Winter Photography in Warwickshire

Happy New Year! Well done, everyone, you made it through 2019, you should be proud of yourselves!

To kick off the first post of 2020, now that autumn is firmly behind us, I thought I’d upload some wintery pictures.

The following were actually taken last winter, around the grounds of Charlecote Park, one of my favourite places to spend a few hours mooching around with my camera. I made a point of getting up pretty early that day with the hope of catching a nice frost and some sunrise shots of the deer. Whilst the frost cooperated, the clouds did not, so the lighting wasn’t as spectacular as I’d have liked.

There’s definitely a different feel to photos taken at sunrise, compared to sunset, though. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I guess there’s more a sense of optimism in the air as everything gradually comes to life, light leading the way, the birds chirping their dawn chorus. Sunset can be really nice and peaceful, but there’s more a sense that time is running out (at least for photography endeavours) as the light gradually fades.

All photos of the Warwickshire landscape in winter were taken on the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujifilm XF50 - 140mm F/2.8 lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Autumn in Warwickshire - A Farewell to the Season

Regular visitors might have noticed I’ve posted less frequently over the last couple of months. Long story short - I ended up having some surgery in October that has taken me out of action for a while. I’m still gaining full strength back but I’m pleased to say that I’m once again capable of going out with my camera again for some walks! It’s something I missed a lot whilst recuperating, especially so knowing that autumn was in full effect whilst I was bed-bound!

As a farewell to the season, with the cold of winter starting to take over and the colourful leaves almost completely shed, I’m sharing some of my favourite autumnal photos from this year and last. All were taken within the county of Warwickshire at some of my most frequented walking spots.

The above shots were taken during a short walk through Hay Woods nearby National Trust Baddesley Clinton. The woods were full of those beautiful late autumn oranges in the leaves, some still just about hanging to their branches, many fallen to the floor to provide nutrients to the critters and ultimately enrich the soil for continued growth next year. The smell of autumn was rich in the air too, carried by the moisture that purveyed, contributing to the presence of lots of rich green mosses.

The photos above (with the exception of the last three, which were taken the year before) were taken this year at National Trust Charlecote Park, the day before I went in for surgery, towards the end of October. The gardens there are home to some beautiful old trees that stand impressively large on the grounds, full of amazing character; the twisted, gnarled trunks, set off impressively by their multi coloured leaves during the autumn time. The icing on the cake are the deer that like to sit peacefully under the trees from time to time, presumably in a moment of calm, gathering their energy, in between rutting.

Above are some photos taken whilst walking through the grounds of Kenilworth Castle, last autumn. The lighting was brilliant, lending enormously to the atmosphere with a slightly yellowy shimmer.

All photos of the Warwickshire landscape in autumn taken on the Fuji X-H1 and X-T2 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens and Fujifilm XF50 - 140mm F/2.8 lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Ironbridge Power Station Cooling Towers

Rather sadly, I think, the cooling towers in Ironbridge, Shropshire have been demolished today. Visitors to The Iron Bridge of Ironbridge, will no doubt be familiar with the sight of the giant chimneys across the Shropshire landscape. The Power Station originally opened in October 1932 to generate electricity, with the iconic pink cooling towers (coloured that way to '“blend into the landscape”!) built in the 1960s.

Below are some photos I took this year and last, with the impressive structures standing tall and proud in Ironbridge Gauge.

All photos of the cooling towers in Ironbridge were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Nesscliffe Hills

I recently went for a walk around Nesscliffe Hills in Shropshire. I’d not been before so was really pleasantly surprised by how nice a woods it was. I’d taken my Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 and Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 plus a Lee Circular Polariser and 0.9 ND Filter.

Nesscliffe Hills is apparently famous for being a hideout spot for ‘Shropshire’s Robin Hood’. Wild Humphrey Kynaston, the Robin Hood of Shropshire, is reputed to have lived in the cave up 24 steps cut into the rock face on the west of the hill with his horse, Beelzebub, stabled alongside. Here, he could watch out for rich travellers on the road below.

According to folklore, to survive, Sir Humphrey took up with local highwaymen who robbed Welsh wool traders on their way to and from the Oswestry markets. His knowledge of military strategy made him and his gang highly effective and soon he became notorious, though endeared himself to the locals by redistributing a good proportion of the stolen money and goods amongst them.

As hideouts go it’s not a bad one, I found myself thinking, as I took a relaxing walk up the hill and through the woods in the early autumn sunshine. The views from the top as the sun was setting were especially nice.

All photos of the Nesscliffe Hills were taken with the Fuji X-H1 and with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens and the  Fujifilm XF10 - 24mm f/4 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Cat Portraits with Fujifilm XF 56mm F/1.2 and Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS

My parents’ cats are incredibly photogenic. What more excuse do I need for an impromptu pet portrait session?

The first 10 shots are taken with the Fujifilm XF 56mm F/1.2. The last 4 are taken with the Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS. Obviously the 10-24 isn’t thought of as a portrait lens, but it adds a fun perspective to close up head shots.

Having not picked up the 56mm F/1.2 in a while, I must say, I’d forgotten how clunky it is to use. It’s loud and slow, at least paired with the X-T2 and X-H1 (although I hear that with the X-T3 it’s given a new lease of life). Focus isn’t massively reliable (especially when shooting wide open, which is always the temptation with a lens like this) compared to some of the more up to date lenses from Fuji and using it with continuous AF is basically a fool’s game. But… it produces amazing results.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what kind of cats they are; they’re Lynx Point Siamese sisters.

All cat photos were taken with the Fuji X-H1 and the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujifilm X56mm f/1.2 Lens and the  Fujifilm XF10 - 24mm f/4 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

The Iron Bridge of Ironbridge

Until writing this blog entry, it hadn’t occurred to me that the town of Ironbridge had a different spelling to Iron Bridge, the bridge made of iron located within the town of Ironbridge. Ahem.

Anyway, for those that don’t know, I shamelessly lifted the following from Wikipedia:

The Iron Bridge is a bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron, and was greatly celebrated after construction owing to its use of the new material.

In 1934 it was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument and closed to vehicular traffic. Tolls for pedestrians were collected until 1950, when ownership of the bridge was transferred to Shropshire County Council. It now belongs to Telford and Wrekin Borough Council. The bridge, the adjacent settlement of Ironbridge and the Ironbridge Gorge form the UNESCO Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.[1] The bridge is a Grade I listed building, and a waypoint on the South Telford Heritage Trail.

I recently had a mosey on down one summer evening whilst visiting my family who live ten minutes away. The lighting wasn’t as nice as I’d hoped it would be. Greedily, I was rooting for one of those colourful skies and long shadow kind of evenings, but what I got was nice-ish but pretty flat.

The Iron Bridge underwent a lick of paint in 2018 in a dark red colour, thought to represent the original paintwork of the bridge when first constructed.

All photos of The Iron Bridge in Ironbridge were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Wheat Fields and Sunsets and Why I love IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilisation)

I’ve been enjoying the balmy summer evenings of late and whenever possible I try to get out for a stroll in the warm setting sun. It’s probably my favourite part of the day and there’s something calming about watching the world around you slowly winding down for the night as the light gradually fades.

On this occasion, I took a walk through Berkswell, Warwickshire (the small picturesque village perhaps best known for its church - St John Baptist Anglican - parts of it dating back as far as 1150 AD) and it’s wheat fields.

As on most occasions when I’m having a walk, I had a camera with me, and I was lucky to be rewarded with a beautiful sunset. I love these big impressive trees and think they make for great subjects against the colourful sky.

Now, camera nerds are a funny bunch… I’ve noticed a lot of debate around the merits of IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilisation), with some people saying it’s a pointless gimmick and a waste of time, only serving to compromise image quality and add extra size and weight to your equipment. “Why bother? I have a tripod!” they smugly exclaim. These people, clearly have no imagination, foresight or lateral thinking, because there are plenty of scenarios where IBIS is massively useful to have.

Take these shots below, for instance. At least two of them are shot handheld at 1/50 of a second. Whilst not a really slow shutter speed to be shooting handheld, certainly one you’d want to be holding your breath for, ensuring good technique and keeping as still as possible. With IBIS enabled, I feel confident that I won’t see any camera shake at this shutter speed, and so I feel comfortable to click away without a tripod. No lugging one out, adding extra weight to my bag, no setting up, adjusting the height and angle and composition. Just quick and easy handheld shooting with no restrictions.

If that’s not a reason to have IBIS as standard, I don’t know what is.

All photos of Berkswell were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Oat Fields and Storm Clouds

The weather in the UK, as everyone here will know, has been a little bit erratic of late… One minute we’re experiencing record breaking temperatures, the next we’re enduring months worth of rainfall in a couple of hours.

Personally, I love it. I think the extreme weather keeps things interesting (although I am lucky not to live within a flood plane). Much like when snow hits the country, the extreme heat forces you to slow down and abandon your usual routines. This can either prove stressful and frustrating, or, if you’re prepared to embrace it, it can be strangely liberating!

Lately, in an attempt to embrace the stormy conditions, I’ve been desperately hoping for thunder and lighting. I have a couple of locations planned out where I really would love to capture some extreme weather on camera. Sadly, the lightning seems to be hitting everywhere but near me. I’m still hopeful though…

In the meantime, last weekend I ended up in an oat field near Kenilworth after taking a chance on a footpath I’ve driven past multiple times but never explored before. The sky was looking incredibly moody, threatening some of those vast showers I mentioned earlier. I exaggerated the stormy effect with a Lee Circular Polariser and 0.9 ND Filter to save the highlights in the clouds, and I’ve made a black and white conversion to my own tastes in Capture One.

All storm cloud photos were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF16 - 55mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

The Benefits of Working From Home: Part II

In what might become a regular feature of this blog (- returning readers may recall the very first post advocating the unexpected quirks of working from home), I've continued to have fun watching the wildlife out of the little window to my left as I perform my photography post-processing duties.

It's been fascinating watching the blue tits using the feeder and rearing their young. Over the weeks across spring and summer I've seen the offspring going from being fairly dependent on their parents,  all fluffy and uncoordinated, being brought and fed the seed, to developing a full plumage, mastering the art of flight and learning how to pick, sort and break into the seed for themselves.

I’ve also witnessed a fairly lucky slug managing to avoid becoming the lunch of an oblivious blue tit. I can confirm they did drop down safely to the ground without being eaten, shortly after the final photo in that sequence.

All garden bird 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 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 are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer in Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, the Midlands or Beyond, please say hi!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Photos from the Clent Hills

Last Saturday I took a trip to the Clent Hills in Worcestershire, near Stourbridge and Halesowen. Amazingly, it's somewhere I've never been before, despite being a big hill fan (read that how you will).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that in reality they're much more impressive than I'd assumed they would be in my head for so many years previously and I definitely will return for a longer exploration some time soon.

Embarrassingly, I had agreed to meet friends there, but in some bizarre episode of self sabotage, my brain was convinced that we had agreed to meet at the Lickey Hills near Birmingham. So upon arriving at their visitor centre and finding no one I recognised therein, it dawned on me - I simply had not listened properly. For any potential wedding clients - I will listen to you intently and will not turn up at the wrong venue.

Anyway, eventually I arrived at the correct hills, where my friends had already set off on their route, so I headed for the highest point to take some photos.

It was quite an overcast day but visibility was pretty good still. I only brought one lens with me to keep weight down - the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2.0. It's not known for being a landscape lens or even focal length, but I must say it performed really well, providing good clarity and definition.

All photos of the Clent Hills were taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF35mm f/2.0 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!
Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

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!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Poppies in Worcestershire

After seeing some excellent photographs on social media over the last week, I went off in search of poppies on Saturday evening for my own attempts at some poppy photography and to test out my sorely underused wide angle lens.

I had a vague idea where they were and after about 20 minutes of walking in the wrong direction down a busy A-road in the sweltering heat I ended up turning around and then seeing them up on a hill back near where I started. By the time I got there I wasn’t looking very photogenic, but luckily the poppies were.

This was a rare occasion where I’d actually planned to take photos specifically of a particular place, so I made sure to bring a tripod, my polariser, ND filters and Fujinon XF 10 - 24mm lens for some wide angled fun. It’s a lens that I don’t use as often as I would like to, purely because it’s too wide to be very useful for more generalised shooting, but it performed well and suited the location and the look I wanted to achieve.

The lighting wasn’t ideal, with the sun concealed behind cloud for most of the evening, but when it broke through I took my chance to play with what was on offer. There were a few limited occasions when the sun did dip under the clouds to create a beautiful illumination through the sea of red petals making for quite a striking contrast against the overcast landscapes in the background.

Towards the end of my evening when the wind had picked up quite a lot, I took the opportunity to try some long exposures, ranging from 10 to 30 seconds at a time, picking up the frantic movement of the flowers and wheat. I think these are probably my favourites from the batch.

All poppy photos taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF10-24mm f/4 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!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

A Black and White Cloud Study

So, just as the UK enters a mini heatwave - as I type the sky is basically all blue - I get round to editing a small cloud study from a couple of weeks back. I'm nothing if not contrary.

Whilst I love the sun, I really love a good cloud! And on this occasion they were particularly tall and fluffy.

During processing in Capture One, I decided to go for a low key black and white conversion as it suited the scene. An interesting thing that occurred to me during the editing process was that out of all the things we photograph over time, clouds are some of the most transient; never remaining the same, always moving through the sky and eventually falling away into rain never to return in the same configuration again. And that's why I love a good cloud.

All cloud photos 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!

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link and following me on social media.

Wild Welsh Ponies on the Shropshire Hills

A few weeks ago I spent a couple of days visiting my parents over in Shropshire. I'm lucky that they live in a very scenic part of the country, not far from some reliably lovely views and walks. On my first day I spent the afternoon walking up and around the Long Mynd. It's a place I've been a few times before and it hosts a number of footpaths and routes, with wide open views to all the surrounding Shropshire Hills.

I didn't really have a plan of action with regards to the type of photos I wanted to take whilst I was up there; I'm not much of a planner when it comes to taking images in my own time - I tend to just go with the flow and hope that I've brought the most suitable lenses with me for whatever situation or subject happens to present itself. Spontaneity is a wonderful thing I think, but I had a vague notion of getting some landscape photography done - When in Rome and all that... It came as a genuine surprise, then, to find myself taking portraits of horses for the majority of the excursion! I genuinely had no idea they were up there or that they'd be quite so photogenic.

In fact, after a bit of research, I think what I saw were actually ponies rather than horses, specifically Welsh Carneddau Mountain Ponies (please do correct me in the comments if I'm wrong!). Either way, they were beautiful, rugged looking creatures with quite an impressive range of  colours, textures and hairstyles.

Unfortunately the sun didn't really break through at any point so the lighting was rather dull and flat, but I'm still very pleased with how these turned out. All taken on the Fuji X-H1 with the Fujifilm XF50-140mm f/2.8 Lens, processed from RAW with Capture One.

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK.
To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.
Also, if you are from Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire or the West Midlands and are interested in hiring me as your wedding photographer, please say hi!
Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.

More Spring Lamb Photography in Warwickshire

I know I've posted a fair few lamb photos recently, but working through my current Capture One catalogue today, I can't help but want to post a few more!

I can honestly say that watching the lambs this Springtime has been one of my favourite nature photography related things of late. In fact, it never fails to put a smile on my face.

Take these little bundles of joy for example. The amount of energy and enthusiasm they have for play as well as the curiosity they have for the environment around them is just lovely to observe. Especially when contrasted against the almost deadpan seriousness of the fully grown sheep, who look to have long forgotten what it's like to be young, happy and carefree.

It turns out humans and sheep aren't that different after all...

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK.

To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.

Horse Photography in Warwickshire

This week, I have been mostly taking photos of horses…

Horses make pretty great subjects, especially when the sun is low in the sky and the last light of the day creates a nice shimmery glow around them.

I encountered these particular beasts in a field in Warwickshire that they were sharing rather harmoniously with some sheep. They seemed pretty content, being largely left to their own devices, exhibiting a lot of the natural behaviours you’d probably expect to see from a wild band of horses - drinking from a large area of pooled rain water, moving as a herd from one area to the next and following the vocal instructions and body language of the dominant male.

I really love taking my time to just observe when taking photos of wildlife. The longer you stay and the more patient and calm you are, the more natural your animal subjects end up behaving. This in turn tends to present the best photographic opportunities.

Please visit other pages on my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK. If you have a horse or any other pets that you’d like some beautiful photos of, please contact me for a quote.

To buy fine art photography of my UK landscapes visit my Print Gallery.

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

Finally, please Help Support This Blog by Buying Photography Equipment on Amazon via this link.

Birding With the Fuji X-H1

Recently I took one of my Fuji cameras (the X-H1 along with the Fujinon XF 50-140mm F2.8 and 1.4 x tele-converter) out for a spot of birding at my local(ish) RSPB nature reserve, Middleton Lakes. Now, I’m definitely not a seasoned bird watcher, but I do have fond memories from my childhood of visiting Leighton Moss up in Silverdale, Lancashire whilst staying with my grandparents who lived in the area. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler without googling it (- in fact I had to use Google to even find the names of some birds that I couldn’t tell you the difference between…), but I still really enjoy seeing birds doing their thing in their natural environment.

I was lucky enough to encounter two really friendly feathered friends during my trip. The first was a male pheasant, all too happy to undergo a portrait session on a fallen tree. There were definitely a few ‘Zoolander’ style looks to camera. Viewing the resultant photos on my computer, I was really amazed by how rich the pheasant’s colours were, particularly that deep red around the eyes - beautiful.

Later on during my walk I found a curious little Great Tit that did some human watching from his position up in the tree above me.

Tom Cruise Squirrel

If anyone at RSPB Middleton Lakes in Tamworth is wondering why the bird feeder above the duck pond is on the floor today, well, it's because of this guy...

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

The above proverb is useful advice in many circumstances. To me this month, though, a better idiom may be 'Make photos while the lambs lamb'.

I think I might be addicted... But I went back to a previously visited haunt to get another lamb-y fix, knowing that they won't be around for much longer.

I noticed on this occasion that the male lambs are definitely a lot more aggressive (for want of a better word - it's difficult to feel intimidated by these cute little balls of fluff) than the female ones. The little chap below had been eyeing me up for a few minutes and making what I can only assume were cusses in bleat form in my direction, before taking a fearless run directly at me. It was that or he just wanted to be friends and was saying nice stuff. Either way, it was quite adorable. After getting within about 10 feet of me, he stood and stared for a little bit before turning around and retreating back to his mum.

Once again, it was a lovely experience. These spring lamb photos were all taken in the Warwickshire countryside.

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