Sean Davis Photography UK

January 2024

Welcome to my first blog.

This is a short history of how I got involved in Nature & Wildlife Photography. I am originally from South Africa and now resident in the UK.

In 2015 my wife and I decided that we would visit Namibia for our anniversary, and I was excited with the prospect of being able to photography some of the most amazing landscapes, animals, places that Africa has to offer.

Namibia is one of those places that needs to be on your bucket list! Its very hot, vast, beautiful and incredible. Only 3 million inhabitants live in Namibia and covers 824,292 km2 that’s 3,6 people per km2.

Only challenge was that I just had a Nikon 70-300mm lens for my trusty Nikon D300 and this was not going to work well for the 12 day road trip we had planned. So, I decided to hire a long lens from my local camera store (Tamron 150-600mm) as it was the most reasonable option. Then, a photographic customer of mine, approached me wanting to sell his Nikon D3s and I jumped at the opportunity and the next thing I had a great camera and lens for the trip. As a novice using a long lens, it looks much easier to use than you think. I really enjoyed getting to understand the lens and camera on this incredible trip.

Here are a handle full of images from the trip.

Kori Bustard

Juvenille Gabar Goshawk

Adult Dark Chanting Goshawk

Tawny Eagle

Adult Martial Eagle

Secretarybird

Adult Cheetah

Adult and juvenille cheetah looking for breakfast

Adult and a juvenille preparing for a kill

The kill by the coalition of Cheetah

Cheetah with the Springbok meal

Juvenille Ground Squirrel

Ground Squirrel

Male spingbok sparring

Male Springbok

Springbok Harem

Feral Desert Horse

Feral Desert Horses

Juvenille Desert Zebra

Oryx

Desert Zebra

Wildebeest

Sunset

Vast nothingness

Qwiver Trees

Track to nowhere

Fish River Canyon

The camera store had a great offer on, that if I bought a Tamron 150-600 lens from them in 30 days, I could claim back the rental fee against the purchase and so my journey with long lenses began. My photography has evolved over the years and that all came from talking to an old acquaintance Jay, one day, about the new lens and camera setup I had and that I wanted to learn more about photography.

Jay Van Rensburg is an award-winning photographer and runs several photographic businesses including the Wildlife Photographic College. I clearly remember our first bird outing together when we went out one very cold morning (-4°c) to a bird sanctuary to show me what bird photography offered. That morning changed the way I saw the world and was the start to my journey to capture and share wildlife images and my techniques with you. I have left a link to his Facebook & Instagram – Jay van Rensburg – Jaywildpix

I have travelled to many destinations across Africa with Jay over the years and what I have learnt is that it’s not about what equipment you have but rather about your passion and understanding for photography that matters. Get to know your equipment extremely well and learn to use what you have first.

Yes, for wildlife and bird photography the right equipment helps a lot, but as you get better at your craft and you evolve as a photographer, so you will upgrade your equipment. Remember a better camera or lens is not going to make you a better photographer! It’s the ability to capture an inspiring image that will make you a better photographer. The camera is just tool to help you become better at your kraft.

For me Nature and Wildlife photography has created many great friendships, like Jay, over the years and the key is that we all share our experiences and how we do things, with each other. It’s great to be able to bounce a question off your friends and get a friendly answer back.

You will meet some of these photographers that have inspired me in future blogs.

Photography allows us to capture today's experiences and turn them into tomorrow's memories !

April 2024

Its already the start of spring.

How time flies! We are already seeing signs of the change of season as I have seen the Snow Drops out in bloom followed by the Wild Daffodils and now the Tulips and the carpets of Bluebells have started. Even though it’s been a very wet start to the year hopefully we will get a break in the weather and see some sunshine. The Cherry Blossoms and other flowering trees are out in bloom and look magnificent.

I have been busy with finding new locations to photograph and been travelling around the countryside. I am so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of England as I am an hour from the Lake District, and hour from Yorkshire Dales, an hour a half from the Yorkshire Moors.

The coastline is also very close by, and I am excited as the sea birds are starting to make their return to land to breed. Yes, the Puffins, Razorbills and other sea birds are all back.

I am excited about hosting two workshops in May to Cumbria for the Red Squirrels and then in June going to Bempton Cliffs for the Puffins and Razorbills.

I have had some great photographic opportunities in the past two months and with the Short-eared Owl, Buzzards, and Kestrels only a few miles from home has been wonderful. I have seen the Red Squirrels twice and visited the Lake District several times. Its good to hear that the Osprey are back and they are on my list of birds to photograph in the next few months.

We have gone through the lambing season with lots of lambs in the fields. It wonderful to wake up in the morning jump on my bike and within 200 yards I am greeted by lots lambs running in the fields. I stopped outside a farm gate where I met a farmer and asked if I could take some photographs of the day-old lambs. It was a great experience.

I have been on many walks around the area where I live, and I was pleasantly surprised that the Tolkien Trail is close by. It’s a small world as back in South Africa I stayed at a Boutique Hotel in Bloemfontein that was the birthplace of JRR Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings) and then now I live next to the Tolkien Trail in England the area where the beautiful scenic landscape inspired Tolkien with his writing.

So, here’s to the start of Spring and longer days of daylight and many photograpic oppurtunities.

Photography allows us to capture today's experiences and turn them into tomorrow's memories !

Tolkien Trail

Cromwell Bridge

Tolkien Trail

Sand Martins

Lambs

Lamb

Hedwick

Blue Bells

Crab Apple

Daffodils

Gisburn

Blea Tarn

Lake District

Blambling

Sparrow Hawk

Kestrel

Bull Finch

Curlew

SEO

Buzzards

Red Squirrel

Redpoll

Wet Robin

Spotted Woodpecker

June 2024

It’s almost the end of June and summer is starting to make an appearance. It is wonderful to have the long evenings as we get more hours to photograph. We all experienced the amazing Northern lights earlier this month in many parts of the world and what a show we witnessed. Nature is truly amazing.

I have been out and about scouting for new areas for future workshops and also visited some of the RSPB’s not too far from me. St Aidan’s certainly is a worthwhile visiting with a large diverse mix of birds. I will go back to visit again and experience the birds in different seasons.

The Short-eared Owls have been very good this year and I have had many occasions to photograph these magnificent birds. They are so graceful in flight as they glide along but can change direction in a split second as they swoop in on their prey.

The Long eared Owls have also been out I was fortunate to capture some images of this beautiful owl.

The Osprey have been back at their nesting sites since late March and have eggs on the nest and it won’t be long before we see some chicks. They are such a powerful hunting bird and photograph well. I will hopefully have a workshop coming soon on Ospreys.

The Puffins are back at Skomer Island and at Bempton Cliffs and the Yorkshire coast. I am looking forward to hosting a Puffin workshop on the Yorkshire coast.

As I missed out on Skomer Island last year I wanted to ensure that I did not miss out again this year and so I am off there for 2 days to see the Puffins feeding on the sand-eels at the end of June along with other birds.

I am fortunate to have a woodland next door to where I live and have found that we have many birds and several animals there. The woodpecker is nesting and being kept busy by the chick who keeps on calling for more food. There are the usual woodland birds, wrens, robins, various thrushes, finches, magpies, blackbirds, blackcaps, and many others. The woodland is filled with the sounds of all the different songbirds and is amazing to listen to whilst out walking.

There have been signs that a badger has been in the woodland and speaking to some of the other residents I saw a fox early one morning whilst out walking. That’s great news and I will have to set up some trail cameras to see what I can find. I have seen the Roe deer several times and will hopefully get to photograph them.

The flowers don’t stop coming as we now have the buttercups and daisies popping up in lawns and on road verges. It’s wonderful to have seen a carpet of colour since February and this should continue until the end of summer.

I had the oppurtunity to visit Oulton Park to watch the Ferrari challenge and what a great track. Alos experienced Land Yachts for the first time at St Annes on the Lancashire coast.

Photography allows us to capture today's experiences and turn them into tomorrow's memories !