Dates & Prices |
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Dates: Monday 21st October 2024 Confirmed to run
Price: £125 Places available
Price Includes: Services of the guide
Not Included: Food, drinks and any other personal items
Conservation Donation: TBC
Leader(s): Victoria Hillman
Group Size: Minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 guests plus 1 leader
Holiday Highlights
- Guidance from professional photographer & naturalist Victoria Hillman
- Small group so everyone can get the most out of the workshop & our impact on sensitive habitats is manageable
- Slow pace – spend the session in one fantastic area
- Tuition & guidance to suit all levels – including basics of macro photography, lighting, composition & more
A fun & creative wildlife & macro photography workshop with professional photographer Victoria Hillman
Workshop Guide
Victoria Hillman studied Zoology with Marine Zoology before going on to study for an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. Nature has been a passion from an early age with photography following closely behind as a way to show people what she was seeing and studying. Over the years she has developed her scientific and photographic skills specialising in macro photography championing the smaller species we have around us and the importance of responsible and ethical photography. More recently she has returned to her artwork, creating coloured pencil pieces from her own photographs and needle felted wildlife sculptures.
Victoria has been a judge for BWPA and BPOTY and is currently on the judging team for WildArtPOTY, she has contributed stills, video and articles for magazines, books and TV series including National Geographic and The BBC.
Victoria published her first book Forgotten Little Creatures in 2017 celebrating local wildlife through bringing together photography with scientific and historical facts and is now continuing the project and working on future books that will incorporate folklore and culture as well as her artwork.
If you enjoy watching and photographing smaller wildlife and flowers and want to improve or expand your photography skills and creativity, this workshop is for you! We will be exploring woodland on the Mendip Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The ground reveals the rise and fall of lead mining over 2,000 years. The Mendip Hills had rich veins of lead running just beneath the surface in seams. These seams or ‘rakes’ were dug and then reworked over generations as machinery and techniques improved. This activity has led to the industrial wasteland or gruffy ground of lumps, bumps and rock outcrops that are visible today. This woodland is also known for its abundance and variety of fungi species and we will spend the day slowly wandering the paths looking for different species and anything else we can find as well including the mosses and lichens that can be found. These workshop days will not be species specific. Instead we will spend the day out in the field looking for different fungi to photograph. The workshop is designed to be of benefit for people at any level with their photography. However, a good working knowledge of your camera equipment is important, allowing us to concentrate on finding and photographing subject, working on various skills and trying some different ideas and techniques. Photography topics we will cover Aperture wide (f2.8) allows for blurring of surrounding areas small (f9) brings more of the image into focus Light natural (daylight) artificial for different lighting options Composition backgrounds, foregrounds & surrounding areas Shutter Speed Fast shutter speed give crisp sharp images Slow shutter speed to allow for movement blurring Photographing In The Field The welfare of wildlife and habitats will always come first and we will not be moving any of the subjects or gardening around them for a better photograph Instead we will look at how to use the habitat to frame and work with our subjects We will cover some field craft skills, how and where to look for different species and how best to photograph them both for identification and more creative images What To Bring Camera(s), lenses (ideally a macro lens), compact camera also works if that is what you use and I would recommend a tripod if you have one Outdoor clothing – waterproofs, fleeces, good and sturdy outdoor shoes, it can be very chilly at that time in the morning and very wet Lunch/snacks/drink – these are not provided for this workshop Important Information Including Health & Safety Contact us now to find out more or reserve places on what we expect to be a very popular workshop!
Format of the day: Meeting point is StockHill Wood Car Park, Old Bristol Road, Priddy, Mendip, Somerset, BA5 3AS.
- Please arrive in the car park by 9:30am at the latest, Victoria will be there to meet you.
- 9:45am Short briefing about the day and start by 10am.
- Then we will head into the wood for the duration of the workshop, we can take our food with us or return to the car park for a break.
- 4pm Finish.
New holiday for so testimonials will follow later
New holiday so reports will follow later