Metamorphosis Study

I haven't blogged for a while as I have been focusing on my university work. So I thought I would do a update and inform you as to what I am studying for my final year project. I have decided to focus on Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Butterflies, moths, beetles, flies and bees have complete metamorphosis. The young (called a larva instead of a nymph) is very different from the adults. It also usually eats different types of food.

There are four stages in the metamorphosis of butterflies and moths: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

The photographs below demonstrate the larva stage. I will be photographing all the stages throughout my project.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

The Return to Cornwall

After a long summer I have now returned to Cornwall to complete my third and final year at Falmouth University studying Marine and Natural History Photography. The summer at home made me a bit anxious for coming back to university as I have been completing side projects of my own producing motorsport videos for my brother. But after two weeks of studio shooting a Chrysalis, I decided to go on a shoot with my boyfriend for his project, and this reminded of why I am studying in Cornwall.

The experience of watching the Grey seal pup was amazing, they are so care free casually playing with seaweed on the beach. The photographs below are just a little selection of the shots that I was able to capture, they show the behaviour of the pup in there natural environment.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Light Trails

An unfortunate event of breaking down on the motorway, gave me ample time to practice my light trail photography. The hard shoulder is a perfect spot for the shots as you don't exactly have to wait ages for lighting. The photographs are not the best quality as I had no tripod and didn't want to get to close, but it kept me entertained while I waited for recovery.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Heritage Restored

Haigh Hall windmill is the only remaining windmill in Greater Manchester. It’s a historic wind pump and a familiar landmark near Haigh Hall country Park. Built in 1845, Haigh’s historic windmill was originally used to pump water from two ponds to the reservoir at Haigh Brewery. It has been disused for decades but is an iconic building that is a valued part of the rural scene in Haigh. 

The restoration project included repairing the damaged brickwork and replacing the broken and missing sail, this will then conserved the windmill for future generations. Below are some photographs which I took of the restored building.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Distinctive colours

The peafowl bird species includes male peacocks and female peahens. You will only find the colorful peafowl feathers on the male peacocks, with peahens exhibiting more muted colors in their feathers. Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as part of courtship, the colours within the plumage are striking. Unfortunately only one of the peacocks displayed there plumage and had quite a few of his feathers missing.

My favourite peacock has to be the shown shown below, I have never seen a peafowl which has the blue and white feathers.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

People's Choice

After placing in the Top 65 of the Snowden Mining Competition the entries have now been selected for the People's Choice Award, this is judged by the public voting online. After looking at other entries I have noticed that there are only 5 submissions that are photographed underground and two from the U.K. Please vote if you like my photograph, the link below will take you through to voting.

http://www.snowdengroup.com/PeoplesChoiceEntry.asp?CID=137&BID=612&pID=3000

The Blue Lagoon

West Pennine Moors has a number of landmarks that I will visit in the weeks to come. Recently I went to The Blue Lagoon, this is what it is named locally as, but it used to be called Ward's Reservoir and supplied water for the industrial mills nearby.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Montage

After going through my old Art Foundation sketchbooks, I found a few montages which I produced for one of my projects. They were created by piecing individual parts of different photographs and  aligning them together perfectly. However this time I have used a collection of whole photographs from my Formby shoot to create different montages.

 

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Coastal Changes

Formby beach is an area which I visit often, on my visit last week the National Trust were giving out information on how the coastline is changing. I have researched the situation and found a report which has predicted the evolution of Formby coastline, called Coastal Defense produced by the Sefton Council. These predictions consider the effects of possible sea level rise in response to climatic changes. The diagram below predicts the changes in the future.

My photography below shows the environments which will be lost if the predictions are correct. The coastal path walks through the sand dunes will be lost, along with a number of habitats.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

West Pennine Moors

The West Pennine Moors cover an area of approximately 90 square miles of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. The West Pennine Moors lie to the west of the main Pennine range. The moorland includes Withnell, Anglezarke and Rivington Moors in the extreme west, Darwen and Turton Moors, Oswaldtwistle Moors and Holcombe Moors. I recently visited the highest point which is at winter hill as I traveled up the hill I documented my journey as I went.

The first photograph shows the view from the pigeon tower which is situated on Rivington moor. I took a lot of photographs of this tower because of the unique architectural structure.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Snowden Mining Company

2011 Snowden Photography Competition ‘Celebrating the Mining Industry’ was created to reflect the mining industry as it is today. It provides a unique opportunity to capture the diversity and beauty of the work.  This years submissions have grown over 1000 and I have managed to place in the top 65, my work will be displayed in the exhibition held. Unfortunately the exhibition are held in both Australia and South Africa. The images chosen in shown below:

Renowned landscape photographer, Richard Woldendorp, was leading the judging panel. This is a great honour for my work to have been chosen as his work is incredible, if only I had the finances to experiment with aerial photography.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

National Geographic

National Geographic is one the largest non-profit institutions for science and education in the world. The institute covers the interests of geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation. Whilst searching the social network facebook I noticed a post made by the official National Geographic Society, linking a post to there website. I then realised my photograph had been used for 'Travel Photo of the Week'. This is a great privilege however I would have liked to have been informed by the company that they had used it. The photograph used is displayed below and the link.

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/photo-of-the-week/?source=link_fb20110726tpow-cornwallengland

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org 

Hide Views

Martin Mere Nature reserve is brought to us by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust who are a leading conservation group saving wetlands for wildlife and people across the world. The nature reserve is thriving with bird life therefore a variety of hides have been situated around the wetlands. Below I have photographed the landscape which can be viewed from the hides.

 www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Flatbed Backgrounds

By the end of the summer I would like to have my own personal photography website up and running. I am currently trying to produce my backgrounds, I prefer clean simplistic design. However I don't want to have one block coloured background. Therefore this brought me to flatbed scanning, by using this technique it has allowed me to have a clean white background with a natural form bringing more interest. Here are a few examples which I have produce any feedback would be helpful.

Camouflage

Sitting amongst the white flowers is a well camouflaged Crab Spider, they are usually found on flowers which match their body colours. This then allows the Spider to catch the insects which land to feed on the plant.

North Predannack Downs

North Predannack Downs Nature Reserve is the only location in Cornwall that I have visited which inhabits an abundance of spiders. The ground is covered with the Purse-web Spider silken tubes, they create these tubes that lie on the ground like a finger of a glove to catch prey e.g. insects which walk over the web. There seem to be a variety of species of spiders within the Cornish heathland including the Garden Spider and a colony of spiderlings.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Seals on the surface

On recent trips to the coast I have been met with Grey Seals, these inquisitive animals were happy to be photographed around the areas where I was situated. The most inquisitive seal was a juvenile, the behaviour was interesting to observe, the photographs before illustrate the juvenile Grey Seal.

For more information about Grey seals visit this blog- http://cornwallseals.blogspot.com/

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org 

Macro within a Heathland

As we approach the summer months the Cornish heathlands are full of interesting insects to photograph. The Common Blue  Polyommatus icarus butterflies are out in abundance feeding on the variety of nectar sources which the heathland provides.

Another butterfly which is wide spread in these areas are the Small Skipper's Thymelicus sylvestris butterflies found within the tall grasses. I was able to capture a pair of Skipper's mating whilst resting in the coastal downland areas.

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org

Hidden Beauty

In the last decade Cornwall has emerged as one of the world’s iconic destinations. Cornwall is made up of a range of picturesque landscapes which has been appreciated in photography for a while. From the dramatic coastline of the north to the sheltered bays in the south, from ancient moorland to soft river estuaries.

Perranuthnoe

However it has deeper importance, twenty-seven per cent of the County is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a further 24% as Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV). The landscape is formed from a combination of climate, geology, natural features and human activity.

Nanjizal Cove

I have chosen to photograph the hidden beauty of Cornwall which are on the coastal footpaths or a tourist place but are not heavily populated when visited so they still have a sense of calm being a distinctive portrayal of Cornwall. I will focus on this idea as continue to shoot whilst I am still on Cornwall for my university term.

Perranuthnoe

www.naturalhistoryphoto.org 

Beneath Cornwall

Rosevale Mine is the final mine which I had the opportunity to explore for a university project, this enabled me to gather a collection of photographs that illustrate the workings of the Mining Industry underground. It is the only underground mine restoration project of its type in Cornwall and, as such, forms a unique and important part of the county’s mining heritage. It is equipped as a working mine, but also contains a wide variety of mining machinery, tools and relics. The restoration works have been undertaken using traditional methods and materials, whilst meeting modern Health & Safety requirements, thereby preserving the mine as an authentic and realistic example of a small nineteenth/twentieth century Cornish tin mine. The long-term objective is to maintain the mine as a heritage site and to continue to open-up some of the currently inaccessible workings.

Iron Staining on the wall of the mine.

Authentic tools used in the mine

The photographs depict my journey as I exploring through the mine starting from the level two entrance, gradually making my way up towards the level 1 entrance. The colour of the granite and clay gives rustic colours portraying the industrial atmosphere. I was able to get these photographs by using long exposures and shining my head torch onto specific areas of interest.  The colours are inspired by Andrew Brooks and Howard Waisman who I have researched.

Level 2 Tunnel