Our first lecture of the winter series was given by Barry Hilling, an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society with a passion for photographing wildlife. The title meant that he could cover a very wide spectrum from bees and spiders to the larger mammals such as red deer, as well as a wide range of wild flowers and trees. He still uses film so cannot enhance his pictures in the way one can with digital imagery. Instead, with infinite patience he prepares his backgrounds by snipping off offending blades of grass or bending a twig and even setting up an attractive branch and waiting for his subject to perch on it. He has actually managed to persuade some creatures to move into the desired position in his chosen background, and once spent 11 days staking out a bittern in the Lea Valley. The resulting slide was captivating.
Most of his photos were taken in the wild but for a few `impossible species', such as the wild cat and otter, he resorted to the British Wildlife Centre. It was difficult to pick out special images from so many but those of the nuthatch, jay, the trumpeter gentian (at Betchworth), pearl bordered fritillaries, a scorpion fly, a privet hawk moth larva, and the wasp spider (now at Howell Hill and London parks), and from his travels abroad various ant lion species were of particular note.
Every slide was accompanied by anecdotes about the trials and tribulations, and the failures and successes of wildlife photography. Barry has been successful in many competitions, the most recent being the winner of the 2006 Butterfly Photographer of the Year. We were privileged to be shown this beautiful slide. It was a most entertaining evening.
Chris Brading