I’ve always taken photos when I’ve travelled, but they have tended to be of the point and click variety, taken as memories for me.  Coming to the Falklands I knew that I would want to try and capture the incredible richness of the marine wildlife and the vastness of the landscape. Once I’d been here for 6 months I took the plunge and bought a mirrorless DSLR camera (Olympus) and a big zoom lens for it, and this Christmas I invested in a wide angle lens. It’s still very much a work in progress, but I feel like I’m starting to get there.

What I’ve learnt so far is:

• Go out as often as possible in the summer, to local beachs as well as to wildlife hotspots
• Always take all my lens – I’m sure to want the one I left behind
• Take lots and lots and lots of photos
• Going out at dawn and or sunset is best as the birds and animals are most active then and the light quality is at its best – but dawn at the moment is very early so it takes some doing!
• Be brave and come off automatic settings, although that does lead to some terrible fails, but I am learning by doing it
• Edit my photos as soon as I can – preferably the same day – otherwise they sit on the camera for too long and I do nothing with them
• Use the amazing resources online to study what other people are doing and try out new ideas
• Repeat!

I do feel like there are signs of progress though and I am very happy with the images I took at Yorke Bay recently, when I did get there before sunrise (5:15am) and the birdlife was in fine form.

In sequence – the birds are gentoo penguins, king penguins, 11 are kelp gulls, 12 is a dolphin gull, 14 and 15 are of steamer ducks, 16 is a magellanic oystercatcher.