Working on the wild side

Pre-Prep girls discovered what it takes to be a successful photographer today when professional wildlife photographer, Drew Burnett, visited the Department on Wednesday.

Mr Burnett travels the world to capture pictures of amazing birds and animals, all creatures great and small! He spoke to the girls in detail about his work, and showed them a range of pictures he has taken of animals and birds in action. From kingfishers to kites, penguins, elephants, giraffes, foxes frogs, and even his own pet dog!

He encouraged the girls to take pictures in their own back gardens and to practice as much as possible. One of his top tips was that the key to a good picture is "looking the animal in the eye" so he advised them to get down to ground level and get muddy to obtain the best shots. He also explained about how animals repeat behaviour, in the same way that people do, so this can help to predict their actions when you are trying to capture them on film.

Particular highlights of the session included the change to hold one of Mr Burnett’s professional cameras, as well as the opportunity to look through a book of his photos from a trip to Kenya.

Head of Pre-Prep, Miss Holloway, said “We were delighted to welcome Mr Burnett to Pre-Prep to talk to the girls about his hugely interesting work. In early years education a key focus is to enable children to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them and being able to offer our pupils enrichment opportunities such as this really helps to bring the wider world to life in an exciting way.”