The lighting was fantastic at Martin Mere, beautiful, warm, low light across the water and hundreds of swans. I took this shot as the feather detail in the light looked amazing.

This was one of the first photos I got on a day out with some friends at various bird and wildlife reserves in the North West of England. A good start to the day don’t you think? I did.

Young Chimp

Chimpanzees are probably my favourite animal. The intelligence they show is fascinating and the individual characters amongst a group are great to watch. The group of chimps at Chester Zoo are a favourite subject of mine for photography. This little chimp was getting a ride on the back of another chimp. I cropped the image in to make it more of a portrait shot, and one that I am very pleased with.

Young Elephants

I could watch elephants for ages, whether they are playing like these two or showing their intelligence by solving problems to get food. What do they think when they look back at some tall bloke with a camera pointed at them. Monochrome conversion was done in Adobe Lightroom.

Jaguar

The big cats are always impressive where ever you see them. The Jaguars at Chester Zoo can be a bit elusive when it comes to getting a good picture of them, but if you wait long enough and learn their route when they check their territory, you can get some decent shots.

Ugly

Now, I am not an expert on birds so don’t actually know what this is, but it’s definitely an ugly looking bird, trying to do what it can with a bit of preening.

Sealion, Chester Zoo

This sealion was lazing on the edge of it’s pool at Chester Zoo. It didn’t seem bothered that I was there snapping away so I made the most of it. Converted to monochrome in Adobe Lightroom.

Rhino, Chester Zoo

This character was running around it’s enclosure at Chester Zoo. With the 300mm prime I had to get the composition right by moving my feet rather than zooming in and out. The image was then converted to monochrome using Adobe Lightroom.