Animal Photography: West Midlands Safari Park
If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ll be well aware that I love animals. I especially love wildlife and animal photography. So, of course, when my kids suggested that we head to West Midland Safari Park for the day, I was more than happy to oblige!

The safari park at West Midlands is set out in such a way where you have plenty of times to set up the perfect shot, just as long as the animals are behaving! There are plenty of places to pull over, so more than enough time to frame your shot and ensure your settings are spot on before clicking the shutter.

It goes without saying that several of the animals are behind fences, but with careful positioning, and some clever aperture settings the fences aren’t much of a problem! This especially came in handy with the tiger as you’ll see below!
The most tricky thing when it comes to wildlife and animal photography is the behaviour of the animals. Obviously you can’t predict how an animal is going to behave, so more often that not you need a lot of patience to ensure you get the shot you want. With the tiger above for example, I knew that I wanted a shot of him staring straight into the lens. It took a few attempts, and a lot of waiting around but we eventually got the shot!

And as if my magic, here’s an example of a shot I wasn’t too happy with. I desperately wanted a shot of the white tiger staring at the camera too, a nice companion image to the tiger above. But the white tiger just wasn’t playing ball. When we pulled up alongside him, he was enjoying his afternoon nap facing away from us. So again, after a lot of waiting and a bit of patience, I ended up with this shot. I’ll be the first to admit it’s less than perfect but it does nicely sum up his attitude to having his photo taken!