Wildlife Photography – Being Close to the Nature and Creation

Many people have told me that a wildlife photographer needs to have the special qualities of being at the right place at the right time. It means knowing what you want to capture with your lens and how to capture it at the proper time. Now for being a wildlife photographer, good field craftsmanship skills like the knowledge of the lighting, the shutter speed of the camera and other conventional mechanisms are essential in making a photograph worth viewing, and also choosing wildlife photography which is an engaging profession as well as a pastime. Knowing the behavior of the animals in the wild is an added advantage as it is quite difficult to predict their behavior. To photograph or capture the wildest movement of animals requires efficient staking skills as well as use of the hide or blind method of concealment.

Sometimes for successfully photographing certain types of wildlife it requires special equipment, such as macro lenses for insects, long focal length lenses for birds and underwater cameras for marine life. However, since the advent of digital cameras, greater adventure travel and automated cameras, a great wildlife photograph can also be the result of using the proper technology and the skills of the photographer.

As always, every year I would plan to go for a safari trip to the deserts of Africa. Knowing the abundance of wildlife experience and scenarios, this year I decided to forgo the plan and go for the wildlife experience of photographing Atlantic Puffin on the Farne Islands. Most of my counterparts have contributed their exuberant experiences of seeing this velvet species with their own eyes and capturing it on the camera.

So this year I decided to try and experience this feeling and know more about this species that has been able to magnetize many wildlife photographers.

The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird that is almost related to the penguin. It has the same color, posture, and certain similar habits to that of a penguin, but does not belong to the penguin family. Just like a penguin, the Atlantic Puffin feeds primarily by diving for fish and consumes other sea creatures like squid and crustaceans. Some of the people have nicknamed the bird as ‘Clown of the Ocean ‘and ‘Sea Parrot’ because of the curious appearance of the bird with its large colorful bill and its striking plumage. Most of the time the Atlantic Puffins are found and breed on the coasts of northern Europe , the Farne Islands and the eastern North America, and sometimes from well within the Arctic Circle to northern France and Maine.

Just a few months back, I had the opportunity of visiting the Farne Islands while I was on my trip to Scotland. Knowing that this is the right opportunity which should not be missed, I booked a two day tour package. To my surprise, just as I expected it was one of the beautiful and awesome experience.  The Farne Islands are not only host to the huge breeding colonies of Atlantic Puffins, but also to the Terns, Razorbills, Guillemots, Eider Ducks, Shags and Oystercatchers.   

For a wildlife photographer, the experience was like doing what you like to do the most and getting paid for it in great returns in terms of satisfaction. I felt like each photograph was better than the one before. The two days that I spent on the island, I took almost about eight hundred photos of the enchanting wildlife. Most of the photos were of the Atlantic Puffins hunting for food and flying.

My experience of capturing the Atlantic Puffins and other wildlife on the Farne Island was exhilarating. Knowing that such experience is only once in a lifetime, I had to leave my home at the hands of reliable security providers like ADT Security Systems and needless to say, it was a wonderful trip.