Heather Angel

"I strive to capture memorable moments within the natural world - be they aspects of animal behavior or fleeting dramatic lighting. My quest to seek simple, uncluttered images within the camera, rather than to improve on nature by digital manipulation"

Heather Angel

For more than a quarter of a century, Heather has been at the forefront of wildlife photography in Britain and her work has been recognised by many awards both in Britain and overseas – including an honorary doctorate from Bath University, a special professorship from Nottingham University and a top award from the USA BioCommunications Association. Heather Angel was President of the Royal Photographic Society from 1984-86. She communicates her enthusiasm for photographing the natural world via her prodigious writing, her workshops and lectures. Her exhibition Natural Visions toured the UK from 2000 - 2004 and was also on show in Kuala Lumpur, Cairo and Beijing.

Having looked at quite a lot of natural history photographers Heather Angels work seem to catch my eye. I think her statement at the beginning of this blog is really good and is what I want to try and capture from my natural history photographs. I think trying to capture that moment in nature as you see it for me is far more important than trying to manipulate the image into what people want to see.

From looking through her images I really like the portrait images she has captured and this is something I really want to capture in my final portfolio.

The picture below taken of the kestral really appeals to me. I like the really close focus in of the head of the bird which is also something I liked from Frans Lantings work. I think the 3 main colours of the Kestral take up the same amount of space in the picture which means that one colour is not too dominant in the picture which I think makes you focus on all three colours. I also like the fact she has used a shallow depth of field to take the background out of focus but she has used a colourful background which also helps contrast with the colours of the kestral and makes it stand out even more.

The next photograph of a puffin again is one that I like. I think the close up of the face really helps this subject and makes you focus on the colours in a puffins face. Again for me the background is really good as although a shallow depth of field has been used to blur it out the fact that it is half blue sky and half green and the join of the two is at eye level. This is something I need to also focus on when taking shots as not only making sure the subject is clear but also making sure the background helps make the shot and not detract from it. I will try and get some portrait images for my final portfolio (they may not be Puffins or Kestrals though!)