Outdoor Photography

A MOMENT WITH NATURE

How many hours a week do I spend looking

at weather forecasts? Or maps? Or tide tables?

I shudder to think! We have access to an

incredible number of resources that will aid

us in predicting the light or conditions we can

expect to fi nd in any place at any time, and in

theory these tools should help us to easily plan

and execute fantastic photographs. Yet while

I have a mental ‘bank’ of pre-visualised wildlife

images that has been growing for years, the

majority of them have not become reality. This

isn’t through lack of trying – I have been on

location repeatedly when everything looked

promising for a particular image – but simply

that in most cases the stars didn’t quite align.

My local otters are a prime example of a

subject that has caused me endless frustration.

I’ve photographed them often and become

familiar with their behaviour. They regularly

haul out on one particular rock when they’ve

made a catch, and for the past year I have been

attempting to get an image of them on this

rock, silhouetted against the dawn light. So

far I have been unsatisfi ed with my results.

On the walk along the beach towards the

otters, I often pass some cormorants and

shags perched on the shore. Usually, I barely

notice them, such is my tunnel vision for my

otter project: the otters are my subject, not

the birdlife. However, earlier in the year

I allowed myself to be spontaneous and

decided to spend time taking portraits

of a shag posing on the water’s edge.

I didn’t intend to linger, and was just

about to continue towards the otters when

I recognised a very special opportunity. The

wind had started to gust strongly and the

water was lapping at the shag’s feet. One or

two waves broke around the bird’s lower half

and I spotted a much larger wave approaching.

I quickly changed my composition and

increased the shutter speed just in time to

catch the wave break around the shag’s head.

Less than a second later, the bird was gone.

I was ecstatic when I reviewed my images:

in that brief moment of opportunism I had

captured something more powerful than I’d

managed in months of pursuing my intended

subjects further along the beach. It got me

thinking hard. Despite being someone who

pre-visualises and pre-plans all the time,

almost every single one of my favourite

wildlife images were not planned.

When we start out in photography, we

simply go places with a camera and take

photographs of the things we notice; as a

working outdoor photographer I miss the

purity of those early days. I can’t speak for

everyone, but I think a lot of us could benefi t

from becoming a little more open-minded

when we’re behind the camera, and reacting

to whatever presents itself to us, rather than

sticking rigidly to a pre-planned shot list.

As photographers, we have endless tools at our disposal to help us pre-visualise images,

but James Roddie questions whether they are always as helpful as we think they are

Planning to fail?

February 2018 Outdoor Photography 83

A MOMENT WITH NATURE

83 Moment with nature 227_SW.indd 83 11/12/2017 15:27