Emerging in March: Photography Ideas & Inspiration for the Month
With the beginning of meteorological spring, the overarching theme of this month is emergence. After a long, dank winter, both nature and humans are taking tentative steps out of their winter boltholes in anticipation of warmer climes! The light is changing, the landscape is waking up, and it's a wonderful time to grab your camera. Whether you're shooting on a DSLR, a mirrorless, or your smartphone, I hope you find the following tips, ideas and themes useful you you and your photography…
Early Bloomers
1/320 f2.8 ISO 100 - (Aperture Priority +2 Exposure Compensation) Canon 100mm Macro Lens
Delicate tree blossoms and vibrant crocuses are already here and later in the month, delicate wood anemones will start making their appearance over ancient woodland floots
Pro Tip: Make these early blooms really pop, try capturing them just after a spring shower. If the weather isn't cooperating, cheat a little—use a watering can or a spray bottle! Position yourself so the light is shining from behind the flower. This backlighting will make the water droplets glow like jewels and highlight the translucent details of the petals.
2. Angry Birds
1/4000 f3.2 ISO 125
For many garden birds, this March also heralds the start of nesting season. This means serious flirting, fierce territorial battles, and a lot of drama as birds try to pair off and claim their space.
Keep an eye out in your garden or local park for familiar birds like blackbirds, starlings, wrens and getting feisty in the spring air.
Increase your chances of freezing the moment. Push your shutter speed to 1/2000s (ideally 1/4000) to ensure you capture the moment without any motion blur.
Tip: Listening out for alarm/aggressive bird calls, can really help locate the action and allow you to prepare your camera
3. Find a Story
Finding a story is one of the most powerful ways to pull viewers into your photos and hold their attention. If you’re not sure where to start, every story starts with a journey, and that’s a bad area to focus on either! Maybe it’s traveling to a sporting event with family, or people gathering outdoor social outing. Or maybe the perilous journey of a toad trying to cross a road to reach its traditional breeding ground. Ask yourself: What is my subject trying to do?
4. New Arrivals: From the Countryside to City Farms
1/1000 f6.3 ISO 1600
Spring outdoors is all about new life, and right now our local farms are bursting to life with the lambing and calving season well under way.
If you are walking near farmland, take the time to observe and photograph the wobbly first steps of new lambs and calves. The interactions between mothers and their young offer incredibly tender photo opportunities. (Always keep a respectful distance, stay on public footpaths, and ensure dogs are kept on a short lead around livestock)
And don’t forget about your local urban farms, which often work hard at reconnecting people with nature and could offer even more unique photo opportunities.
Inspiration of the Month: Forty Farms by Amy Bateman
If you want to master the art of visual storytelling (Theme 3) while beautifully capturing rural life (Theme 4), look no further than Amy Bateman.
A Cumbrian farmer and award-winning Photographer, Bateman's spectacular "Forty Farms" project is a shining example of finding narrative in photography. Over the course of a year, she documented the everyday lives, fears, and hopes of 40 farmers. Her stunning images range from rugged Herdwick sheep on the fells to the intimate, behind-the-scenes realities of lambing and farming in a changing world. She doesn't just take pictures of farms; she captures the deep, often raw connection between people, animals, and the landscape.
Let her work inspire you this month to look beyond the obvious shot and find the story waiting underneath.
Workshop of the Month: Lightroom & Photoshop Masterclass
Start getting the best results from your photos with a practical detailed workshop in a small, friendly goup - https://walking.photography/photo-walks-workshops/p/get-a-grip-photography-workshops
