Wonderful Wildlife Revisited
11th June 2025
Retford & District Photographic Society
PRESS RELEASE
21st February 2025
Wonderful Wildlife Revisited
After the previous week’s excellent practical night when everyone was able to get their cameras out and have a go at various aspects of flash photography, it was back to the more familiar format of a live speaker on 17th February. We were privileged to welcome Hull based Tracey Lund for her second visit to Retford. Her first visit to us with ‘Wonderful Wildlife (1)’ was exceptional. Her skill is well known in the photographic community and it was evident that members of other clubs were aware of her visit to us as a good number came to join us. We are always pleased to see visitors swell our numbers and we have plenty of room for them.
Tracey began her talk by advocating for printing out our final images. She claimed that she does not feel her work with a good shot is done until it is printed. Wildlife makes her happy and seeing her pictures in print brings back the feelings she had when she took them.
Having first had a camera as a child, she has been a photographer for 25 years and this is now her full-time job, although really, she is ‘living the dream’ taking photographs of wildlife all over the world and leading tours for others interested in these awe inspiring experiences.
Photography out of doors, far from home, and especially involving wild creatures, presents many challenges. It takes time and travel, requires patience as the intended subjects are unaware of the photographer’s timetable, and naturally the weather can also have its say.
Part 1 of the talk had been predominantly warm climate based, so this time we were promised colder scenes - appropriate for the prevailing weather here.
Our first destination was Alaska. Tracey had gone there to photograph the salmon run, when the fish swim in from the sea, up the rivers to their spawning grounds and brave the many bears eagerly awaiting their arrival to fatten up for winter.
A successful location for her tour group was beside a pool where the fish gathered in numbers to recover a little from their exertions and gather strength for the leap up a waterfall. Tracey was surprised how close they were to the bears. They were relatively safe because the bears were intent upon catching fish and ignored the photographers.
They caught sight of a mother bear bringing her two tiny cubs out from the woods to the water. The mother was unconcerned, but the cubs fled back to the woods at the unexpected sight awaiting them. Gradually the mother coaxed them out and left them on a small rock, which they were unable to leave without her help. The photographers were effectively left babysitting them while the mother went off to fish by herself. Naturally, while taking great care not to frighten the cubs, they had a wonderful time getting some unrepeatable shots.
The guides instructed the group not to approach the bears too closely, but if bears came close, they were to stay put and speak softly to them. They didn’t advise what to do when you were sitting quietly watching when a huge male wandered along and sat on the stream bank beside you! The fact that Tracey was there to tell the story seemed to prove that sitting tight and doing nothing was probably a good idea.
Tracey does not favour computer editing and keeps it to a minimum. She likes to work close to her subjects where possible and her lens of choice in a 100-400mm zoom. We saw a wonderful selection of shots of bears, including some of salmon shooting their eggs into the water to give them a chance after they had been caught. The pink colour of the eggs stood out clearly. On other occasions Tracey experimented with monochrome.
Moving on to Yellowstone National Park, the main subjects were bison. These shots suited mono as there was very little colour in the original scenes, and this technique shows greater detail.
Elk also featured in the Yellowstone shots. Tracey advised trying to photograph living subjects at their eye level. She also made a point about turning on the camera when you go out, putting it on basic settings for the day’s conditions, and not turning it off until you go indoors at the end. By way of an example, she showed a shot of an ermine in the snow which only she had got because it appeared from under the snow and vanished in an instant.
At the time of Tracey’s visit there had been heavy snow. The roads and tracks were compacted and the bison, elk and coyote were using them as it made it easier to get about. This enabled the photographers to predict where they might be and to get quite close. Putting her patience to the test, Tracey spent a long time trying to get a shot of a coyote moving. The key to this was getting it with one paw in the air, otherwise, moving or not, the still image made it seem to be standing still.
A further set of photos came from Canada. Tracey had been out on a boat to photograph orca. This proved to be a difficult exercise as they were always below her and she does not like shooting down at a subject. Some compensation was the arrival of humpback whales as well which made it difficult not to just put the camera aside and watch. It was refreshing that Tracey mentioned that on several occasions she had done just that to better experience the magnificence of the spectacle before her.
We saw two sides of the salmon run on the Canadian coast. In one inlet, the salmon had simply not arrived and emaciated looking bears hunted for food in vain. Not so far away in another inlet, the salmon were so overcrowded that they could not jump out of the pools and were dying while the bears were able to simply and effortlessly take their pick to feed - and were very plump indeed.
After the chilly start, we were treated to some more warm weather shots. The first came from India, where tigers were the main target, although there was plenty of opportunity to photograph other species, particularly birds, while waiting for them to appear. These included day time owls and spotted deer with their fawns.
The final destination was Zimanga, a reserve in South Africa, established by a photographer for photographers. Guests can go on game drives for elephant, giraffe etc. Tracey showed some silhouette shots she had taken, which worked very well. There are rhino, which have mostly been dehorned for their own protection, and a small number of lions.
The reserve now has a specialised vehicle for the drives where the photographers are at low level to achieve better angles when photographing the animals. Cheetah definitely need this lower level for successful photos. In this location, and under the direction of the guide, it is possible to get out of the vehicle to get better photos.
Zimanga has good quality accommodation and excellent overnight hides equipped with everything you could possibly want, including beds as you are in there for around 18 hours at a time. There are hides in different locations for different species and they are built down into the ground so that the camera angle is close to the ground or to the water. Here a 24-70mm lens is ideal with a 200mm being the maximum likely to be needed as you are so close to the animals.
We saw an extensive collection of superb images captured here. Tracey is diligent in waiting for the animals to turn up and her patience is rewarded. She said that a rule of the house is that people can go to the bedrooms when they wish and there is an alarm to wake them if animals arrive. If they sleep through it, those who are awake will not give up their chance of good shots to wake them.
Tracey concluded by saying that there are many hides in this country where people can go to photograph specific species. She advocated ensuring that respect for the wildlife and not disturbing them at all times. Her final shots were taken in the UK. Knowing that Tracey also has talks 3 – 5 ready to present, we shall look forward to welcoming her back to Retford in future.
PRESS RELEASE
21st February 2025
Wonderful Wildlife Revisited
After the previous week’s excellent practical night when everyone was able to get their cameras out and have a go at various aspects of flash photography, it was back to the more familiar format of a live speaker on 17th February. We were privileged to welcome Hull based Tracey Lund for her second visit to Retford. Her first visit to us with ‘Wonderful Wildlife (1)’ was exceptional. Her skill is well known in the photographic community and it was evident that members of other clubs were aware of her visit to us as a good number came to join us. We are always pleased to see visitors swell our numbers and we have plenty of room for them.
Tracey began her talk by advocating for printing out our final images. She claimed that she does not feel her work with a good shot is done until it is printed. Wildlife makes her happy and seeing her pictures in print brings back the feelings she had when she took them.
Having first had a camera as a child, she has been a photographer for 25 years and this is now her full-time job, although really, she is ‘living the dream’ taking photographs of wildlife all over the world and leading tours for others interested in these awe inspiring experiences.
Photography out of doors, far from home, and especially involving wild creatures, presents many challenges. It takes time and travel, requires patience as the intended subjects are unaware of the photographer’s timetable, and naturally the weather can also have its say.
Part 1 of the talk had been predominantly warm climate based, so this time we were promised colder scenes - appropriate for the prevailing weather here.
Our first destination was Alaska. Tracey had gone there to photograph the salmon run, when the fish swim in from the sea, up the rivers to their spawning grounds and brave the many bears eagerly awaiting their arrival to fatten up for winter.
A successful location for her tour group was beside a pool where the fish gathered in numbers to recover a little from their exertions and gather strength for the leap up a waterfall. Tracey was surprised how close they were to the bears. They were relatively safe because the bears were intent upon catching fish and ignored the photographers.
They caught sight of a mother bear bringing her two tiny cubs out from the woods to the water. The mother was unconcerned, but the cubs fled back to the woods at the unexpected sight awaiting them. Gradually the mother coaxed them out and left them on a small rock, which they were unable to leave without her help. The photographers were effectively left babysitting them while the mother went off to fish by herself. Naturally, while taking great care not to frighten the cubs, they had a wonderful time getting some unrepeatable shots.
The guides instructed the group not to approach the bears too closely, but if bears came close, they were to stay put and speak softly to them. They didn’t advise what to do when you were sitting quietly watching when a huge male wandered along and sat on the stream bank beside you! The fact that Tracey was there to tell the story seemed to prove that sitting tight and doing nothing was probably a good idea.
Tracey does not favour computer editing and keeps it to a minimum. She likes to work close to her subjects where possible and her lens of choice in a 100-400mm zoom. We saw a wonderful selection of shots of bears, including some of salmon shooting their eggs into the water to give them a chance after they had been caught. The pink colour of the eggs stood out clearly. On other occasions Tracey experimented with monochrome.
Moving on to Yellowstone National Park, the main subjects were bison. These shots suited mono as there was very little colour in the original scenes, and this technique shows greater detail.
Elk also featured in the Yellowstone shots. Tracey advised trying to photograph living subjects at their eye level. She also made a point about turning on the camera when you go out, putting it on basic settings for the day’s conditions, and not turning it off until you go indoors at the end. By way of an example, she showed a shot of an ermine in the snow which only she had got because it appeared from under the snow and vanished in an instant.
At the time of Tracey’s visit there had been heavy snow. The roads and tracks were compacted and the bison, elk and coyote were using them as it made it easier to get about. This enabled the photographers to predict where they might be and to get quite close. Putting her patience to the test, Tracey spent a long time trying to get a shot of a coyote moving. The key to this was getting it with one paw in the air, otherwise, moving or not, the still image made it seem to be standing still.
A further set of photos came from Canada. Tracey had been out on a boat to photograph orca. This proved to be a difficult exercise as they were always below her and she does not like shooting down at a subject. Some compensation was the arrival of humpback whales as well which made it difficult not to just put the camera aside and watch. It was refreshing that Tracey mentioned that on several occasions she had done just that to better experience the magnificence of the spectacle before her.
We saw two sides of the salmon run on the Canadian coast. In one inlet, the salmon had simply not arrived and emaciated looking bears hunted for food in vain. Not so far away in another inlet, the salmon were so overcrowded that they could not jump out of the pools and were dying while the bears were able to simply and effortlessly take their pick to feed - and were very plump indeed.
After the chilly start, we were treated to some more warm weather shots. The first came from India, where tigers were the main target, although there was plenty of opportunity to photograph other species, particularly birds, while waiting for them to appear. These included day time owls and spotted deer with their fawns.
The final destination was Zimanga, a reserve in South Africa, established by a photographer for photographers. Guests can go on game drives for elephant, giraffe etc. Tracey showed some silhouette shots she had taken, which worked very well. There are rhino, which have mostly been dehorned for their own protection, and a small number of lions.
The reserve now has a specialised vehicle for the drives where the photographers are at low level to achieve better angles when photographing the animals. Cheetah definitely need this lower level for successful photos. In this location, and under the direction of the guide, it is possible to get out of the vehicle to get better photos.
Zimanga has good quality accommodation and excellent overnight hides equipped with everything you could possibly want, including beds as you are in there for around 18 hours at a time. There are hides in different locations for different species and they are built down into the ground so that the camera angle is close to the ground or to the water. Here a 24-70mm lens is ideal with a 200mm being the maximum likely to be needed as you are so close to the animals.
We saw an extensive collection of superb images captured here. Tracey is diligent in waiting for the animals to turn up and her patience is rewarded. She said that a rule of the house is that people can go to the bedrooms when they wish and there is an alarm to wake them if animals arrive. If they sleep through it, those who are awake will not give up their chance of good shots to wake them.
Tracey concluded by saying that there are many hides in this country where people can go to photograph specific species. She advocated ensuring that respect for the wildlife and not disturbing them at all times. Her final shots were taken in the UK. Knowing that Tracey also has talks 3 – 5 ready to present, we shall look forward to welcoming her back to Retford in future.