In the January 7 issue of Amateur Photographer, I read an inspirational article about planning ahead for a year of nature photography. It gave a concise breakdown of the opportunities in each month, with a handy timeline that I cut out and stuck on my notice board (I wish I'd paid more attention to it January to May, but that's another story.)
So when I found out that he had written a book in a similar vein, I was really keen on reading it. It differs from his articule in AP in that it is specifically about the Dorset countryside and wildlife, and doesn't focus primarily on photography. It has almost 200 photographs, superb landscapes and wildlife shots showing almost anything you can think of. (I love the pictures of bank voles and weasels, and the kingfisher shot is excellent - but there isn't a duff photo in the whole book.)
With 140,000 images in his stock library, Colin Varndell must have photographed just about everything relating to nature and wildlife in the British Isles. It certainly seems like it - his book is simply packed with information, and is a vital resource for anybody interested in nature not only in Dorset, but in the UK in general. The idea of a chronological tour through the year works really well and makes it easy to dip into to see what is going on at any particular time.
Colin Varndell's book is well worth reading, it is an inspirational resource for wildlife photographers and his photographic output is staggeringly good. I hope that sometime he follows it up with a book specifically relating to wildlife photography, as his technique is clearly faultless and the AP article contained a mine of useful information.
Article on Colin Varndell in
DorsetLife MagazineWild Dorset: The Year in Photographs at
Amazon.co.ukI can't find his website, but
Google Images shows a lot of his pictures
Excellent photo of the day at photo.net - Vezon Thierry's gallery contains many more equally good shots. I would have shown a larger image but the next size up is massive - it's well worth a look though, click here.
Excellent bird images from Romy Ocon in the Philippines (link below.) He has a large collection of equipment which he uses expertly, and as well as a huge collection of excellent bird images, his site has a lot of useful technical information including a number of lens and body tests.
I can thoroughly recommend a subscription to the Tooth & Claw newsletter published by Peter Cairns, Mark Hamblin and Ian Rowlands. It's a companion to their website, which concerns itself with wild UK predators. Their statement:
There's a new newsletter from Andy Rouse at the WarehouseExpress website. It details his mammoth trip around the bottom of the world: Antarctica, The Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Ascension Island. It's well worth a read.
Rushing quickly over the fact that Alaska is not in the UK, here is a link to some great owl photos by Bob Hallinen. It's from the BirdTLC blog and leads to some great Alaskan owl information. Googling for Bob Hallinen is quite a humbling experience - he appears to be a very good all-round photo journalist as well as an ace wildlife snapper.
Just in case you haven't spent enough on your massively expensive telephoto lenses, you can cough up even more with a Lens Coat. They do look rather nice though!
