It was an early start today, 5:30 am in fact. Now being a teenager I was maybe a little more reluctant to drag myself away from the warmth of the bed and get ready the day. Luckily I had packed my camera bag the night before and had left the batteries charging so it was a simple case of wrapping up and getting in the car. We picked up a fellow photographer,Danielle Connor, and the next stop was Richmond. We arrived at precisely 7 am and parked up near pen ponds.
We started off the day with a stag but the 400mm I was using was too big for a good shot, so I ended up splitting from the others and ended up photographing a very ornate spiders web which was covered in water droplets which sparkled like miniature jewels. I took a lot of images of it in the hope that at least one would be sharp but this was cut short when a huge roaring stag walked along the path where the spiders web was. So I picked up the kit and headed off into the mist. I soon caught up with Danielle when we were both with the same stag.
I have to say that stag photography is a little like war photography, you may be thinking what is he going on about but bear with me here. Well firstly you have the stags which introduce the element of danger because with stags they are very hormonal at this time of year so they get agitated easily. Then you have the machine gunning camera which are rattling of a ridiculous amounts of shot at an even more ridiculous speed. And finally as soon as any sign of the stags conflicting the photographer pick up their weapons of choice and get to the action as soon as possible and rattle of a load of shots. I am not saying that every single photographer is like this but there are a few which are like this and I feel like this destroys the creativity of the photography and the knowledge of the subject.
Anyways I will leave on a more positive note, I have an exhibition coming up on the 24th October to the 31st October. The exhibition will be held at the Europa gallery in Sutton library. I will reveal more nearer the time but keep this in mind.
