For as long as I can remember, photography has been my peaceful passion. From developing negatives in my basement to today, moving sliders in Lightroom. My objective was always deeper than simply capturing a beautiful moment. My goal was to document my journey on this earth and to leave a footprint behind for future generations to discover. I’d like to thank PT magazine for giving me the opportunity to talk about my passion as well as the opportunity to share my latest project, “Tammie Norrie” with you all. Tammie Norrie is the name the locals of Scotland have given to the most adorable seabirds, better known as Puffins, the star of my story.
Discovering a new part of nature is beautiful and behind my eyes, a thrilling challenge. I take pride in learning about my targeted subject. Their behavior – how do they think? What do they eat? I researched the ins and outs and strategically planned for this expedition. These projects are like treasure hunts for me and make the process of photography no longer just taking a picture, but an exciting journey.
Puffins were definitely on my bucket list, a surreal-looking seabird,I traveled oceans for photographic experiences.
Timing was my biggest threat. Puffins have adapted to a life on the open sea and only come onshore from May to late July to form breeding colonies. So in simpler words, they lay eggs, and as soon as their pufflings are ready to fly – poof! They are back at sea.
You can find puffins nesting at few places, and many can be located in the UK and Ireland’s coastal regions. Atlantic puffins can also be found on the Canadian Atlantic coast, Greenland, Iceland and Scandinavian coastlines.
Coastal islands, high grassy peaks and cliffs along the sea offers the puffins protected nesting sites and a steady supply of their favorite fish – sand lance. Depending on what kind of image one is after the puffin demands very careful and detailed planning alongside their short twelve weeks onshore visits. For example, if you are after the iconic puffin shot with beaks full of sand lances then you have to plan your visit from the fifth to sixth week onward when it’s time to feed their pufflings. Puffins fly back to the same location onshore every year, to the exact same burrow they’ve previously used in past years.
Puffins dedicate the first week or so towards nest building, cleaning, grooming, and digging their burrow in preparation to lay their single egg. So, again if you visit them during this time, you won’t find that iconic shot, and most of your shots will result in dirty, muddy chested puffin. Weather is also a big factor, depending on sea conditions and the weather, some islands can’t be accessed. I tried to make the best of those conditions and tried capturing those long moody exposures with streaking rain drops but soaking wet and muddy puffins didn’t help and sadly I ended up deleting them all. So, the key is timing, planning, and schedule flexibility. Avoid those island tour companies that only give you limited time on the island. They are mostly geared toward bird watchers and not photographers. Unless you just want “a puffin shot”.
The following weeks are all about courting. Puffins are very loyal and they remain with the same mate for life. This is the best time for filming them billing, where you will overdose with their cuteness. Once two puffins start billing, soon others will rush over to watch. I found them so fascinating to watch, they each have their unique character, and spending time in a colony will allow these personalities to emerge.
The next stage is laying in rotation on the egg. Perfect timing to zoom deep into the burrow for those brilliant close burrow shots. Both of the parents share the burden of raising the chick called puffling’ (the most adorable name ever) who needs five square meals a day. They alternate fishing trips. This is the time they are most active. By this time the flowers have also bloomed for those bright and colorful portraits. This window is by far the best time to photograph them. I had a long list of shots that I was after; single portraits with and without flowers, close head shots, headshots in the burrow, Pufflings, beaks full of sand lances, in-flight shots with and without fish, billing, and group shots. Luckily, I managed to capture them all.
It is worth sitting within the colony for a while, to figure out where they will land and where each burrow is located. They will usually land a few meters away from the entrance and dash their burrow, so you have to be ready and very quick. When the fish supply is low puffins must fly as far as 50 kilometers out to sea to reach the good fishing grounds which will make their visit back at burrow three to four hours apart. On the way back they have to circumnavigate and zigzag their way between the pirates like arctic skewers and seagulls on the coast. So be ready to see parents coming back without any fish.
Try choosing a location with few burrows nearby and target more than one pair of parents to avoid long waits with disappointing results. I learned that the hard way. Please be very careful where you sit or step, burrows are a meter or two deep away from their entrance, and stepping on one and collapsing it will guarantee a puffling not getting fed or a trapped Puffin. Finding them in mid-flight, tracking their approach, and capturing them proved to be at times impossible even with my Sony A1 which is known for its auto-tracking ability. I’m a pilot so I fly for a living, so I had to use the aviator side of my brain to predict which way they will approach and land depending on the wind’s speed, direction, and obstacles near their burrows.
By living near each other they seriously have neighbor issues. Be warned, you will laugh so hard watching them bickering with each other. I found them very comfortable with me and at times felt very welcomed. I guess my presence provided some kind of reassurance against the seagulls that kept on bugging them for their catch.
I strongly recommend that once you have captured your classic shots, put the camera down and stop looking at this majestic site through your lens and enjoy your time just watching them. The highlight of my Tammie Norrie project was when they walked up to my feet and climbed over my camera bag. One of them even pulled my shoelace. I felt like being one of them excluding the cuteness part. I strongly recommend putting puffins on your list to photograph. As for the technical side, pack a short-range lens also for those close encounters. Time your visit based on your targeted shots.
Photographing puffins can’t be done in one visit. Give yourself plenty of time. I spent four full weeks traveling all over the UK, visited and spent a couple of days at every single site, from the Isle of Mull to the north to both west and east shores, and finished down in Wales to the south and still walked away missing my silhouette, frontal airborne shots to name a few. Nevertheless, I walked away with brilliant pictures but most importantly an amazing memory and a soul high on serotonin.
The Tammie Norrie Project was more than taking pictures of puffins, it was a long intense journey and I hope by reading this you experience it too. I will be photographing them again this coming season and this time I will call my project “Cuteness Overload”.
