Posted by David Sewell on January 5, 2009 at 6:10 AM
Loads and loads of recent pictures to process at the moment, but part of the reason for the backlog is that I have been scanning in some of my old 2¼” transparencies. This picture of a whimbrel and chick at nest is a case in point, and dates back to 1980. It was taken on Fetlar in Shetland.
I realise nest photography is long out of fashion, but thought I would share this one with you as it is another one of my favourite shots. It was taken using a Mamiyaflex C220 with twin 180mm sekors using Agfa CT18 film (50asa). It was a different world in those days - that is the equivalent to a 135mm lens using 35mm format. I found the nest by the classic method of setting up a hide on the moor and gradually moving it closer to where the birds were active over several days, fortunately arriving at the nest just after the eggs had hatched, but before the young had left the nest. I wouldn't do this sort of thing now, but sometimes I feel very nostalgic for those days.
Why the title? The adult bird had just returned from disposing of the egg shell, this was the first time it had located the chick by making contact calls - something I witnessed a number of times over the following days.
Posted by John Robinson on January 5, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Ah - memories David ! I too am starting to get a lot of pleasure from looking at old stuff, mainly due to the fieldcraft that went with it. and the memories . Finding the stuff, and putting the hide up was more fun than getting the actual shots in many cases.
Great.
John
Nice.... gosh I used to use a C330... actually found a box to a C220 the other day whilst having a bit of a clear out...
Posted by tony flashman on January 5, 2009 at 10:57 AM
The youngsters of today dont know what they missed out on. I have boxes of shots in the loft shot on all sorts of kit.............think I'll leave em up there!!
Posted by Liam Pauling on January 5, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Wow, lovely shot, how much of a crop is this?
"youngsters" I am 17 and I plan on using my mamiya c330 for some wildlife shots this year
Posted by David Sewell on January 5, 2009 at 5:52 PM
Thanks for the comments, guys. some of us are showing our age, me included. I do have to agree with John though, in the old days the field craft was the best part of the whole process.
Liam - I am delighted to learn that a 17 year old is using what I consider to be a "proper" camera. As for the crop, it is about 75% of the original horizontally, but I have trimmed rather more off the top. Working distance as far as I recall was 8-10 feet.
Posted by Magnus Hird on January 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Nice shot David, thanks for sharing it and the story
Posted by Brett Lewis on January 5, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Nice work David, I was interested to se what you were going to do with that transparency. Very nice NH encounter and well captured.. "Field Craft - eh!", must try that sometime..
Discussion
9 repliesI realise nest photography is long out of fashion, but thought I would share this one with you as it is another one of my favourite shots. It was taken using a Mamiyaflex C220 with twin 180mm sekors using Agfa CT18 film (50asa). It was a different world in those days - that is the equivalent to a 135mm lens using 35mm format. I found the nest by the classic method of setting up a hide on the moor and gradually moving it closer to where the birds were active over several days, fortunately arriving at the nest just after the eggs had hatched, but before the young had left the nest. I wouldn't do this sort of thing now, but sometimes I feel very nostalgic for those days.
Why the title? The adult bird had just returned from disposing of the egg shell, this was the first time it had located the chick by making contact calls - something I witnessed a number of times over the following days.
Great.
John
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
"youngsters" I am 17 and I plan on using my mamiya c330 for some wildlife shots this year
Liam - I am delighted to learn that a 17 year old is using what I consider to be a "proper" camera. As for the crop, it is about 75% of the original horizontally, but I have trimmed rather more off the top. Working distance as far as I recall was 8-10 feet.
Brett