Ferric Birds

On a busy weekend Alys and I popped up to Wales to see a couple of friends and for me to have a go at running in the annual Race The Train 14 mile race they hold there.

http://www.racethetrain.com/

It was a bit of a giggle, being Wales it rained obviously but it stayed warm enough and I slogged through the mud to a "not all that bad" finish time of two hours and eighteen minutes. The train itself finished in one hour and forty eight minutes so there's a bit of training to do for next year but they sent out a few trains while we were running so there was a bit of banter between the runners and trains to keep you going.

Apart from the race, we also saw Fergus and Rick who are hard at work making a series of sculptures from copper wire and mesh. There was a element of concern amongst their friends that a self-imposed exile to Snowdonia would send them both a little bit strange, and it probably has to be honest. But they have produced these incredible and amazingly life-like bird sculptures so it's more than worth it.

The two of them have already had a piece commissioned and now in place at the Manchester Eye Hospital. There are pictures somewhere in the ether and I pinched this one from Fergus' facebook page to upload here. They have a blog and website on the way but being a busy pair of welders it's not all quite up and running just yet.

The deer really are brilliant and watching their development was very interesting, to get the animal's structure and stance correct took them a very long time to perfect and it involved a lot of research, books on anatomy and even a stuffed deer's head.

This crow was finished a few weeks ago but illustrates their attention to detail, the poor thing's been stripped right back after they discovered a better way of making the feathers look realistic so it's all being done again. It's hard to see on this picture but it's all getting put back on again, starting at the back the feathers are going along with all of the little downy feathers under the wings and above the legs.

Here we have their collection of Wrens made so far, they are just a fraction bigger than life size and utterly charming! They are going to be cleaned and polished up to finish them and will look incredible once done.

The branch is all created from copper wire as well and it's brilliant to see them as a set, they all have a slightly different pose and that gives them each a little bit of personality.

A bit closer up and you can see a little bit of the construction and work that goes into even these smaller birds.

All of these pictures were taken in Wales on the Sony Alpha 700 with the Sigma 24-70 EX DG lens. The two slightly more reddish birds are due to taking the photos using a copper sheet for a reflector, it looked great at the time after a few beers but didn't help the white balance one bit.

www.edwardbryan.co.uk

I've had the chance to assist at a few weddings since the summer started and the Alpha 700 has proved very useful, and more dependable than the Alpha 200. As camera's go, they're a world apart. It's still very useful practise to assist another photographer and I'm putting the hours in, ready for my solo wedding coming at the end of this week! I'm feeling confident in the camera and have now visited the venue twice to make sure it's been scouted sufficiently!

I had a bit of time spare today and thought that I would visit the very lovely village of West Ashling near Funtington, and not all that far from Chichester to photograph some swans that have taken up residence.

http://www.westsussex.info/west-ashling.shtml

It's a black swan that's living there and it's recently had some Signets (or Swanlings, which I think is a lot cuter). The pond's very close to the road and all of the resident wild life is clearly very used to people floating about. I got mobbed by some Geese for a short while until they realised that I had no bread on me. I was surprised at how vocal the Geese were about it and even felt a tiny bit intimidated for a short while.

But, as loud as the Geese were I wasn't there for them and after getting a few shots of them squawking past I went looking for the swan. It's on Alys' commute to work so I knew it was there somewhere but was a bit worried that it might on the other side of the pond, which looks to be part of someone's garden. I had fitted a Minolta 70-210 "beercan" zoom lens to the Alpha which hasn't got the range to get the photos I wanted on the other side of the pond.

Luckily, the swan and signets had decided to have a nibble at the bank on the side of the pond closest to me, they seemed extremely used to people and I was able to get really close. The lens worked well, it's always had very good reviews and with the Sony A700 seems to peform really quickly.

This is a review of the lens, worth reading if you're interested in it.

http://reviews.ebay.ca/Maxxum-70-210mm-f-4-Telephoto-Lens-quot-The-Beercan-quot_W0QQugidZ10000000000751723

The swan and family eventually became a little bored of me taking endless photos and swam of together, the photo above shows of the red beak very well and I was trying to keep the focus on the swan rather than the signets. I'm not sure why one of the signets kept it's leg up like that but it kept it's leg on it's back the whole time.

I'm really proud of the last two photos, the picture above is framed well by the mother's neck. She was digging grass out of the bank and throwing it into the water for the signets to eat. I snapped this while she was leaning forwards. The photo below shows them all paddling off, although you can't see the beak, I'm fond of the shape that the signets are making behind the swan.