Learning patience.......

Beautiful Butterfly 

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

I've recently returned from two weeks in Mexico, and although I didn't dedicate much time to photography, I was fascinated by the wildlife around the hotel complex.

Admittedly, to date, my 'wildlife' photography has been a little short of the 'wild' bit, having frequented zoos, wildlife centres and other ready made animal spots. This meant that I haven't learned the patience that many other photographers do. Trying to photograph butterflies required a lot more persistence than I thought, but I'm pleased with the result.

I saw at least 10 different types of butterfly, but unfortunately many of the types didn't seem to settle for more than a split second, making a clear shot almost impossible. This particular butterfly was quite accommodating and the iguanas, crabs and lizards were also easier to snap.

All my photos from Mexico can be found here.

Chasing the perfect squirrel shot

I hope there is a nut in this for me (explore 29 May 2011) 

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

At the end of May, spurred on by good weather, I ventured to Kensington Gardens in search of the perfect squirrel shot. The squirrels there are particularly tame (so much so that one sat on my knee whilst I was taking a photo) so they make good subjects for close up shots.

The best photo I managed was this one and given that my new lens (Tamaron 70-300mm) only cost my £99, I was quite impressed with the result. However, on reflection I think the photo looks a little posed and had I not been there, I might have though this was a stuffed squirrel.

I'll continue my search for the perfect squirrel shot....probably with another trip to Kensington Gardens.

Pawtraits of pooches

Ellie

Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Type in 'Pet photography' to google images and a massive 21,700,000 results are returned. 'Pawtraits' of pooches are pretty big business nowadays, so I thought I'd try my hand at it whilst I was dogsitting last weekend.

Although I'll admit dogs in dress can be very funny (McDonalds, Grumpy Dad, Santa), I don't think I can, in all good conscience, put clothing on a dog. Besides, the subject in question was less that co-operative, being an older, tried and frankly less than active dog. There were no jumping shots, no fetching shots (she won't fetch, she won't even run to get a ball) and walks are determined by the weather (she won't go for a walk in the rain), the temperature (not if it's cold) and her mood (if she wants to get out of bed).

The shot above is the most 'active' shot I managed, but I'm quite pleased with this shot as she looks happy and content (more photos are on flickr and in some of these she looks a little grumpy). It's hard to get a dog to look interested when they aren't, but I suppose an over exuberant dog brings its own challenges as well.......

Thames Walk Goslings

Thames Walk Goslings

After much talk, today, I finally decided to walk part of the Thames. I started at the Thames Barrier with the aim of walking 6 or 7 miles (allowing plenty of time for taking photos).

The gleaming Thames Barrier was quite impressive, as was the Dome, Canary Wharf and the Cutty Sark. However, had that been all I had seen I think I would have left slightly underwhelmed, especially as there is so much construction work going on which frequently obscures the view of the Thames. However, as I was nearing the end of my walk I saw some Geese just ahead of me and happily began snapping away. As I came closer I saw several yellow balls of fluff next to them and to my delight the geese had 5 goslings; I don't think I've ever changed lenses so quickly. Not wanting to disturb them, I kept my distance and instead focussed on the nearer goslings (shown above) as they bathed in the sun.

I'm not sure I've completely fulfilled my aim of expanding beyond wildlife photography with this particular trip (Thames Walk Pt 1 - Charlton to Cutty Sark) but you never know, part 2 may yield more success.

Part 2: Cutty Sark to the South Bank (London Eye).

Piranha pose

Piranha Pose
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Today I visited Sea Life London Aquarium on the Southbank for the first time. I've been to a couple of great aquariums over the past year, so I had high expectations of this well known attraction (especially for £19 per adult).

I've come away feeling really disappointed. It isn't that it lacked a good variety of aquatic life - far from it; the problem is it's gloomy, very dark (not good for photos) and lacks the 'experience' that other aquariums create. Clearly some of the darker tanks are trying to create a natural habitat for the fish that are used to the depths of the North Atlantic, but even the more tropical fish were quite poorly lit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for bright strobing lights just for the sake of my photos, but if they are kept dark for the fish then staff could at least enforce the rules of no flash photography (distressing for fish). Maybe the penguins arriving in May will results in a few changes.......

I took a few photographs in aperture priority mode as my fixed lens allowed f stop of 1.8. The shutter speed was still a bit too slow for many of the darting fish, so my photos are limited to the slower moving ones such as piranhas (posing above) and lion fish.

Flickr photos of London Aquarium

Red Bull: Art of Motion

Red Bull: Art of Motion
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

On the roof of the Royal National Theatre today, competitors were practicing their urban acrobatics for the Red Bull free running competition that takes place tomorrow.

Free running and my photography didn't necessarily mix, but the lovely sunny day helped as I was able to use a fast shutter speed.

The event is free and takes place on 20th March 6-9pm at the Royal National Theatre.

The gulls circle.......

The gulls circle
Originally uploaded by YvonneSherry

Today I visited Kensington Gardens with the intention of taking a few photos of Anish Kapoor's sculptures. After seeing photos of this exhibition on a blog, I thought they would be the perfect subject for my photography homework (yes, I'm back doing homework again).

I arrived at Kensington Gardens just before 3pm, all to aware of the diminishing light levels. My plan of action was to quickly walk around the gardens, take a few snaps of the exhibition and be out there by 4pm. However, my plan went wrong almost as soon as I got there....

I've never been great at photographing buildings, people, objects.......basically I just like wildlife photography too much. I walked in the park and was immediately drawn to the huge numbers of swans, gulls, pigeons, geese and small birds that were gathered round an unusually large number of visitors. I was transfixed by the opportunistic gulls hovering and diving trying to snatch the bread thrown at the geese and swans.

Conditions were not great. The low lighting meant that I could not select a fast enough shutter speed so several of my photos exhibit slight motion blur. This is probably one of the clearer shots, but I also got some close ups of the swans and the general feeding frenzy that ensued. I've uploaded some of these to flickr.

By the time I meandered over to the sculptures, lighting was poor. I took a couple of shots, but I didn't manage to see all of the exhibition.

Will I go to Kensington Gardens again to visit the exhibition? Probably not. Will I go back to take more photos of gulls and swans? Yes, most likely next weekend.