New Forest - Wildlife Photography
I recently took a holiday, an actual holiday with minimal work involved!! Of course I can never go too far from either side of a camera and thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on a bit of my own photography. I absolutely love photographing people, the female form especially is the core of my artistic interest. However, from time to time I like to change it up. Animals fascinate me, they really do - I've been an animal lover since I was tiny and I think they make the most wonderful models (when they behave)! The above photograph was one of the many wild horses in New Forest - you really must go if you get the opportunity! These guys are EVERYWHERE; back gardens, car parks, beer gardens - they wander round completely freely and don't especially like being told no!
I also happened to have my camera with me on a day our around Bournemouth, where I met this little guy (or girl). I've never met such inquisitive squirrels before, they came so close I thought they were going to climb on my back as I bent over! It was a great opportunity to try out my not-so-new-anymore 50mm lens and I really like the effect I got with these, though I can't say concrete pavement is an especially attractive background :/
By far my favourite (photography) part of the holiday, was getting up close with a heard of red deer! I think deer are such elegant and beautiful animals, they are possibly my favourite.
<- (so much so that I made my own deer antlers and tail for a shoot one time, but thats another story - Photography by Blacklight)
Anyway, just outside of the place I was staying was a small "deer safari" ride (I use the term "safari" loosely as it realistically meant paying to sit in the back of a trailer attached to a tractor whilst it drove one field over but none the less I enjoyed it). I managed to take a few shots I'm quite proud of as we drove around the field but I was mainly just in awe of how beautiful these creatures are! There were loads of young so the mothers were quite protective but we still got closer than I imagined!
A few nights later I decided to go out for a walk, it seemed like a nice evening and my plan was to get in front of the camera for a few portraits (taken by my partner) but I took my own camera just in case. Amazingly, the deer were all roaming freely around an open field with no other people in sight. Slowly and carefully we walked towards the deer and I must have spent hours watching and photographing them as they ate, and interacted with one-another and just did their own thing. The mothers occasionally got wary as we stepped closer but they were generally unfazed by our presence which allowed me to take silly amounts of photos! Below are just a few of my favourites:
Another day and another day trip, I've watched "monkey world" on TV for a while now and have become slightly addicted to seeing the growth and/or recovery of the lovely little (and big) animals that reside at Monkey world so I jumped at the chance to go and actually visit the park! I didn't take massive amounts of photos but I did get a few, I was hoping to get more of the Wolley monkeys as they are my favourite but I missed them :( Plenty of adorable Lemar's though!
Overall, it was lovely to get away for a holiday and even better that I managed to get quite so many photos whilst there! :D :D I still have a very long way to go with my photography, but as they say, practice makes perfect and thats just what I intend to do :)
