ABERDEENSHIRE SEABIRDS
Coley Fifer
I was climbing across the steep Aberdeenshire coastal rockface, powerful gusts of wind and blasts of North Sea spray threatening to knock me into the waves below. Even through the wind I could hear the ruckus of the cormorant colony around the edge of the cliff-face. Laying down on the rock, I slowly perched my lens at the edge of the cliff. In 1/600th of a second, I captured some of Scotland’s most enigmatic wildlife. This is “Wildlife Photography''. The genre might evoke images of travel and adventure, but this does not mean it is unattainable for the amateur, unsponsored photographer.
In fact, Scotland’s unique “Right to Roam'' laws makes it accessible for anyone to pursue wildlife photography on their own. In 2022, I took a road trip across Aberdeenshire and Moray to do just that. When I happened upon Bow Fiddle Rock, I saw a truly unique opportunity. On an adjacent rock outcropping, an entire colony of European Shag Cormorants – yes, their name is silly – escaped the high winds gusting off the North Sea from a distant arctic shore. The sight reminded me of Ansel Adams’s historic work of the Californian mountains, and I wanted to emulate a modern version of his high-key lit black and white photography…with a twist of colour. The spark of yellow on the shag’s bill is its most recognizable feature, so I let the bills remain in colour in post production to make these seabirds come alive in my images. Whilst Adams may have taken his iconic images with large format film cameras, a little Sony α6300 and some lightroom tricks are able to capture the spirit of these wild animals like no other.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 16.