Washington Gallery

A very interesting day.

We went to Penarth this afternoon to an exhibition of Andy Rouse wildlife photography.

It was fascinating and very inspiring to hear him speak with a passion on his love of wildlife. What really struck a chord was the fact he describes himself as a wildlife watcher first and a bad photographer second. He is uninterested in the technical side of photography, just simply sees himself as someone who knows how to get a photograph of what he was seeing. That, in a nutshell, is what I do.

I am now at the stage where I can almost instinctively set the camera up to how I want a photo look, but I have little understanding in the mechanics of it. The fact that it is instinctive means I can appreciate much more what I am actually looking at, rather than worrying about f stops and shutter speeds. The day I photographed the Chinese Water Deer the best example of that. I can see them in my minds eye first, through the zoomed camera lens second.

Andy Rouse demonstrated this by replying when asked that he had no idea what the camera was set at for a particular photograph.

He also had boundless enthusiasm and a very confident and unique way of presenting himself.

He certainly inspired me to try to improve my photographs next year when I upgrade my kit, and try and make a career out of it.