Butterflies & Dragonflies

Venues: Surrey & Sussex

Dates: Dragonflies Thu 7 June 2012 & Butterflies Wed 13 June 2012

Duration: 9am - 3pm

Places: 8

Cost £99.99

 

The total number of breeding butterfly and dragonfly species that can be found in Britain is relatively small if we compare them to subjects like birds or wildflowers. Note that I include damselflies when using the term dragonflies. 

Disregarding accidentals and rare vagrants there are less than 60 species of butterflies and less than 40 dragonflies so it is possible, in theory, to photograph every one of them in a single year - yeah right ! Well maybe that would be a bit optimistic however, unless you were really unlucky, with a bit of effort it is something you could certainly achieve in two years.

You would need to do a lot of research to find out where the best breeding sites are located. In my opinion the quickest route would be to join both the butterfly and dragonfly national societies where members are privy to information and sites especially concerning the rarer species. Then join your county group and go out on the weekend field trips that they will be running throughout the year. The latter will give you all your local sites plus you will learn a great deal about the subjects in general.

So if you are new to nature photography this could be a good genre in which to start. One of the really nice aspects about photographing these beautiful insects is that the photography takes place during the most pleasant months of the year and normally in nice weather. Secondly you don’t need a great deal of equipment so, if weight or finance is a problem, this really could be the ideal starting place for you.
What you need next is to learn how to photograph them. They are very easy to photograph badly, not so easy to photograph well. How do you do that? Well you could start off photographing them badly and hope to get better sometime in the distant future or you could attend my workshops and immediately start off photographing them correctly.

Want to know how to get the butterfly to settle on a specific flower or a dragonfly alight on a photogenic perch that you set up? Well I guarantee you will and I will show you how if you decide to join me on these workshops.

 

 

 

You will see that these workshops are held on consecutive days and at each location we will actually find both butterflies and dragonflies. However the habitats are totally different, one being woodland and the other heathland, and that increases the varieties of both species for anyone choosing to do both days. Secondly the woodland is biased towards butterflies and the heathland is predominately dragonflies (probably the best in the UK) and so if you want to specifically photograph dragonflies just go on the heathland day and vice-versa.

Interested?

 

Then I advise you to book soon as possible as both days are usually oversubscribed. Remember if you have already been on the “Beyond Basics” course you have priority booking and a £10 discount available on both days.

One to One Workshops

If you would prefer to have a 6 hour 1-1 workshop on either subject the cost is £150 per day plus £20 travelling expenses to the dragonfly specific location. To do both would cost £300 and that includes my travel expenses