Robert Canis gave us a truly memorable presentation of some of his work at our show of the year held at Washington Community Centre once again. When we host an event like this, it is impossible to know ahead of the evening how many folk are going to attend. So the worry is firstly will we cover our costs and secondly make a profit. This year the attendance was a little disappointing, possibly because the subject matter did not attract the public?; or maybe because it was held on a Friday instead of Saturday. We shall never know.
However, all those who did attend were treated to an amazing show of Robert’s work and given in a very relaxed way with not a note in sight!, and we more than covered our costs, and thanks to the raffle, very ably run by Glenn and Paul, we have ended up with good money in the bank.
What was also quite amazing, was Robert’s memory of what Aperture or ISO used, with what lens and exposure time. At the same time, he was telling us what to do to improve our own nature photography. Things like using 'Auto ISO', focussing in Manual using ‘Live View’ and when to use these, and how to cut down ‘Noise’. Quite a lot to take in frankly.
Robert lives in North Kent and probably his most frequent visited and favourite site is the North Kent Marshes, which incidentally are very often very misty and foggy and really not the best site for a new airport - Boris! So keep off and let the wildlife flourish!
Robert’s year started off with the first signs of Spring and Nature reawakening with Snowdrops appearing first, followed up by Daffodils. We then were shown one of his hides in which he photographs birds amongst the Catkins. We saw lovely shots of Goldfinches and Long-tailed Tits and photographed from the same level as the birds, because the hide’s floor was some feet above the ground, an important point.
We then went on to see a series of images of flowers photographed in Twilight. This is a project that Robert is involved with currently and he showed us several very interesting shots which would definitely NOT be understood by camera club judges!! Most of Robert’s photography is done either very early in the morning or at dusk, when the light is at its best for nature photography, and landscapes of course.
We saw several images of Lapwings (one of Robert’s favourite subjects), Buzzards, Marsh Harriers (which involved Robert getting special permission to photograph them), Hares, Rabbits, Grey Squirrels, a field full of Orchids, plus Dragonflies and Damselflies photographed in the wet areas.
We then moved on to S E Poland which is one of the least populated areas he knows in the world where we were treated to some amazing landscapes, and of course wildlife.
Finland is a country Robert loves very much and visits often. I have been to the North where there are many different Owls, Woodpeckers, Red Squirrels, Wolves, Wolverines, Bears, Reindeer to name some of the wildlife around. There are also the Northern Lights and we were shown a large number of amazing shots of this amazing spectacle.
In the UK, the Peak District in Derbyshire is another favourite place which Robert likes to visit to photograph the landscape and of course the wildlife
During his talk, Robert showed us several hides some of which he built himself just using fallen branches for cover, and usually very cramped. He sometimes spends hours and hours in these very cramped conditions in order to get the shots he wants, certainly only for those under a certain age with loads of patience.
During the course of the evening we saw hundreds of brilliant images of a huge variety of Wildlife, a number of which I have already mentioned. But there were also Barn Owls, Squabbling Greenfinches, Sort-eared Owls, amazing shots of a fox jumping several inches vertically in the air, Hawfinches (very difficult to see let alone photograph), Golden Eagles, Capercaillies, Dippers, White-tailed Eagles, Siberian Jays and Bison just to mention a few more, but the show ended with the most amazing shots of a Great Grey Owl flying straight at the camera.
Thank you Robert for a very informative and interesting evening which thrilled everyone present.