Tuesday 29 March 2016

Park Photography Adventure (feat. Andy Whapham)

My Dad has a blog about photography ( Visit it HERE) and I have a blog about wildlife (you're already here!) , so what better to do than to combine them?

I recently went to London to visit my Dad (he picked me up in his car and drove me there) as well as my step-mum and two step-brothers. It was a blast! On Monday (the day before I left and the day after I got there) me and my Dad headed to the park with fancy cameras and took lots of fantastic snaps! I will admit, my Dad is a lot more experienced than I am at photography and he took better photos than I did, but it was a lot of fun and I didn't realise how much I liked photography until then! I also saw about four new wildlife species as well as at least twenty-five dogs!

My first picture - not great, but at least it's in focus!
 
 
We walked around the park, my Dad teaching me all sorts of different things and getting me on the edge of my (non existent) seat with a couple of stories (hint hint) about how he used to bike with his friends and such.
 
 
My Dad poses for me on a park bench showing off his lovely, fancy camera.
 
 
We saw lots of new species as well as exploring a few areas I hadn't seen before. It was a little prickly here and there and I tripped up on some twigs. It was also very hard when I wanted to take a photo on the ground; balancing on your tiptoes whilst bent down is not an easy task...I will say that my trousers got a little gunked up with mud. There might still be a leaf in my shoe...
 
 
Mine and Dad's favourite photo of the day! ❤
 
"I think that's my favourite - there's a bit of reflection in there and it's in focus" -Rough quote from Andy Whapham, 2016
 
My highlight of the day was seeing an Egyptian goose, which I successfully identified myself. I managed to snap a photo, which will be seen a bit down the blog post, but I only got a picture of it's backside, and I didn't get much of it's details. I don't know much about the species yet, as I can't find it in any of my bird identification books, but I'm guessing it was probably a male as the colours were stunningly bright. It almost reminded me of the mandarin duck when I saw the back feathers.  We also saw a pair of tufted ducks (which were a lot smaller than I had imagined), which my Dad identified (he too used to be a keen birdwatcher), a coot (yet another new species) and a parakeet. Oh boy! What a day.
 
Other species we spotted (which I've seen before) were mute swans, lots of carrion crows, moorhens, mallards and  a great tit (I've never seen that before either!).
 
 
Carrion crow strutting his stuff!
 
I love these kinds of pictures - hiding behind objects!
Am I the only one who imagines an osprey - best bird - perching on top of this?!
Using a natural tripod.
Even though the subject is out of focus, I kind of like it that way!
What a shot!
Well...at least I got a shot of him! (or her...gender equality!)
The camerashy coot...!

"There's nothing like a picture of a rock," -A.W, 2016
Is this disregarding the mallards' privacy?
"Oi...you takin' a photo of me?"
Last picture of the day - yet another bird bum.
 
 
 
That was only some of the 91 pictures I took that day. There was another I wanted to share, which was of some dogs, but I didn't think you guys would want to look at another animal bum. Thanks to Dad for taking me on this fabulous exhibition!
 
 
One thing I've learnt going on it is that it doesn't have to be perfect - it is just about what makes you happy.
 
 
Later!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 


1 comment:

  1. wow ! some great nature shots - My favourity is the 'leaf on water' too ! Keep snapping !

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