Muted Colours

ONE OF MY HOBBYHORSES

I won’t write much about my activities last month. I was very busy with family celebrations, and alterations to the new flat (involving multiple trips to the tip, more to buy new stuff and hours of painting). The only things that have kept me approximately sane are my family and the repeats of ‘Round the Horne’ on Radio 4 Extra.*

But I have done a little more reworking of some old images. One of my favourite websites is The Online Photographer (http://www.theonlinephotographer.com/), although it doesn’t include much nature photography, the regular writers have some great insights into photography and the comments of the readers are well worth reading too. Mike Johnston, the site's editor (and a very experienced writer about photography), is proposing to publish a book of photographs contributed by members. It is intended that this will be a high quality production based loosely on the theme of muted colours.

I like this idea, indeed it is a hobbyhorse of mine. I do not like oversaturated images – maybe I don’t have saturated eyes or maybe my brain is already saturated by silly ideas. I distrust garish colours, is someone trying to dazzle me? Have they got something to hide?
Of course a shot a kingfisher or a tropical butterfly has to have saturated colours for the subject, but a plainer background is important too. I think that subtle colours encourage the brain to study an image and so to search out the details and nuances that it contains. Of course this is important in nature photography, but also in portraiture, street photography, architectural photography and so on.

Anyway, one evening while the paint was drying, I went back to my old files to find some favourite subtle colour shots which I could contribute. The first was one in my first blog post, a black-necked grebe in winter plumage as the sun was burning through the mist at Dawlish Warren. The only saturated colour is the red of its eye.

The second is a bull grey seal hauled out on the sandbar at Donna Nook NNR, Lincolnshire, just before the 2009 breeding season: the sand and the wind seem to be alien environment for him, but he looks totally contented. I love the way that seals' whiskers curl when they dry out completely.

In the end, I didn’t submit my third choice, which was taken in 2005 with my first digital camera (a D70). It is a young great crested grebe on one of the lodges at Moses Gate country park near Bolton. The remarkable pattern of ripples is entirely natural. The photo was taken as a front came in from the west, so that the sky behind me was bright, but the sky behind the grebe and overhead was a mass of dark clouds, and there was enough breeze to produce a few ripples. I do like this image, but I wish that the grebe was a little closer and that I had crouched to get a lower viewpoint. Because it was taken some time ago, it has a lower pixel count than the others and the quality is a little lower.

I don’t expect that either of my images will be selected for the final publication. I am absolutely sure that many better photographers will have submitted better images. But I feel that they are images which get much of their strength from their muted colours. And I like them.

I have lined up something new for tomorrow, so if things work out my next post will be a little different.

  

^*Rambling Sid Rumpo lives!

Note added 9th October, Mike has received over 2100 photos from 941 photographers. The resulting book should be really special.

Selected Images from 2012

I did not have as many opportunities for photography as I wanted in 2012, but I have chosen a few images of wildlife and of zoo animals to show what I managed to achieve.

Wildlife

 Greenfinch

16th May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the path between the Eric Morecambe and Allen hides. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
Early morning light makes this image special, it shows the shape of the finch and brings out its coloration.

Avocet feeding

21st May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Allen hide. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
Several pairs of pairs of avocets nested on this brackish lagoon beside Morecambe Bay. I can remember when avocets were very rare in the UK and you had to go to East Anglia to see them.

 Male marsh harrier

21st May, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Lower hide. 500mm lens.
My best BIF (bird in flight) image from 2012. I have spent many hours in this hide over the years, hoping for a shot like this. This male was a busy boy as he had to provide for three nests.

Emperor dragonfly male

8th July, Aylesbeare Common RSPB reserve, Devon; at a pool NW of the entrance. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
700 mm focal length would seem like overkill for a dragonfly, but Emperor males are large and very skittish. I took this shot from the opposite side of a small pool. This old male has worn wings and a damaged clasper.

Stoat in long grass

9th October, Martin Mere WWT reserve, Lancashire; from Ron Barker hide (Miller's Bridge).  500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
I watched this stoat hunting around the hide for several minutes and I was lucky to catch this pose. I tried to take some shots as it was bounding through the grass, reminding me of a dolphin 'porpoising' through a choppy sea, but they were total failures.

A murmuration of starlings

9th October, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; just before dusk from road overlooking the Lower hide. 105mm lens.
One of the spectacles of the British autumn and winter as our local starlings are joined by thousands of migrants from northern Europe.

Carrion crow

4th November, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Lancashire; from the Eric Morecambe hide. 500mm lens and 1.4x converter.
This wild crow sat on the fence right in front of the hide and watched the birdwatchers. I like crows and I would far rather get a nice photo of a common bird like this than a fuzzy shot of a rarity.

Grey seal bull

11th November, Donna Nook NNR, Lincolnshire; from main footpath. 500mm.
Donna Nook gets thousands of visitors in November and December. Most people photograph the seal pups. I know the adult seals are not as cute, but they are more interesting; this big bull is looking out for rivals.

Zoo animals

Male Derbyan Parakeet

5th March, aviary attached to Elephant House, Chester Zoo. 300mm. Beautiful light showed the colours of this wonderful bird.

Common Tenrec

24th March, Tenrec House, Paignton Zoo. 105mm (through glass). I needed patience to shoot this unusual crepuscular species.

Black-headed village weaver male displaying

1st April, Tsavo Aviary, Chester Zoo. 500mm. I liked the contre jour lighting, but I had to take quite a few shots to get a clear view of the bird's eye with the wings in the position I wanted.

Tuatara male 'Pixie'

10th June, Tropical House, Chester Zoo. 500mm (through glass). A  very rare animal which is a true living fossil. With a little effort you can imagine that Pixie is 50 metres long, although his real length is only about 50cm.

Boelen's python

1st September, Islands in Danger, Chester Zoo. 105mm (through glass). The first species I go to see when I visit Chester Zoo, because they are most active as the zoo opens. This snake is my favourite because of the fantastic iridescence of its scales.

Spectacled bear female 'Franka'

1st September, Bear enclosure, Chester Zoo. 105mm. Franka has the most perfect spectacle markings that I have ever seen. I think she was looking for her keeper and hoping for another watermelon.

Gorilla infant 'Kukena'

22nd September, Gorilla Island, Bristol Zoo. 500mm plus 1.4x converter. I photographed Kukena running away from his mother Salome a few days before his first birthday. His game was to run about 4 metres as fast as he could, climb onto a log and turn to look at his mother, then to run back to her again.

Gorilla male 'Kumbuka'

27th September, Gorilla Island, Paignton Zoo. 500mm. I confess that gorillas are my favourite animals. This exceptionally handsome young silverback is due to become the leader of the group at London Zoo.

Belanger's tree shrew

3rd November, enclosure inside Elephant House, Chester Zoo. 105mm (through glass). It may look as though I used flash for this photo, but the little guy was actually illuminated by a spotlight in the roof of the enclosure.