Barn Owls again!

Some very successful Barn Owl trips last week, it was a real pleasure to take people out and show them Barn Owls at very close range and get great shots of them, the weather makes no difference, they've been out in the rain too and it makes for very different shots.
"I saw more Barn Owls today than I have seen ever before" being the usually smiley faced comment at the end of the day.
We haven't just concentrated on the Owls, combining some camera tuition during the middle part of the day while the Barnies are roosting has been great fun too, it really surprised me how excited people get at finding and photographing Red-legged Partridges, they can be quite skittish, but up close they are very smart and nicely coloured birds and make great images.
If you want to see Barn Owls ( I can't guarantee full-frame close-ups every time, but haven't failed yet!) email me for details, address in the panel at the right of page, for details.

Fire in the sky

I've had quite a few days out with people I've never met before, recently, and its been great fun. What I really have enjoyed most is being able to get some of these people very close to species they have never seen well (or never seen at all) in a way that they have managed to go home with memorable images. The Barn Owl below was one such bird, it was "glued" to its perch for nigh-on an hour just 13 metres away, picking at its talons with its beak, wing stretching and "lazy hunting" watching the ground below for prey, and Julie who was with me for the day took several (well over a hundred probably) frame filling shots on her 400D and 300mm with a 1.4X on it!

I have been out and about at dusk/night shooting some "environmental and green issues" related images, I'm particularly happy with the pylons and electric light, lit sky series, one is shown below.

Lots more on my flickr gallery, the link is top right of this page.

Photogrind thieves blog entries

Well I've not had a reply from them yet, this is to make anyone who has a blog aware that Photogrind is actively stealing peoples blog entries without seeking the copyright owners permission, adding them to their site, and then being hypocritical enough to emblazon their pages with copyright notices...... If you are reading this on there; then why not click on http://www.nigelblake.co.uk/ and see the posts as they are meant to be seen.

Night, Owls!

Still can't tear myself away from the Barn Owls, I have been photography other subjects too but while the Barnies have been performing well it's rude not to make the best of the oportunity.
I often drive past the Mullard Radio Astronomy site and think about stopping to get some shots, usually I talk myself out of bothering due to weather, or wanting my dinner etc....... well I stopped on a starry night and I have been back for more, I've now got some ideas for other shots too.........
Lots more on my Flickr site