Baboons!

Hello everyone, wow where has the last six weeks gone?! I can't believe it's the middle of December already!

Well, things have been very busy with the pop-up shop and Christmas craft fairs but I have been slowly making my way through images taken earlier in the year and putting together my favourite images and planning for next 2015. I will be sharing some of these images with you over the next few weeks, starting today with baboons!

Baboons are not everyone's favourite animals and are often overlooked, but they make wonderful photographic subjects from the babies through to the adults, you just have to spend time in their company. I spent an afternoon with this troupe of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in the Western Cape of South Africa and the expressions and behaviours were completely captivating.

There is no doubting that proteas are one if their favourite foods, this young one was certainly tucking in!

The young ones are so much fun to watch as they eat and play

But away from all the fun and frolics of the young baboons with endless energy, the adults have some quiet time to relax and take contemplate the world. 

There is always a little time for grooming and eating

and some time to get lost in concentration, this final image I'm leaving you with is one of my favourite from the afternoon. I had such a wonderful time with this troupe and am already making plans to return in the next year or so. 

This year I have taken the time to get to know a few species rather than work with many and it has allowed me to not only learn about their lives and behaviours but also their characters and different ways to capture these. For now we are leaving the baboons behind and moving onto something somewhat smaller, but to find out what stay tuned! 

Hedgehogs & Fawns

As promised here is the post dedicated to baby hedgehogs and deer fawns. Following my return from my last trip to Romania I went to pay the lovely people down at Secret World another visit to photograph the deer fawns for them and while I was there we took some shots of some baby hedgehogs that had come in the night before. I really cannot emphasize enough the vital work they carry out at Secret World, rescuing and taking in orphaned and injured wildlife, nursing them back to health when they can and then releasing them back to their nature habitat, the wild. I feel very privileged to be able to help them out by providing them with high quality and sometimes very different images to use in their publicity and fund raising. So, here goes with an overload of cuteness, and remember if you wish to purchase any of these images a donation from every sale will go to Secret World to help feed and care for the animals, just drop me a message.

There is going to be a big Winter Wonderland fundraising auction and ball on Saturday 2nd November at the Webbington Hotel to raise money for Secret World, hosted by BBC Presenter Tom Heap with both silent and main auctions. It promises to be a fantastic night of food, entertainment and great company and I will be there so how about booking your ticket now and joining us for the night, tickets are just £38!

So please come and join us and by having a great evening you will be helping these little guys and all their friends!

Wedding & Honeymoon

Wow, what a couple of months it has been! We had the most incredible and amazing wedding, all the time, effort and work that we put into making it personal was definitely worth it and it was so wonderful to be able to share our special day with so many friends and family. Here are just a couple of photos from our day courtesy of  Thomas and Paul from Willowstone Photography, a huge thank you for capturing our day perfectly. 

 

We had a week at home to sort out work stuff and pack for what would be an incredible 2 week adventure to Borneo for our honeymoon. It was a long flight and by the time arrived in Borneo we were exhausted, we were welcomed to our first stop the Rasa Ria Hotel right on the beach and decided to just chill out and book onto a trip to see the orang-utans for the following day so all that was left was to get some sleep! The next day after breakfast we headed off to see the orang-utans in the forest, we weren't to be disappointed! After chilling out the rest of the day, we watched the most incredible sunset then had a wonderful dinner in a gazebo on the beach! 

Borneo Sunset

Orang-utan in the forest

Atlas Moth

Next stop was the Borneo Rainforest lodge, deep in the heart of the rainforest, we arrived after a short flight and 2 1/2 hour drive but wow, what a place! Paradise in the forest, just perfect and we would spent a few nights here exploring the area with our personal guide and enjoying some wonderful food! There was so much we wanted to see, but top of the hit list was the Wallace's flying frog, we saw not one but two at their nest site, not to mention many many more frogs along the way! We also saw several wild orang-utans, some otters on the river and an Atlas moth! So here are just a couple of photos from our stay at the lodge:

Wallace's flying frog

Frog silhouette

Forest lizard

 After an incredible couple of days it was time to hit the road again and head for the Myne Resort on the banks of the Kinabatangan River where we hoped to see proboscis monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, long-tailed macaques, orang-utans and maybe even the Borneo pygmy elephants and a trip to the Gomantang caves to see the spectacle of millions of bats leaving the caves at dusk and we would spend the next few days exploring the area by boat with the odd trip into the forest. A lot happened in these few days, we saw so much, too much to go into here, but there were definitely some highlights so here goes!!! 

Baby pig tailed macaque

Praying mantis in the forest

Baby long-tailed macaque waking up in the jungle

 And now for the elephants, we found them and spent and amazing hour watching them eating and playing by the banks of the river and even swimming in the river!

baby elephant

A helping push in to the river

The Eye

Elephant greeting

Playing in the river

Alas, it was time to move on again and this time to Sepilok and surrounding area to see the orang-utans, proboscis monkeys and then on to Lankayan Island for a couple of days of paradise to finish our trip around Malaysian Borneo. First stop were the proboscis monkeys, these really are funny creatures with their big noses and crazy soft grunting sounds they make, not only did we encounter these but also some silver leaf monkeys and ...... a baby get ready for some cuteness! 

Female proboscis monkey

Male proboscis monkey

Proboscis monkey in the trees

Captivating eyes

Orang-utan silhouette

Baby silver leaf monkey

A couple of shots from the island paradise of Lankayan, the restaurant and us watching the sunset with a nice glass of wine to end what was an incredible and very special two weeks.

These are of course not all the photos, so if you would like to check out more of the images then head over to my website or Facebook page where you will find all kinds of different images! It really has been the most amazing and special couple of weeks and I am looking forward to many more adventures with the most incredible and loving man in the the world, a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make these few weeks possible. 

So, what next ............. 

Well, I head out to Romania to start the Nat Geo funded research for the Transylvanian Wildlife Project, not before I've had chance to capture some blossom and flowers before I go (that will be in the next post) and for Chris, well it is time to get the athletes ready for the Olympics! Stayed tuned for another update soon. 

Hedgehogs, hedgehogs and more hedgehogs!

Hello and welcome to a dedicated post all about hedgehogs! Not many words for this post just some super adorable hedgehogs that are currently being cared for ready for release in the Spring next year. So here we go.....

And my personal favourite....

I hope you love them as much as I do, if you are interested in purchasing a print (through my website) or would like to buy any of these images for a publication of calendar please contact me with the details, 10% of sales from these images will be donated to the wildlife rescue centre that is currently caring for them to help with their up-keep. And remember  if you are having a bonfire this Saturday make sure there are no hedgehogs hibernating inside before you light it! Currently Secret World have over 100 hedgehogs they are caring for and desperately need donations, so if you can help them feed these prickly friends by donating tinned cat/kitten food and any dried biscuits please head to amazon or any online supermarkets. For more information on how you can help feed the hedgehogs through the winter visit their website Secret World or call 01278 783250. 

The Last Month or So & some very cute Dormice!

Apologies for being a bit quiet over the last month or so not sure where the time has gone, November already! Things have been busy though with a couple of photo shoots and a whole lot of computer work in preparation for a webinar that I am giving for the Manfrotto School of Xcellence called "From Spiders to Sifakas: How to Capture Unique Wildlife Images". It has been quite challenging picking different images that show different techniques and the use of both colour and black and white, but I'm there and just finishing off the text to go with it which includes some tips and tricks to help capture different images and over coming practical obstacles of working in the field. If you want to register for the webinar that is on Thursday 15th November at 4pm UK time, here is the link:

Victoria Hillman presents From Spiders to Sifakas: How to Capture Unique Wildlife Images

The webinar and wedding planning have taken up a lot of my time, but have managed a couple of trips out in between the rain and have started work on Project X, trying out different techniques and settings, the main bulk of this project will actually take place next year after winter but here is a small taster of what I have been working on.

I have been lucky enough to be asked to take some photos for Secret World Wildlife Rescue of foxes, hedgehogs and dormice and had a very enjoyable day and even had a little help from the foxes! Some of these photos are now available to purchase through my website in the Majestic Mammals with 10% of sales being donated to Secret World to help feed and care for all the animals at the centre. Below is my favourite foxy moment from the day taken from very low down to get at the same eye level. 

So, onto the dormice. Earlier in the year some baby dormice were taken to the centre after being found, three of them survived thanks to the wonderful love and care they have been shown are doing well but will stay at Secret World until after Christmas, so we did a Christmas themed shoot using decorations and a teapot, I've now uploaded these to my website. If you are looking for unique and cute Christmas cards to send whilst helping to care for rescued wildlife you can purchase the following images as Christmas cards in packs of six or just as single cards, I have left them blank inside so you can add your own special message Just follow the link below the image for more details. 

Dormice At Christmas

I have also been working very hard with my mum to create lots of wonderful very unique handmade gift ideas for Christmas which will be available from all the following craft markets where we will have our Christmas and animal themed stand. 

Christmas Craft Markets

Saturday 17th November 

Craft Market at St. Aldhelm’s Church, Doulting 10am - 4pm 

Saturday 24th November 

Crafts at the Cheese & Grain, Frome, Somerset 10am - 3pm

Sunday 25th November

Warminster Christmas Market, Civic Centre, Warminster 10am - 4pm

Friday 7th December

Nunney Christmas Market, Village Hall, Nunney, 5pm - 10pm

Saturday 8th December

Christmas Bath Craft and Gift Fair, Guildhall, Bath 10am - 4pm

Saturday 22nd December

Crafts at the Cheese & Grain, Frome, Somerset 10am - 3pm