After receiving feedback on my photo of the poorly squirrel at Formby Point and confirming suspicions by speaking with someone at Save Our Squirrels (SoS), it appears the squirrel is actually infected with the squirrel pox virus (SQPV) that’s spreading throughout and threatening the entire UK red squirrel population.

I wasn’t aware of the problem when I took the photo and so didn’t report it, but I’ve since passed on details of my sighting to SoS. Hopefully, it will be of some use and hopefully this post will help to raise awareness of this deadly disease.

If you spot any red squirrels that look like they could be infected with SQPV, please report it as soon as possible so there’s a chance they can be treated and the risk of infection to healthy red squirrels is reduced.

It’s still early days for me and Flickr.  Whilst I can appreciate its benefits there are a few things about it that annoy me:

• Inability to quickly grab thumbnail HTML for multiple images to use on external websites such as this blog.  Currently, I’m having to visit each image individually, click through to see all available sizes, click through again in order to choose the thumbnail size and only then get access to the required HTML.  I would prefer to be able to select all of the images I’m interested in and then quickly get access to the HTML source for all images in a particular size format.
• Only being able to add images to a single group at a time and then having to confirm each one individually.  This isn’t such an issue when you’re assigning groups to a couple of images, but the process becomes laborious pretty quickly.  I would like to be able to quickly send my content to the relevant groups I’m already a member of.
• Groups that insist I post comments to X number of other images whenever I add one of my own to the group.  The process for assigning groups is already slow enough.  Don’t ask me to do more work when you’re already asking me to add my work into your group.  Seems a bit cheeky to me…

This last one, I find, is a particular pain in the ass.  Two of the reasons why I starting posting my photos to Flickr was showcase them and also to get feedback.  Groups or pools are useful in helping to find an audience, but some ask for too much, I feel.

What do you think about these points?  Do you think these are reasonable
expectations or am I expecting too much from a free service?

My wife and I took a trip to a local National Trust site called Formby Point today. It’s well known as a habitat for red squirrels so I naturally took my EOS 40D along with me. It had rained in the morning, but by midday the weather was cloudy and bright. It was a bit chilly, but that wasn’t a problem as we were just happy it wasn’t raining.

Apart from red squirrels, Formby Point also features a wide variety of wild photographic interest. The squirrels’ area is mostly wooded so you can also find a mixture of birds and plant life, but my main aim was to get some sharp, frame-filled photographs of the squirrels. The squirrels at Formby Point are known to get quite close to humans so with a little patience I was able to get some of the shots I’d wanted.

The light levels were such that I was able to get away with hand holding my Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens ISO 400-800 in order to keep noise levels to a minimum and allow the squirrel fur to be clearly seen. Most of the shots I took were at the 200mm end and around 1/200 second so subject movement was more of a risk than camera shake, but I was glad to have the 4-stop image stabilisation for the more shaded areas.

TIP: If you’re doing a similar shoot, take some squirrel food with you to encourage them to stay still long enough for you to get your shot!

Here are a selection of shots from the day:

I just recently got back from a 3-week trip to Hong Kong where I put my new Canon EOS 40D kit through its paces and took over 2,000 shots of the landscape, people, food, animals, architecture, basically anything and everything that I found interesting.

Most days consisted leaving the hotel early in the morning and then spending the day seeing the sights, eating the food, meeting the people and taking lots of photos! Whilst Hong Kong has arguably one of the best public transport systems in the world, there was also a fair bit of walking which allowed more photo opportunities, but also very achy feet!

I plan to create a more in-depth write up of what there is to take photos of in Hong Kong and how to go about it, but I thought I’d offer a little taster first.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Hong Kong is a photographer’s paradise. Not only is there so much subject matter, but it’s a very safe environment (important if you’re lugging expensive kit around) and you can shoot all day long and well into the night. You only need to search for Hong Kong on Flickr to see just what it’s got to offer a photographer.

Aside from its natural beauty, Hong Kong has a lot of financial clout, being one of the most important financial centres in the world. This allows the state to create and maintain a lot of attractions that are freely accessible. For example, A Symphony of Lights is a nightly light show that stars over 40 of the buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. The electricity bill alone is several thousand dollars for each 14-minute performance. Guinness World Records says it’s the world’s “Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show” and every night it’s watched by an audience of thousands spread across square miles.

Each of Hong Kong’s parks also makes for a unique photo experience whether candids, floral, landscape, wildlife, or architecture is your thing and you don’t have to worry about litter or debris ruining your compositions as all are well-maintained throughout the day.

Organised attractions aside, Hong Kong also offers many opportunities to capture a very rich and diverse culture. From the fishing villages along the coastlines to the busy street markets of Mong Kok, the older folk performing tai chi in the mornings to the hundreds of temples, from the bird’s eye view from public viewing galleries of the tallest buildings to the 360-degree view from Victoria Peak.

As a photographer anywhere in the world, you’ll appreciate just how much of an impact the weather can have on outdoor shooting. Given its sub-tropical climate, the best time of year to get good visibility is in November and December when it’s warm, but dry. April through to September are more humid and susceptible to tropical cyclones. High humidity can help to give a misty feel to shots and provide its own interest as subjects literally vanish into cloud, but do be careful to keep it out of your equipment.

As you can probably gather, I have nothing but high praise for Hong Kong. Just try to visit in the drier seasons unless you’re suitably equipped (waterproof), have no say in the matter or want to get some tropical shots!

It was only a week ago when I got back into the UK from a 3-week trip to Hong Kong where I shot over 2,000 photos with my new EOS 40D kit.  I’ve reviewed all of my photos, created a collection that I’d like to publish online for all to see and decided that I’d like to use Flickr as my showcase.

Oh, but how to decide on a Flickr Screen Name?

Unsurprisingly, all of my obvious choices involving my name have been taken already and I’m finding myself at a bit of a hurdle as I don’t want to upload my photos until I’ve decided upon a name!

How’s a shutter bug to decide (that’s taken too)?