Welcome to my New Forest Photography website. I have lived in the New Forest for over 30 years. In addition to running a community woodland project, I am a keen amateur photographer who enjoys photographing the incredible variety of wildlife that can be found in the New Forest. I regard myself as an opportunist photographer rather than a specialist and I just photograph what I see on walks around woodland, heath, and coastline. Sometimes I return home with pics that I’m proud of and at other times that special shot eludes me and I just end up taking my camera for a walk, but a walk in the New Forest is always special to me.
Nature photography is my favourite, particularly deer and birds, as it presents a real challenge and it can take ages to get that shot you’ve always been after. You soon learn that a degree of stealth and a lot of patience is required. There’s no substitute for a decent long lens to capture those close ups, but from a distance that doesn’t disturb.
There is an unfortunate condition with many photographers that makes them want to get that one step closer and then another until their subject is disturbed and gone. We’ve all done it but don’t fall into the trap. If you can’t get the shot from a sensible distance, forget the shot – there will be another opportunity. This is particularly relevant during the deer ruts when, unfortunately, much disturbance by photographers occurs by trying to get too close.
When photographing wildlife, I have never found the need to cover myself and camera in camouflage as if I’m on an SAS mission. Dark neutral colours are usually sufficient. At the other extreme, don’t wear brightly coloured clothing as most animals use their vision to detect movement and bright clothes are a dead give-away!
My camera of choice was a Nikon D750, which captured most of the images currently on my website, and my favourite lens is the Nikon 200/500 Zoom which is so good that I never have to use a tripod. In the 21st century, digital cameras have completely transformed photography and they just keep getting better and better. To take advantage of this, I upgraded to the Nikon D850 which boasts 45 megapixels and I’m very impressed with its performance. In order to keep up with the latest technology I have recently added a second camera to my kit – the new mirrorless Canon R5 which I’m still experimenting with at this early stage.
Also no longer required is the lengthy darkroom process which has been replaced by digital processing programs such as Adobe Photoshop which I use for post-production of the finished pic. However, there is a temptation to overuse these programs giving rise to unnatural looking colours and images, a trap I occasionally fall into!
Take a leisurely browse through my New Forest Photography galleries – I hope you enjoy them. Click on any of the gallery images to enlarge and start a slide show. I occasionally shoot video and I’ve included a few relevant to the New Forest on a separate webpage.
Follow me on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wood.collier/
For more information on the New Forest in general, check out the Real New Forest Guide.
CONTACT
For general information on my photographs, etc., please use the form below. If you would like to purchase any of my images, copies can be provided in high resolution JPEG format – prices vary.