Social media addiction and wildlife photography

Recently I have been overthinking my wildlife photography and developed a social media addiction.
I sit thinking about silly things like the weather, where the sun will be positioned and how much fuel I will get through. All while scrolling through Instagram and looking at a load of wonderful photographs.

Trying to predict the day and what wildlife will do is like herding cats, it’s next to impossible.

I’ve found my answer.

The trick is to switch off Instagram, go cold turkey on my social media addiction and get out with my camera and see what I find. Sometimes it may be nothing and sometimes you may get that perfect one-off photo.

Either way, you’re always going to have a nice experience.

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Google maps is a fantastic way to find new places. Every now and again I’ll take a look at my local area through the app and mark places of interest.

Setting the app to Satelite Imagery, I can look for forests, bodies of water and many other types of habitats.

This will sound sad but I get excited about the new potential spots I find on the map. I find marshes next to a forest and instantly think “I bet a Barn Owl lives there”.

It’s a Saturday night on a heatwave weekend. We’ve just finished dinner and wonder what to watch on the television. It’s been too hot to do much during the day and I’m itching to go photograph some wildlife.

My mind’s whirring with thoughts. Is it too late to go out, where are we guaranteed to see something, and do I want to use fuel to travel somewhere?

I fired up Google Maps and took a look at RSPB Marshside. We concluded that it would take an hour to get there and it would be too late to go.

Along the route, we noticed a spot halfway along the journey called Hesketh Out Marsh. We didn’t even know it existed. Instead of humming and harring, we stuck our boots on and got in the car.

We are glad we did…

On the way to the marsh, we had the radio on low playing some classic melodies and the road was nice and quiet.

We didn’t know what to expect and weren’t overthinking it.
It was just nice to be out with each other exploring a new place.

Arriving at the spot we instantly had a feeling that it was going to be a good evening. The sun was setting in front of us and the birds were singing as they flew in.

I snapped a few photographs in light I’ve never photographed wildlife before. It was a time for trying different settings to see what would work and I’m over the moon with the results. (All the photos in this post are from this night).

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So what am I getting at?

If you’re like me and tend to overthink things and get frustrated over details. Just stick your walking boots on, grab your camera bag and just get out to take photographs.

Instagram can wait, it’s not important, is it?