Monday 14 September 2015

Success in British Wildlife Photography Awards 2015

I'm very pleased to have a Highly Commended image in the 'Hidden Britain' category of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2015. The image is of a tiny Globular Springtail, just 2-3mm in size.


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Globular Springtail (Canon 60D with MP-E 65mm lens and MT-24 twin flash)



I've photographed Globular Springtails many times but on this particular occasion I wanted to achieve something a little different. I noticed that the wet leaves on my garden lawn (this was taken in winter) often contained Globular Springtails and by holding a wet leaf up and shooting into sunlight I was able to create unusual lighting effects. The use of flash added to this and also helped to darken the background thereby emphasising the light on the leaf and the springtail.

What particularly pleases me about this image being highly commended in the BWPA is the fact that it didn't require a long journey or a trip to a remote part of the UK. I simply walked into my back garden. Come to think of it, my highly commended image in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2010 was also photographed in my back garden.  I think this emphasises the often rich biodiversity that exists around us which often goes unnoticed.

Thursday 3 September 2015

Fungi Article in Outdoor Photography

Well, it's now September and the weather has turned decidedly autumnal so it will soon be time for me to start thinking about fungi photography. I'm also very pleased to have a short guide to fungi photography in the current ('autumn') issue of Outdoor Photography magazine.


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I particularly like the image on the cover of this issue taken by Mark Littlejohn







Wednesday 2 September 2015

Mullein Moth Caterpillars

Back in June and July a Buddleia bush in my garden hosted 4 Mullein Moth caterpillars. I watched them grow from tiny, thin caterpillars, no more than 15mm in length, to large, well-fed caterpillars that caught the eye immediately with their striking colours. 

For 2-3 weeks the caterpillars remained on the small bush and I checked on them most days to watch their progress. However, once they reached a good size I knew their days were numbered and sure enough they all disappeared within a couple of days of each other. Although I didn't see them do it, they will each have dug down into the soil to pupate. And what's more remarkable is that it will be several years before the adult moths emerge.

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Inevitably I took a few images of the caterpillars. First with my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye:



and secondly with my Tokina 35mm macro: