Behind the Scenes of a 04:30 am Shoot in London

When most people think of London, they think of skyscrapers and old pubs, which there are admittedly rather a lot of. But, London also has some fantastic areas of natural beauty, and the location for this early morning shoot is arguably the greatest of them all.

You would be forgiven for not thinking wildlife photography can't be done outside of the famous zoos in London. It is primarily an urban landscape, but there are pockets of greenery and woodlands. The most famous of which is Richmond Park, known for its beautiful walks and its many native deer. If you get up early enough, you can catch vast herds of them, which make for good subject matter for us photographers.

Although England doesn't have much in the way of fascinating wildlife, we do have a large deer population, and even in and around London, there are lots of locations to photograph them. Towards the end of the summer, as we move into autumn, I often go to a location an hour north of London at the crack of dawn to photograph the beasts in the mists, and it's a singular experience.

In this video, Roman Fox goes to Richmond Park and gets some wonderful conditions, with rolling mist and a bright orange sunrise, to make for some memorable images. It's a reminder that no matter where you are, there are plenty of places you can go to break out of the usual surroundings you're used to shooting.

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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2 Comments

Great video from a fantastic photographer… great lad too, the type of YouTube channel a lot of others could learn from.

Superb video! "all of the effects have already been done..." I like that very much. He gives good advice. A humble, nice guy. Great photos! I wonder, how many time he' been there before he got that fantastic light. Thanks for the video!