PHOTOGRAPHING ON THE FARM Ihave been interested in photography (cameras particularly) for the best part of 60 years. It started with my Dad’s old bellows Ensign at age 10 and literally 100’s of cameras later I’m now using Sony’s a9. You can read about my camera journey over on the Excio blog but for this wildlife edition, I want to share my deer and other critters with you. I bought my first deer about 35 years ago, at the height of the speculative market. I was trying to maximise my return on a small (otherwise uneconomic) block of land. I never considered myself an animal person, but that changed quickly as I soon loved being around these beautiful creatures. I had gone from a lawyer in Auckland, to farming in the Wairarapa and had never felt vocationally more content. Divorced years ago and with no children I’m sure there is lots of room for conjecture as to why critters became important in my life! Around 1992 (and after a couple of farm changes) I ended up on my current property at Kahutara, near Featherston. I presently have about 150 deer on the farm, a handful ostrich and access (between duck shooting seasons) to a lagoon full of water birds. Pets include a hind and her fawn (both hand reared), along with an African Grey parrot “Angel” who is a constant companion (even in the car). My “critter photography” is motivated (essentially) by wanting to capture moments that give me pleasure, rather than having any specific purpose for the images. A typical sunny day will give me access to frogs, insects and rabbits without having to walk too far from the front door, but (without question) my favourite time of year is “Fawning” (early November through to Christmas). My deer have been selectively bred for temperament, out of the many, many hundreds I have had on this and other larger farms, since the early 1980’s. The net result is deer that are exceptionally quiet, very trusting (of me) and are wonderful to handle. The fawns, in by Greg Arnold turn, learn this behaviour from watching their mothers. The oldest hind I have owned lived to about 24 which is far beyond average life expectancy which is generally mid teens. Even with a long line of selective breeding though, the deer are edgy by nature and instinctively cautious of strangers (especially) when they have fawns. In order to get close enough to get the shots I want, I typically spend most of an afternoon lying and sitting in the grass, or quietly moving around amongst them to get angles and changing light. Having a bottle-fed baby with me in the paddock furthers my advantage as well as the deer are very interested in this ‘strange’ parenting arrangement. I pretty much only shoot handheld and I like my shots to be from ‘prone’ whenever I can and ‘sitting/ crouch’ position where I can’t. It allows me better bracing with a long telephoto lens (Image Stabilization is great, but steady is always better!) plus an added benefit of me being at ground level with the deer is that the fawns are inquisitive and if one comes close, others follow. Wearing camouflage is of no advantage at all when photographing my farmed deer, I need to move around so them knowing I’m there and being OK with that is best. But if you’re photographing feral deer the normal hunting procedures are the only way to get close(ish). Just remember that whilst their eyesight is “just OK”, (it is optimised for low light and to detecting movement), their hearing and sense of smell, is acute. I shoot colour files and do most of my B&W converting in “Silver Efex Pro 2”. Occasionally I will choose to keep an image in colour, but I prefer the timeless feel of B&W; it’s the medium I am familiar with from Darkroom days. I believe that perspective can lift many wildlife shots from ‘ordinary’, to ‘more interesting’ and it’s important, (in my opinion) if you’re trying to convey the personality of your subject. What I mean is, the same or similar photo of a duck on a pond will, as a general rule, look better the closer you can get to water level. This is true in Macro too, if I shoot, for example, an insect directly from the side, it will look better than had I taken it from above, where I may get a sharp shot, but it will look like a scientific record rather than an art image. However, getting down and close to the bug’s face/eyes/mouth, will make the shot far more dramatic and interesting.
"NICE DAY AT WORK DEAR"? A BABY HERON FLUFFING UP IT'S FEATHERS PRE FLIGHT. <strong>July</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 9