seals decided to face-off & fight each other.
As Gladys describes it ‘An Awesome Moment‘, which is fitting for what happens when you have the opportunity to capture an image of your target subject with a rainbow in the background!
The group were very lucky with the ideal weather conditions throughout the week which resulted in lovely colors. However, in the case of this image, Gladys couldn’t resist processing it to monochrome.
On the first morning, the group found this lovely pup in beautiful morning light, Gladys states that she was amazed to see that a part of the umbilical cord was still attached, which appears to be a very common thing even when the pups where already a few days old.
Without a doubt this was the group’s favourite seal pup! They nicknamed him ‘Chubba’, & every day they looked out for him as he demonstrated funny behaviour which caused the whole group much amusement!
In addition to the photography on the beaches & at the surfs edge, sometimes the seal pups made their way up to the dunes, which as Gladys says, gave a nice change of setting, for seal photography in the green grass areas.
One afternoon, the group experienced some extreme weather conditions, everyone commented that it was very difficult to photograph under these circumstances; but they persevered & managed to get some extraordinary images. This female seal was reaching out to her pup to make sure it was still laying next to her as it was impossible to see in the sand storm.
In November 2018, Sean will be leading a 5-night-long wildlife photography holiday focussed on Seal photography, but this time in Norfolk for NaturesLens, specifically between the dates of November 25 – 30 2018.
The cost is £999 per participant which includes 5 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.
If you are considering attending a Deer Photography Workshop during the deer rutting season of autumn 2017, then you should know that we’ll be taking the format, that has worked for us in the past, north for 2017, & they will still be led by Sean Weekly, but for 2017, we fancied a change of scenery & after some recommendations & Sean having looked into matters further, we have decided to relocate the bulk of our workshops for 2017 to Bradgate Park, Leicestershire.
The format is similar to that of 2016; that is an all-day session on Saturday, starting at 6.15am, after which you return to the hotel accommodation that we have booked, & included as part of the price; last year after the afternoon session, Sean conducted some image review sessions of the deer images captured earlier that day or provided a quick lesson in Lightroom processing in the evenings. The following morning, an early start sees you locating the deer & aiming for those classic deer images that Sean is well known for. After several hours of capturing images of the red deer, a break for breakfast that again we include in the price. The Sunday session continues until mid-to-late afternoon.
We have a deer photography workshop running on each of the 4 weekends through October, that is 7/8 October 2017, 14/15 October 2017, 21/22 October 2017 & finally on 28/29 October 2017. For each workshop, we have space for only 4 participants, this is to ensure that you get the maximum time possible from Sean, & that he can give you a suitable level of tuition & guidance.
Accommodation for the various weekends is either at The Castle Hotel in Kirby Muxloe for 3 of the weekends or The Charnwood Arms in Coalville for the remaining weekend.
We have 4 opportunities in 2017 for you to photograph the fabulous red deer during their rutting season, the photography weekend workshop costs £325 – each weekend workshop includes tuition & guidance on the Saturday, dinner & accommodation on Saturday evening, tuition & guidance from Sean on Sunday, plus breakfast during a suitable break in the Sunday morning photography session.
To hold a place on the workshop, we only require a £100 deposit from you, with the balance due 12 weeks prior to the trip taking place.
Dalmatian Pelicans are by a small margin the largest of the pelican species & as a whole one of the largest living bird species.
An adult pelican can measure up to 185 cm in length, weigh up to 15 kg in weight & have a wingspan of up to 350cm. A Dalmatian Pelican’s average weight is around 11.5 kg, which makes it amongst the heaviest flying bird species in the world, although the largest individuals among male bustards & swans may be heavier than one of the largest individual Dalmatian pelican.
Dalmatian Pelicans appear to have one of the largest wingspans of any living bird, rivaling those of the great albatrosses & the great white pelican.
In winter, adult Dalmatian pelicans go from silvery-grey to a dingier brownish-grey cream colour, whilst the young birds are grey. During the breeding season, adult birds have an orange-red lower mandible & pouch against a yellow upper mandible, additionally their plumage reverts to the silvery-grey. In winter, the whole bill is a somewhat dull yellow.
Dalmatian Pelicans are often silent, as most pelicans tend to be, although during the mating season, it can be fairly vocal, during this period it may engage in a wide range of guttural, deep vocalisations, including barks, hisses & grunts.
Dalmatian Pelicans are generally found in lakes, rivers, deltas & estuaries, as a species, the Dalmatian Pelican is less opportunistic in breeding habitat selection than other pelicans, in general returning to a traditional breeding site year after year unless it becomes completely unsuitable.
During the season of winter, Dalmatian Pelicans usually stay on ice-free lakes in Europe or seasonal lakes in India.
Dalmatian Pelicans have declined greatly throughout its range, more so than any other of the pelicans. Reportedly, there were once millions of Dalmatian pelicans in Romania alone. During the 20th century, the species’ numbers underwent a dramatic decline for reasons that are not entirely understood. The most likely reason was habitat loss due to human activities such as the drainage of wetlands & land development.
Lake Kerkini is one of the most important wetlands in Europe & it is easy to see why. For photographers keen to add more birds to their wildlife portfolio, a sojourn in Lake Kerkini provides an abundance of opportunities. Our focus during our photography holiday is the striking Dalmatian Pelican, which can be seen at Lake Kerkini from mid-January through to March.
Unlike many similar wildlife photography trips, the NaturesLens Dalmatian Pelicans of Lake Kerkini photography holiday gives three days at the lake & our accommodation is convenient & comfortable, just five minutes from Lake Kerkini, which allows us to maximise photography time. There are two sessions per day, with boat trips in the morning & shoreline feeding in the afternoon.
Our photography holiday for the dates of January 12, 2017 – January 16, 2017 still has spaces available & costs £949 for the 5 day trip, lead by Dan Tim, the trip includes all food, accommodation, boat trips, shoreline feeds & airport transfers!
Dalmatian Pelicans of Lake Kerkini
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