Life is too chuffing short to get het up about other people in a hide. Enjoy what you got when you got it 'cos you are very long time dead. The magic word is tolerance, show it, give it!
Vivian is possibly not in the minority on this occasion. The fact that more photographers than birdwatchers have replied, with their usual ignorance of others, speaks volumes. The sole reason why I never visit Cley anymore is simply because the people with their easily acquired credit card cameras have made life unbearable for many.
Hand the hides back to the people they were built for....birdwatchers.
To acquire a degree of proficiency in birding takes experience and many years of patient diligence and application. There is no short cut.
In the past the same could be said for skill in photography. The ability to produce a picture of quality in the field demanded field craft and artistic flair.
Unfortunately digital cameras have removed that hurdle. Pointing the camera at an object and Firing off a random barrage of shots will probably produce something worthwhile eventually.
The simile of monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare comes to mind. I just don't see why I have to be in the same room while the monkeys labour noisily away and disturb myself and others.
...and having knowingly met at least four of the "photographers" who have so far posted on this thread I can confirm that they have acquired a very high proficiency in birding. I also have no reason to doubt that others who have claimed many years of birding experience are not telling the truth.To acquire a degree of proficiency in birding takes experience and many years of patient diligence and application. There is no short cut.
Randomly firing away with good digital camera equipment will produce the occasional reasonable shot (but so would randomly firing away with a non digital camera). To consistently produce good/excellent results though, fieldcraft, artistic flair and knowledge of the capabilities of the equipment used are still essential - and the four posters mentioned above all consistently produce superb results.In the past the same could be said for skill in photography. The ability to produce a picture of quality in the field demanded field craft and artistic flair.
Unfortunately digital cameras have removed that hurdle. Pointing the camera at an object and Firing off a random barrage of shots will probably produce something worthwhile eventually.
If you visit any public area, then whether you like it or not you may have to put up with any activities that are allowed in the area (including having your birdwatching "disturbed" by photographers, other birdwatchers, family groups, and in some areas - though not usually on reserves - dog walkers and cyclists).I just don't see why I have to be in the same room while the monkeys labour noisily away and disturb myself and others.
Yes, motor drives are only something that you find in film cameras - all you hear with digital cameras is a burst or sound from the mirror/shutter (as long as any 'beeping' noises have been switched off).I've seen several references to the sound of "motor drives" here. Isn't that something you only find in a film camera? Or is this term now being applied to continuous shooting with DSLRs too? It sounds similar with the mirror slapping up and down and the shutter opening and closing, but that the noise of the motor advancing the film is missing.
Unfortunately I think that would only mean that the objections concentrated on photographers "taking over the entire hide", "hogging the best spots", or "getting too close to and/or flushing a bird" - all things that can equally apply just as often to birdwatchers who don't have a camera in their possession.And, getting back to the original subject, would it be less annoying if the cameras were quieter?
1. All the photographers on here have given reasoned arguments. The anti-photographers have not. Who is guilty of ignorance?
2. Most of the photographers on here have clearly demonstrated that they are birdwatchers, many with years and years of experience. Perhaps by your reasoning they have more right to the hides than you.
3. Photographers in hides have paid the same as the people with noisy children, those who drone on about how bad birding is these days and rustle crisp packets, eat garlic sausage, fart and generally lower the tone of the place. They deserve the same level of consideration from fellow birders (funnily enough, the birder/photographers on here think of "fellow birders". Its the anti-photographers that want to compartmentalise bits of the birding community and rate some bits above others. What does that mean?)
4. My big lens was bought out of my late father's legacy. Consider that the next time you want to blather on about what equipment costs.
5. If you're in the same hide as me, be sure to keep very quiet and not disturb any other hide occupants at their varied approaches to birding.
John
In 2003 the Arts Council for England paid £2,000 for a real-life test of the theorem involving six Sulawesi crested macaques, but the trial was abandoned after a month.
The monkeys produced five pages of text, mainly composed of the letter S, but failed to type anything close to a word of English, broke the computer and used the keyboard as a lavatory.
"It was a hopeless failure in terms of science but that's not really the point," said Geoff Cox ,of Plymouth University's MediaLab, who designed the test. So what were the academics trying to achieve? "It wasn't actually an experiment as such, it was more like a little performance," said Mr Cox.
I'd be totally unwelcome in any hides they might also be in.
You'd be welcome in any hide I was in ...unless your kids do good replicas of elephant dances
All ye posters moaning the presence of others in a hide, rejoice that you have hides to find someone in to moan about.
I am hard pressed to recall more than one or two within 300 km of me, i.e. be thankful some kind soul or organisation has built the things for you.
1. eat garlic sausage, fart and generally lower the tone of the place.
John
Having said all that, people that fart in hides should be taken out and shot.
Well said Jos,I agree with you wholeheartedly,no birders within 60 miles of my patch,nearest thing to a hide I built myself
Having said all that, people that fart in hides should be taken out and shot.
...nearest thing to a hide I built myself