Got It!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him.

So, not long after the previous post, I bought a new lens. The holy grail. A 70-200mm f2.8. Granted this isn’t the Nikon varient (What? I’m not made of money!), it is the Sigma Sport version, which honestly, is better for me anyway.

Now where does this come into me capturing the shot? Well, as you do when you get a new lens, you need to test it out. So I took the lens to my new squirrel hunting spot on my lunch break and day 1 of this new lens, I captured this shot.

It’s so close to my specification I almost called it a day then and there and accepted it as it was. But the perfectionist in me said “No you bloody don’t! He’s not eating a nut and that’s barely any leaves!”

I hate to admit it but my inner demon was right. It was so close but not quite right. I could do better.

So the next two lunches I spent walking around the rest of the park to find a better spot. It turns out the park was a little bigger than I thought and these squirrels were EVERYWHERE. That’s when I saw it. The spot. It was next to a tree that was creating a lovely little shelter and had light streaming through the branches. It created a really nice light trail that I had to use.

So the next lunchtime, I went to get some nut to entice my furry little critters to stand exactly where I needed them. I set up shop directly opposite the tree on a bench that was conveniently placed and set a pile of nuts down in one spot. Within minutes I had 7 squirrels surrounding me. Game time.

The shots from here were ok but it was a little too dark and the squirrels kept turning their backs to eat the nuts. I was losing time and hope. Then the sun broke through the clouds and a light trail landed amongst a pile of yellow leaves. It was almost like a divine intervention light, showing me the way (if I believed in that). I quickly pushed some of the leaves together to create a nice little pit and placed a handful of nuts down.

Whilst I was doing all this, I hadn’t noticed the most adorable little squirrel on the bench where my equipment was. He wasn’t like the other squirrels. Most of them were all grey and nothing to make them stand out but this one had strong red patches over him and I LOVED him. His name is Conker and he’s my buddy.

Anyway, when I saw him I knew the shot had to be of him, so I shooed the others away and threw the nuts further away so I could get Conker into the spot. It took a few minutes to entice him over but when he got there, this is the shot I got.

WE DID IT.

ISN’T HE PERFECT!?

So there it is, exactly as I wanted. The specification was to capture a squirrel eating a nut amongst autumn leaves. So I think I caught that perfectly.

Now onto the next project. This one is to capture a Stag looking at the camera. Not nearly as descriptive but my mum wanted a shot of a stag so who am I to say no?

After that I have a project that may take YEARS to take. One that is worthy of being a project. One that will take me out of comfort zone and push my boundaries. It excites me and scares me at the same time. I’ll explain more in due course.