Wildlife Heritage Foundation

[Sticks.]

The Wildlife Heritage Foundation http://www.whf.org.uk/ has oranised group photo shoots.

SWMBO is looking to go but not sure which session to book - larger group or 4 only.

She'll call them, obviously but just on the off chance, has anyone been and can report back?

Thanks

[Turn7]

I cant see any benefit to the smaller groups tbh. I was/am looking at this and similar days.

What puts me off is a lot of feedback saying you dont really get any better pics than on a public day....

If it was £75ish then I would leap at it, but its not a cheap day out is it ?

[Sticks.]

You're right, it's not cheap, and it'd be a shame if it wasn't productive either.

[Turn7]

I think it can be productive,and Im sure its a great day out if you take it in its entirety.

No randoms getting in the way etc

But £150 to take some pictures sounds heavy.....

[Simon K]

I did a day at Smarden 4 years ago run by Wild Arena, from memory it was a group of about 10.

It was a cold, wet day but I thoroughly enjoyed it. You were allowed past the normal barriers for the public and could put your lens directly against the chain link fence of the enclosure.

Whilst photographing the Amur leopards you were told that if you had a tap on the shoulder just to move back from the fence without hesitation. The reason being that they could get their paws through the fence and as you were concentrating on one cat another that you weren't aware of could take a swipe. These leopards were the highlight of my day and were by far the most aggressive, spitting and snarling at you.

I would do a day there again, hopefully on a warmer, drier day that would let me think about the photography more than frostbite!

A couple from my day.

[url]

|http://thumbsnap.com/RON1u0i5[/url]

[Dogsey]

I've been on a photography day and a couple of their open days and the photography days are a very different experience. You get much closer to the animals and the staff use tidbits of food to get the animals to move around the enclosures to help you get interesting shots. I was exceptionally lucky on my photography day as I was the only one there and got to hand feed one of the cheetahs and even stroked one of the tigers - something I will never forget.

[Sticks.]

Thanks very much for the feedback, and the photo's - amazing.

The o/h is looking to get photo's good enough to base her paintings on, so she'll have a chat with them with a view to booking, probably the larger group session.

Thanks.

[minky monkey]

I've been there a number of times. I used to go as part of an organised group via talkphotography, we used to get pretty good rates, then they pushed the price up and restricted the access we had quite a bit so I didn't go after that.

However, the opportunity to shoot closer to the cages is something you won't get in many other places.

Here's my sets on Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/minky_monkey/sets/72...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/minky_monkey/sets/72...

[Dogsey]

Now I'm back on my PC rather than the mobile I'll add a link to my set.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dogsey/sets/72157622...

The photos where the cat is named are from the photography day.

[Sticks.]

Fantastic, thanks both. Just got to be done I think.