All Good Things Come To An End
Well all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately for me, the work problem person is back from sick leave… Thankfully not as bad as before but not as good as it was recently. Oh well not long to go now and I am finished anyways, as this was only ever a temporary position. Just a shame I have not been able to do things I was meant to be doing. One of those was getting to do some bat photography as my boss is one of the top bat photographers in the UK.
When we discussed the job potential, getting to learn more about photography was part of it but its not really worked out that way. Anyways seeing as I have onot been scheduled onto survey…. I instead decide to go to site as a volunteer and then I can just get to do some bat portrait photography instead during the survey. Learning some new techniques and how to use my flashguns properly for portrait shots as it can be very tricky to get right. Bat photography is uniquely challenging because it combines extremely low light conditions with fast, unpredictable movement. Most bat species are nocturnal, meaning photographers must work at dusk or in near darkness, often pushing camera equipment to its technical limits.
This means challenges in focusing on the subject as well as lighting and other technical aspects. From an ecological perspective, bat portrait photography is always secondary to welfare and survey objectives. As a licensed bat worker, handling only occurs where it is already justified for conservation purposes, such as species identification, health assessment or biometric recording. The challenge with doing photography during these surveys, lies in working within very short timeframes, as bats are small, highly sensitive mammals that can become stressed if restrained for longer than necessary.
For work we also get to do a cool survey of a massive and historic building, fun getting to see the views from the roof. This was all hands on decks kind of survey as the building is massive. We also have some surveys near my house which is cool including this one next to a massive sunflower field. Me and Dad also headed out to do some photography locally as I am currently working on my website and getting it updated.
The weekend before I also went out with some fellow photographers from the Royal Photographic Society for a day trip to Margate. Was interesting seeing what kit others use as well as the techniques they use for the photography. Some of them were doing long exposure shots with filters which gives those fun wispy type photos of the sea. I also went to the Summer Show at the Royal Academy last month which had a lot of photography on show, all these little things helping me stay inspired and staying focused on myself and my creativity.
