East Cornwall

Last Thursday I experience what it was like to photograph east Cornwall.  I am in my third and final year of my degree and it has taken me until now the explore east Cornwall. Previously, I have only travelled to the north, south and west Cornwall so the east was something new.
Anyway, I hopped on the train to Truro and then took a connecting train 45mins in the direction towards London. I arrived at my location, an estate in Bodmin. It was my first time at this place so first of all I walked for hours to get a feel of the place. It accommodates a variety of ancient woodland, not only the usual mix of British trees, but also rarer species such as the Plymouth pear. With this habitat, it inevitably thrives wildlife; Otters, Salmon, Owls, Buzzards, Pheasants, Kingfishers, Dippers, Owls, the usual garden birds and the occasional Robin.

I managed to find a couple dippers, dozens of Pheasants and few Salmon but unfortunately didn't get any great shots. However, one experience I shared was that I managed to get ridiculously close to a peculiar Robin. So I put down my 600mm and replaced it with the 16-85mm kit lens. As it was only a kit lens I couldn't focus very close to the subject so I had to pull back a bit, but this is what I got.

At the end is a short video showing the jist of the shoot, with clips of how I took the shots.
All the clips in the video were shot on a goPro hd camera.

Birds Eye View

Lanhydrock Graveyard

To look at my previous shoots, scroll to the 'older post' button on the bottom right.



Contact:
markfoxphoto@hotmail.co.uk
www.facebook.com/markfoxphotography

Mammal Trapping

Early this morning I joined my eco society at uni and did some mammal trapping. The traps were only sized to trap things like Mice and Voles. With the abundance of traps set over night, allowed us to complete the survey with 1xWoodmice and 1x Bank Vole. After checking the traps we laid a transect at every 10m and placed a quadrat at each point to study the area for signs of field voles. 

This exercise was enjoyable and I learned a lot. I learned how to identify the different species of mice and voles, how to track them and also how to find out their gender.

These shots are nothing special but I had to document this experience. In the future, I want to try and photograph these species within their environment using the trapping method to locate them. 

Woodmouse

Retrieving the Mouse

A large male Woodmouse

Studying area for signs of field vole

To look at my previous shoots, scroll to the 'older post' button on the bottom right.

Recovering the Cache

 Squirrels are scatter hoarders; when they find food resources they cache them in secretive places for times when food is scarce. The competition between squirrels is very intense so when they bury their nuts they dig several dummy caches before hiding the nut. This way, the other squirrels find it hard to see where the stash is and steal it.
This is now my third shoot with these squirrels and I am beginning to capture behaviour of the squirrel. These photos are illustrating the process when a squirrel recovers its cache.
Let me know what you think, positive criticism is welcomed. Thank you for reading.
Click to enlarge:

To look at my previous shoots, scroll to the 'older post' button on the bottom right.

Contact:
markfoxphoto@hotmail.co.uk
www.facebook.com/markfoxphotography

An Autumn Touch on the Grey Squirrel

Hello everyone, new day and a new post.

I went on another shoot earlier this week and have only just got round to blogging it. Like my last blog, my images to create a sense of place, by showing my subject in its environment. This shoot was primarily to capture a seasonal feel in my photographs. Looking back at my photos I saw that there was no clear signs of autumn, portraying more towards a winter mood. So this time I wanted to focus on the leaves that have dropped from the trees and incorporate it in with my subject, the grey squirrel. 

These shots still require a lot more room for improvement but at this stage I am only trying to put across my ideas rather than perfecting them. In the first shot I was trying to describe an autumn woodland, using the squirrel almost as a prop in the photo, rather than focusing the photograph solely on the animal.

It would be greatly appreciated if you'd let me know what you think

Hope you like the photos, click to enlarge.

Great Tit within the environment

To look at my previous shoot, scroll to the 'older post' button on the bottom right

Contact:
markfoxphoto@hotmail.co.uk
www.facebook.com/markfoxphotography

A Sense of Mood and Place - The Grey Squirrel

This morning I decided to go on a sunrise shoot to a place I have only heard of. When I arrived, it was first light and pouring it down with rain. Before I even thought to take out my camera, I took a couple hours to observe the habitat and gain a better understanding of what was there. The rain was not a problem as I had waterproofs but I believe it is the added element to a good photograph. 

On the shoot there was all sorts of bird life, but of course, I was most focused on the Squirrels.

After my last shoot I decided to pack in the long lens and try to get some intimate shots of the greys, I still had the 300mm in the kit bag but as a safety lens. My aim with this shoot was to incorporate the habitat as well as the subject in my photograph. This is to create a sense of mood and place, seems to be the trend in all professional wildlife photographers at the moment so I decided to follow. To do this, I needed to use a wide angle lens and to be very close to the subject.
This was my first shoot in this style so there is a lot of room for improvement but here is what I achieved:
Click to enlarge the image:

To look at my previous shoot, scroll to the 'older post' button on the bottom right.


Contact:
markfoxphoto@hotmail.co.uk
www.facebook.com/markfoxphotography