James Shooter is a young photographer and conservationist who came to our attention through the A Focus on Nature project. We were so impressed we gave him a job! A month in James tells us what he’s been up to. Over to you James…
My first month at Northshots has been interesting to say the least. I’ve become a joiner, a painter, a weatherman, a hit-it-with-a-hammer man. I’ve fallen in a river, fallen down a bank, fallen over a dog. I’ve been stared at, charged at and licked by highland cows. I’ve experienced every type of precipitation and quickly come to the conclusion that ‘seasons’ in the Scottish Highlands are just guidelines, having experienced all four within a day. And it’s been great!
So what have I been up to pray tell? Well for the most part I’ve spent every available minute outside, whatever the weather, making sure our photography hides are up and raring to go. My trusty steed and I (the hammer) have been hitting things into perfection for over 30 days now and amazingly, everything is taking shape. One afternoon (he must have been tired), Pete even told me I was doing a great job… although it was a bit of a mumble… and it could have been a cough.
Even so, the wildlife has been playing ball and we’re having some fantastic daily visits. We have three very different set ups for red squirrels where it’s possible to capture running and leaping squirrels in our first hide, fantastic reflections in the second and a brand new location for our forest hide where natural surroundings offer great opportunities to get some photographs in pristine pine forest habitat.
Two brand spanking new hides will offer close up photography for woodland birds and crested tit, with the latter created for both front lit and back lit shots of this handsome highland specialist. Our woodpecker hide remains in a stunning little patch of birch trees that offers both portrait and environmental images and we’re currently working really hard on enticing the local buzzards in to our tower and low level hide (we’re very close to offering this to clients). We’ve even got a few more projects up our sleeves to be announced a bit further down the line (see below). If variety is the spice of life, we’re cooking up a vindaloo!
With the colder months fast approaching, now is the perfect time to join us and nail some secure some fantastic photo opportunities by joining us here in the Northshots photography hides. Just remember, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad preparation… and me and my hammer have been doing plenty of that already.
Here’s a clue as to what we’re working on right now. Watch this space!
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Hi James
Bet you didn’t think that winning the Winter Wildlife holiday last February would lead to a job offer. Well done and hope to see you up there next summer when I come to try and photograph ospreys.
Best wishes
Lee Myers
Sounds like you chaps have been busy. Guess that means I’ll have to book another tour to come and check it out………………..Oh well, there’s worse places to be!! LOL.