On the 27^th October 2009 I visited the Natural History Museum in London, England. I went with my older daughter. The main purpose of our visit was to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 exhibition.

I’ve not been to the exhibition in previous years. I was very impressed by the exhibition. All the images were displayed with back lighting, as if looking at a lightbox; except that there was only one image. The image was a good size, which made viewing easier. My favourite was Puffin in the Snow  by Jan Vermeer and a close second was Killer in the Mist by Stefano Unterthiner. My daughter liked The Plunge Diver   by Alexander Safonov.

All the pictures were of a high quality. I guess you will probably have a different favourite. We ended up buying the book, so we can look at the pictures whenever we like.

Welcome to my blog.

I am just starting my blog. I shall be discussing many issues relating to photography and wildlife as they arise.

Last Friday and Saturday (23^rd / 24^th October 2009) I went to WildPhotos 2009  . This was an event attended by some of the world’s top wildlife photographers. They talked about their pictures and how they managed to be in the right place at the right time to get ‘the’ image. Each one put in the time and effort to improve the odds that they would get a stunning shot. You can never guarantee what animals are going to do.

Many, but not all, were professional photographers who could afford to spend weeks at a location, to wait for the right light and conditions to allow them to get the great shot of a particular creature. For me, I have a full time job that I need to pay the mortgage and the bills, etc. So, I only have a few weeks a year to be out and about trying to get these stunning images.

The other interesting thing was that these top photographers went to a location for a purpose. They knew what type of creatures and what type of shots they were after. It didn’t always work out as planned, sometimes for the good or sometimes not. I think this is something I shall try and work on. I should decide what I want to photograph and then look for the best places to go to take those pictures. I think this is particularly relevant to me as I only have a few weeks a year to get my ‘great’ images.

Many of the talks were well presented and the photographers talked about things that led them to take a particular shot. The host for the first day was Jonathan Scott (Big Cat Live) and the second day was Chris Packham (Springwatch / Autumnwatch). They did a superb job.

The most impressive person, to me, was Fergus Gill. He was the winner of the 15-17 year old category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 competition, with his picture of yellowhammers . Apart from his picture, he made one of the best presentations. For someone so young to stand up in front of such an audience was most impressive. He spoke clearly and talked about how he went about photographing the yellowhammers, but also spoke about wider issues in wildlife photography. Someone to watch for the future, I think.