Deer, oh Deer

I managed to conjure up a small amount of energy this last week and ventured out to a tried and tested area I know near me where I always seem to spot some good wildlife.

This particular evening didn’t disappoint as I managed to sneak up on a family of wild roe deer, a lone hare, and a buzzard.

I’ll save the latter two encounters for future posts, but here are some of the wild roe deer I crept up to and hid behind a bush from.

All images were taken with the Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 lens, whilst wearing a camouflage ghillie. In post, for the first five images I’ve exaggerated the pinkish tone that was already naturally present in the scene.

Enjoying Photography With a Chronic Illness or Hidden Disability

A slightly more serious post than what I would normally publish here, today. I want to write a little bit about trying to make the most out of my photography hobby, in the face of chronic illness, hidden disability and exhaustion. It’s something that’s increasingly on my mind as, sadly, my health has become more and more difficult to manage with each year that passes. And one of the things this affects the most is my ability to socialise, and my capacity to enjoy things that people without any health concerns most likely take for granted.

One of those things is photography. It’s easily my number one hobby (- and despite the wedding photography elsewhere on this site, I have to be honest at this point and state that a hobby is all it is now. I’ve not done a professional shoot in probably well over 5 years at this point. I’ve not pursued it in any meaningful way, due to my health, and in fact there are multiple jobs I’ve avoided or outright turned down as a result). I love exploring with my camera, going off on walks and seeing what sights will present themselves. Over the last few years I’ve become more and more attracted to wildlife photography. I love discovering wild animals in their natural habitats and trying to get good pictures of them. It’s incredibly rewarding.

When my health allows it.

Frustratingly, since the age of 12, I’ve been plagued with two chronic illnesses. I’m 42 now. In layman’s terms, my lungs and my bowels have been FUBAR for the last 30 years. An industrial quantity of horrendous medicines (all designed to mask one symptom but create several other problems) and 13 operations later, with fewer internal organs and bits of me than I had previously, (with each surgery coming a desperate hope it will be the last) and I’m tired. Very, very tired. And still ill. And in pain. Every. Single. Day.

As a particularly rotten cherry on the cake, I’ve recently learnt that some medication that was prescribed to try and manage my bowel problems has caused toxicity in my body, leading to muscle and tendon damage, as well as a permanent change to my mitochondria - the cell responsible for creating energy. As such, I effectively have chronic fatigue. I’d always felt the symptoms of this, but associated them with the aforementioned illnesses and surgeries. But it turns out, it was a triple whammy all along.

People I’ve not seen in a while often tell me I’m looking well. It’s very kind of them to say - the silly, vain part of me really appreciates it - and I understand why they might feel compelled to tell me that when they know a small amount about my medical history. But, the reality is, five or six days out of seven, inside I feel a little bit like I’m dying. Everything aches. Everything is stiff and weak. My daily reserves are already depleted from the moment I get out of bed. I’ve never ran a marathon, but when I’m at my worst, I imagine that’s what most runners probably feel like once the exhilaration of passing the finish line wears off. There are a few days a month, when I’m at my worst, where I literally have to crawl around on all fours.

But, every once in a while I feel… not completely wretched. And on those days I (perhaps foolishly) try to make the most of things. Actually, that’s not strictly true. I (definitely foolishly) often try to make the most of things even when deep down I know it’s a terrible idea and my body is already crying out from every cell. Either way, there’s ALWAYS a penalty for doing so. Many years ago I watched the ‘spoony’ analogy that was going round online. It rang completely true and it still does. I guess I just struggle to accept things the way they are. That’s always been an issue for me. Since the age of 12 and being diagnosed with the bowel issues, I just wanted to be ‘normal’. I still do. Hence, on the ‘good’ days, my childlike naivety and hope kicks in - ‘maybe this will continue…’. It never does.

Yet, whenever I can, I try and get out and do some photography. I feel like I don’t want to be defeated. I don’t want to give up on something I love so much. It’s just getting harder and harder lately. I’m not sure what the solution is. I’m not sure there is a solution. I’m due more surgery at some point this year. The optimistic part of me hopes it might make some kind of positive difference to my pain and energy levels. The pessimistic part of me knows it probably won’t.

Anyway, here are some photos wot I took lately:

Light and Flight

This week on a post-work walk around the lake, the sun hit a window in the restaurant at the foot of the lake, so that the reflection created brilliant ripples on the water where the gulls were circling back and forth, eating flies. I took a little while to try and line up some bird in flight shots just above the golden patterns on the water’s surface.

It was definitely a bit of a challenge to consistently track the subjects, but these ones came out pretty well I think.

Black and White Horse Photography

I’ve been continuing to learn and enjoy my new camera system over the last few weeks. Most recently I’ve been had fun viewing the horses during my evening walks locally.
I feel like I’ve caught a few interesting stances and expressions in the shots below. I processed the first one in black and white eventually as I felt it suited the mood of the portrait; the horse looking powerful and aggressive (for that split second in time at least). The edit ended up suiting the rest, too, so I made a series.

Bird in Flight Photography

One of my photography goals over the last 6 months has been to do more bird in flight stuff. I’ve been a bit limited in terms of my longest range until recently (that being the Fuji 50-140mm f2.8 plus 1.4x teleconverter), as well as the continuous auto focus ability of that particular combination (- let’s just say the 1.4x converter definitely doesn’t help matters…), but I’ve managed a few shots I’m really happy with regardless -

I’ve also developed a new-found fondness of the 16:9 ratio it would appear.

Over the last few weeks I’ve sold all my Fuji gear (it was a good innings, from 2016, with lots of fun along the way, we’re still friends, but I wanted to see what the competition had to offer) and have found myself with a Nikon Z 400mm f4.5. I’ve only taken it out on two walks so far and been getting used to the new system, setting the camera up to my liking, but I think it’s going to do juuuust fiiiine -

Wild Welsh Ponies on the Long Mynd, Shropshire

I was lucky enough to chance upon the wild Welsh ponies living atop the Long Mynd earlier this year. It’s always a pleasure to see them living naturally without (much) human interference in the wilds of the Shropshire Hills.

They tolerate their human observers pretty well and don’t seem to mind having their photos taken. A few of the mares looked to be heavily pregnant with large round abdomens; this was back in September, so I’m assuming they’ve had their offspring by now. Hopefully they won’t get too cold up there over the winter time! Although it would be lovely to see them in the snow, thinking selfishly as a photographer.

All wild Welsh pony photos were taken in Shropshire.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you would like me to photograph your wedding or event in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

Deer at Charlecote Park

As a proud National Trust member, I’m lucky that Charlecote Park in Warwickshire is only 25 minutes away from where I live. It’s become one my favourite places to go for a relaxing walk throughout all the seasons as it’s always teeming with beauty and wildlife.

On this most recent visit, I set off hoping to see some young fawns as I’d heard that the does had recently started giving birth. I knew it was a long shot as they’re timid at the best of times and ultra cautious with their newborn calves.

The stags, however, are totally the opposite. I’ve found that if you approach them slowly and calmly and take your time to just stand and observe, they’ll often let you get really close. On this occasion I gradually found myself surrounded by a particularly confident group of young bucks who didn’t mind my mellow photography taking style.

These young males all had velvet antlers growing having shed last year’s hard calcified efforts.

At the end of my walk just as I was winding down from the photography, heading to the exit and checking the activity on my phone, at peace with the fact that I wasn’t going to see any fawns up close, I looked up from what I was doing to see a loan calf and her mother, unaware of my presence only about 30 feet away. My camera had already been switched off and the lens cap reapplied, ready to be put away for the drive home at this point, so the quiet scramble in quickly getting the shot set up wasn’t ideal, but I’m pleased that I manage to fire a couple off in focus in the few seconds I had available. During this time the mother deer did a runner, leaving her baby looking kind of lost and confused before she eventually ducked down into the long grass to hide. I didn’t want to cause them any more distress at this point, so I carried on towards the exit, but I’m really glad I had that encounter.

All deer photos were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF50-140mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

Also, if you are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

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The Benefits of Working From Home

"Get a bird feeder!" - The advice I remember reading years ago from someone who frequently worked from home. Below, the view from my living room window earlier this week as I tinkered with some photos. Perhaps not exactly the wildlife I'd expected to see, but very welcome nonetheless!

In fact, I had to applaud the little fella's ingenuity, plotting a path up along the shrubbery to the right of the feeder and presumably taking a Lara Croft style leap across to the tasty treasure.

It's nice to know that in spite of living in a place without a proper garden there's still a good amount of nature coming and going right in front of me - the usual small birds that use the feeder, my new mouse friend, a family of crows and magpies making nests in the communal parking and a pair of pet cats who routinely meet for a fight outside my window at 3 o'clock in the morning, complete with those chilling screams, howls and hisses that only felines can do so well (disturbingly).

For more photographs of wildlife and nature in the UK, be sure to visit my photo gallery! Seamless.
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The lesser spotted Brown Tit

The lesser spotted Brown Tit