Yesterday morning I visited Havergate Island, on a trip organised by the RSPB (http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-264829), to see the Hares that live there.
It was a good trip, and very well organised too - I'm glad I could go after not being able to photograph Hares last year.
I've photographed hares more recently in Lincolnshire (see my post on Frieston Shore from a few weeks ago), and based on that experience I took with me the longest lens I have, a D300 and a couple of teleconverters. As it turned out, this was completely the wrong set up to have. The hares on Havergate island are extremely tame, as they have no predators there. It is easy to get within even a couple of feet of them - as long as you don't make any sudden movements, they are quite happy for you to sit down next to them.
Because of this, a huge unwieldy 500mm lens was not at all what I needed, I'll know better next time though! If you are planning to go on this trip and would like to get some pictures, I recommend something like a 70-200mm lens - that's all you should need. I was not the only photographer there to have made this mistake - I counted half a dozen 300mm f2.8s, a couple of 500mm f4s and even a 600mm f4 (the poor guy, he had no chance!). Despite this, I was able to get some shots that I liked, a few of these are posted below.
The weather was also not best for photography - extremely bright, mid-day sunshine. All the images below are in black and white for this reason (the high contrast works better in B&W, I think!).
It was a good trip, and very well organised too - I'm glad I could go after not being able to photograph Hares last year.
I've photographed hares more recently in Lincolnshire (see my post on Frieston Shore from a few weeks ago), and based on that experience I took with me the longest lens I have, a D300 and a couple of teleconverters. As it turned out, this was completely the wrong set up to have. The hares on Havergate island are extremely tame, as they have no predators there. It is easy to get within even a couple of feet of them - as long as you don't make any sudden movements, they are quite happy for you to sit down next to them.
Because of this, a huge unwieldy 500mm lens was not at all what I needed, I'll know better next time though! If you are planning to go on this trip and would like to get some pictures, I recommend something like a 70-200mm lens - that's all you should need. I was not the only photographer there to have made this mistake - I counted half a dozen 300mm f2.8s, a couple of 500mm f4s and even a 600mm f4 (the poor guy, he had no chance!). Despite this, I was able to get some shots that I liked, a few of these are posted below.
The weather was also not best for photography - extremely bright, mid-day sunshine. All the images below are in black and white for this reason (the high contrast works better in B&W, I think!).
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