I thought I'd have a go at running a blog, as I've not done it before there will be mistakes but hopefully I'll get the hang of it. The idea behind it is it will give me a diary of where I've been birding and the chance to post a few more images than on the Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/bignick58/ I will probably only post weekly but it will depend a lot on what I've done. The first couple of posts are to bring it up to date, so firstly how my interest was rekindled.
I have had an interest in wildlife and especially bird life for many years and have always fancied having a go at bird photography. In the days of wet film I had an SLR camera and 400mm lens and attempted to photograph bird life. Basically, I couldn't afford my mistakes. With the cost of the film and then the processing, and more often than not 36 blurred images, I eventually gave up trying.
I have had an interest in wildlife and especially bird life for many years and have always fancied having a go at bird photography. In the days of wet film I had an SLR camera and 400mm lens and attempted to photograph bird life. Basically, I couldn't afford my mistakes. With the cost of the film and then the processing, and more often than not 36 blurred images, I eventually gave up trying.
Then came digital photography, no film costs, no processing charges, it meant you could keep trying until you got it right. Well, after a few small digital camera I ended up with a Canon G9 with which I finally managed to get some decent photos, the photo of the robin below was the first time I realised what the little camera could do.
After I'd seen the quality of the robin photo I set out to capture some of the birds that visit our garden in SE Kent. The problem was that the camera only had a 6x optical zoom which meant you had to get close to get a decent image. I got around this by using the camera on a tripod and a 10m remote capture cable (meaning I could operate the camera from a laptop up to the length of the cable) from the safety of my garden shed - and out of sight of the birds. This proved very successful giving me images like the ones below of the Goldfinch, Jay and Great spotted woodpecker.
Golfinch on teasel - primed with niger seed (Guizotia abyssinica)
Jay attracted by peanuts in the log.
Great spotted woodpecker, I drilled holes in the old tree and put peanuts into the holes.
So, I was able to get acceptable photos of birds in my garden, but then I wanted to photograph birds that didn't come into the garden and couldn't be tempted. I briefly considered going down the route of a DSLR and big lens, it wasn't particularly the cost that put me off, just the practicalities of carrying 5 or 6 kilos of equipment around with me all the time. I was due to go to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean in November 2013 and wondered if I would really want to drag all that gear around. Then I saw the Canon SX50 HS, a bridge camera with powerful zoom, I saw some photos someone had taken with one and decided that at around £300 it was worth buying it to see how I got on. It has been brilliant, it has its limitations but I'll go into those another time. It opened up a world of photography that I'd previously only ever dreamed of.
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