Well, it's 'still' and it's 'life', although not a traditional 'still life' image, I grant you!
I spent a day in Aviemore on Monday doing a wildlife photography workshop with a friend and local photographer, Gary. Gary hangs out for hours on the hill getting some great images of hare and ptarmigan. He's also a mountain guide, so it suits him well for days when he's not guiding.
I did get some good shots, but we just weren't getting close enough to the hares to get some of the wonderful close ups that are possible when the hares are relaxed. I think the hares prefer it when there's a lot of snow about as they must feel more at ease and camouflaged. Gary was great at spotting the hares and so we had several opportunities to get close, but always at the last minute, off they'd go. On only one occasion, we got the rucksacks off and were preparing to start the slow crawl up to a hare, when, yes, you've got it, it sat up, looked disdainfully at us, and ran off with ease!
What did I learn? Well, you can't control wildlife, but you can learn a lot about their habits. The hare hangs out in a 'form', and you can see evidence of this all over the hillside. They like to be sheltered from the wind, they like to sit in the sun, and they always return to the same places, but not only one place - they move around. Most importantly for photography, let them see you and get used to seeing you for ages before you try to approach. They will scarper immediately if you approach from behind.
It was a lovely day out, if a tad windy, which made it quite tricky to hold the camera still.
This little guy posed nicely in profile for a few minutes before he dashed off.
And an added bonus? A fabulous sunset as I drove home.
Totally delightful in any case and an achievement. So very odd, I'd never heard the word 'form' in the context of hares until yesterday when my favourite band Leveret announced their new CD - to be called Forms. And here you are talking about forms 😀 https://leveretband.com/music-shop
@boxplayer How funny. But I have found that with 'new' words - once you hear them, they crop up more often that you think! Love the link to your fav band. Interesting, and I love their name and the name of the new album, of course.
The hare looks great among the rocks. Love this capture.
Issi, we watched a movie called "Edie" last night & all the way through the movie I was thinking of you & your stunning mountains.
The hares are cleverer than humans that’s for sure! I was only saying the other day that I haven’t seen a hare for ages ……could be the fact that we aren’t surrounded by fields now I expect. I think you got a great shot of this fast moving hare.
Clever twist on "still life" and great shot! We've had speakers at photo club who confess to staying in one spot for hours days on end to get birds and critters to become accustomed to them. It surely pays off but I don't have the patience for it.
Issi, we watched a movie called "Edie" last night & all the way through the movie I was thinking of you & your stunning mountains.