Red Deer In Red Mist

The goal today was to capture some shots of Red Deer, so I set off just before dawn and arrived at my moorland location just as the sun was rising.
It was a beautiful start to the morning and I was treated to the rather pleasant scene of the sun rising from behind the hills where a light mist was rolling in...

All the signs were that this was going to be a nice morning of photography and all I had to do was locate the Red Deer!
As I scoured the landscape for the Deer, it became apparent that the mist that was rolling down from the hills was getting a lot denser and the early promise of good light was evaporating quickly...

 By this time, the mist could no longer be called mist as it had become thick fog and visibility was down to only a few yards.
There wasn't going to be much chance of photographing Deer in these conditions, I thought to myself...It would be impossible to even spot them, let alone get pictures of them!

I was at this point ready to call it a day, but the visibility was so bad, it would have been treacherous to attempt to walk back through the fog over the moors, so I decided to sit it out until the light got better.
Eventually, the sun made an effort to break through the fog..

One thing to remember about the moors, is weather conditions can change in minutes and a short time later the sun had won it's battle and the fog had reverted back to a rolling mist.

Looking into the direction of the sun there was a wonderful golden misty glow and I surveyed the landscape through my lens hoping to pick up some sort of focal point so to capture the atmospheric scene.

I could hardly believe my luck when I spotted up on a hill, through the dreamy golden hew, three Red Deer Stags perfectly silhouetted...

It was the kind of shot that I'm always on the lookout for and I often find that shooting into the sun can  provide some stunning effects.

I've been successful using this technique with a number of species before, but never with Deer.
All in all a pretty decent mornings work despite at times feeling that it was going to be fruitless.

Happy Grazing

Young Red Deer on a crisp morning...

Ready For The Rut

Red Deer at Lyme Park in Cheshire are readying themselves for the Rutting Season.
The bellowing has started and there is evidence of the 'digging' behaviour, so it's only a matter of time before the Rut really gets going...

Winter Photography Workshops

I'm please to announce a couple of new Workshops for this upcoming winter...

Following on from the popular August Red Grouse Workshop, I'll be conducting a number of Winter Red Grouse Workshops where I'll be sharing my fieldcraft knowledge and techniques on getting close to these very shy birds.
The Workshops will take place in the stunning surroundings of the Derbyshire Peak District at what I regard to be a very reasonable £45 for a minimum 4 hour session.
The second Workshop will take place in Cheshire and the focus will be on another shy creature...The Red Deer.
Price again for this one will be £45.


Both Workshops will be taking place between October 2010 and April 2011.

For more information please contact me via the main website... www.ajdixonphotography.co.uk

Full details of these and other Workshops are also available on the site.

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...