Technical

the technicalities

This is a hard subject for me to write about because I haven’t yet had the time, the brains or the cash to have mastered everything that I should have mastered. I am a naturalist who takes photographs rather than a photographer who chose wildlife photography because the subjects were pretty and were a perfect excuse to buy a huge lens. That said, I admire images that tell a story and that use strong artistic elements to put that story across.

Although I take enough of them, I am no great fan of bird on a stick pictures no matter how technically perfect they might be; but, and I feel this is important, I can appreciate the skill and effort that goes into getting them. I like to think that I understand what makes a technically good image, but I am just trying to take shots that are more interesting than that.

Most importantly, I know what I like, whether that agrees with the general consensus of what is right or not.

All I hope to achieve in this part of my journal is to describe the practical problems that I have experienced since taking up wildlife photography and how I have overcome them or not as the case may be.

Maybe these articles will be of interest to other photographers struggling to improve the quality of their work but if nothing else it will give the more accomplished an opportunity to laugh at my endeavours. I hope to write as much, if not more, about field-craft than hardware, but I will, I am sure, be writing about why I made all the ‘wrong choices’ when I bought my kit. This might be an especially interesting read for other photographers that are struggling to balance their books, because one thing’s for sure, I am not in a position to be spending any more money on kit than I can help.