The thing I like about being a self-employed press photographer is the variety of my work. No two days are the same as I strive to shoot different and interesting subjects. And so it was last week when I decided to contact a sheep farmer to photograph him shearing his flock of sheep.
After a long drive, I arrived at the farm, which was near Mount Gabriel, very west from where I live, set in beautiful rolling countryside. John, the sheep farmer, had brought the sheep down from the mountain where they graze and by the time I arrived, was well into the shearing.
John and his brother Don shearing sheep.
With the shearing taking place in a small part of a shed, I chose my Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens to take the shots, attached to my D5, so I could get up close for interesting pictures and to get the whole scene in the frame. As the shed was quite dark, I bumped up my ISO (3,200 for the above photo) as I wanted a relatively fast shutter speed and a narrow depth of field to get the whole scene in focus.
Close up of the shearing using the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens.
Obtaining some nice detail shots was on my mind, so I brought out my Nikon D4s with the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens attached for the above picture. One always tries to capture something a little different when given a rare opportunity to photograph sheep shearers at work!
The trip paid off as I got two hits in The Irish Farmers Journal and The Echo, which rounded off a great afternoon’s work in the scorching sunshine!
Irish Farmers Journal usage.
I hope you’re enjoying these snippets of my life as a press photographer. Remember, you can leave likes and comments below and I’m always open to suggestions as to what to write in future blog posts. Until next time!