BUCK THE TREND

Mike Harris shares creative tips and tricks for photographing the famous residents of London's Richmond Park

- Mike Harris

3 HOURS

We often speak of the new 'Big Five', when referring to the world's most popular animals to photograph, but if we were to have a British Big Five then the red deer would almost certainly be featured. Britain's largest land mammal is a wildlife photography favourite thanks to its magnificent features and it's synonymous with autumn.

Autumn plays host to the red deer rut, one of the UK wildlife calendar's headline events. Not only is the landscape looking its beautiful best but so are the deer. Magnificent bucks sport full heads of antlers as they bellow and strut around to assert their dominance, attaching themselves to large herds of hinds and clashing with other potential suitors.

For enthusiast wildlife photographers, there's perhaps no better place to capture the red deer rut than London's Richmond Park. This green space, set against the capital's skyline, covers a whopping 2.500 acres, making it the city's largest Royal Park. But what it's most famous for is its permanent contingent of over 600 red and fallow deer. These wild animals exist alongside the park's busy roads and millions of yearly visitors, and thus aren't as skittish as their peers living in more remote habitats, and this presents wildlife photographers with a wonderful array of photographic opportunities as the rutting season takes over the park.

Here we'll share tips and tricks for photographing deer in general, as well as suggesting creative techniques for diversifying your portfolio.

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH RED DEER

1 LENSES