More FlickR

Fallow Deer Stags fighting - Bradgate Park

This is getting like a stuck record I know but anyway - Flickr. It is getting a bit of an obsession at the moment. As I write this I am just about to go over the 7000 hits barrier - nothing at all unusual about this apart from it took me 2 years to get to 6000 hits and just over a week to add another 1000 hits. So why the improvement? Well there is no special recipe other than spending a lot more time working with FlickR. I had done some research on how to improve the hits and they all came back with much the same answer - get your photographs out onto as many groups as possible and keep posting comments on other people's photographs. On the whole this has worked but it does have a down side. You do become more and more obsessed with pushing the numbers up that if you are not careful you can forget the whole purpose is make photographs for yourself not Flickr.

So where to go from here? Well one of the things I have found out is that there is a significant difference in the photography in the colder northern hemisphere compared to the sunny and warm tropical area. Well der you may think and you would be true but Flickr does allow you access to photographs that would never see the light of day, if you pardon the pun, in any other way. I have been particularly struck by the work of Rubbia, not just for the work as such but the quality of light. According to her Flickr profile she works in and around Rio de Janeiro and her photographs are full of a wonderful light that we just do get. It has a depth and warmth that is just not available here even on the hottest days. This is a real joy to experience and something I would not have done under normal circumstances.

Now I hope to get off the topic of Flickr. I am working on a guide to the rut at Bradgate park which hopefully I will publish on the blog in the next few days

Flickr oh Flickr...

Stag and Old John - Bradgate Park.

Well what an interesting day I have had working on my photographs and trying to increase the number of hits I have been getting for my photographs on Flickr. To an extent I have achieve this. As I write this I have had over 119 hits - an all time record. So who have I managed to increase the number of hits? Well the only way to do this would appear to be to spend a lot of time in the Flickr domain, publishing your photographs to numerous groups, commenting on other photographs by other people and slowly but surely you get responses. Of course it also helps to have a strong photograph or two but really that is not the best way. There would appear to be no substitute for networking. Get your work noticed and then people will respond - just as in real life.

So what do I think about Flickr now? Well I am not too sure as to its long term viability for myself. Yes it does get your work out there and yes probably a lot more people will see it but there is a snag. You don't develop as a photographer. All you do is get your work buried in a huge pile of photographs which, if I had taken them, would never have seen the light of day let alone published for all the world to see. Don't get me wrong there are some unbelievable photographs on Flickr - photographs I can only wish to be able to take. But these are the exception and so are very difficult to find unless you know where to look - which is a skill I am slowly acquiring.

I suppose, in the end, it is what do you want to get out of Flickr - if it is an education in photography then you will be disappointed. If you want to have a brief glimpse at some amazing photographs then Flickr does deliver - but you have to work at it. If, however, you want to get some gratification for your work from total strangers from all over the world and you enjoy social networking then Flickr really delivers. I'm just not sure if this is what I want.

Red Deer Stag....

Red Deer Stag - Bradgate Park

You know it is very strange but watching the rut this morning I just can empathise with the red deer stag. All he wants to do is have sex with as many women as possible. His whole life is tired up with that. he will drive away any challenger, unless he is too strong and even then he may fight. He has a simple need and he will do anything ac hieve it. He even puts on scent to try and impress the females; he shows off and tries to demonstrate just how sexy he is. Well this sounds like an average Friday or Saturday night in many town centre throughout the country. It is also something that deep down any man, who is interested in females, has done sometime in their life - I certainly know I have. And like many forays into the mating game it usually ends with frustration and disappointment as the bigger and better looking male comes along and takes your girl away. Many is the long lonely walk home we have all taken.

And as for the females - what do they do? Well they control the whole process. They select the males and then lead them a merry dance, always on the look out for the next best thing to come along. So while the stag is trying to ward off some interloper his prizes just move off leaving him look stupid. Well stupidity would seem to be part of the mating game.

This stage might look a might beast but in truth he was all noise and no trousers as he soon ran once the real alpha male showed up. He quickly made his escape with as much pride as he could muster. This make have something to do with the bad cut he has just below the eye caused by an antler - perhaps from the alpha male who chased him off.

So what does this say? Well first of all we mammals go in for some of the same mating rituals and that sex is a real power in our lives. Secondly, to really understand the rut you have to watch the females. They hold all the cards and are very selective who they are impressed by. Strange what you think about when watching the rut - you need to if you are going to get some interesting photographs - however having watched the antics of the other photographers around Bradgate Park I am not sure. Perhaps I am going about this the wrong way - perhaps I should stand on the road and not try to understand the animal I am trying to photograph. Maybe not!

Busy day at the office...

It was almost like a film première. The photographers were out in their droves, long lenses straining for the next photo opportunity. Only it wasn't that it was Bradgate Park on a bright, fresh October morning. There must have been at least 20 photographers in the park all straining to get that one illusive photograph - only they weren't. It would seem that not only do deer herd but so do photographers. I asked one of the number whether they were from a camera club but apparently not. However, this didn't stop them congregating together. At one stage I thought it would spoil the morning but it didn't. I later spoke to one of the park wardens and he said that last Sunday a number of photographers entered the out of bounds area - a really silly thing to do and not obaying the code of practice for nature photographers.

I could continue picking faults with the morning but with my local knowledge and some understanding of deer behaviour I was able to find good sites and get some good shots. I just wonder what most of the other photographs were like? A ho.

Try again...

Well I was sort of right and sort of wrong about today. It was nice when I got up and then I realised that Snettersham is 70 miles east of me - where the weather wasn't as good. Whether this would have made the trip a wash out we will never know. Anyway, I'm going to try again tomorrow - this time deer hunting in Bradgate Park. At least the weather looks more promising.

Another early rise....

Red Deer Stag at Dawn - Bradgate Park

It was dark when I got into Bradgate Park this morning. You could just make out murky figures moving in the gloom - these were mainly fallow deer although there was a rather large red deer stag nearby who you could smell but hardly see. However, you could hear him when he started to bellow - this always brings a chill to me when I hear it. Autumn has really arrived.

I had spent the previous day looking after my wife who had broken her arm. However, as I was getting up early she would still be in bed for most of the time so I didn't feel too bad leaving her at home. This makes Mandy sound like an invalid, which she is not, but she does need my help from time to time

After this promising start the whole session became a real disappointment. The light was nice but there really wasn't anything interesting to photograph. Still it is still early and there is only one thing you can do in these circumstances - persevere - so I will be getting up early for the next month or so. Now what we need are some nice frosts to help matters.

My most popular photograph to date...

Red Deer - Cervus elaphus - Stag calling, originally uploaded by Guthlac.

To date this is the most popular photograph I have posted on Flickr There are many reasons for this - not least of which it is one of the first I ever posted!

A bit of a set back...

Bradgate Park

Well I will have to make do with being short listed for the British Wildlife Awards. This in itself is good but it always leaves you with the nagging question - why was I not selected for the exhibition? This is where competitions are really really bad. You have no idea why you were not chosen apart from the usual banal '...very high standard...hard choice...' and so on. Now I know it would be impossible to provide feedback of any value. An example of worthless feedback is the card that Practical Photography sends out with rejected photographs. This card has a number of boxes outlining the reason for rejection -none of which really provides any real feedback and you just get the feeling that some office junior has been given the task of ticking the box.

This is not a complaint about the whole process as I know it would be impossible for the organiser to provide such a service - indeed this is not the purpose of the competition. I am also very aware that the whole process beyond a certain level is pot luck and whether you are selected or not is very much a marginal call. In the end the only feedback that you can get is to compare your photographs to the winning photographs. This again is next to pointless as you end being like the definition of a bad general - always fighting the last war not the next one. Are well back to the drawing board.

The first results...

I have finished making the first few photographs from this morning's shoot and the results are encouraging. I am a little rusty and many of the images weren't framed correctly, leaving me with many deer with their legs chopped off! Not a significant problem and easily remedied. On the whole a good first monring's work - nothing special but nice to ease myself back into the game. Lets hope that this year's weather will be much better than last year.

Tired but happy...

So 4.30 in the minoring wasn't so bad...well sort of. As usual being out at dawn is such an uplifting thing - especially on sunny summer morning. The deer didn't disappointed and I had the herd to myself for over an hour. The usual pattern of behaviour. Just set up and sit and wait for the herd to relax and return to their morning foraging. I usually find a tussock of grass to sit on let the world revolve at its own pass. You have to be use to the smell of deer dung and wet bums if you want to work with the red deer. This is usually a small price to pay to be amongst such large animals.

As the herd settles it is the young that are the most curious - especially the young males. Today was no exception. In deed it is wonderful to watch them testing how close they dare come to this man who is just sitting there. Of course this is a herd of deer who are used to people, indeed to being photographed. You certainly couldn't do this with a truly wild herd but I wouldn't want to. This is my herd - I feel I know them just a little bit as I have spent time with them every autumn for the last 5 years.

So what of the photographs? I haven't got a clue at the moment. They looked okay in camera but that doesn't really tell you anything so I have to wait for them to upload and then start to work on them. Hopefully by the end of the day I may be able to post an example of the shoot. Fun day ahead.

Early Start...

It is getting to that time of year. The rut is on. Well that is not true the rut will not start for at lest another 6 weeks or so but I always like to pay a few early visits to Bradgate Park to see how things are devleoping. So it is an early start tomorrow - this is for two reasons:

First the light is the best and second for an hour or so there are no dogs or people in the park. Well the deer are not too bothered about the people but dogs are a different question - they will quickly disappear into the out of bound section of the park when there are dogs around. So it is an early day tomorrow which I am looking forward to - this will make a nice change of pace to making photographs of gardens and plants. Change is as good as a rest.