Some background

We moved to France from the UK in July 2019 it was something we had always wanted to do and we wanted to escape before Brexit took affect. The area we chose is in the Haute Vienne, about midway down France about 70km north of Limoge. Along with the house we aquired some land, about 1Ha of rough pasture which I divided into two parts, one I use as summer grazing for Pru our donkey, the other half I leave wild for plants and insects during the summer and open it for winter grazing when we need it. Allowing Pru to graze the meadow allows the natural spread of seeds pre mixed with fertiliser.

The meadow is my outdoor studio and much of my nature photography is done there, in the summer I concentrate on invertebrates and plants, in the winter I spend my time photographing birds. This area of France is mainly forested with lots of lakes and several large rivers giving access to lots of alternative sites when I want to venture out.

As you can see from my main website gcdphotography.fr I do not only do nature photography, but wildlife and nature have always been a passion. I studied Biology at university and have been taking photographs for over 50 years, I worked as a photography technician when I left school but I actually had my first camera when I was in my early teens and helped my dad process prints in the kitchen even before that.

These days I work with Digital (Nikon) and process my images on a Mac, but the principles are the same as when i worked with film in the darkroom, you still need an understanding of how the camera works with various lenses, and an appreciation of the rules of composition and of light. With nature you also need some fieldcraft skills and an understanding of the animals you are photographing, their habits, food sources etc, this comes with practice and good observational skills. Unlike most other genre of photography a good chair, flasks of coffe anf a lot of cammoflage gear are also very useful..

I hope in this blog to explain how I work, share experiences and to pass on knowledge to help others to get more out of their own work. I also welcome feedback to help me improve my work. But mainy I just want to enjoy myself.