James Chubb

East Devon Snaperazzi

There was once a time when the equipment needed to capture really decent wildlife photos was very specialist, very hard to get hold of and very expensive. Even if you were willing to invest in your hobby, the chance of snapping that elusive prize-winning frame was remote to say the least. Weirdly, get this, you couldn’t tell what the photo was like immediately; you had to wait for up to a fortnight for the prints or slides to come back from the lab! How primitive.

Things have changed. Often the mindboggling speed of technological progress brings tears to the eyes, but on some occasions it is a real boon, and photography is definitely one such area. I remember as a jobbing young PR photographer, holding my cherished EOS10 to my eye or lovingly loading Fuji Sensia transparency film, thinking “They’ll never better this!” I almost pulled a face at the thought of digital photography being able to get anywhere near the colourfulness of my beloved film. Looks like I was no photography Nostradamus!

Digital photography has revolutionised how many people enjoy the countryside and its wildlife, and it makes some parts of my job easier too. Rather than receiving a vague description “I’ve seen this greyish fly-thing... what was it?” I now get an email attachment with an image (of varying merit) to seal the deal. Sometimes it’s easy putting a name to a face, other times it can be as hard as not having a photo to work with!

So, I thought I would share a few of the really interesting and stunning images which are sent my way, and hopefully encourage more of you to get snapping!

Two photos this week, with more to come as and when they hit my mailbox.

The first is from a very prolific wildlife photographer who recently photographed the world-famous pink grasshopper of Seaton Marshes, Ben Lee. The photo shows a greenbottle fly resting on a fleabane flowerhead. No great rarity there, greenbottles are ten-a-penny and fleabane is common in the right habitats. What is so nice about this shot isn’t so much the subject matter as the composition.

A volunteer with the Holyford Woodland Trust, Peter Vernon, has recently developed a passion for macro photography and his invertebrate photos whizz through the ether to me on a regular basis. Not only does Peter find some really beautiful wildlife to photograph, but he also manages to catch them in a variety of interesting situations. Take this shot for example: a common garden spider or garden tiger. Potentially quite a familiar species to photograph, but when caught in the act of wrapping a fly in silk, in a shot where you can see the silk exuding from the spider’s spinnerets, it transforms the photo into a really interesting subject. Fabulous.

If you are a budding wildlife photographer and you would like to send me some of your images, please do. I am always keen to receive photographs, they often prompt an interesting article and, if I receive enough, perhaps I’ll compile a nice wildlife calendar for 2010?