Sheer artistry with a camera
Sheer artistry with a camera
RICHARD Fuller is a farm manager, conservationist and a consumate artist with a camera.
In his beautiful new book* Richard, who manages 404ha (1000 acres) at Givendale, Yorks, explores the effect of spring on wildlife and landscape and captures its influence on camera with shots taken in the Yorkshire Wolds, Wales and the Outer Hebrides.
Completely self-taught, he has the patience and skill to produce the most intimate studies of plants and animals. Caught in his lens a burst of thistledown looks like a hatch of exotic insects; a rare greater butterfly orchid drips with morning dew and the first shafts of warming sunlight breathe life into a woodland glade.
A mallard, hiding with her brood among the vegetation, is given away by a duckling on her back, and a tiny reed warbler tries to satisfy the hunger of her monstrous baby, a real cuckoo in the nest.
My personal favourite, in this book with so many superb photographs that is difficult to choose just one, is of a roe deer. This beautiful shy creature seems to be staring directly into camera, eyes and nose shining blackly, ears listening. So detailed is this study that you can see the individual hairs on its face and even count its eyelashes.
Having had the pleasure of meeting Richard Fuller at Givendale where his farming practices have won the Booker Countryside Silver Lapwing Award, I know his interest in and knowledge of wildlife is a passion. His photography allows him to share it with others and this book is number one on my Christmas book list, both to give and receive. TG
* Wild Spring , by Richard Fuller, Swan Hill Press, (£19.95).