Made in Iceland

Klara Harden decided to set out on 25 day solo hike across Iceland. Luckily for us, she brought along her cinematographer’s eye and a Canon 550D to document the epic journey in Made in Iceland. MADE IN ICELAND from Klara Harden on Vimeo. Klara goes into the details of her trip in this post.

http://vimeo.com/31158028

Read Full Post »

Why is deadly so beautiful

Deadly is Beautiful

The very first time I saw a jellyfish was back in 1970 on my aunties black and white television, I was truly amazed by these slow and graceful creatures  but deadly to the touch. It was not until 1990 that I came across one in real life, I had to hold myself back from reaching out to touch.

Read Full Post »

MSc Biological Photography and Imaging

The University of Nottingham, School of Biology, MSc Biological Photography and Imaging

The following list is all of the Internal staff and external staff who teach and associated to the MSc Biological Photography and Imaging course.

The University of Nottingham Staff

Dr Kate Durrant MSc Course Director
Dr Thomas Hartman University Teaching Associate Science Specialist
Dr David Fox  MSc Museum Curator
Steve Galloway Taught Course Specialist
Tim Smith Senior Technician SEM

Visiting Teaching Staff

Luke Saddler Videographer [ HDSLR Filmmaker ] Final Cut Pro/ Adobe Premier
Helen Walsh Freelance Photographer, Designer, Illustrator
Alex Hyde Landscape Photographer, Adobe Product specialist
Katherine Dixon Web Design, Photographer, Videographer
Frankie Buckle Zeiss specialist, Photographer
Kelly Neaves
Jill Groom Photographer, Marine Biology
David Newton Canon Eos Trainer, Photographer, Writer

Supporting Industrial  Members

Geoff Espin Photographer, Orchid Specialist
Raymond Fitchett Sigma Photographic
Fran Maloni Jigsaw24 Apple Mac Computers
Jason Batterham Calumet Photographic

External Lecturing Staff

Professor Heather Angel Professional Wildlife Photographer
Gavin Thurston Professional Filmmaker
Stephen Moss BBC Natural History Unit Bristol
Dr Rob Lambert Tourism and Environment
Dr Paul Eggleton Natural History Museum
Phil Songhurst Consultant

Read Full Post »

Landscapes Christopher Tranter

Professional Techniques in the Field

The students who attend the MSc Biological Photography and Imaging at the University of Nottingham, do a project called Professional Techniques in the Field. Part of this is a project which is called landscapes, here the students have to provide a selection of their best landscape images below is Christopher Tranter landscape images.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Professional Techniques in the Field is a major project, also included in the project is Timelaspe, Water, Urban Wildlife, portfolio and British Wildlife this all goes together to make one big project.

Read Full Post »

Made A Monkey of Me

When teaching on the MSc Biological Photography and Imaging course at The University of Nottingham, the first thing you try to teach the students is to always look in the view finder before before you fire that shutter, always look for those little things that will always catch you out, make sure the focus is good, also a nice composition, interaction between the photographer and the subject matter. All the setting are right everything is perfect, but stop did you look in that viewfinder again. DO NOT MAKE A MONKEY OF YOURSELF.

Read Full Post »

Dr Thomas Hartman

Dr Thomas Hartman from the MSc Biological Photography and Imaging course which is run from the School of Biology at the University of Nottingham has recently purchased his family a new car, but when we went to visit Filey Brigg near Scarborough on the east coast, Tom found him self with a slight problem.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Tom had come across a set of wheels, his first thoughts were will theses fit my car and second how do I get back to the coach. Tom never overcame these problems so the set of wheels stay on the beach, till next year. Still not as bad as when he brought home a bucket of fish from Birmingham Fish market via the small unventilated coach.

Read Full Post »

Abstract Fish

These images were taken at Slimbridge wet lands trust,

Big Goldfish taken with a Nikon 10.5mm lens

Both of these images were taken inside the tropical house at Slimbridge Wetlands Trust, the end of the lens was only centimeters from the fish I am not sure who was more interested in who, me in the fish or the fish in me.

I love the way that the fish are frantically swimming or each other

see other entry’s about this day

7D , Visits , Heather Angel ,

Read Full Post »

The creative

Paint Dropped into Water, but stunning photos

The creative 42-year-old Mark Mawson has been taking pictures for 22 years but recently came up with his eye-catching method of creating the watery blobs. Mark, who specializes in shooting underwater scenes and people, simply takes different kinds of paint and drops them into a tank before snapping the outcome with his camera, using a strobe to light up the scene. The difference in the density of the paints creates varying shapes.

More images here

Read Full Post »

What’s shooting a National Geographic story like

Michael “Nick” Nichols National Geographic Photographer

I spend a huge amount of time on a story, but I don’t take that much time to make it easier. A Geographic assignment is going to take a year of my life any way you slice it, because that’s what it takes to get it.

The editor and the director of photography and my editor tell me what to do, but the reality is simple. There’s only one person that goes out the door, and the story has to be made from what I took pictures of. I’m on my own out there. One of the things I think people misunderstand is that there’s nobody that gives you a list or anything, there’s not a whole lot of research that anybody else does. In my case, I usually dream up the stories and try to sell them to my editors.

When I’ve gotten the assignment, I do as much research as humanly possible about the subject. My rule of thumb is usually I spend as much time in the field as I do preparing. So, two months in the field means two months preparing. Even if 90 percent of that research is useless, it’s important. When I’m doing research, ideas about pictures come to my head. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and set up pictures, but it gives me a lot of ideas so I can hit the ground running. And as long as I let serendipity through, I’ll still get pictures that just happen. But by going to all the places that I’ve lined up, all the little pieces should start to give us a whole and tell us something about Indonesia or tigers or whatever the particular subject is.

Learning languages is good, though I have to say it’s overrated because I don’t speak languages. I wish that I had learned them as a child, so if you’re really young and you’re reading this, definitely study languages. If I had learned all the languages of places I’ve worked at, you know, I’d just be a linguist. You can do fine drawing pictures, with facial expressions. The language you do want to learn, though, is how to be polite in that culture. If you can say hello to people, good afternoon, thank you, they’ll know, okay, he’s made some effort. And you’ve got to learn what not to do, all those things you can do wrong. You don’t want to make a cultural faux-pas.

I shot 2,000 rolls of film on the Megatransect — how can I not make a hundred good pictures? I would just say try it. It has nothing to do with quantity. Well, it does — I’d much rather have 2,000 rolls than have 2. I wouldn’t want to be put on a rationing diet, because the reason you shoot a lot of film is because the shooting, the pushing of the button, brings you around. It’s like an experiment. You’re dancing. And then you realize, aaaah, that’s where the real dance is — over there! And you zero in on it and make the real frame. So all the bad pictures and the garbage you discard.

But you have to be able to see, and you have to have a point of view. To say photography is completely objective isn’t correct, because it’s not. It’s my point of view about tigers. It’s my point of view about chimps, or central Africa. And I think that’s it — that’s when I realized I really was a photographer, when I saw that I was starting to express myself. That’s why I think it takes 5 years. There’s a point when you’re copying somebody else, or you’re just trying to do what Time magazine wants you to. I don’t do what I think National Geographic wants me to do. I did maybe on the first project, because I was scared to death. But quickly I learned that this is my vehicle, and I can drive this thing. I mean, 2000 people work in the building, but there are only so many of us that go out in the field and do that work, and we can drive the train. And so having a point of view is absolutely essential, and no amount of money or film gets you that. It’s so easy to take boring pictures.

At the Geographic, which is different than other publications, the photographer is involved all the way to the final layout. It’s a fine art to working that situation, because I know that it’s not the 80 good pictures that I got. What the world’s going to see are12 or 20. And if I don’t think a lot about how those go on the page and the display of them, then I’m not really following it all the way through. I got frustrated with the magazine industry because other magazines just took my pictures and published them however they wanted. And everything’s so subjective — you’ve got thirty frames, and the hand is in a different place in each of them — and there might be a particular nuance to a frame that I’m going to push for.

In the past Geographic didn’t assign a staff photographer to do something like wild tigers, they’d have assigned a tiger scientist and said look, you’ve got a few grants here, and when you come up with enough pictures we’ll publish a story on tigers. And the weakness of that is that there’s no point of view. It’s just a scientist’s pictures about tigers. I look at the big story that goes with it. At the same time I want to go out there and spend the same amount of time that scientist did to get pictures of tigers. And I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do that.

I work so hard in the field and what I do is so intense. I go underground for nine months and don’t come up for air. I don’t have a lot of tolerance for someone who can’t get that obsessed.

But there’s another side to that, too. Somebody like Dave Alan Harvey, his whole gig is being lyrical. It’s not that he has to work so hard, it’s that he has to interact and he has to capture those moments around him. There’s so many ways for photography to work.

But whether or not I can maintain that intensity another ten years, I don’t know. I physically don’t think I can — I’m falling apart. Five knee surgeries, I’ve had malaria like 20 times, all this shit. And I would also like to see what young photographers want to do. That’s why I’m thinking about starting a photography foundation, giving out grants, which is all about nurturing young photojournalists, which is exactly what I want to do with this website.

Taken from Michael “Nick” Nichols web site lots of information

Read Full Post »

DEATH SENTENCE FOR THE ROBBER BABOON

By Sara Dixon

A MISCHIEVOUS monkey who learned how to break into tourists’ cars has been put down to halt fellow baboons aping his bad habits.

The wild monkey, known as Fred, targeted vehicles parked at a popular beauty spot by opening the doors and climbing inside to hunt for food. Officials in South Africa took drastic action after claiming his antics were becoming dangerous. But the baboon’s “execution” has sparked outrage among animal lovers. Fred was photographed last year targeting British tourists George and Jacqueline Cox and Hazel Murray, 71, when they stopped at Smitswinkel Bay, near Cape Town. The monkey, thought to be aged about 15, opened their car door, grabbed Hazel’s bag and made off with it. He later ditched the bag after finding no food. In 2009, Fred led a mass baboon raid on four cars. However, his reign as prince of thieves came to an end on Friday when South Africa’s Baboon Operational Group trapped and killed him. A spokeswoman said: “The decision was not taken lightly.” But photographer Chad Chapman, who followed Fred for years, said: “One of their arguments was that the troop would have a normal life and not learn his car door opening ways. It’s a little too late for that now as there are others who can open doors

Read more:

Read Full Post »