Laurie’s shoot lists

Red squirrel

    With the end of winter in sight, we only have a few weeks left to photograph red squirrels in their winter coats, complete with distinctive ear tufts. If you know of a feeding station where they are baited with hazelnuts, try taking along a few hazelnuts which are already shelled to encourage them to pause long enough them to pause long enough for a photograph I’m glad I did, because as I reached the end.

Wood anemones

    Wood anemones can often be found carpeting woodland floors in profusion from early spring. I was uncertain about taking on a mission to visit another country for only a short length of time and be expected to return with some great images. They are however, really quite delicate and inclined to sway and flutter in even the slightest breeze, so rather than attempt to photograph them an mass with a wide angle lens, reach instead for a long lens, beanbag, and use a wide aperture to maximize the differential focus effect. As with all white or pale toned subjects, work only in soft overcast lighting to avoid losing the highlights.

Grey heron

    Grey heron are early nesters and although many will already be incubating, there will still be a lot of courtship behavior to photograph. City parks containing heroines, where the birds are accustomed to seeing people are by far the easiest places to photograph them. Regents Park in London is a well-known site, but try searching on Google for others-of which there are many.

Laurie Campbell’s

During October last year, I strolled along the stone pier at nearby Ber wick-upon-Tweed. It’s an impressive structure, which projects half a mile out into the North Sea, giving a wonderful view over the Tweed estuary. Needless to say, I took my camera gear I spent more time than they could afford, working between photographing otters on the Tweed river system and the bottle nose dolphins in the Moray Firth. Maybe I made things difficult for myself, but WWE is a high profile, worthy project and my interest was in getting the best pictures I could., and I’m glad I did, because as I reached the end I was amazed to see a pod of nine bottle nose dolphins. I’m certain that they were from the population of the 130-odd animals based in the moray firth, as, in recent years, groups of these animals have been increasingly sighted down the east coast of the UK. Although distant, I could clearly see through binoculars that the dolphins were hunting the salmon lying in the estuary. The Grey seals from the farne islands and the Isle of May have always known about the salmon here, which is why they often hang around the estuary. I’d often though that it was only a matter of time before the dolphins would catch on too!

Wild wonders of Britain

This sighting came less than three months after I’d submitted several hundred images of otters and bottle nose dolphins to the Wild Wonders of Europe (WWE) project. Initially, it was a project that I needed to think twice about, as I was uncertain about taking on a mission to visit another country for only a short length of time and be expected to return with some great images. It’s not how I work. Thankfully, the WWE directors made an exception and allowed me to stay in the UK. In return, I spent more time than they could afford, working between photographing otters on the Tweed river system and the bottle nose dolphins in the Moray Firth. Maybe I made things difficult for myself, but WWE is a high profile, worthy project and my interest was in getting the best pictures I could.