Chance encounters

Some days, for whatever reason, a day's wildlife photography will just not go to plan. Perhaps the weather will be against you, perhaps the subject will be a no-show, or perhaps worst of all, you will miss the shot.

This is all part and parcel of being a wildlife photographer, and something we just have to get used to. It is however something that can put a downer on your day if you are not careful.

I first got into nature photography because I wanted to show people how I see the natural world, and to try to inspire in people some of the passion I feel for the delicate, intricate, interdependent, ruthless, and yet beautiful products of evolution all around us. I have always seen nature in this way, and love being surrounded by it and exploring it.

If I have had a bad day's photography I simply remind myself that even during a bad day of photography I get to see infinitely more of the things I love than I do in a good day in the office. Getting the shot is secondary.

A perfect example of this is yesterday morning. I headed off to Attenborough Nature Center in time for sunrise, mistiming it slightly and arriving almost half an hour early. With time on my hands I was lucky enough to spot two kingfishers zipping by in a blur or blue and orange and my first swallow of the spring, all in the beautiful pre-sunrise light of dawn.

Shortly after sunrise I was sat poised on a fishing platform next to the reserve's Heronry, waiting for a long-legged gangly adult to fly by. This was the plan at least, but as often happens, the plan failed. However, after about five minutes a large dark shape emerged from underneath the platform a meter from my feet, running perhaps five meters down the bank before disappearing underwater. An otter!

All of this happened within about a second, no time for even the 300mm F2.8 lens I was carrying to focus and expose a sharp photograph on the dark shadowy bank. But, to be honest, I simply did not care.

I left Attenborough with no original or unusual images*, but with a massive smile on my face. Sometimes we can get the shot and bring smiles to the faces of others, sometimes we cannot. That is the joy and challenge of wildlife photography.

*only the Swan image in this blog post is from yesterday's visit, the others were taken in 2009.