Red Deer Hind

Well the weather is still pretty miserable here at the moment so I hope you don't mind me digging into my hard drive again.
Here are a few shots from a set I took of Red Deer Hinds in Cheshire back on a beautiful spring evening in April...

Photographing wild Deer is always a challenge and something I enjoy very much.
I suppose it brings out the 'hunting' instincts in me, and as somebody who is 100% opposed to hunting, I mean this in the nicest possible way.
I guess you could call it 'the thrill of the chase'...Finding the Deer in the first place can sometimes prove impossible and then you have the dilemma of getting close enough to them to get a decent image.
I'll be the first to admit that I do get a bit 'Ray Mears' when Deer are the target and camouflage clothing and a lot of skulking around in long grass is usually the order of the day...

2010: The Year So Far...

Ideally, I really should have started all this blogging business on New Years Day, so just to keep everything neat and tidy here is a quick review of what I've been up to this month so far...

January 1st saw me leave the house at first light (not at all hungover) for the short drive to Lyme Park in Cheshire where I set about photographing Red Deer.

The light was beautiful this morning, but there was a very harsh frost and the temperature was -6c which meant I had trouble even pressing the shutter on my camera because my hands were so cold!
Over the Christmas break, I had tried on 3 other occasions to capture these elusive creatures and failed each time, so I was quite pleased to have manged to get some half decent shots.




My biggest dilemma of the morning was knowing how close I could get to the deer...



Although I was shooting at 500mm and keeping a very close eye on all around me, there is something quite unnerving when a huge Red Deer Stag moves curiously towards you and I certainly wouldn't like to get into an argument with one.



It's times like this when common sense and of course respect for the animal in it's natural surroundings take hold...