Mindfulness in Nature by Jayne Bond LRPS CrGP

The title of her talk, which I found inspiring, was “Mindfulness in Nature” and Jayne introduce the talk by highlighting the known benefits to physical and mental health that come from being outside in nature.  She explained her understanding of mindfulness being, “to clear ones’s thoughts,” and “being in the here and now”.  This is something she finds easier when out with her camera sharing the “here and now” with wildlife than at any other time.

Jayne shared that, about 12 years ago, following taking early retirement from a demanding job in education, her two children going to university and both her parent and her husband’s parents dying she found herself with time on her hands and her husband suggested she buy a new camera and she has never looked back.

In the first half Jayne shared photographs taken on trips abroad and the stories behind some of them. She started with a lifetime dream to see orangutans in the wild in Borneo.  She then shared photographs of tigers, leopards, asiatic lions and bee eaters in India, bald eagles in Alaska, bears in Canada, including the brown bear who wondered into the backyard of their accommodation, and birds and moose near to her son’s home in Canada.  From there she took up to Lake Kerkini on the border between Greece and Bulgaria, a place she has visited in January for a few years to see and photograph the dalmation pelicans, which are the result of a successful conservation project there.  She shared some stunning photographs of the pelicans in different light both close up, in flight and taking off.  She advised that, after a few years trying to take photos of them landing on the water she decided taking off was likely to give a better image due to how they moved through the water in order to do so.

For the second half of the talk Jayne brought up back to the UK and shared photographs of red squirrels, crested tits and mountain hares taken from times spent on the Cairngorms.  She talked about how much time she spent either sitting in hide or lying on her stomach to get these images.  She then moved to Wales where she showed up photographs of mountain goats in the quarries both Llyn Padarn and puffins on Skomer Island.  We were then treated to some beautiful images of ladybirds as Jayne spoke about stopping and looking for the smaller things and waiting for them to move into the space you want to photograph them. From there we moved back to Dorset where Jayne talked about her love for foxes and how she has spent many hours in recent years sitting in a local graveyard known to be frequented by foxes.  They have become accustomed to her presence which has enabled her to take some great images and video, capturing therm at different times of the day and with different expressions.  She talked about how visiting the same place so often she knows how the light travels around the graveyard and will wait for a fox to be in the right place for the image she is wanting.

Finally Jayne shared some images taken in her back garden during lockdown, showing how they added to the bird feeder to create a more natural image and also set up a reflection pool.  She shared some images of garden birds, including robins, pigeon and blackbirds taken at this time.

Jayne referred to the story of the hare and the tortoise, saying that she used to be a hare and chase round trying to find the animals to photograph.  She has learnt to be a tortoise, to take time to sit and wait for things to come to her, to appreciate the smells and sounds as well as sights around her and to “smell the roses”.  The images she shared and the awards she has won demonstrate the benefits of this approach in nature photography and maybe in all genres.  It was clear that for her photography is about a lot more than the final image, it’s also become a way of life and something that has enriched her life and seen her through hard times as well as good ones.

Jayne is due to present a talk at Castle Cameras Spring Shoot at the Hamworthy Club near Wimborne on 13th May and I would definitely recommend going to this if you missed her talk on Monday.

Jayne Brooks