Practice picture

One of my favourite practice pics so far. Hopefully I will be able to get more like this during 2014.

The Rules

Ok a couple of simple rules that I will abide by:
1. All the birds must be wild - no birds that are in collections etc will count
2. The birds in the pictures must be clearly identifiable, ideally taking up a large percentage of the frame. Distant blurry record shots will not count.

The 2014 Photography Challenge

As I am new to this bird photography lark I think it is safe to say that I have a long way to go and a lot to learn. As with anything practice is helping me improve. To help motivate myself (and because I am stupidly competitive - even with myself!) I have set myself a challenge. I am aiming to photograph 150 different wild birds during the year 2014. Now whilst some people will probably be able to do this easily for me it will be quite a challenge. Firstly I have only seen 167 different birds in total during my life - clearly to get to photograph 150 means seeing a very large percentage of those I have already seen or seeing a large number of new birds (and on top of seeing them I will need to photograph them also). Secondly I have a family and work commitments (and football commitments!) meaning that even if a rare bird is seen and reported nearby it is very unlikely I can drop everything to go and photograph it. In general I need to plan my birdwatching trips a week or so in advance meaning that reacting to specific sightings is normally not an option. This year I think I have averaged about 2-3 birdwatching trips a month.

The challenge will start on Jan 1st 2014. Between now and then I will be practicing, trying to plan where I can go and setting myself some rules. Wish me luck!

About This Blog

My eldest son (now 13) announced earlier this year that he would like to be a wildlife photographer when he is older. This seemed like a good father son activity so I have been doing a lot of photography with him and have now got rather addicted to it! The aim of this blog is to record the progress I make with this new hobby. I am very much a beginner at the moment so hopefully as the blog goes along the quality of photos will improve. I will also be setting myself a challenge for 2014 but more of that later!

We are also both Brighton and Hove Albion season ticket holders - hence the Blog title.